27/07/2024
NEWS STORY
Fernando Alonso: "I am happy with ninth position in Qualifying today, which will become eighth with Max Verstappen's grid penalty, and I think it was probably the maximum we could achieve.
"I wasn't feeling totally comfortable in all of the Free Practice sessions this weekend, so I wasn't sure what to expect heading into Qualifying. The car felt good and I had confidence in these mixed weather conditions. We go into the unknown in tomorrow's race with less knowledge of the tyre degradation and with the new asphalt too, so that will make things interesting. We have a lot of the dry tyres available, so hopefully we can push and fight for some points."
Lance Stroll: "Firstly, I want to thank the team in the garage for the repair work they did to fix my car after FP3. We had to change the front corner and floor due to damage as well as the power unit and gearbox because of the heavy impact, so they did a great job working super quickly to get me back on track in time for Qualifying.
"It was a tough day out there. I struggled in Qualifying with the grip and balance of the car; it's hard to really push when you don't have that confidence. We'll work through everything tonight to see if there's any improvements we can make ahead of the race. This is a track that offers good overtaking opportunities, so we'll be pushing hard for points."
Mike Krack, Team Principal: "Spa is always a challenge especially with inclement weather conditions. Lance got caught out with some aquaplaning in FP3 and that gave the team a tough job to repair the car for Qualifying. A heroic effort, with both car crews working together, ensured that Lance was able to make it through to Q2 and P15. Fernando managed the conditions in Q3 to line up P8 for the race. Tomorrow we expect it will be a dry race and we will be aiming to maximise the points. Spa is frequently unpredictable so we will be fighting right to the chequered flag."
Check out our Saturday gallery from Spa here.