Louis Vuitton Australian Grand Prix

Driver Quotes - Saturday 15 March

Oscar Piastri "It's great to start the year on the front row. It's brilliant to have both of us there, of course it may be one position further back than I would have liked, but it's a good way to go into the first race of the year. Overall, I am happy with how Qualifying went and we've got solid pace in the car. We'll just have to see how it all plays out with the weather tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it."

Lando Norris "It's the perfect way to start the year. A huge congratulations to the team, everyone at McLaren has done an amazing job to continue from where we were at the end of last season, with another front row lock out - but it's only Quali, so we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves. We know it's going to be a tricky race tomorrow but we've got two cars in the best positions.

"I'm confident in the car's pace, but we've also never run in the wet, and our competition is very strong. There will be many opportunities for everyone tomorrow, and we're all going to be learning a lot - so let's wait and see what happens."

Max Verstappen: "I think today's performance was the best we could have hoped for. Yesterday's practice sessions were quite tough, but we made quite a few improvements to the car and it felt a lot better to drive. The gap is still big to McLaren and we don't have the same pace as them at the moment, so there are still improvements to be made. However, we performed better than I expected and the car has given us enough confidence to push. Ultimately P3 today is a good result that I am happy with and it is good that we have found a bit more pace. Tomorrow, I don't mind if it is dry or wet, but I do think it will be a lot nicer for the fans if it is good weather for them. I will just do my best and see how we go tomorrow."

Liam Lawson: "After missing P3 we expected the start of quali to be tough, as we missed a lot of soft tyre prep that others got in. So, to be honest the first laps were expected to be off and then we were planning to just build through the session. But obviously going off on that second lap put everything out of order a bit. The last lap was decent until the final sector, we were about half a second up and we should have just kept improving but I had a big drop with my tyres and made a mistake - that's the main reason we are out, it was stupid from me. Getting the tyres in the right window is something we have been battling with both cars this weekend and it's something we missed practising with, when we had an improved set-up, with a big step up for P3. Missing P3 doesn't help any of this, we have had a huge lack of running, but I also shouldn't be going off. If I had put it together, we wouldn't be in this situation. It is obviously not a good start, but we will have tomorrow to try and make something out of it, the weather is set to be variable, so we'll see. I would love some rain to come to throw some options in there for us."

Charles Leclerc: The lap wasn't great, all in all, we just didn't have the pace today. We mainly struggled with the balance of the car and putting it all together, so we have some work to do. We expect rain and tricky conditions for the race, so we will give it everything and see what's possible.

Lewis Hamilton: It isn't quite where we wanted to be but overall I'm satisfied with the progress we have made over the past two days. We didn't expect to be eight or nine tenths behind pole but given this is a weekend of firsts for me, I didn't underestimate how steep the learning curve would be. Charles has more experience of course, but I'm building confidence with the car and learning how to unlock its potential.

George Russell: I'm very happy with how today went. We struggled in the hotter conditions last year, and that was true yesterday. That was a very useful day of learning for us; we went away overnight, and the team worked hard to try and understand why we were lacking on the Soft tyre compared to the Medium and Hard compounds. We found some areas of improvement that were beneficial, and we can hopefully continue pushing in this direction.

Whilst we are still a few tenths behind the McLarens, we're starting P4 for the first race of the season, and that is encouraging. It could have potentially been a little better too as Q3 was tricky for us. I lost three tenths in the last couple of corners on my first push lap and didn't improve significantly on my final effort.

Finally, whilst Kimi was unfortunate to be knocked out in Q1, he has shown great signs of speed this weekend and he'll soon be right up there. Tomorrow is a new day and, with the weather forecast showing rain, it's going to be all to play for. Hopefully, we can be in the mix.

Kimi Antonelli: That was an unfortunate Qualifying session to start the season. As I came through turn six on my first push lap on the Soft tyre, there was some gravel on track and I ran slightly wide. It was not enough to really impact my lap time, but the car hit the exit kerb harder than I expected and I suffered some significant floor damage. I could feel the car bottoming on the straight and costing me a lot of performance. Without the damage, I am sure it would have been a very different story for us.

Starting P16 is of course not ideal. That is particularly true when you look at our pace in FP3 as I think we could have been challenging near the front of the grid. It is what it is though and now we look ahead to tomorrow. The forecast is for rain and that will hopefully present us with some opportunities. I'm looking forward to it and getting my first F1 race under my belt.

Lance Stroll: "I think after everything we've seen this weekend P13 was a good result for us. We were just missing a tenth or two in Q2. It's not where we want to be, but relative to the rest of the weekend Qualifying was our most competitive session. It looks like it's going to be an interesting race tomorrow; if there's rain it could mix things up. There are opportunities for points in those conditions but you need to have the confidence in the car beneath you."

Fernando Alonso: "I'm pleased with today's Qualifying as we ended up being close to the top 10 despite suffering with some floor damage during Q2. Q1 ended up being pretty good for us and we were comfortably in the top 10. I then ran wide at Turn 10 in Q2 and it damaged the floor a little. I think it's a good sign that we were fighting for Q3 for the first Qualifying session of the season. Let's see if it rains tomorrow as it's not an easy place to race in the wet due to the visibility. We are ready and hopefully we can score points tomorrow."

Pierre Gasly: "We have been trying to find our feet all weekend and today I am pleased with the end result with ninth place in Qualifying. I would say that was close to the maximum today after some impressive pace from some of our rivals. We focus on ourselves, though, and I am happy with the steps we have made session by session. We got there in the end and the car felt strong enough to take us to Q3. As always, we all want more but we have an eye on tomorrow with the threat of some rain in the race. We are in a decent spot on the grid to be in contention for points and we will give it our best to begin the season on a positive note."

Jack Doohan: "A good day today and a positive Qualifying. We were unfortunate to be caught out by the yellow flag at the end of Q2 but these things happen and our pace looked strong before that. We need to focus on what we can control and when we had the possibilities we delivered. We made some changes between Free Practice 3 and Qualifying, which meant I felt more comfortable in the car straight away. A huge thank you to the team, both trackside and back at Enstone and Viry who worked hard to get us in the right place. Now our focus shifts to tomorrow. The goal will be to maximise the opportunities that present themselves, especially with whatever the weather may bring. We will need to position ourselves well strategically to get the best chance to progress up the field. I am looking forward to taking in the experience, making the most of our package and enjoying the rest of the weekend in front of the home crowd."

Esteban Ocon: "It's been difficult, a bit of a surprise to be honest compared to where we looked in testing. Historically, it's been a difficult track for the team, but we didn't expect to be this far back. We've made steps in each session which is encouraging, but we clearly need more. Tomorrow, we'll go again and try to get the maximum out of the opportunity with rain forecast."

Oliver Bearman : "It's disappointing to not get a lap on the board but it's been a messy weekend so far. I think tomorrow will be interesting, and then we can move on. As a team we've struggled a little bit and of course I haven't run all weekend, and that's made it tough for the team to understand as they've been only running one car, so I can only apologize to the team."

Alex Albon: We were aiming for top ten, so P6 is fantastic and I'm very happy. We have a great car, easy to drive, predictable; it feels like a much more driveable car this year. It's really tight out there and it's going to be a dogfight in the midfield this year, but this is a great place for us to start. It also feels like Qualifying is not even the best bit of the car; where we've made the biggest improvement is the race pace. We've done some big things back at Grove. We have paid attention to this year, we are starting on the right weight and we are in a much healthier place than we were this time last year. When I look at where we were a year ago up to now, we're in a completely different position. I'm very proud of the team today and there are good vibes. We're expecting rain tomorrow and nobody has done a lap on the Intermediate or Wet tyre so let's see what happens.

Carlos Sainz: First of all, I'm very happy for the entire team, for Alex and for myself. It's my first Qualifying with Williams and we have achieved our main objective of getting into Q3 with both cars. The hard work that everyone has done during the winter has paid off with a great step forward and I'm proud of the team. On my side, I had a bit of a scrappy Qualifying to be honest. However, I'm not concerned. There are many things that I still need to understand from this car and I'm sure better laps will come soon! Tomorrow, under rain, I will also have to adapt quickly but I'm excited about the race. We will try to maximise every opportunity. This is only the beginning!

Nico Hulkenberg: "The first lap was okay, but I still don't feel like being the boss in the car and it takes a while to grow confidence. On my second quick lap I had a bit of traffic in sector one, which basically knocked me out in Q1. When you look at the times the field is very compact, which means that small things can have a big impact. It feels like we didn't maximise our opportunities today, which is not a real surprise, given that it's early days with a new team and a new car. Let's see what the conditions will be like tomorrow. If it rains, it will be a new game. We will do our best."

Gabriel Borteleto: "I'm feeling quite okay - I think we did a decent job as a team, maximising the learnings from the three practice sessions. Q1 went smoothly; we put everything together and made the cut. I think making it into Q2 in my first-ever qualifying is definitely not bad. I wanted to give it a shot at Q3 and pushed a little too hard on my lap - I still managed to keep the car on track, but it didn't really make sense to try again. Still, I think we can be quite satisfied with the job done today. Looking ahead to tomorrow, there's a high chance of rain: anything can happen in these conditions, especially on a circuit like this. With a clean race and no mistakes, I think we can achieve a decent result, so I am looking forward to it."