18/11/2023
NEWS STORY
Daniel Ricciardo: "I think, as a team, we're struggling to extract the grip on this low-grip and new asphalt this weekend, which is shiny and open to the public during the day.
"We made some fairly big changes and steps forward overnight, but today, we couldn't do much more. I'm happy with the improvements we made that allowed me to get into Q2, as we're definitely struggling more with one-lap pace and getting the tyres to really work. I'm more optimistic for tomorrow because I think we're stronger in the long run. I don't know what to expect for the race, but I think it's going to be very close."
Yuki Tsunoda: "There isn't much to say today. I feel we didn't maximise our performance and could've done better, so it's a shame. I tried my best, but it didn't work. We know we struggle with straight-line speed and expected it to be challenging this weekend. We changed my setup a little, but I didn't have enough temperature in my tyres before my final push lap because there was traffic in the last sector, so I had no grip and locked up. The pace of the car isn't bad, and you never know what can happen in the race tomorrow because the grip is low on this track, so I'll keep it clean and try my best to make up as many positions as possible."
Jody Egginton (Technical Director): "The setup direction that was taken for both sides of the garage overnight was okay, but further setup changes in the same direction were required between FP3 and qualifying to try and extract more from the car. Yuki struggled with his car in qualifying, and we need to investigate why. Daniel managed to extract the most from his car in Q1, but then we struggled to get his new set of soft tyres into the right window for the start of Sector 1 in Q2, meaning he was only the 18th quickest through this sector. It meant that, even though Sectors 2 and 3 were quick enough to put him in the fight for Q3, it was not to be. Sector 1 has been the most challenging part of the circuit for both cars this weekend and is something we need to investigate further. We haven't managed to get our cars as far forward for the race as we expected, which makes things harder. In addition, our closest competitors' long run pace in FP2 looked fairly strong, so we need to focus on getting both cars moving forward as quickly as possible in tomorrow's race."
Check out our Saturday gallery from Las Vegas here.