24/08/2024
NEWS STORY
George Russell will line up P4 with Lewis Hamilton P12 for Sunday's Dutch Grand Prix. Rain throughout the morning left the circuit damp for the start of FP3. The team completed limited running with most of the session spent under red flag conditions owing to barrier repairs.
Qualifying proved tricky with cooling conditions rendering it a challenge to get the tyres in their best operating window. In an incredibly tight field at the end of Q2, Lewis was unfortunate to be knocked out in P12 after suffering from a lack of rear grip. George progressed through to Q3, and his final effort put him P4 for tomorrow's grid.
George Russell: It was a challenging qualifying session today. In Q1 I was really struggling. In Q2, I had the pace to match the McLarens. In Q3, we slipped back a little and ultimately that left us in P4. I think that was probably the maximum for us today.
It was very difficult to get the tyres consistently in the right window. Lewis had great pace in Q1 but suffered from that in Q2. The conditions kept changing too so it was difficult to align everything to get the most out of the car. Finding that sweet spot was definitely not easy. The gap to the front was quite big today but I think we can have a better race tomorrow. We will be looking forward and trying to get on the podium once again.
Lewis Hamilton: Today was frustrating. We had been looking good throughout the weekend and in Q1, I was pleased with the balance of the car. Unfortunately, we struggled more in Q2, and it slipped through our fingers. I couldn't go any faster than I did on my final lap and that wasn't enough to get us through. These things happen but ultimately, I didn't do a good enough job. I will push to get as many points as we can tomorrow and enjoy myself out there.
Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO: We were hoping for a better Saturday. In all the practice sessions, we had looked like we were close to the front of the field. Unfortunately, in Qualifying the car was on a bit of knife edge. It was hard for both drivers to get the most out of it consistently. Lewis was therefore knocked out in Q2, despite showing strong pace in Q1. George likely got the most we could have hoped for today with P4, but we are not pleased with those results.
We look ahead to tomorrow now and will be aiming to move forward with both drivers in the race. Our race pace on Friday looked solid, although it will be difficult to compete with the McLarens. They looked very strong in FP2 so our fight will likely be to get on the podium.
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director: Our performance today was disappointing, and we had certainly hoped for more. Both drivers looked more competitive at times in the session than the results showed. Lewis was strong in Q1 and George in Q2, but we failed to get it together when it mattered. The car hasn't felt as good for either driver today. We were suffering from understeer yesterday but today we were struggling for rear grip.
Our attention now turns to tomorrow's race. Our long run pace was reasonable yesterday and hopefully that will remain. If it does, we will be looking to move forwards with both drivers. The McLarens looked very strong on Friday so we may be looking at keeping George in the fight for the lower reaches of the podium, rather than victory. With Lewis, we will aim to recover well and score as many points as we can.
Check out our Saturday gallery from Zandvoort here.