News
26th July 2014, 18:40
Sebastian Vettel on his determination to carry the fight to Nico Rosberg on Sunday; Daniil Kvyat on his 'frustration' at spinning out of Q2 while on a quick lap; and Sauber on the tantalising prospect of scoring their first points of the season after a strong performance in qualifying.
The drivers and senior team personnel give their verdicts on Saturday in Hungary...
Red Bull
Daniel Ricciardo (4th, Q3 - 1:23.391)
"The car feels pretty good this weekend. In Q1 and Q2 we were looking good, but when the rain came in Q3 we couldn't get the temperature back in the tyres quick enough for one timed lap so I'm a bit disappointed not to be further up the grid. It would be good to be on the front row, but fourth isn't a disaster. It's hard to overtake around this circuit, so we need to aim to make as few stops tomorrow as possible."
Sebastian Vettel (2nd, Q3 - 1:23.201)
"After Q2 I thought if we got everything right then we might have been closer to the Mercedes at the end than we were. Nico's lap was very strong and it's difficult to match them. But let's see tomorrow, a lot of things can change if it rains and it may do tomorrow. We just have to focus on ourselves and, if we get a chance, try to make a pass, but the Mercedes is quite a bit quicker than us on the straights. The nature of the circuit here suits us more than it did in Germany, but we're still quite far off the pace of the Mercedes."
Christian Horner, Red Bull team principal
"It's a great team performance to line up second and fourth, on the first and second row of the grid. Both drivers did a great job, Sebastian extracted everything he could from the car and really seems to be in great form this weekend. Daniel as well put in a very strong performance to line up fourth on the grid. Hopefully we can capitalise on those strong grid positions in tomorrow's race."
Thierry Salvi, Renault Sport F1
"The Hungaroring, with its high downforce and short straights, suits our cars well. Qualy was a bit up and down with the weather changes coming into play for Q3. We were obviously in a rush to go out as soon as possible to set a lap time in the driest conditions. Managing the car and tyres in such a situation is always difficult but the team did it well today. Both drivers likewise did their jobs with Seb getting into second place and Daniel just behind the top three. It is an encouraging result for the team and we need to push again tomorrow to confirm this position."
Marussia
Jules Bianchi (16th, Q2 - 1:27.419)
"I'm really, really happy to be starting the race from 16thposition, after making it to Q2 once more, and in the dry, without any tricky conditions. We did not have the best start to the weekend but we have made up for that today. My first run was not so good, as I made a mistake, but on the second run we had a perfect qualifying. So we are in Q2 for the second time this year and that is great for me and the team. Tomorrow will not be an easy race but I hope it can be a good one."
Max Chilton (19th, Q1 - 1:27.819)
"Obviously I'm pretty disappointed with today's result. It's been a bit of a struggle so far this weekend, but we had managed to improve the car for qualifying, so it's a real shame that we weren't able to see what we could do with those improvements. The first run was good but on the second run I had an electrical problem which meant I had no power and so I wasn't able to do my quick lap. I think based on how the car was feeling on the first run, we could have had Kobayashi today and been much closer to Jules. It's always a tough race here and difficult to overtake, so tomorrow won't be easy, but we'll give it our best shot."
John Booth, Marussia team principal
"Again, it seems we have had a day of two halves. Jules was much happier with the car balance this morning and with his engineers made more progress through FP3 on improving the balance. We had a small hiccup with a suspension change at the end of the session, which meant he missed getting a time on the option tyre, but at least he was able to feel the balance of the car. In qualifying he made an error on his first lap but he came back brilliantly to post a time that was good for Q2. Of course, it is clear that we were helped by the guys running primes, but still this is all part of the strategy for Q1 and we nailed it correctly. With Max FP3 went more smoothly but he was not as happy with the car as he had been in FP2. Again, working diligently with his engineers, they improved the car for qualifying and on the first run he was much happier. For the second run I'm afraid we had an electronics issue, which meant the car was stuck in a mode that gave Max no power and we were unable to fix this via the steering wheel switches, so he missed the lap. Overall we can be happy we got it right with Jules and we are sorry for Max. We have to get on top of these issues, which could have caught either car out today."
Sauber
Esteban Gutierrez (14th, Q2 - 1:25.260)
"Overall it was a positive day for us. I think the whole team did a very good job during the weekend. We explored the set-up quite a lot on Friday and we managed to put everything together for today. We need to keep going in this direction, as we found some tenths and we have come closer to the teams in front of us. Adrian did a very good lap at the end. On my last flying lap I got the yellow flags, so I had to interrupt my run and came into the pits immediately. Tomorrow could be interesting due to the weather conditions. It can be a tricky race."
Adrian Sutil (12th, Q2 - 1:25.136)
"It was an exciting qualifying. Twelfth is my best result so far this season. We were quite competitive today and so driving is much more fun. Although it was difficult to adapt my driving, as we had another set-up in the morning. It was not easy to put a perfect lap together. Finally, it was important to keep cool. My engineer and myself worked perfectly together. This result is very important considering our current situation. I am happy about the great team effort today."
Monisha Kaltenborn, Sauber team principal
"A positive result in qualifying, which is particularly important on this track, where overtaking is difficult. The whole team did a solid job which puts us in a good position for the race, and that might open up the opportunity for points tomorrow."
Giampaolo Dall'Ara , Sauber head of track engineering
"P12 and P 14 is a good achievement, although we know that we still have to improve. On this track particularly it's beneficial to have good grid positions, because it can open up some interesting scenarios in terms of strategy. On top of that, there is the unstable weather which can add to this. In general the day was fine. We felt this morning we could match some of our competitors. Everybody in the team did a good job, so we are ready for an interesting race tomorrow."
Toro Rosso
Daniil Kvyat (11th, Q2 - 1:24.706)
"It could have been an easy Q3 for me today, but unfortunately I locked the rear and I spun. I'm frustrated with myself for this mistake, but I'm confident I will learn from this. I will put this behind me now and focus on tomorrow. It's not easy to overtake on this track, but we will do our best from P11, which is not such a bad position to start from."
Jean-Eric Vergne (8th, Q3 - 1:24.720)
"It was a good qualifying session. The team has done a great job overnight to give me a car today that I felt much better with than yesterday, so well done to everybody and thanks for the great effort. It's really encouraging for tomorrow, we just have to keep our head down and stay focussed. I will give it my hundred percent and aim to finish the race as high as possible and score some good points."
Phil Charles, Toro Rosso chief race engineer
"That was an exciting Qualifying session. Similar to last weekend, we've made a step forward from Friday to Saturday's Qualifying. We had the pace for both cars to get into Q3 in dry conditions, which is encouraging. Unfortunately Daniil made a mistake and had a little spin, which was a real shame because he has worked hard all weekend and would have deserved to be in Q3. JEV did a good job in Q3 again in tricky conditions and we are pleased with his lap. Starting from P8 he should be in a good position to have a strong race tomorrow. All in all, we are pleased with the work the drivers and also the engineers have done to improve the car."
Ricardo Penteado, Renault Sport F1 track support leader
"The conditions made the session incredibly intense. Fuel consumption changes as the track dries or gets wet, so it kept us on our toes! JEV did a great job while Daniil was unlucky to spin on his fastest lap, which would have been good enough to put another car into the top ten. Power unit wise we had no issues and look forward to convert this into a strong performance tomorrow."
Caterham
Kamui Kobayashi (18th, Q1 - 1:27.139)
"FP3 started with similar conditions to yesterday. We'd made quite a few changes overnight but the car still felt a little snappy, particularly at the rear, but throughout the session we improved the balance, both with setup and as the grip levels evolved. There was still a bit too much switching between understeer and oversteer but when we went onto the options it was better so we went into quali feeling quite positive.
"In Q1 we went for two runs on the options and my quickest lap on the first put us into 16th and with the problems for the Mercedes and the Lotus it looked like we had a chance to fight for Q2. We waited until the last possible moment to go out again at the end of the session and my first lap was good, but on the second flying lap the tyres were gone and I couldn't get any more out of them. The car has improved quite a bit over the weekend but I still don't think I could have got any more out of it today."
Marcus Ericsson (20th, Q1 - 1:28.643)
"For me the car was better in FP3 than it was yesterday, altogether more stable, but the balance was still inconsistent, going from a bit of understeer to oversteer in different corners. We tried a couple of changes to try and sort that out and although we did make a small improvement it was still not where I wanted it at the end of FP3.
"Unfortunately it was the same in qualifying. I just couldn't find the laptime as the car's balance kept changing in nearly every corner and I couldn't push anywhere. It's pretty frustrating as we know there's a lot more time in there, but with the way it was handling there wasn't any more I could do. However, on the long runs yesterday it was much better on high fuel and, as we've seen today, quite a few teams are having issues here, so we need to make sure we keep up the same strong reliability tomorrow that we've had all weekend and be there if any opportunities come our way in the race."
Cedrik Staudohar, Renault Sport F1 track support leader
"Everything was under control in FP3 with no immediate issues. We were able to analyse everything and adjust for qualifying. We had no problems on Kamui's car and a strong lap put him into a good position for tomorrow. Marcus had a small problem with the throttle but it did not seem to affect performance or driveability. We'll see what we can do tomorrow, particularly if the rain comes!"
More to follow...
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The drivers and senior team personnel give their verdicts on Saturday in Hungary...
Red Bull
Daniel Ricciardo (4th, Q3 - 1:23.391)
"The car feels pretty good this weekend. In Q1 and Q2 we were looking good, but when the rain came in Q3 we couldn't get the temperature back in the tyres quick enough for one timed lap so I'm a bit disappointed not to be further up the grid. It would be good to be on the front row, but fourth isn't a disaster. It's hard to overtake around this circuit, so we need to aim to make as few stops tomorrow as possible."
Sebastian Vettel (2nd, Q3 - 1:23.201)
"After Q2 I thought if we got everything right then we might have been closer to the Mercedes at the end than we were. Nico's lap was very strong and it's difficult to match them. But let's see tomorrow, a lot of things can change if it rains and it may do tomorrow. We just have to focus on ourselves and, if we get a chance, try to make a pass, but the Mercedes is quite a bit quicker than us on the straights. The nature of the circuit here suits us more than it did in Germany, but we're still quite far off the pace of the Mercedes."
Christian Horner, Red Bull team principal
"It's a great team performance to line up second and fourth, on the first and second row of the grid. Both drivers did a great job, Sebastian extracted everything he could from the car and really seems to be in great form this weekend. Daniel as well put in a very strong performance to line up fourth on the grid. Hopefully we can capitalise on those strong grid positions in tomorrow's race."
Thierry Salvi, Renault Sport F1
"The Hungaroring, with its high downforce and short straights, suits our cars well. Qualy was a bit up and down with the weather changes coming into play for Q3. We were obviously in a rush to go out as soon as possible to set a lap time in the driest conditions. Managing the car and tyres in such a situation is always difficult but the team did it well today. Both drivers likewise did their jobs with Seb getting into second place and Daniel just behind the top three. It is an encouraging result for the team and we need to push again tomorrow to confirm this position."
Marussia
Jules Bianchi (16th, Q2 - 1:27.419)
"I'm really, really happy to be starting the race from 16thposition, after making it to Q2 once more, and in the dry, without any tricky conditions. We did not have the best start to the weekend but we have made up for that today. My first run was not so good, as I made a mistake, but on the second run we had a perfect qualifying. So we are in Q2 for the second time this year and that is great for me and the team. Tomorrow will not be an easy race but I hope it can be a good one."
Max Chilton (19th, Q1 - 1:27.819)
"Obviously I'm pretty disappointed with today's result. It's been a bit of a struggle so far this weekend, but we had managed to improve the car for qualifying, so it's a real shame that we weren't able to see what we could do with those improvements. The first run was good but on the second run I had an electrical problem which meant I had no power and so I wasn't able to do my quick lap. I think based on how the car was feeling on the first run, we could have had Kobayashi today and been much closer to Jules. It's always a tough race here and difficult to overtake, so tomorrow won't be easy, but we'll give it our best shot."
John Booth, Marussia team principal
"Again, it seems we have had a day of two halves. Jules was much happier with the car balance this morning and with his engineers made more progress through FP3 on improving the balance. We had a small hiccup with a suspension change at the end of the session, which meant he missed getting a time on the option tyre, but at least he was able to feel the balance of the car. In qualifying he made an error on his first lap but he came back brilliantly to post a time that was good for Q2. Of course, it is clear that we were helped by the guys running primes, but still this is all part of the strategy for Q1 and we nailed it correctly. With Max FP3 went more smoothly but he was not as happy with the car as he had been in FP2. Again, working diligently with his engineers, they improved the car for qualifying and on the first run he was much happier. For the second run I'm afraid we had an electronics issue, which meant the car was stuck in a mode that gave Max no power and we were unable to fix this via the steering wheel switches, so he missed the lap. Overall we can be happy we got it right with Jules and we are sorry for Max. We have to get on top of these issues, which could have caught either car out today."
Sauber
Esteban Gutierrez (14th, Q2 - 1:25.260)
"Overall it was a positive day for us. I think the whole team did a very good job during the weekend. We explored the set-up quite a lot on Friday and we managed to put everything together for today. We need to keep going in this direction, as we found some tenths and we have come closer to the teams in front of us. Adrian did a very good lap at the end. On my last flying lap I got the yellow flags, so I had to interrupt my run and came into the pits immediately. Tomorrow could be interesting due to the weather conditions. It can be a tricky race."
Adrian Sutil (12th, Q2 - 1:25.136)
"It was an exciting qualifying. Twelfth is my best result so far this season. We were quite competitive today and so driving is much more fun. Although it was difficult to adapt my driving, as we had another set-up in the morning. It was not easy to put a perfect lap together. Finally, it was important to keep cool. My engineer and myself worked perfectly together. This result is very important considering our current situation. I am happy about the great team effort today."
Monisha Kaltenborn, Sauber team principal
"A positive result in qualifying, which is particularly important on this track, where overtaking is difficult. The whole team did a solid job which puts us in a good position for the race, and that might open up the opportunity for points tomorrow."
Giampaolo Dall'Ara , Sauber head of track engineering
"P12 and P 14 is a good achievement, although we know that we still have to improve. On this track particularly it's beneficial to have good grid positions, because it can open up some interesting scenarios in terms of strategy. On top of that, there is the unstable weather which can add to this. In general the day was fine. We felt this morning we could match some of our competitors. Everybody in the team did a good job, so we are ready for an interesting race tomorrow."
Toro Rosso
Daniil Kvyat (11th, Q2 - 1:24.706)
"It could have been an easy Q3 for me today, but unfortunately I locked the rear and I spun. I'm frustrated with myself for this mistake, but I'm confident I will learn from this. I will put this behind me now and focus on tomorrow. It's not easy to overtake on this track, but we will do our best from P11, which is not such a bad position to start from."
Jean-Eric Vergne (8th, Q3 - 1:24.720)
"It was a good qualifying session. The team has done a great job overnight to give me a car today that I felt much better with than yesterday, so well done to everybody and thanks for the great effort. It's really encouraging for tomorrow, we just have to keep our head down and stay focussed. I will give it my hundred percent and aim to finish the race as high as possible and score some good points."
Phil Charles, Toro Rosso chief race engineer
"That was an exciting Qualifying session. Similar to last weekend, we've made a step forward from Friday to Saturday's Qualifying. We had the pace for both cars to get into Q3 in dry conditions, which is encouraging. Unfortunately Daniil made a mistake and had a little spin, which was a real shame because he has worked hard all weekend and would have deserved to be in Q3. JEV did a good job in Q3 again in tricky conditions and we are pleased with his lap. Starting from P8 he should be in a good position to have a strong race tomorrow. All in all, we are pleased with the work the drivers and also the engineers have done to improve the car."
Ricardo Penteado, Renault Sport F1 track support leader
"The conditions made the session incredibly intense. Fuel consumption changes as the track dries or gets wet, so it kept us on our toes! JEV did a great job while Daniil was unlucky to spin on his fastest lap, which would have been good enough to put another car into the top ten. Power unit wise we had no issues and look forward to convert this into a strong performance tomorrow."
Caterham
Kamui Kobayashi (18th, Q1 - 1:27.139)
"FP3 started with similar conditions to yesterday. We'd made quite a few changes overnight but the car still felt a little snappy, particularly at the rear, but throughout the session we improved the balance, both with setup and as the grip levels evolved. There was still a bit too much switching between understeer and oversteer but when we went onto the options it was better so we went into quali feeling quite positive.
"In Q1 we went for two runs on the options and my quickest lap on the first put us into 16th and with the problems for the Mercedes and the Lotus it looked like we had a chance to fight for Q2. We waited until the last possible moment to go out again at the end of the session and my first lap was good, but on the second flying lap the tyres were gone and I couldn't get any more out of them. The car has improved quite a bit over the weekend but I still don't think I could have got any more out of it today."
Marcus Ericsson (20th, Q1 - 1:28.643)
"For me the car was better in FP3 than it was yesterday, altogether more stable, but the balance was still inconsistent, going from a bit of understeer to oversteer in different corners. We tried a couple of changes to try and sort that out and although we did make a small improvement it was still not where I wanted it at the end of FP3.
"Unfortunately it was the same in qualifying. I just couldn't find the laptime as the car's balance kept changing in nearly every corner and I couldn't push anywhere. It's pretty frustrating as we know there's a lot more time in there, but with the way it was handling there wasn't any more I could do. However, on the long runs yesterday it was much better on high fuel and, as we've seen today, quite a few teams are having issues here, so we need to make sure we keep up the same strong reliability tomorrow that we've had all weekend and be there if any opportunities come our way in the race."
Cedrik Staudohar, Renault Sport F1 track support leader
"Everything was under control in FP3 with no immediate issues. We were able to analyse everything and adjust for qualifying. We had no problems on Kamui's car and a strong lap put him into a good position for tomorrow. Marcus had a small problem with the throttle but it did not seem to affect performance or driveability. We'll see what we can do tomorrow, particularly if the rain comes!"
More to follow...
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For FORMULA 1 merchandise,