2016 Belgian Grand Prix

Driver Quotes - Saturday 27 August

Lewis Hamilton: Firstly, the team have done an incredible job - the guys and girls back at Brixworth building the engines and then everyone here who've been kitting and fitting them - so a huge thank you to them. To bring a new engine here, take it out after FP1, put another new one in for FP2, then do the same again before FP3 was just an unbelievable job. I have a massive 55 place grid penalty today - but I also now have three new engines in the pool for the season, which is positive. In terms of today, it was definitely a weird qualifying session for me. There was no point in showing my pace. It was all about race preparation. The key for me is making sure I come out of tomorrow having lost the fewest points possible - and that meant having as many fresh sets of tyres available as possible and making sure the car was set up well. I can't say right now what the plan is - the team will know already what's best and we'll discuss that later. We're not easily the quickest here. We're all going to have massive degradation and looking after the tyres will be a struggle for everyone. It's going to be far from an easy, breezy day but where I can just pick people off. There will be lots of pit stops and who knows what else. I'm going to have to battle my way through the traffic - but I'll give it my best as always and see where I end up.

Nico Rosberg: We had a difficult weekend until Qualifying. Especially, this morning we were thinking that we were off the pace a bit. So I was really happy to grab pole today. The Red Bulls were quickest on the long runs on Friday, so we need to be at our best to beat them. The tyres are a big challenge in the heat here this weekend. The degradation is very high. My disadvantage at the start is that I have a harder tyre with lower grip, so Max should get off the line quicker on the Supersoft. I reckon that, with some luck and a maybe a Safety Car, Lewis can climb up to the top very quickly, so he can't be ruled out either. In any case, I'm pleased with my qualifying and looking forward to tomorrow. It will be an exciting and intense race.

Sebastian Vettel: I'm sure we made a step forward from yesterday! If you look at the gaps between the cars, they are very close, so tomorrow it should be a good race. Obviously you always want a little bit more, the exit of the last corner in particular wasn't very strong, so I can't be happy with that. The rest of the lap was ok, we had a much better balance than on Friday, but it's important to be fast in all three sectors to be up there. We decided to start the race on the Soft tires, we believe that this is the best strategy, we'll see tomorrow. Anything can happen, there could even be some rain, in Spa you never know...

Kimi Raikkonen: So far it has been a decent weekend, the car was behaving well today and we had the speed. My first run in Q3 was very good, but I went sideways and off track. The second attempt was even better, but in the last chicane I had some slight understeer and lost a few tenths compared to my Q2 sector. Today I felt we had the chance to get pole position, so I'm a bit disappointed, my laptime was not good enough. On a positive side, we are very close compared to the last couple of races. We decided to start the race with Soft tires, if you can make them work it will make a massive difference, we'll see how the race will pan out but I think our plan will be fine. We'll do our best, of course the hot conditions won't be easy for the tires, but it's the same for everybody. Hopefully we'll be up there fighting also tomorrow.

Felipe Massa: I had a software issue in Q1 which caused a misfire so I couldn't put a lap together. That really didn't help my qualifying, because I only had one set of supersofts left for Q3. I gave it everything on my final lap, but I locked the front into turn one and lost a lot of time, so I'm not happy with that. If I had two sets of tyres in Q3 it would have helped me a lot, but that didn't happen so we lost a few places. We will see what we can do tomorrow though. I was happy with the car, the balance and the laptimes in qualifying.

Valtteri Bottas: Obviously it was a bit of a problematic qualifying session for us. Considering the software issues we had, I think we performed like we should have. It's a shame that we had the issues because it meant we couldn't get a top six position. At the end of the day, the race is tomorrow and that's what counts. The car felt better today than yesterday so we've already made progress. Our long runs in practice looked good in terms of the race pace, so I think we can have a strong race tomorrow, even though we didn't get the perfect result out of today.

Daniel Ricciardo: "In Q3 I would have loved to have got a bit more out of it, but I'm not too disappointed looking at the race tomorrow. I'm really pleased I got through on the softs in Q2, that was our objective, whether it works tomorrow or not let's see, but that's what I wanted to get out of it. I'd be less happy with P5 on some tracks, but I'm not disappointed for two reasons: you can overtake here and with the tyres we've got this weekend, you can do a lot during the race tomorrow. If you can have a faster car or if you can be a bit more intelligent, then it can pay off. In Q2 my objective was to start on the softs. It was a nervous few minutes but we did it. I'm happy; it's close enough to the front and I'm on the softs, sure a few cars in front have them too, but it's going to be a good race. Two years ago I started in P5 and won! Max did really well to get on the front row – but we have a split strategy for tomorrow, we talked about it before qualifying and he wanted to start the race on supersofts and I wanted to start on softs, so we'll see what happens tomorrow."

Max Verstappen: "It's a great feeling. As soon as I crossed the line in Q3 on my fastest lap, I could see the fans going really wild so I knew it was a good lap. It's been already an amazing weekend. To see so many fans around the track and feel their support is incredible and I've been enjoying the whole week a lot, so to be second on the grid is fantastic. It would have been very difficult to get pole position. The chance is always there if you are that close and in sector two we were very strong, but we were missing some top speed. Tomorrow will be very interesting with the different strategies between us, Mercedes and Ferrari so I think it'll be a good fight. Hopefully the supersofts will give me a bit more grip in the first few laps and then for sure I will drop off a bit but that's my strategy. I will probably have to pit a bit earlier but we have to wait and see how the race goes. Big thanks to the team for such a quick turnaround and working so hard on getting me out on time in Qualifying."

Nico Hulkenberg: "I'm reasonably satisfied with our performance today. Q1 and Q2 went to plan, but I had an issue with the power unit during Q3 and that cost me some time down the straights and proved quite costly. We've got to start the race on the supersoft tyres, but I think we made the right decision to use them in Q2 because it would have been difficult to make Q3 on the softs. It's certainly going to be a challenging race if the weather stays this warm because Spa is already a demanding track on tyres in cool conditions. We need to explore our options tonight and make the right decisions tomorrow."

Sergio Perez: "I think we are in a really strong position for the race and I am really looking forward to tomorrow. We got as much as we could out of the session: I made a small mistake at the end of my lap and I could have been about a tenth faster, but that's all we lost. Some of the cars ahead of me are starting on the soft tyre compound, which should be a big advantage for them, but we are still in good shape to get a strong result. There will be a variety of strategies at play and I hope we can move forward, enjoy the battles and bring home some points. The hot weather is making it really difficult for everyone – you reach a point where you can't go any further with the tyres. Strategy and making the right calls at the right time will be very important: you don't want to be on the wrong tyres at the start of such a long lap because it's going to cost you."

Kevin Magnussen: "Today we found a lot more pace than expected and that's a nice surprise, obviously. My lap wasn't even perfect; I really locked up in Turn 1 and lost a lot of time. I thought it was over, but pushed for the rest of the lap and got a decent time in. Even though we are P12, I think there was a little bit more in it and that's encouraging for the race tomorrow."

Jolyon Palmer: "I am pretty happy with that performance. It's the second race running that I've been in Q2, but we can be especially pleased with this one as yesterday was tough and we turned it around. Having two in a row shows that Hockenheim wasn't a one-off and we are making genuine progress. There are a lot of unknowns for the race tomorrow as the temperatures are sky-high and tyre degradation is worse than expected, but we have some advantages. Everyone in the top ten is starting on used tyres whereas we have a new set in hand. I'm now really looking forward to the race and trying to crack into the top ten if we can."

Daniil Kvyat: "Even if we are not where we would like to be, I think it wasn't a bad qualifying session for me and I'm happy with my laps and my progress from Friday to today. My lap was pretty much the maximum of what I could've done today. We must accept that the car is where it is right now and, of course, it's difficult for us but we just have to work with what we've got and try to move forward. I think that for the rest of the season this is what it's going to be like and we will have to keep fighting, there's no other choice. Tomorrow we will do our race and see where we end up - I don't want to do any predictions, all I know is that it will be tricky but we will do our best with a package that isn't competitive at this track."

Carlos Sainz Jr: "It's being a very tough weekend for us, maybe even a bit more than expected, and it's disappointing not to be able to fight to get into Q3. On one side I'm happy because I know I've extracted the maximum out of the car today, but on the other side I'm sad to see us sitting in P15, a second off Q3. It's not good enough. There's a lot of analysis going on right now inside the team to see where we are losing so much performance - we know the reason for half of it, it's due to the 2015 power unit, but we need to understand why we are not performing as expected in Sector 2. We've been slow all weekend so tomorrow's race will be difficult. I'm confident that a right strategy will get us close to the top ten, but it won't be easy to finish in the points. Having said that, we will give it our all and fight hard to finish as high up as possible."

Marcus Ericsson: "It was a disappointing qualifying for me. We already had issues with the power unit in the morning. We managed to fix it for the end of FP3, so I was at least able to go out for a couple of laps. Then in qualifying I had a lack of power again, and, therefore, I lost lap time, especially on the straights. We need to investigate and sort these issues out for tomorrow."

Felipe Nasr: "I was close to making it into Q2. I put in a decent lap at the end of Q1, but I just missed some lap time in sector three, as I struggled with the grip, especially on the rear, in the last corner. On the first try my lap time was deleted because I went on the inside kerb exceeding the track limits in Turn 4. On my second and last try I was able to improve, but it was not enough for Q2. It will be a long race tomorrow; there is lot that can happen."

Fernando Alonso: "We noticed that there was an issue after P3 but we didn't have time before qualifying to do a proper investigation, so in qualifying we managed to do only about 500 metres before we had to stop the car.

"Now all we can do is to do everything we can to make sure we finish the race without any further issues.

"It's been a difficult weekend so far for me - a little bit unlucky because after all Jenson has the same new-spec PU yet he's had zero problems. But as I say it's just a bit unlucky, that's all.

"With regard to the new-spec PU itself, again, as was the case yesterday, I've had too few laps on it so far this weekend to be able to really compare it with the previous one. We're moving in the right direction though - Jenson's result shows that I think.

"Obviously it's painful when you have reliability problems such as these, but at the end of the day it's part of our learning process. We know what we have to do: we have to understand what's still too fragile in the PU, reinforce those parts, and make sure that next year we have a PU that's powerful and strong enough to be capable of fighting at the front."

Jenson Button "I'm very happy with ninth place. Spa is a tough circuit for our car so I don't think we expected to get the result we did. You've know when you've done a good job, and I feel I did just that.

"We obviously won't be near the front, but our race pace should be better than our qualifying pace was so we'll certainly be competing with the cars that have qualified around us.

"The team have done a great job this weekend, and Honda have brought us a new power unit, so we're looking at a situation of definite improvement. We didn't expect to be this far up in qualifying here, so hats off to the whole team; it's good progress as I say.

"All in all, I'd say it's the best qualifying of our season so far."

Pascal Wehrlein: Cracking job, Pascal. P9 in Q1, and through to Q2 for the second time this year. But, you seem disappointed?
"Well, I'm very happy that we made it through to Q2, of course; Q1 was incredible for us with P9. But unfortunately we had no new Supersoft tyres for Q2, so it's a bit of shame, and I had to do my lap on used tyres. Q1 felt so good with new tyres, so you can see what was possible today; that last run was not our true pace. So it was a bit of a shame, but that decision has to be made much earlier in the year."

You've looked in good shape all weekend. Could we see a strong race tomorrow?
PW: "We're actually in a very good position for tomorrow, in terms of our position on the grid and also with the tyres we have available for the race. Degradation will be high at this track, so we'll be okay I think. And, yes, I've been very happy with the weekend so far. It's all gone pretty much to plan and I'm looking forward to the race."

Esteban Ocon: How was your first experience of qualifying?
"Pretty tough, I have to say. I've been pretty happy with my pace generally but it's not easy to start your F1 career more than halfway through the season. I need more time in the car and with the Supersoft tyre and even managing the traffic; that's quite a challenge too with all the cars slowing down after their laps. It takes more experience than I have in three practice sessions to really extract the maximum out of everything. That's something to look forward to with each new race though, improving step by step. I was very quick on the Soft tyre, so although I'm a little disappointed today, I'm also excited about what is yet to come."

What about the race tomorrow, your first F1 Grand Prix?
EO: "Tomorrow I will be the happiest guy on the grid. It's my first race and I can't wait for the whole experience of preparing for the race, the grid, lights out, pit stops - everything. Again, the race will bring its own challenges, as it's my first one, but I'm really happy with the work we've done in practice. I'm happy on the Medium and Soft tyre, and with the long run pace, so I'm just going to stay focused on the goal, which is to have a strong clean race, get a good result for the team, learn a lot and have fun with it too."

Romain Grosjean: "The car was fine in qualifying. We made a good step before the summer break, so I'm more happy with the car. There are still a few things we can improve but, generally, it's not a bad place to be after qualifying. For the race, I don't think we'll be as challenged as some of the other teams. Hopefully, we can have a good, aggressive strategy and try to make it work to get some points."

Esteban Gutierrez: "It was a really good effort from the team. We've been struggling with the car setup, but managed to find the best balance. In qualifying, it felt like a step forward considering the high track temperatures, which is making things a little complicated with the tires. In FP3 there was a miscommunication that cost us a five-place grid penalty, which is obviously very painful, but we will try to put that aside. I'll start the race and give everything I've got to recover the lost positions and I'll be fighting all the way to get into the top-10."