Russia: F1 GP Qualifying Seen from the Pits

Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton – Pole position

Nico Rosberg – 2nd

Toto Wolff, team principal

It was yet another great battle between our drivers, with Lewis taking the win at the very end. It was a tough fight in every stint, Nico started stronger, then Lewis managed to find a little extra each time in the second and third timed laps. The performance increased with each stint and it seemed that Valtteri in his Williams was going to cause an upset at the end – he was faster in the first two sectors, but then he made a mistake in the last corner and didn’t improve.

But we have every reason to be happy with a front row for the Silver Arrows at the end of an unusual qualifying session. We hope that the competition will be high between Williams and McLaren, as it should be in Formula 1, so we will need to be at our best in terms of performance and strategy. A special word too for Daniil Kvyat: he did a great job qualifying fifth for his home race.

– Read the drivers’ statements

Williams

Valtteri Bottas – 3rd

Felipe Massa – 18th

Rob Smedley, Performance Director: « From a performance standpoint, I am very happy with the car’s pace so far this weekend. Valtteri did an excellent job and second place was possible if he had nailed all his sectors. Our reliability record has been very good all season, and it’s something we can be proud of, but unfortunately we had a problem with Felipe’s car in Q1, which is very disappointing. We have an excellent car, and we are confident that in the race, we can have both cars finish ahead of the teams we are fighting for the championship with, which is our goal at this stage of the season. »

– Read the drivers’ statements

McLaren

Jenson Button – 4th

Kevin Magnussen – 6th [11th on the grid]

Eric Boullier, Director of Racing: In qualifying, we made significant changes to revert to the settings used yesterday, and the result was conclusive; 4th place for Jenson and 6th place for Kevin. Okay, P4 and P6 equate to our best combined qualifying performance of the year, which is obviously a welcome recovery after the difficult morning we had, yet we remain with a feeling of frustration. With all probability, if we could have maximized the FP3 session, and then capitalized on the additional development time brought by this optimization, we could have been even faster in qualifying.

Now, […] it is clear that Jenson and Kevin have enough pace to achieve a good performance tomorrow. Kevin will be handicapped by being relegated to 11th place, although it is not his fault, but, despite that, there is no reason why, like Jenson, he cannot bring back some points for the championship.

– Read the drivers’ statements

Toro Rosso

Daniil Kvyat – 5th

Jean-Eric Vergne – 10th [9th on the grid]

Ricardo Penteado, Renault Sport F1 Track Support Manager: Needless to say, it was a fantastic qualifying session for the whole team, especially for Daniil who is obviously thrilled to start 5th in front of his home crowd tomorrow. Both energy and fuel management are very good, but we will continue to work hard tonight to give our two drivers all the necessary tools to fight tomorrow. Finally, it was nice to be ahead of our big brothers at Red Bull in qualifying. But let’s not count our chickens before they’ve hatched!

– Read the drivers’ statements

Red Bull

Daniel Ricciardo – 7th [6th on the grid]

Sebastian Vettel – 11th [10th on the grid]

Christian Horner, Team Principal: « A difficult session for our two drivers, who finish in what will be the 6th and 10th positions. We have struggled with one-lap pace so far this weekend, fortunately, our long runs were better, and we can build from these positions. »

– Read the drivers’ statements

Ferrari

Fernando Alonso – 8th [7th on the grid]

Kimi Räikkönen – 9th [8th on the grid]

Pat Fry, Chassis Director

« Yesterday, it was evident that the tire performance was unusual compared to that on other tracks, mainly due to the track surface. This is reminiscent of the situation during the first Saturday in Austin, where the best times came after a number of laps. Today, like that time, the main difficulty was choosing the right amount of fuel to produce maximum performance while ensuring that we could complete the necessary number of laps to achieve that best performance. Added to this, of course, is the effect produced by the track’s evolution. Today’s result reflects the hierarchy seen last week in Suzuka, with Williams being more competitive, the Red Bull getting closer, and some surprises, like the two Toro Rosso cars. With Magnussen’s penalty, we gain a place on the starting grid, but it is only tomorrow that we will know the overtaking possibilities on this circuit. There is a strong chance of seeing the safety car considering the close walls and the fact that there aren’t many escape routes. This can be seen as a risk and at the same time an opportunity; we must be ready to react. »

– Lire les déclarations des pilotes

Force India

Nico Hülkenberg – 12th [17th on the grid]

Sergio Pérez – 13th [12th on the grid]

Vijay Mallya, team president

A spot in Q3 was out of our reach today, but the margins were very small and a tenth or two could have made the difference. Nico’s penalty is unfortunate, and it presents an even greater challenge for us tomorrow due to the limited strategic options on a circuit where overtaking appears very difficult. However, it’s a brand-new track here, and there are many unknowns that could come into play. So we remain optimistic about converting our starting positions into points, and we will give it our all as usual.

– Read the drivers’ statements

Sauber

Esteban Gutierrez – 14th [13th on the grid]

Adrian Sutil – 15th [14th on the grid]

Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal: « Compared to Friday’s results, we knew what we would be able to achieve. Our grid positions are what we could have expected. Regarding the race, once again the goal will be to make no mistakes and to be ready when opportunities arise. »

– Read the drivers’ statements

Lotus

Translate: Romain Grosjean – 16th [15th on the grid]

Pastor Maldonado – 20th

Alan Permane, Director of Track Operations

Pastor encountered issues that prevented him from completing a representative lap, and Romain struggled with grip, so the qualifying result is quite far from where we wanted to be. Pastor lost track time this morning and then faced other problems at the start of qualifying, which led to a gearbox issue. Romain couldn’t find enough grip to be able to set a fast time.

– Read the drivers’ statements

Caterham

Marcus Ericsson – 17th [16th on the grid]

Kamui Kobayashi – 19th

Manfredi Ravetto, Team Director: « We have continuously improved and we can be very satisfied with what the team has achieved today and in recent races compared to where we were four months ago. Not only have we qualified ahead of Marussia, but we have also outpaced a Lotus and are now regularly competing with them. We have made some steps forward, certainly small but solid, since the start of the second half of the season in Belgium, and here in Russia we have confirmed that by working hard and with determination, we can get closer and closer to our main competitors and beat them as we did today. I am very proud of the team – we are doing a great job and we must continue in this direction. »

– Read the drivers’ statements

Marussia

Max Chilton – 21st

Dave Greenwood, Chief Engineer: « Another day of digging deep to focus on the ongoing work in Sochi. Yesterday, we mentioned the strength of the team, but today we saw the burden on Max’s shoulders. It’s a brand new circuit and the first benchmark for a driver is always his teammate with equal equipment. Max is driving alone here. We had to deal with a transmission problem that cost him time during FP3, and there’s no doubt that the lost track time and the setback of not being able to run on soft tires were factors in our performance today.

We don’t think that the gap with Caterham in Q1 is a true reflection of reality, but it will be up to us to prove it in the race tomorrow. The challenge hasn’t become easier this week and the race will certainly still be tough, but hopefully, we will find strength in the fact that, tomorrow, each of us, including Max, will be racing for Jules.

– Read the drivers’ statements