Qualifying - 2019 German GP team quotes

Haas F1

Rich Energy Haas F1 Team drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen qualified sixth and 12th, respectively, for Sunday’s German Grand Prix, the 11th round of the FIA Formula One World Championship at Hockenheimring in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

The Haas F1 Team duo got off to a solid start in Q1 with Magnussen posting the seventh-fastest lap of 1:13.103 and Grosjean the ninth-fastest lap of 1:13.146 around the 4.574-kilometer (2.842-mile), 17-turn circuit. Both advanced to Q2 as part of the top-15.

In Q2, Grosjean and Magnussen were separated by just two-hundredths of a second, but that meant the difference between advancing to Q3 with the rest of the top-10 and calling it a day early. Grosjean’s 1:12.769 was the ninth-best lap of the session while Magnussen’s 1:12.789 was good for only 12th. Magnussen, who qualified in the top-five in two of his three previous visits to Hockenheim, including fifth with his Haas VF-19 last year, was just 13-thousandths of a second back of 10th.

In Q3, Grosjean laid down the sixth-best lap of 1:12.851 to equal his best qualifying effort of the year, set at the season-opening event in Australia. It also put him sixth on the grid at Hockenheim for the second year in a row.

Both Haas F1 Team drivers utilized the Pirelli P Zero Red soft tires throughout qualifying.

Taking the pole for the German Grand Prix was Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes, whose fast Q3 lap of 1:11.767 was .346 of a second better than No. 2 qualifier Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing. It was the 87th career pole for Hamilton, his fourth this season and his second at Hockenheim.

Romain Grosjean

“I think from yesterday to this morning, Kevin (Magnussen) was very happy with the new package, there’s some good understanding of the upgrades here. Obviously, with track temperatures coming up a bit in qualifying, I was happier with my car. You always want to be on top of the midfield, but today the Alfa Romeo was just too strong for us – it’s super tight in the midfield, which is exciting. Who knows what will happen tomorrow, we’ll do our best. Sometimes this year we’ve had good qualifying sessions followed by tough races. Hopefully this isn’t one of those and we can hang in there with some good race pace. Yesterday we were happy, and the cooler temperatures should help us in the race.”

Kevin Magnussen

“I had a very good car this morning in FP3, yesterday it was really tricky, we just had no balance at all. With the cooler track temperatures this morning it just seemed to be working. The track temperatures picked up again for qualifying and it seems like we lost a little bit again. I missed out on Q3, I locked up on my second set of tires. There might have been a bit of lap time in there, but the first lap wasn’t bad. It’s still a good comeback from where we were yesterday. It might rain tomorrow, so anything can happen. If not, and it’s dry, at least we’ve got a free choice of tires – so there are some positives.”

Günther Steiner

“Finishing sixth and 12th in qualifying, after a challenging period over the last few races, is pretty good. Unfortunately, Kevin (Magnussen) locked up on his last lap in Q2, so he didn’t make it, but it was very tight between eighth and 13th – I think it was about two-hundredths of a second. But, starting 12th, that may be a different strategy. Romain (Grosjean) did a great job to be starting sixth. Now we have to see how the weather will be tomorrow, and how we get ready for rain, as that’s what’s being predicted as of now. It’s been a good job from the whole team to get us back where we want to be.”

Williams

— George Russell qualified 18th and Robert Kubica 19th for the German Grand Prix
— George set his best time, a 1:14.721, with his final effort on the soft compound tyre
— Robert posted a 1:14.839 on his last lap of the session to finish P19, also on the soft Pirelli tyre

Dave Robson, Senior Race Engineer

Overnight analysis of the items we tested yesterday showed that they were behaving well and so they were adopted on both cars for FP3. As we neared the end of our car build last night, a small issue was found on Robert’s chassis and so the decision was taken to swap it for the spare. The additional work meant that we had to break the curfew to get the spare car ready for FP3. The team worked extremely hard to make this happen and this helped Robert to enjoy a smooth day, enabling him to build on the background work he completed yesterday.

For George, his experience of the new parts was cut a little short in FP3 as we opted to take some time to modify part of the floor ahead of qualifying. This limited his opportunities to understand the behaviour of the new components and to get a feel for the tyres in today’s cooler conditions.

In qualifying both drivers had a busy but effective session, and both did a good job of managing their tyres and avoiding traffic on this short track. The drivers and their engineers extracted decent laptimes and made the most of the car.

The weather forecast for tomorrow remains uncertain and rain is quite possible. We will prepare as well as we can overnight and look forward to seeing how the new parts behave over the course of a race distance.

George Russell

It wasn’t an ideal day for us, as we damaged the floor on the out-lap in FP3 on some debris. Essentially, we didn’t have the updated package this morning because of that so our first go at it was in qualifying. It is definitely very different in terms of characteristics, but it is an improvement. We didn’t really have an opportunity to dial it in but we made the most of it. It is clear we still have work to do so we have got to keep pushing.

Robert Kubica

It was a difficult day, track conditions were different to yesterday, but I think the team saw some improvements in the data. We did everything we could, especially the mechanics. They didn’t have an easy time yesterday or indeed overnight with the chassis change, however they did a good job under difficult conditions. We extracted the maximum out of what we had today, and we must keep working hard to improve.

Toro Rosso

Daniil Kvyat

“It was quite close in the midfield today and honestly I don’t think there was much more I could have done. I went a little bit wide in the last sector which cost me around a tenth, but the cars ahead were maybe three-tenths of a second down the road. However, in these conditions and on this track, we weren’t as competitive compared to our direct opponents, so we need to analyse why and learn from it. Thinking of the race, which is what counts, the weather could play a part as it might be quite different to today. If it rains, I think it might mix up the cards a bit, I’ll work hard to get into the points.”

Alexander Albon

“Q2 was definitely on the cards today. Maybe we didn’t have the outright pace, but we were definitely quicker than P17, so it’s quite a frustrating result. I started my lap half a second behind Lando, he didn’t block me but it’s just how the track is as everyone was bunched up in the last sector, it was just chaos. I was right on Lando’s gearbox and there was nothing we could do, it was just one of those things. There’s more potential for the race tomorrow, so we will see what we can do.”

Guillaume Dezoteux (Head of Vehicle Performance)

“We had to break the curfew last night for Alex’s car, but the mechanics did a fantastic job to get the car ready and reliable for FP3. Alex was a lot happier with the balance during this morning’s session but, unfortunately, after a difficult first attempt during which Alex found a car which was more difficult to drive, Qualifying was compromised by traffic on his second run. He finished the qualifying session in 17th position, which is very disappointing.

“Regarding Daniil, FP3 was tricky and he worked well with his engineers to improve the balance and consistency of the car. The changes made were in the right direction and he was happier with the car at the start of Qualifying. During Q2, he was in the fight with the cars ahead to make it through but a mistake in the last sector meant he didn’t improve and he ended up 14th. It was very tight today and we didn’t have the car to get comfortably into the top 10.

“As for the race tomorrow, the weather looks very variable. It can create interesting opportunities and we will review all the scenarios tonight to come up with aggressive options and try to attack the cars ahead.”

Toyoharu Tanabe (Honda F1 Technical Director)

“We knew it would be the usual tough fight in the mid-field and at least Daniil made it to Q2. But Alex was unlucky to encounter traffic which meant he got no further than the first part of the session. We will have to see if they can move up the order tomorrow. There is a chance of rain for the race, so, on the PU side, we must now prepare for every eventuality.”

Racing Point

SERGIO PEREZ

“I’m happy with the result today. We’ve taken a step forward this weekend and the new parts have made a difference. Tomorrow we have a good opportunity to race well and score points. Reaching Q3 again is a big boost for everyone in the team after a few difficult races. All the way from Q1 to Q3 I gave it everything and the margins in the middle of the grid were so small. Today a tenth here and there made a big difference. We have a strong race car as well and I’m confident we can fight with the cars ahead of us. I want to come away with some points tomorrow.”

LANCE STROLL

“My qualifying was far from ideal, and it’s a shame because the car had the pace to make Q3 today. The car felt good in Q1 and we were competitive, but Q2 fell away from me. Yesterday we were looking really strong but we didn’t really get the balance right in Q2 and if anything took a step backwards compared to where we were. I’m a little bit frustrated, but tomorrow is another day. We know we always race well and maybe we will get some wet weather. It won’t be easy from P15, but I still think we can target some points.”

OTMAR SZAFNAUER, CEO & TEAM PRINCIPAL

“We’ve improved the car this weekend and today’s qualifying effort shows the hard work is beginning to pay off. Sergio is well placed starting from P8 and he delivered some clean and tidy laps across all three sessions. Lance progressed to Q2 and was much happier with the car in the lead up to qualifying. Some balance issues held him back in Q2, but I think he can move up the order tomorrow with the race pace we have in the car.”

Alfa Romeo

Frédéric Vasseur, Team Principal Alfa Romeo Racing

“Placing a car on the third row is a positive result but points are not given on Saturday, so we still need to focus on our job. We have looked competitive all weekend so far and we are pleased with today’s result. Kimi looked quick from Q1 and delivered a good lap in his only attempt in Q3. It was a pity Antonio missed out on the top ten for such a small margin, but he’s still in a good position to have a strong race. The weather will be a big variable tomorrow: finding the right strategy will be crucial especially should the rain come.”

Kimi Räikkönen

“Qualifying in fifth makes me happy but it’s only qualifying, the race is tomorrow. We made a few gains through other people’s misfortunes, but in the end we still had to put in the laps when it counted and we did. The car has been pretty good today and I think we could have been a bit faster in Q3: maybe fourth place was within reach, but that’s racing. It’s very difficult to read into our race pace from yesterday as the conditions have changed a lot and could be even different tomorrow. We have to see if the rain comes and figure out the weather the best we can. It will be hard to race against the big teams; we’ll just take today’s result as it is, give everything tomorrow and see where we end up.”

Antonio Giovinazzi

“It was a bit frustrating to miss out on Q3 for just a hundredth of a second. We start from just outside the top ten, but tomorrow is the important day and I am confident we can get to the points. We wanted more but if we have a good start and a good strategy we can be in that fight. Nobody can predict what weather we’ll have tomorrow and if it starts to rain anything can happen. Having both cars in the top ten is the objective but the key is to continue moving forward.”

Renault F1

Renault F1 Team’s Nico Hülkenberg will line up ninth for his home race, the German Grand Prix, tomorrow after a close and thrilling Qualifying at Hockenheim. Daniel Ricciardo missed out on Q3 by just 0.023secs and will start thirteenth on the grid.

It’s the second time in as many races Nico has reached Q3 after qualifying tenth last time out at Silverstone. He will occupy the fifth row of the grid for his home outing tomorrow, where unsettled wet weather is expected.

After progressing through Q1, both drivers were well in contention to reach the final part of Qualifying in a tight Q2.

Nico made it in eighth by 0.010secs with Daniel five places down in thirteenth only 0.033secs off Nico’s effort.

Nico Hülkenberg

“On a whole, we can be satisfied with that effort today. We knew it was going to be close to get into Q3 but we achieved that and that’s pleasing. It was incredible how tight Q2 was with even Daniel and I only split by three hundredths and that was the difference in making the top ten or not. In Q3, I didn’t quite get it together and it’s only ninth in the end. We could have beaten at least two or three more cars. I’m open for anything tomorrow. Nothing is guaranteed in the wet and as we experienced last year, it is tricky in the rain here. We’ll give it our best whatever happens.”

Daniel Ricciardo

“It’s frustrating to be the wrong side in Q2, but it was incredibly tight out there. We were the last ones in the 12.7secs and less than half a tenth would have put me eighth and through. In that regard, the midfield is enjoyable as it’s so close. On my side, I have to take accountability for that as I know I could have done a little bit more. We made a good improvement from the morning so it was pleasing to be so close to the top ten. Tomorrow could be nice if it rains. Even if it’s dry, we’ll be alright. It’s a mixed field ahead of us, but for now, we’ll take it on the chin and figure it out.”

Alan Permane, Sporting Director

“Firstly, credit to Nico for getting into Q3, as it was extremely close out there. There were six or seven cars in the same tenth with Nico at the top end of it and Daniel at the bottom end. Daniel had a tiny wobble at Turn 12 on his second Q2 run and that cost him his Q3 place. Nico did a great job, although, admittedly, a clean Q3 lap would have seen him qualify even higher. We know we can score tomorrow, the forecast looks unsettled and there are chances for rain during the race. We’re prepared for all situations.”

Red Bull

MAX VERSTAPPEN

“The front row of the grid is a good achievement for us and Honda on this track. It’s been a good day and we definitely found a bit more performance overnight. This morning I was quite happy with the car and also in Q1. I had a little issue in Q2 with a mode setting and it was a shame not to qualify on the medium tyre but once we changed a setting in the pits everything was fine. Of course, we have to take into account that Ferrari had a problem with both cars and they would also have been fighting for pole, but you have to be there when it counts and we maximized everything to be on the front row. I’m on a different race strategy to Mercedes which is not exactly what we planned but we are in the fight and we will see how much difference the softer tyre makes at the start. We’re close and we have a good shot tomorrow as we have a good race car. At the moment we cannot judge how the weather will be but we will give it everything and a bit of rain could spice things up.”

PIERRE GASLY

“It was a good qualifying and I managed to do some decent laps so I’m happy with P4. The mechanics had a really long night and it’s never nice to see them working flat out to repair the car, so it’s great to qualify on the second row and thank them in this way. Yesterday, I was pushing and just went over the limit. These things happen but it was good to recover today and tomorrow should be exciting with the chance of rain. There are still some areas for me to improve and things I could have done better, but things are coming together and I’m happy. Now we need to focus on tomorrow and the race where my aim is to move forwards. The weather forecast looks very unpredictable but I’m from the North of France where it rains a lot so I’m used to this. Looking at Max’s race pace, we should be pretty good tomorrow but anything can happen as we saw with last year’s race. Clearly, the Team is pushing massively, we have had good development and it was a big boost with Max’s race win in Austria. I think in terms of development, things are going really well, we’re still a bit behind, but we’re closing in on those in front.”

CHRISTIAN HORNER, Team Principal

“That was a strong qualifying for both our drivers and to line up on the front row with Max in P2 and Pierre in P4 marks Honda’s best starting position since San Marino in 2006. In Q2, we had a slight issue with Max which was quickly rectified, but it meant he needed to change tyres so both drivers will start tomorrow’s race on the softer compound. It was good to see Pierre make a strong recovery after yesterday’s incident and fourth is his best Formula One qualifying result to date. With unpredictable weather on the way it is shaping up to be another really exciting race tomorrow.”

Mercedes

Lewis storms to Hockenheim pole as Valtteri takes P3

— Lewis claimed his 87th Formula One pole position on Mercedes home soil – his fourth of the 2019 season and third at the German Grand Prix
— Valtteri will start Sunday’s race from P3 on the grid
— Both drivers will start tomorrow’s race on the Medium tyre

Lewis Hamilton

I’m super happy to be on pole, it’s such a special race for all of us. The whole team is dressed up this weekend to celebrate 125 years of motorsport and our 200th race which is really cool. We’ve got Ola, our new CEO here from Daimler, so I hope that I can deliver on a weekend where everyone is here. It’s not just unfortunate what happened to Ferrari today, but unfortunate for the sport too because it was building up to be a really exciting qualifying session. I don’t know how close it would have been in the end, but they were quick all weekend. I was really happy with my first lap in Q3; I just lost a little bit of time in Turn 8. Position on the grid is really important here, so I’m grateful to be starting from pole and hopefully I can try to stay out in front tomorrow.

Valtteri Bottas

It was not an easy qualifying session for me today, I struggled with the consistency in the braking zones in Turn 2, 6 and 8 – all of the heavy braking events. I just didn’t have a consistent feeling under braking, so I couldn’t really put a good lap together. It certainly wasn’t the best session, but starting from P3 tomorrow is not a disaster either. It’s a shame what happened to Ferrari, but I’m sure they will be quick tomorrow. There’s also a chance of rain for tomorrow which would certainly make things interesting. It’s still all to play for and I’m looking forward to the race.

Toto Wolff

It’s a real shame for Ferrari and a shame for Sebastian at his home Grand Prix. We really need him here for the crowd, and you can see that it’s a bit subdued at the moment. We need Ferrari for a strong Championship too. I’m happy because the session started poorly for us, we didn’t quite know why we were lacking pace. Over the course of the session it just slowly came towards us. Lewis put in an incredible lap in Q3 and deserves to be on pole. Valtteri was not feeling comfortable in the car, he was struggling a bit more, but he is starting third on the grid and has every chance in the race tomorrow.

Andrew Shovlin

It’s not been a straightforward day and our pace has been a bit up and down. On our final runs on low fuel in the morning it was clear we’d not made the progress we had hoped for overnight. The track warmed up a bit for qualifying, our initial runs weren’t great in the first session and we decided to go again with both cars to cover off track ramp although in the end it wasn’t needed. Qualifying two was a bit better, the pace was closer to where we’d expected to be, and we managed to get both cars through on the medium which was our preferred start tyre. Obviously, Ferrari dropping out took a bit of pressure off us in the final session although Max had good pace, so we didn’t expect it to be easy. Lewis did a great lap on run one; Valtteri struggled a bit with the consistency on braking and couldn’t quite match Max’s time in the end. It should be an interesting day tomorrow, especially when you consider the risk of rain. We also have much cooler conditions than we saw on Friday which means we don’t really know what the tyres will be capable of.

McLaren

Carlos Sainz

“Obviously very happy with this qualifying. Especially because today I think our competitors had a bit of an edge over us. However, we managed to react very well throughout the session and I put together some solid laps to progress and put ourselves into Q3.

“We are in a good starting position for tomorrow. Everyone is speculating about the weather conditions for the race, but no matter what comes we’ll be ready to fight for another points finish.”

Lando Norris

“I’m obviously disappointed. It’s the first time I’ve missed out on Q2 – frustrated because of that and annoyed because it’s not giving me a very good starting position for tomorrow.

“There was more potential in the car as Carlos showed by getting into Q3. I just didn’t hook the lap up today when it mattered. I’ll just have to make up for it tomorrow.”

Andreas Seidl - Team Principal

“Friday’s sessions were tricky for us in the heat but we did our homework overnight and, in cooler conditions today, we were able to extract more performance from our car. After FP3 we knew it would be a another very close battle in the midfield, where progress through qualifying would depend on maximising every single detail.

“Qualifying P7 and P16 obviously leaves us with mixed feelings. In all fairness to Lando, we had an issue with the battery pack which compromised his ability to get through to Q2 and his quali result overall. With Carlos, we got everything out of the car and he did a great job putting the laps together to secure a good starting position. We’re still aiming to fight for points with both cars tomorrow and we’ve also seen the weather forecast, so we can expect an exciting race for the fans here in Germany.”

Ferrari

Dire is the only way to describe Scuderia Ferrari’s performance in qualifying for the German Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring. Two unrelated problems sidelined Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc, so that they were unable to capitalise on the potential they had shown in free practice.

Vettel. Sebastian’s qualifying was over practically before it started. On his lap out of the pits, the German felt a drop in power on his car, which was traced to an airflow problem for the turbo. He managed to bring the SF90 back to the pits but it proved impossible to fix the fault in time. Sebastian therefore starts from the back of the grid.

Leclerc. Charles made it through to Q2 with a best time of 1’12”229 on the Soft tyres, fitting the Mediums for the second phase. The Monegasque posted a 1’12”344 and returned to the garage. A problem was then discovered on his SF90, this time linked to the control system for the fuel pump. The mechanics tried all they could to get Charles back out on track before the end of Q3, but it wasn’t possible. He will therefore start from tenth on the grid.

Charles Leclerc

“It’s a shame for us to have finished qualifying this way. The weekend was going well up to that point and the car felt really good throughout. Sometimes, these things just happen.

It is difficult for a team to miss an opportunity with one car, but when it happens with both it is even harder to take. I will start the race with a positive mindset tomorrow and will fight to gain as many positions as possible, especially in the beginning. I have confidence in our pace and nothing is over until we see the chequered flag.”

Sebastian Vettel

“I was looking forward to having fun this afternoon, as the car has been really competitive all weekend. So what happened is definitely a great shame. I had a good feeling from the car yesterday and it was even better this morning. We had a chance to start from first place, but now we start from last. Of course it is bitterly disappointing, especially that this should happen here at my home race, in front of such a large crowd of fans.

It could not have happened at a worse time. As for the problem itself, I had no warning that anything was wrong and as I exited the pits, I just lost power. But I am still looking forward to the race and I will try my best to make up as many places as possible, in the hope of at least bringing home some points.”

Mattia Binotto Team Principal

“At the moment the entire team is bitterly disappointed. We feel especially sorry for our drivers who were in with the chance of doing something special for the people back in the factory who are working so hard and for all our fans.

We are now carrying out an in-depth analysis of what happened. What we do know is that they were two completely different problems, neither of which had ever occurred before. The first indications from Sebastian’s car lead us to believe it could be related to a component on the intercooler. The component is to the same specification as those used previously and it was fitted new. Charles had a problem with the fuel pump control unit.

We have shown this weekend that our race pace is good, which makes it even more frustrating that we were not able to show what we could do in qualifying.

We are angry with ourselves and I myself feel responsible for what has happened. But I am also aware that we must react calmly and do our best tomorrow. That’s what we’re here to do.”