08/06/2024
NEWS STORY
Max Verstappen: "I'm happy to be on the front row for tomorrow's race and it was certainly more than I thought was possible after FP3.
"We always knew this track was going to be a bit more tricky than others and it seems that a lot of the teams are catching up. Today it was about managing the tyres with the graining, but if you look at the pace we did well and improved nicely every run. We tried to do the best we can and just need to make sure we have a cleaner weekend as we have been slightly on the back foot. Looking to tomorrow, I think it will come down to the weather and tyre behaviour. The rain will make it more interesting, especially with the tarmac making it more slippery, the chicanes and the close walls. It has been a difficult weekend, but considering everything we definitely maximised the result in qualifying and I am looking forward to tomorrow."
Sergio Perez: "In these conditions somehow, we weren't able to switch on the rear axle, I couldn't lean on it at all and I didn't have any confidence at the time to push. Basically, I had no grip, I was sliding too much and that meant our qualifying was a total disaster. We need to look at it and understand the reason behind it, it was stepping away from me all the time. In hindsight we could have done a lot of different things but at the end of the day we lacked some pace, simple as that. There are some fundamental issues that we need to address, understand, and figure out, to make sure we are able to improve in the coming races. I am angry with myself; we are a Team and it is not an ideal time for us but we have full focus on tomorrow and hopefully we are able to save something and score some points. The weather can hopefully help us, it can make things unpredictable, and we will see what we can do with the strategy as well."
Christian Horner: "It was disappointing for Checo to miss out by such a small margin in Q1 as he struggled with the rear grip in the car. We'll have to look into the reasons for that so that we can give him the best chance of coming through the field tomorrow, which we know he's capable of. On a track which was rapidly evolving and where all teams were going through their tyre allocation quickly, Max just got stronger and stronger through the qualifying. To miss out on the top place whilst exactly matching the pole time was an outstanding effort after a tricky day yesterday and it's great to be lining up on the front row alongside George, in an exciting looking grid."