Table of Contents
The Friday in the analysis
That’s it for today, but of course there’s more to come for you! As announced, Kevin Scheuren and Christian Nimmervoll are now reporting their live analysis on the Formel1.de YouTube channel.
The following topics are on the agenda:
– Christian’s analysis from the paddock
– Top 3 within a tenth
– Hamilton & Russell throw away good results
– Bitter Friday for McLaren
– Sebastian Vettel reached the bottom
– Both Haas loose in Q3
– Questions from channel members from live chat
Tomorrow we will get back to you with a new ticker edition and of course there will be a little more on our portal. Here’s a quick look at the most important times on Saturday:
9:30 a.m.: PK of the team bosses
12:30 p.m.: FT2
4:30 p.m.: Sprint
Have fun with our live analysis and see you then!
Norris: Problem with braking system costs Q3
“We should have been in Q3,” said the Brit angrily. However, a problem with the braking system meant that he was unable to set a representative time in Q2. Besides, he had already missed most of FT1 with another problem.
No wonder he speaks of a “disappointing” day. “Technical problems slowed us down today. But that happens sometimes,” said Norris, who now wants to make up at least “a few positions” in the sprint.
It was even worse for Ricciardo, who had already finished work in Q1. The Australian also had problems in FT1. “I don’t want to use that as an excuse,” he emphasizes self-critically.
“We’re just a bit off the pace,” he admits. Not a good day for McLaren. The advantage: Tomorrow it can only get better…
strategy in the sprint
As a reminder: All drivers have free choice of tires in tomorrow’s sprint. Pirelli’s Mario Isola explains: “Today we only saw light wear on the softest compound, which could make it an option for tomorrow’s sprint.”
The medium tire would be a more conservative choice as the yellow tires should definitely last until the end. On the other hand, we shouldn’t see any drivers on the hard tires tomorrow.
Also the departure of Russell…
… we have it here again in the video. By the way, Russell himself says: “I feel fine physically. I’m just a little worried about the car.”
Because the Parc Ferme rules are already in effect. That means the car can be repaired. If the chassis were exchanged, however, he would have to start out of the pits.
But the impact wasn’t really that hard.
Mixed feelings at AlphaTauri
While Gasly is “pretty happy” with P11, Tsunoda is very different after P14. “I’m really disappointed today. I was happy with the balance of the car and how we got through qualifying,” said the Japanese.
“But unfortunately my tires were cold during my last Q2 push,” he says angrily. As a result, his attempt was “ruined” immediately after a mistake in turn 1. According to his own statement, Q3 would definitely have been possible.
Gasly can live with missing the top 10 and explains: “It’s always frustrating to miss Q3 so narrowly. But I have to say that I was pretty happy with my lap, it was pretty clean.”
In addition, you are “in a good position” for the sprint, says Gasly. Tsunoda has a little more work to do.
No grip for Bottas and Zhou
P13 and P18 only for the Alfa Romeo drivers today. Bottas explains: “The feeling in the car wasn’t that bad, but of course it is [P13] not where we want to be. It was tight in midfield and I was missing some grip and top speed.”
“I’ll start from the back on Sunday, but points will also be awarded tomorrow,” Bottas recalled. For team-mate Zhou, meanwhile, it was already over in Q1. He explains: “Today was a frustrating day for me.”
“I had problems with the tires on the first lap on a short track like this. The tires worked much better on the second lap of the run,” said Zhou, who didn’t have enough grip there either.
All in all, not a good day for the Sauber team.
Albon: Points in the weekend?
“Always,” answers the Williams driver confidently after P12 today when asked whether points are the goal in Spielberg. At least they are not that far away from P12. He also explains that his car is tuned more for the race.
“Our goal was race pace before qualifying pace,” he explains. P12 isn’t that bad as a starting position. Incidentally, he himself was “okay”, but not yet back to 100 percent after his accident. With adrenaline, it’s okay in the car.
“It’s good that Austria is the next route [nach dem Unfall] is. If it was Singapore or something, maybe it would be a different story,” Albon admits.
Russell: Best qualifying of the year
We’ll just stick with Mercedes. “It could certainly have been P4,” says Russell, who also speaks of “positive signs”. “Lewis did a phenomenal job, he absolutely flew today,” he says.
On the other hand, he himself may have gone “in the wrong direction” with the set-up. He now hopes that this could turn into the opposite in the race, because his pace is usually better in the race than in qualifying.
And despite his problems, he explains: “As a team, it was perhaps our best qualifying this year in terms of pace.” It just doesn’t show up in the result list after the accidents…
The departure from Hamilton…
… is meanwhile available again here in the video. Incidentally, on ‘Sky’ Toto Wolff explains that his two pilots shouldn’t worry about today’s accidents.
“It can happen that you simply lose the car. I’d rather have a fast car and then qualifying than not having the pace for the top 4,” said Wolff.
Incidentally, the wind was not to blame. “Both of them really pushed at the end and took an incredible amount of entry speed into the corners, and they just ran out of grip there,” he explains.
Speaking of Perez…
The Mexican didn’t comment on his possible penalty, but on his pace, which apart from that wasn’t really good today. He reports that he had some problems in FT1, including with the underbody.
“I couldn’t get into a rhythm,” he explains, adding that the goal in the sprint is now to move up a bit “and to get in a good position for the race on Sunday.” In any case, nothing would be lost from P4.
If he’s allowed to keep the seat…
Is Perez still facing a penalty?
As a reminder, the Mexican is still under investigation due to track limits in Q2. In this minute he is with the stewards. There could still be a penalty in the form of a demotion. Helmut Marko is amazed at the whole process.
Speaking to ‘Sky’, he says: “I don’t understand why you didn’t react earlier, you have all the records. And now that he finished fourth in Q3… So incomprehensible in terms of timing. Let’s see how that goes out.”
Of course we keep an eye on it!
Schumacher: There would have been more
“I think it was one of the more difficult sessions from my side,” he told Sky, adding: “[Ich habe mich] not quite comfortable at the beginning, especially at the beginning of the day.”
“Then we made a few changes, which of course felt better in qualifying. But I still think there was more to it,” he reports after P8.
Understandable, because at least he would have liked to beat his team-mate in P7.
Marko: Tires were the key
The Austrian explains to ‘Sky’: “We were sector 1 and sector 2 [in den Runs davor] significantly faster, but then in the last sector they hardly had any tires left. We used them too much and we changed that a bit.”
That paid off in the last run. Tomorrow, however, it will be “very, very tight,” he predicts, and gives the instructions for the drivers: “Drive error-free and keep the tires alive.”
Always sounds so easy…
Hamilton: “Disappointed in myself”
“It was a big impact, but I’m okay,” reports the record champion after his crash and explains that he is “incredibly disappointed in myself”. He has “no answer” why he crashed.
“I think we fought for a top 3 result,” he said angrily. Instead he will only start from P10 tomorrow. According to Hamilton, it was “positive” that Mercedes had a very strong pace today.
But of course you can’t buy anything after two accidents.
Verstappen: Qualification isn’t really our forte
Of course, the Dutchman is happy about the pole and explains: “Usually we have a great car.” But: “Qualifying is not our strength.” But he knows that he hasn’t won anything today either.
“However, I also know that the points will be awarded tomorrow and the day after tomorrow,” said Verstappen, who wishes “a good start” for the sprint. “I’m confident with the car we have,” said the world champion.
I wouldn’t necessarily bet my money against him tomorrow either…
