Japan: F1 GP Qualifying Seen from the Pits

Mercedes

Nico Rosberg – Pole position

Translate: Lewis Hamilton – 2ème

Paddy Lowe, Executive Director (Technical)

« It’s a result of signing a fourth consecutive front row and our 14th pole of the season. After Lewis’s accident during practice this morning, it was a fantastic recovery by the team to repair the car so both our drivers were ready in time for Q1. We completed the entire planned program, with the first two sessions on a single run and then two runs on Options in the final part. We witnessed a great battle between our two drivers for the front row, and it was superb to see the excellent pace of the car on this circuit, which is very demanding for the engine and aerodynamics. Congratulations in particular to Nico for his pole position; he delivered an impeccable session and very impressive lap times for pole. »

– Read the drivers’ statements

Williams

Valtteri Bottas – 3rd

Felipe Massa – 4th

Rob Smedley

« It was truly a good day’s work. The whole team worked very hard and the drivers delivered on track. The new aero package worked well, so the first step is completed. We are in the expected positions and we think we have a car to maintain the third and fourth positions tomorrow.

The rain could make the day interesting, but for this reason, it is even more important to have qualified at the top of the grid given the difficulties encountered in the rain when in the pack.

– Read the drivers’ statements

Ferrari

Fernando Alonso – 5th

Kimi Räikkönen – 10th

Pat Fry, Chassis Director

« Today has been particularly difficult, starting from the third free practice session when we had to bring Kimi in after finding an anomaly with his power unit. The qualifying went reasonably well, especially for Fernando who finished 5th in all three parts. The Williams have proven they have a good engine and a good level of aerodynamic downforce, but that won’t stop us from attacking them. The performance of the Red Bulls is surprising but no one can underestimate them here.

Unfortunately, the issue with Kimi’s car prevented us from optimizing the balance of his single-seater, which is a very important point on this track, but the mechanics did a fantastic job. In just two hours, they managed to dismantle and reassemble the car, configure a new power unit so that he could take part in the qualification. Tomorrow, a typhoon is expected and we will have to adapt to all weather conditions that will come, as the outcome of the race is not predetermined.

– Read the drivers’ statements

Red Bull

Daniel Ricciardo – 6th

Sebastian Vettel – 9th

Christian Horner, Team Principal: « At first glance, sixth and ninth isn’t brilliant, but with the set-up decision we’ve made for tomorrow’s race, due to the fact that rain is inevitable at some point, we hope to reap the rewards tomorrow. We’ll see in 24 hours. I think Daniel got everything he could out of the car and it was a good thing to have both drivers in Q3. »

– Read the drivers’ statements

McLaren

Kevin Magnussen – 7th

Jenson Button – 8th

Eric Boullier, Race Director

« We were able to build on the development achieved yesterday during free practice 1 and particularly in free practice 2, which results in these positions. Kevin [Magnussen] was unhappy with his lap in Q3, feeling he made some mistakes that cost him a few tenths or more. Nevertheless, he delivered a good performance, especially considering that rookies usually struggle to grasp the complexity of this Suzuka track.

Jenson [Button], too, was not satisfied with his performance in Q3, with a lap 0.075 seconds slower than Kevin. Having said that, Jenson and Kevin are well positioned to score points for the world championship in tomorrow’s race, whether or not it is on a wet track, which is what we actually expect.

– Read the drivers’ statements

Toro Rosso

Jean-Eric Vergne – 11th [21st on the grid]

Daniil Kvyat – 13th [12th on the grid]

Ricardo Penteado, Head of Renault Support: « Today was a labor-intensive day for us with an internal combustion engine change on JEV’s car between FP3 and qualifying, but everything went well, and the mapping and new parts worked as expected. Both drivers did a good job but unfortunately got stuck in traffic for their last run in Q2, which is a shame because we thought we had the pace for Q3. But tomorrow will be a different scenario with the rain, so we’ll see what we can do – hopefully, we can see the same moves as in Singapore! »

– Read the drivers’ statements

Force India

Sergio Pérez – 12th [11th on the grid]

Nico Hülkenberg – 14th [13th on the grid]

Robert Fernley, Team Director

At the start of the qualifying session, we thought reaching Q3 was a realistic possibility, and we should have finished the session higher than 12th and 14th position. Nico made a mistake on his last lap in Q3 while going through the chicane, which cost him a chance to improve. It was a similar situation for Sergio, who had a very good first lap in Q2, but his timing wasn’t right for his second lap, which was compromised by traffic.

So we didn’t get the most out of our car today. It remains to be seen what impact it will have on the final result of tomorrow’s race. The question of the weather is still in the back of our minds, and this will create challenges and opportunities tomorrow.

– Read the drivers’ statements

Sauber

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

Esteban Gutierrez – 16th [15th on the grid]

Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal: « Given that we had a difficult day on Friday, we were able to close the gap with our competitors today. Nonetheless, it is not a satisfactory result. According to the weather forecast, anything is possible tomorrow, so it will be important to focus on the race and seize every opportunity that comes our way. »

– Read the drivers’ statements

Lotus

Pastor Maldonado – 17th [22nd on the grid]

Romain Grosjean – 18th [16th on the grid]

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: « It didn’t go well for us. We saw good potential yesterday, but today we weren’t able to be at the top with the car and neither driver was 100% happy with their qualifying lap. Pastor will start from the back of the grid after his engine penalty, so we have our work cut out for us.

A race in the wet presents many challenges […] It’s either raining – when the track gets wetter and the level of grip decreases – or it’s not raining too much – a racing line emerges and grip increases. What is certain is that we have carried out numerous simulations and we will closely monitor the sky and satellite information. Pirelli will provide us with two types of wet tires, intermediates and wet tires, so the timing regarding their use is crucial to gain positions and achieve a good result.

– Lire les déclarations des pilotes

Marussia

Jules Bianchi – 20th [18th on the grid]

Max Chilton – 22nd [21st on the grid]

John Booth, Team Principal Marussia : This morning’s Free Practice showed us that our two cars had significantly different setups, and Max was in a better position than Jules, who was suffering a lot from oversteer. Our work during the lunch break was therefore to optimize the behavior of Jules’s car as best as we could.

In Qualifications, with the idea of difficult weather conditions announced for tomorrow, we chose to complete three stints, the first two being separated by a pit stop. Unfortunately, we had to change Jules’ strategy during the session, shifting his pit stop between the second and third stints. This caused him to lose a lot of time and ultimately prevented him from achieving a lap time during his third stint. I am convinced that without this, he could have significantly improved his time, which would have placed him higher on the grid than he currently is.

As for Max, he was ahead in the first two sectors of his fast lap, but a mistake in a corner deprived him of a better performance.

Overall, we were not able to demonstrate our full potential with our two cars.

For tomorrow, it will be a race where strategy will be almost as important as overall pace. Race strategies are an area where we have particularly excelled this year, so despite today’s disappointments, we approach tomorrow’s event with a certain confidence.

– Read the drivers’ statements

Caterham

Marcus Ericsson – 19th [17th on the grid]

Kamui Kobayashi – 21st [19th on the grid]

Cedrik Staudohar, Renault Support Manager: « Everything went well with the engines. Marcus continued the good work he did all weekend to stay ahead of the Marussia. Kamui suffered from his lack of track time yesterday and this morning, but we should be able to have a good race tomorrow, especially if the rain comes. »

– Read the drivers’ statements