Abu Dhabi GP – All the reactions after qualifying

Max Verstappen (Red Bull), polesitter:

“In Q2, I stayed on used tires, and my laps were honestly quite competitive. In Q3, the track temperature always drops a bit, so you can push a little harder, and that’s what I did. I found more time, and I was really happy to take pole; it’s the only thing we can do and control this weekend, making sure we deliver the best possible performance. We really did that in qualifying.”

You have to try and understand how much the track improves in Q3, but you can never be sure that's the case. I think the changes we made after FP3 helped us a bit. We'll see tomorrow, won't we? I'll try to win the race, of course, but I'll keep in mind that I need to score quite a few more points to win the title. I'll need a bit of luck to win it.

Lando Norris (McLaren), 2nd:

“It’s tough, Max did a really good job, well done to him. I really did my best, I think it wasn’t a bad lap, I’m quite satisfied. Of course, it’s disappointing not to get pole for the last weekend of the year, but we just weren’t fast enough. We’ll try to turn things around tomorrow. The time will come when I’ll think about the strategy for tomorrow, but I’m disappointed not to be on pole, and the goal is always to win tomorrow.”

Oscar Piastri (McLaren), 3nd:

“The session wasn’t bad, it was good to find my rhythm in Q1, and the last lap in Q3 was pretty good, I optimized everything. We didn’t have the pace we needed today, but that will make tomorrow quite exciting! We’ll see tomorrow, Max is fast on long runs, very fast over a single lap, but we’ll see how much the pace changes tomorrow.”

George Russell (Mercedes), 4rd:

“We were close at the front in Q1 and Q2, but the three drivers around me had worn tires and were doing the same times as me. We knew they would be ahead, and I knew I would have to do something special just to be in the fight. I'm not entirely happy with Q3, but doing better than fourth would have been virtually impossible.”

I don't think we're in contention with the top three for the Grand Prix, but I can't imagine Max just going to pull away and let everyone else finish in the top three, in the current order. There will be opportunities; we'll go with the flow. The team will be up all night making plans, but I'm sure those plans will be quite different every lap of the race. It's going to be an interesting race.

Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), 5th:

“I’m very happy with fifth place; it’s a shame to be there, but it’s all we had left today. I’m satisfied with today’s performance and my laps in Q3. I just hope that next year we’ll get off to a good start and win races again, because that’s all I want. If you look at just this weekend, we bounced back well as a team. We made a lot of changes to the car between FP2 and FP3, we took huge risks, and it paid off because we would surely have been around ninth place, or something like that. I’m happy with my laps, too.”

I'm going to take huge risks tomorrow to try and get on the podium for the final race. That's all that matters to me. Of course, there's a fight for the title, but for me, the only thing I'm looking at is what I can do to... Classic Ferrari for saleAnd what I can do is do my best for Ferrari and get the best possible result, regardless of who I'm fighting against. That will be my mentality before the race.

Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), 6th:

“I was happier with the car today than yesterday. We had some issues in FP2; I couldn’t feel the front of the car. We made some drastic changes to the car overnight, experimenting with a few things, and everything worked. In FP3, we were happy with the car, and we kept the same setup for qualifying. Sixth place was unexpected, but we’ll take it!”

We have nothing to worry about, the car seems to be working well. We're generally a bit stronger on Saturdays than on Sundays, but I'd rather be sixth on the grid than fourteenth with a fast car on Sundays; I'd rather be at the front already. We'll see, we'll take it day by day. It's been a good Saturday, and we'll see if we can finish with a good Sunday.

Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber), 7th:

“It’s really great to finish the season with a session like that. The whole session was very close; we made it through to Q2 by just a few thousandths of a second, where I managed a great lap to get into Q3. In the final session, I also had a good lap, and it’s good to equal my best qualifying result of the year. I hope that tomorrow we can have a good car and score some points.”

The car is good; we made changes to adapt to the conditions because it's never easy going from sunshine to night. The temperatures change a lot, and you have to make changes to bring the balance from FP3, if it's good, into qualifying. I'm quite happy, yes.

Esteban Ocon (Haas), 8th:

“A lot has happened since yesterday, and it’s clear we hit rock bottom yesterday. It really wasn’t a good moment; as I said, we were 5-10ths off where we should have been on every lap. And honestly, we didn’t really know where to look anymore; every corner meant losing almost a tenth of a second.”

It was a complete disaster, really. That's why I told you, maybe I've gotten bad, maybe I'm just rubbish, and we need a complete reset. Now, we've completely changed the car last night. Every single setting has been changed, and the car came alive today. It's been like that since FP3. We were 6th in FP3, and now we're just five hundredths of a second away from P6.

It's working the way it should have for a lot of races now. I'm really happy with how things are going, but we should have had a lot more points much earlier this year. That's frustrating, but it's good that we were able to turn things around now.

We need to keep trying to understand, because I think we've changed so many things that it's still not clear. But it's good and it builds a solid foundation for next year. We need to keep questioning ourselves, keep searching.

We got the answers today, so this is the best time of the year. It's really gratifying.

Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls), 9th:

“I was already very happy to have reached Q3, it was a very good lap. But I knew there was nothing left in the car, there was nothing left to gain. And the others managed to make a step that we didn't find. So I'm a little disappointed with Q3. I tried to push the limits. It's a shame.”

"It's clear the pace isn't going to be incredible. Anyway, we're always a bit better over a single lap than over a long stint. If nothing happens at the front, it's going to be a difficult race to hold off the guys behind. The goal is to finish sixth in the Constructors' Championship. And if there's chaos at the front, we'll take it. But I'm not expecting anything from this race."

Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull), 10th:

“I’m curious to see if I really exceeded track limits on my last run, but I’m glad I was able to help Max. We went back to the old car floor after an accident, which isn’t ideal for qualifying. We had to make some compromises because of that. I was able to help Max in Q3, which I’m proud of.”

I'm very happy. Honestly, qualifying wasn't easy, especially with the old floor. I did my best and I knew it was going to be very difficult to get into Q3. I made it through and I was able to help Max; I need to keep helping him as much as possible in the race as well. Without that, I would have probably had a very basic strategy, but we'll see what happens.

Oliver Bearman (Haas), 11th:

“It’s a shame to miss out on Q3. The session was very close, and every thousandth of a second counted. In the end, I started on worn tires for my first run, so the difference was huge compared to the new tires on the second run. There was a four-tenth difference, so it’s difficult to use all the extra grip in those situations. The pace was there; I just didn’t put it all together on my lap.” 

I'm looking forward to the race; I think we have opportunities. The car has been fast since the start of the weekend, and I'm happy with its performance level. It's a good feeling, and I'll give it my all on Sunday.

Carlos Sainz (Williams), 12th:

“It really came down to the wire; there was only a tenth of a second between sixth and fifteenth. You can imagine how close it was, probably one of the closest sessions in history. I was right in the thick of it, so it could have gone either way. Of course, I can find eight thousandths of a second on my lap, but that's true for everyone. Before Q1, we had a car that couldn't really hope to make it to Q2, and after the session, we had a car that looked like it could make it to Q3. We have to settle for twelfth, which I think is where we deserve to be, considering the weekend.”

I think we're right on the borderline between one and two stops. Several cars will try a single stop, but that could be too slow a strategy, and you could see the two-stop drivers overtake you. It will be very close between the two strategies, and a very strategic race.

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Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls), 13th:

“It’s frustrating because we had a fast car, and we were just too conservative today. We used three sets of tires in Q1, which wasn’t necessary. I think that hurt us; we missed Q3 by such a small margin. Doing a run on worn tires before the final run isn’t ideal. It’s frustrating, but something we can learn from before next year.” 

We knew it was going to be close, and it is so close that there's always a chance of being eliminated in Q1. We were a bit worried, but after missing FP1, a large part of our data comes from FP2, my first session of the weekend, and honestly, we might have overreacted because we had a good margin in Q1. And we ended up just missing out on Q3.

Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), 14th:

"It's very frustrating. I struggled a lot with the rear of the car in Q2; it was difficult. I was much faster in Q1 than in Q2, and I'm really struggling to understand what happened. It won't be an easy race on Sunday; tire degradation will be significant. We'll have to maximize everything to have the best possible race."

Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), 15th:

“We were well on our way to Q3, and then I misjudged turn 14. I lost something like a tenth in that corner, and it’s so tight… I think we missed Q3 by less than a tenth, so that’s where it was decided for us.

We'll see in 24 hours if we have a good car in the race.

Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari), 16th:

"I think the majority of my lap was good and would have allowed me to pass, but I didn't finish it. The team did a superb job, they deserve better, that's for sure."

Alexander Albon (Williams), 17th:

“The gaps are small and I found myself on the wrong side. I had a bit of traffic in the third sector on my last lap, I lost a tenth and a half. 

We were on the right track in FP2 and FP3; I wouldn't say we were chasing the pace, but it's so close that you can't afford a single mistake. The last corner wasn't perfect, partly due to the traffic.

Nico Hülkenberg (Sauber), 18th:

“I think we tripped up a bit with our runplan. Being the last car on track, my tires were a little too cold, and there was a lot of traffic on track too. It slipped through our fingers; the gaps are really small. The car was handling well; we know that at the end of the season the field is very tight, and that continued. This morning, we didn't put everything together, but the potential was there, so it's frustrating that it turned out like this.”

Pierre Gasly (Alpine), 19th:

“Personally, I’m happy with the laps I did; they were really good laps. Unfortunately, though, all weekend we lacked performance, and that’s where we are in terms of the car’s level. It’s extremely close. Today, I know there was nothing more to be gained.”

Franco Colapinto (Alpine), 20th:

"It was tricky, I couldn't find the grip or the rhythm. I've been struggling since FP3 to be honest, I don't have the balance I want. Qualifying was very difficult, I still need to understand some things. It wasn't the session I was expecting." 

We made some big changes to the car compared to yesterday, and it was even trickier to drive. We were good in FP1, then we lost our pace, and I don't really understand why that happened. We need to keep learning, understanding, and try to have a good race on Sunday; it will be a special day for the team. I hope we can get a good result.

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