23/03/2024
NEWS STORY
Yuki Tsunoda: "I'm very happy with the performance of the team and myself. Definitely a big credit to them for giving me a very consistent car throughout the weekend.
"It's been easier to adapt and build confidence in every session, so I definitely feel like I had a clean lap, was able to squeeze a few milliseconds from each corner, and maximised the performance. I didn't expect P8, and especially Q3 after seeing Williams and other teams find more time in Q1, but I'm very happy; it's the highest qualifying position this season and reflects the hard work of the team. Daniel was also looking quick so it's a bit of a shame what happened, but let's see how it goes tomorrow. It won't be easy, but we aim to have a clean race, do as much as we can, and score points!"
Daniel Ricciardo: "I knew in Turn 4 I was sliding and fighting to put the car on the limit, and in that lap, I washed a little bit wider. I knew I used more kerb than I wanted on the exit, but I wasn't sure whether it would be off track or not. I had already forgotten about it by Turn 5 and 6 until I came into the garage and Pierre told me the lap was deleted. The team put in a big effort after the weekend in Saudi and we also brought some new parts here which looked better. When I crossed the line, I felt like I gave it all I had and got all I could out of it. I was happy with the lap but I'm a little skeptical because of where we are in terms of the stopwatch, as we were still slow with that lap. I have done enough laps in quali over the years to know where I am, and I think we're still missing some things. We've been facing some struggles all weekend, but it's not anything in particular; I feel the car and I'm comfortable with it, with the balance and the braking and that's why the grid position is really painful. Tomorrow will be a long race, probably it's a two-stop one, so perhaps this will give us a bit more opportunities. I feel like I've got a little bit of my anger out of something, so probably something in my driver room will get broken and then I'll feel better."
Alan Permane (Racing Director): "A bittersweet day for us today. Of course, we're super excited and happy for Yuki to be well into Q3. Qualifying eighth is amazing and a testament to the hard work the team has been putting in through the winter, bringing updates to this car already. A real shame for Daniel as he was right there with Yuki in Q1. To just go outside the track a little bit, of course, the rules are the rules, and he has to lose the lap, but he was right there so there's no reason to think he wouldn't have gone to Q3 with Yuki."
Check out our Saturday gallery from Melbourne here.