12/11/2021
NEWS STORY
Uralkali Haas F1 Team drivers Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin qualified P19 and P20, respectively, for Saturday's 24-lap 100km Sprint event - the result of which will then determine the grid for Sunday's São Paulo Grand Prix, Round 19 of the 2021 FIA Formula 1 World Championship hosted at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace.
Prior to Friday qualifying Schumacher and Mazepin made their respective debuts around the legendary 4.309-kilometer (2.677-mile), 15-turn Brazilian circuit in the 60-minute opening practice (FP1). Both drivers worked their way through one set of Pirelli P Zero Yellow mediums and two sets of Red softs with some baseline running and qualifying sims. Schumacher's quickest lap in FP1 was a 1:10.885 (P16) with Mazepin setting a best time of 1:11.342 (P20) - both drivers on the soft rubber.
Schumacher and Mazepin pushed hard throughout Q1 to see what they could achieve in qualifying. Running three sets of brand-new soft tires each, both drivers built up speed throughout the session. While Schumacher initially recorded a 1:09.958 on his third and final run - the German had his time deleted for exceeding track limits. His second run of 1:10.329 placed him P19. Mazepin's second run turned out to be his fastest too - a 1:10.589 for P20. The Russian was ahead on his sector times on his final lap, but he lost grip at Turn 12 pushing his VF-21, just coming up short on bettering his second flying run.
Nikita Mazepin: "The tires are on fire by the time you get to Turn 12 so everything you can gain or lose before the long straight really pays off or really hurts you. I just tried too hard and was too eager to get on the power with perhaps the rear grip not being there. The good thing is that I caught it, but the bad thing is I lost time. It's what makes this format exciting, that's why you see some mistakes because drivers like myself are more eager to try and explore things that I've never had the opportunity to do before."
Mick Schumacher: "The car feeling was amazing and that's why I'm a bit gutted that we didn't get through. I think it's the case of everybody being so compressed, so tight together and maybe the car just has that tiny little bit of a deficit and it seems that I couldn't make up the difference this time. We live and we learn. It's nothing to be frustrated about because we still managed to get something out of the car which felt great, so hopefully for the race we'll be a bit closer."
Guenther Steiner: "First off let me start by thanking our crew for doing an amazing job to have everything ready to go today. We were affected by the freight issues coming into the weekend but the whole team did an amazing job to turn things around once we finally had all we needed on-site. On-track, it was a tough task for Mick and Nikita today - with just one practice session at a brand-new track for them both. That said, I thought they both put in a great effort in qualifying. They looked good on their final runs, but unfortunately Mick had his final time deleted and Nikita came up just short after a good opening sector with a small mistake at the end of his lap. They can be pleased with their efforts today - but I know they'll both be frustrated. We'll see how the Sprint plays out tomorrow, maybe there'll be an opportunity for something there subject to the conditions."
Check out our Friday gallery from Interlagos, here.