Mercedes
Russell certainly looked in the mix from the word go on Saturday, winding up on top of the standings in FP3 to really give the championship rivals something to consider. He made Q3 comfortably and thus had two sets of fresh tyres to work with, but his car suddenly became more of a handful and after fighting it on his first lap, he got all out of shape in the final corner of his second hot lap. He was also tempted to try and get a tow from Verstappen, who would have loved a car in between himself and the papaya ones – but the timing did not work.
Antonelli was eliminated in Q2, radioing afterwards to say the rear of his car was missing in action when it mattered. That ended a tricky day for the youngster, who suffered front wing damage when he was released in the pits into the path of Tsunoda in FP3, the duo making contact for which the team were later fined for an unsafe release.
George Russell, 4th, 1:22.645
“We were near the top of the timing screens in both Q1 and Q2, but we knew that Verstappen and the two McLarens had more pace to show come Q3. That turned out to be the case, and I think P4 was ultimately us maximising the package we had this evening. Q3 didn’t go too smoothly on our side but I don’t think we were ever in the fight for the front-row.
“Tomorrow’s race will be interesting with the three title contenders starting ahead of us. On ultimate pace, I don’t believe that our race is with them but there could be some strategic implications of that battle that open opportunities for us. We will be considering every eventuality that can help us gain positions and ultimately bring home the points we need to secure P2 in the Constructors’ Championship. That is our only focus for tomorrow and, if we can do that, we can end the season on a high.”
Kimi Antonelli, 14th, 1:23.080
“Qualifying started well in Q1. I was happy with the balance of the car and was able to extract a decent lap time out of it. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case in Q2, and we were knocked out in what was a very tight session. That was a shame as I think we had the pace to be starting in the top six for tomorrow’s race.
“Despite tonight’s disappointment, we will refocus now for Sunday’s race. We will do our best to get back into the points and secure P2 in the Constructors’ Championship for the team. Every point could be crucial so that is what my full focus is on. It is important for all of us that we achieve that and end the season on a positive note. Hopefully we can do that and I can end my rookie season in F1 on a high.”
Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport
“Qualifying didn’t go quite the way we wanted today. P4 is an OK position to start but obviously P14 is less so. The car has been on a bit of a knife’s edge this weekend. At moments we’ve had good performance, but it’s been difficult to extract consistently. We saw that this evening where we topped Q2 but also had one car fail to make it through. The narrow gaps between all cars also meant that any small mistake was punished heavily.
“Despite having the three drivers who will be fighting for the title in front of him tomorrow, I am sure George will just be focused on driving his own race. He will be looking to end his season on a high and hopefully he can do that by getting on the podium. That will be the same with Kimi even though it will be a challenge for him to fight back into the major points-scoring positions. Let’s see how it all plays out though, and we will be ready to take advantage of any opportunities that come our way.”
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director
“The session was a bit of a disappointment considering that we’d shown good pace earlier today and in the opening stages of qualifying. George was the only car to get through Q1 on a single new set of Soft tyres and Kimi’s second push lap put him P3. For Kimi though, his session began it to unravel in Q2. We didn’t change anything in our approach, but he started to get the odd snap which in turn caused high temperatures and compounded these issues. Unfortunately, he couldn’t reproduce his Q1 pace and finished the session in P14.
“George was quickest in Q2, once again on a single new set of Soft tyres but then had similar issues with a loss of rear grip in Q3. With the pace of Verstappen in the Red Bull and the two McLarens, P4 wasn’t a bad result. It was slightly frustrating given what we had seen earlier but if we have good race pace tomorrow, we can still score good points with both cars. That is our sole focus as we look to bring home P2 in the Constructors’ Championship.”
