14/09/2024
NEWS STORY
Esteban Ocon: "It's not been a good weekend so far on my side. We had issues in Free Practice 1 and then in Free Practice 3 earlier today, which has really impacted our time on track.
"As a result, we've not had our usual preparation going into Qualifying so we entered it on the back foot. We could not get the car in the right window on set-up so I really had to push as much as I could to find some lap-time. On my last run we were improving a little - probably not enough to progress - and I tapped the wall. We will try to make the most of every opportunity tomorrow as it's usually eventful at this track."
Pierre Gasly: "I'm pretty satisfied with the outcome of today's Qualifying performance. It is obviously a pity that a minor fuel flow infringement means we are disqualified from the session. In any case, we expected to find it tough to reach Q2 as the car has been tricky all weekend, which has shown on the timesheets throughout Practice. I was very pleased with my laps in Qualifying and, even if the result doesn't look spectacular, it was one of our most complete sessions of the season. The car has been sliding a lot, generally lacking rear grip, and we managed to improve that with some changes. We will have to stay calm in the race tomorrow and aim to be in the mix at the end. It's usually a tough one here for racing and a lot can happen so we will give it our all from the back."
Oliver Oakes, Team Principal: "Today was initially looking like a more promising day after the difficulties we faced during practice on Friday, where we struggled. Despite a great effort from Pierre to progress to the second part of Qualifying, he was later disqualified for exceeding the fuel mass flow on his final run in Q2, which is disappointing given the speed he showed. I have to say sorry to Esteban from the team, who entered the session on the back foot with his preparations severely hampered due to reliability issues in two of the three practice sessions. Looking ahead to the race tomorrow, the car seemed to improve each session and the pace looked more promising over the long runs. It'll be a tough race from where we're starting tomorrow. This track has shown in the past that opportunities can quickly present themselves to move up the order and we need to be there to capitalise on it."
Check out our Saturday gallery from Baku here.