Hear from the grid after the first qualifying session of the season!
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NewsTranscript
00:00Hey Lado, congratulations. What a lap and I loved how you put yourself under a bit of pressure after losing that first run.
00:05Just talk me through how you're feeling right now.
00:07Very good. Yeah, perfect way to start the season so far.
00:11So, yeah, good day.
00:14I definitely was a bit more stressed going into my final lap.
00:19I mean, I knew we were quick, so I knew I just needed to put a lap in, but I want to put a lap in.
00:23That's good enough for Paul and Oscar was pushing me a lot.
00:26So I still had to take some risks.
00:28I still had to put in a good lap, which I did. So I'm very happy.
00:31Ultimately happy. I think I've been pretty happy with how I've driven this weekend.
00:37I feel like I've gotten stronger and stronger as the weekend's gone on.
00:43Obviously wasn't quite enough in qualifying, but I think just well controlled for myself.
00:51And that's how I've wanted to approach the season and approach the weekend.
00:59So I'm ultimately pretty happy with how that's gone.
01:02Considering how much the car's been a bit of a handful so far this weekend, is P3 pretty good in qualy?
01:07Yeah, I mean, after yesterday, I definitely signed up for this.
01:13I think, you know, it's almost four tens in qualifying.
01:15That's still a lot, but at least to be behind them, I think is good from our side.
01:20I think we improved the car quite nicely from yesterday and that's all we could hope for.
01:24I was really pleased with today's running. Every lap we did was competitive.
01:30Always in the top four positions, really. I felt confident.
01:35The team did a great job. We made some big changes last night to the car.
01:39And yeah, you know, the gap to McLaren is large and fair play to Oscar and Lando
01:46because, you know, they both had bad laps at the beginning of Q3.
01:49So the pressure was very high for them on the last lap and they did a great job.
01:52But I think we know at the moment they're out of reach.
01:56I can say definitely it was a magic lap, you know.
02:00I think I was able to put it all together as well.
02:02The quality of lap was best out of previous rounds throughout the week so far.
02:08But also I got a bit of help from Lando until Turn 9 with the tow.
02:12So I mean, combined with everything, that lap time came out a bit of nowhere.
02:19So I'm very happy.
02:21How encouraging is it to feel the car come alive in that final running qualy?
02:25An opportunity I guess you didn't have that much since your time at Williams.
02:28Honestly, even when it wasn't alive, I was enjoying every lap.
02:31It felt amazing to be out there.
02:33This track has got so much grip and just the corners are so flowing.
02:39Yeah, I mean, it's a nice one. First race of the year.
02:41Your neck starts to feel it straight away.
02:45But yeah, regardless, it feels firstly like a totally different car to last year,
02:50but also just a lot of fun.
02:51What happened? You didn't look like you got a second run in that final part of the qualy?
02:54No, I didn't. I mean, the first lap was pretty good.
02:58Second lap wasn't as good. It felt messy.
03:02But all in all, we just didn't quite have the pace.
03:04I was trying to find more, but that pushed me to do a few mistakes and just the rear was quite unstable.
03:10So we struggled quite a bit, which is a shame.
03:13Yesterday we looked strong, but obviously today when we see the real pace of everybody,
03:18we are kind of as we expected.
03:20I had a little spin, just really exploring all the curves and really giving it everything.
03:27I think definitely didn't expect us to be as far off as we were,
03:30but to be that close to Charles in the end in my first qualifying session in this car,
03:36which I really, really am still learning this car.
03:39I've been chipping away at it all weekend, fine-tuning it,
03:42finding new tools that we didn't get to test in testing that I've never used before
03:47and finding out what the differences of those things meant.
03:50I think we've done a good job.
03:52We can see the smile on your face. Are you pleased with that?
03:54Yeah, I must say it was positive because the start of the weekend has been slightly challenging for us.
04:00It's a different feeling than Bahrain.
04:02Obviously different track, different conditions,
04:04but it's been pretty tough to get the car in a good spot.
04:07So I feel like we made some progress throughout the whole weekend to get in that Q3,
04:13which we had to fight hard for it because the gaps were extremely tight and in the end it's P9.
04:18So pretty pleased we set ourselves a good position on the grid for tomorrow.
04:23You're always good in the way it could rain tomorrow.
04:26Do you think that might be able to help make the difference and try and move up the field?
04:29That's for sure the target to improve the position we're starting on.
04:35Quali has been extremely tight. Tomorrow in the wet will be a completely different story,
04:39but we will do the best we can as it will be my first laps in the wet with this car.
04:43So no idea what will happen.
04:45Mixed feelings, honestly. To fail this close from Q3 is really disappointing.
04:51600s and I know where I lost them, so it's a bit harsh.
04:55But yeah, definitely a good result.
04:57I'm more happy about the car performance than anything.
05:01Yuki is fifth, so we have a really nice car and yeah, good day.
05:06I'm positive with the car, fell fast, especially in Q1.
05:09Then I had a mistake in Turn 10, damaged the floor a little bit
05:13and that was I think penalizing for Q2 performance.
05:16But yeah, top 10 maybe was possible today and after all the winter testing
05:20and all the free practice sessions, you never know where are you
05:24until you are in the first qualifying of the year.
05:26And I think we were competitive, so I'm happy.
05:30Yeah, I think it's been a decent day considering where we've been all weekend.
05:36It was one of our more competitive sessions, so see what we can do tomorrow.
05:39Yeah, there's a bunch of positives to take away.
05:43Unfortunate, but it's out of our control.
05:45I think regardless, we maximized our package today.
05:50Took a little while to get there with the car,
05:52but we ended up on quite a good platform come Q1
05:55and I was feeling comfortable, which was nice.
05:57And yeah, I think when we had the possibilities,
06:00we delivered, which was looking quite strong.
06:02And just a huge thank you to the team
06:05and everyone trackside and also back at the factory.
06:08Yeah, I'm feeling OK. It was a good first qualy,
06:11you know, put everything together, didn't crash for a bit.
06:16I think I just tried too hard on Q2.
06:18You know, I knew that I wanted so hard to get to Q3.
06:22Obviously, the chances of getting there weren't probable to happen,
06:28but I was just going to try to do the best corners I could,
06:32but then I think it was a bit too much
06:35and I ran a bit too much the kerb there and, you know, lost everything there.
06:39Just talk me through why it didn't all come together in qualy.
06:42Well, it was a bit unfortunate because, you know,
06:48on the medium, obviously, you needed another lap, the tyre, to come in.
06:53But then, you know, we switched to soft
06:54and I think, you know, after T6, the car was quite damaged.
06:58I think we'll have to wait and see what happens,
07:00you know, what the conditions will be like.
07:01Obviously, being at the back, visibility, if it's wet, will be a big problem.
07:05So, yeah, I don't know. We'll just take it as it comes.
07:08First part of that was fine.
07:10We were on target and then I just made a mistake in the last sector.
07:17I had a big slide through the high speed and it cooked the tyres
07:19and the last sector I just had no tyres and I went off.
07:21So, yeah, it's obviously a silly mistake.
07:25So, probably one that didn't need to happen.
07:27I think we were in a decent position building up from the lap we were on anyway.
07:34So, yeah, pretty frustrating.
07:36It's been difficult, for sure, this weekend.
07:40A bit of a surprise, to be honest, compared to where we looked at the test.
07:45I think historically it's been a difficult track for the team, always.
07:49But, yes, we didn't expect to be that far back.
07:52Yeah, a bit disappointing, of course, to not be able to get a lap on the board.
07:59But, you know, it's been a messy weekend so far.
08:02So, yeah, I think tomorrow will be interesting anyway and then we can put it to bed.