Performance of the French: Everyone in the top 10 on the grid

Esteban Ocon: 3rd

At the beginning of the weekend, nothing assured the Frenchman that he would be racing here in Belgium. Performing well in practice, he made it to Q3 to claim this magnificent third place on the grid. “It’s great, it feels good to be third here after the team’s recent difficulties. Everything is behind us now and we are happy to be where we are. We’ve locked out the second row.”

The rain disrupted the final third of the session, which did not demotivate him. It was crazy and totally unexpected. Staying on track with slicks despite the rain was initially a team decision and then ours (with Sergio Pérez) unfortunately it didn’t work. On my first lap with intermediates, I lost the car after braking too late so I knew everything would depend on one last attempt. I had a good first sector then played it safe in the second with the brakes and I knew it was enough in the end.

These conditions did not bother the Frenchman who even found it amusing « I was sliding everywhere with the super-softs, even in a straight line. It was a fun moment, but we don’t want it to happen in qualifying, more during practice. I like the rain, I’ve always enjoyed driving in these conditions, even as a youngster. »

For tomorrow, he is confident in his chances of scoring big points. Tomorrow we fight for points, we know our car is competitive. There will be the Haas first, and we think we are capable of competing with Red Bull here. When they catch up, there will be a big battle.

These guys and girls + everyone working hard back at base 💖

The focus is now on tomorrow – let’s do this! #BelgianGP pic.twitter.com/k1zS4QlyFX

— Racing Point Force India F1 (@ForceIndiaF1) 25 août 2018

Romain Grosjean: 5th

Easy in Q1 then in Q2, the Haas driver couldn’t believe it at the start of the last part of qualifying « Everyone went out on slicks and I found myself at the back, so it was a bit complicated. I came in to put on wet tires and change the settings with doubt in my mind because the Force India (editor’s note, Racing Point Force India) stayed on track, but it was the right decision. »

Even worse, once the intermediate tires are fitted, the Franco-Swiss driver must persevere. The first two laps are not conclusive. I go straight twice at La Source and once at the Bus Stop chicane. In the final lap, I manage to piece everything together more or less, but I cross the line without believing it and without knowing where I will be.

For the race, it’s realistic « Tomorrow there is little chance of rain, we will do our race to score as many points as possible. I’m not planning to fight with the Red Bulls and the other top teams, they finish far ahead so we have no interest in battling with them. That’s how it is. »

Fantastic qualifying session. That’s P5 on the grid for tomorrow. Will you be watching? #R8G #F1 pic.twitter.com/VczYLxlfUC

— Romain Grosjean (@RGrosjean) 25 août 2018

Pierre Gasly: 11th

At the edge of the top 10 in Q1, the future Red Bull driver is happy with his performance in Q2 « It’s a very good result. It’s better than our expectations because we knew Spa wasn’t a circuit for us. The Haas cars were about five-tenths ahead of us, which was too much to hope for a Q3. »

He is now eager to get on the starting grid « I’m excited to race again. I think we have good tire degradation management which will be a plus for us tomorrow. The cars in front of us are faster so it will be difficult to overtake, but if we get a good start it will help us a lot. »

Very happy with qualifying, starting P10 tomorrow. Difficult track for us, but we made the best out of our package today. 👌🇧🇪 pic.twitter.com/3FJeLp6Mlb

— Pierre Gasly 🇫🇷 (@PierreGASLY) 25 août 2018

Charles Leclerc: 13th

Present in the top 10 during practice and in Q1, the Monegasque was unlucky in Q2. “I had a brake problem right from the start of Q2 and Marcus (Ericsson) had an issue on his side. The brakes on the right side of the car were heating up much faster than those on the left, so when you brake, it pulls to the right on its own. It had already happened in Hockenheim, we had solved the problem, but here we didn’t have the time.”

His satisfaction is therefore mixed after his qualification: « There is the performance and that is important. It’s still frustrating because we’re not where we should be in qualifications. We lose four tenths in Q2 while everyone else improves, it’s unfortunate because the potential for Q3 was there. We had the performance to be there, and that’s what we need to remember. »

Tomorrow, he won’t lose sight of the top 10 « Yes, tomorrow the goal is to aim for points. Finishing 11th or 12th doesn’t change anything in the standings (in the championship) so we’ll try to push to score points. »

Brakes problem today in Q2. Shame as it looked like it could have been a great quali. But we’ll give it all tomorrow to bring some points home ! pic.twitter.com/ZIQRZKGWmX

— Charles Leclerc (@Charles_Leclerc) 25 août 2018

From our special correspondent in Spa-Francorchamps