22/06/2024
NEWS STORY
Esteban Ocon: "This is a good result with both cars in Q3 for the first time this season.
"It is something we did not really see happening coming into the weekend and is slightly unexpected given we did not bring any upgrades to this event. The car was competitive and performed well straight out of the blocks on Friday and that carried over to today. We had a challenging Free Practice 3 in the hot conditions but I think the cloud cover helped during Qualifying. We need to analyse and understand why we are quick here, in these conditions at this particular track. Hopefully we can at least maintain position tomorrow and keep the other cars behind us and battle for points. It will be a long race and this track is particularly hard on tyres, so there will also be some degradation to contend with in the race."
Pierre Gasly: "It's a positive team result today with both cars in Q3 for the first time this season. We knew yesterday during Practice that there were some good signs but we were slightly cautious as we did not fully know the performance of others. Now, in seventh place, we confirmed that we were competitive and we ended just one and a half tenths from the top three. We've had difficult moments this year, which we have and will continue to learn from, and it is equally as important for us to understand why we've had an increase in performance level like today. The car felt good, I felt like we maximised everything and there are always things we can improve. Tomorrow will be a challenging race and it looks like the conditions could be different again. We have put ourselves in a great position to secure another good team result."
Bruno Famin, Team Principal: "This is our best result and most significant performance of the season so far where we had both cars reach Q3. That said, Saturday does not count for any points and it is now very important that we continue our hard work and preparation and be in a position to claim a good team result with both cars in the points in tomorrow's race. We are competitive relative to our rivals - something we must better understand as to why - and see what more we can do to ensure this trend continues. Conditions could be different tomorrow and we will be ready for any scenario to ensure an important result for our Championship."