20/04/2024
NEWS STORY
Fernando Alonso: "I am happy with third position in Qualifying today.
"Both Q1 and Q2 went smoothly, and we progressed into Q3. I then nearly aborted my last lap in Q3 because I lost a few tenths in the first sector. I made back some of this lap time during the rest of the lap, so I kept going and I'm glad I did. We are again a few positions higher in Qualifying than our natural position suggests, but we will take this result and it's always nice to finish in the top three. It will be a real fight to keep our rivals behind us for a full race distance, but let's see what we can do tomorrow."
Lance Stroll: "This morning's Sprint was a difficult race: we struggled for pace and couldn't make much progress. Despite making some set-up changes ahead of Qualifying, the car still isn't where I need it to be and it was frustrating not to make it through to Q3 by such small margins. We'll do our best to fight for points tomorrow."
Mike Krack, Team Principal: "A busy day in Shanghai with the Sprint this morning and Qualifying this afternoon providing plenty of entertainment for the fans. We saw box-office racing in the Sprint and it was a shame that Fernando lost out in the close podium battle, but placing his car in P3 for tomorrow's Grand Prix is the perfect response. His final lap in Q3 really pulled it out of the bag because he was a few tenths down after the first sector. Lance lines up in P11 and is well placed to challenge for points. We made quite a few changes to the car after the Sprint, which will hopefully pay off in the race tomorrow. It is a weekend where learning quickly has been paramount and, as a team, we have responded well to the challenge of fast-evolving conditions."
Check out our Saturday gallery from Shanghai here.