R.B.
Ricciardo had a brilliant getaway, briefly running third but he couldn’t keep the faster Red Bull at bay. What he did do was hold off a Ferrari though for pretty much the entire race, an incredible feat considering Sainz behind had DRS and Ricciardo did not. His performance only just eclipsed Tsunoda’s, who rose from P15 in Sprint Qualifying to eighth via a very astute manoeuvre on Hamilton midway through.
The two swapped around in qualifying, Ricciardo losing grip on his flying run in Q1 and running wide which cost him dearly as he exited in Q1, which means he’ll start last thanks to his grid penalty picked up in China. Tsunoda though made Q3 with ease and is in with a very good chance of points in the Grand Prix.
Daniel Ricciardo – Sprint: 4th, Qualifying: 18th, 1:28.617
“t was a very tough Sprint race, but I felt awesome, fighting towards the front just feels so much nicer. I saw a Ferrari in the mirror for almost the whole race and I thought, alright, challenge accepted, let’s do what we can Every lap I was able to hold off Carlos (Sainz), so when I saw the end of the race coming near, I really thought that maybe we could maintain the position It was a Sprint race in all forms of the word and it was. without any tire-saving. I’m proud of myself and the team, of all the people who stood behind me and believed in me. There’s happiness for sure, but also some powerful emotions, especially looking at the first few races of the season. Thanks to the people for having some patience and then being awarded with a result like this. We all deserve this result as we went through a bit of stuff to get here, so it’s even nicer.
“This is the sport, it’s highly unpredictable, and sometimes things can change so quickly, so at least we really enjoyed the morning with the team. Today’s afternoon was frustrating and obviously, I’m not happy with it as there’s a big contrast with what we achieved in the Sprint. I saw Lando’s lap in SQ3 yesterday, where he was struggling from the start of the lap, sliding everywhere with his rear with the softs, and honestly, I felt the same today I started sliding out of Turn. 1 and it just got worse and worse throughout the rest of the lap. There’s no real explanation right now I feel that we have a good car, but I think that in the last run of Q1, the tires were simply operating on a different one. level of grip. The warm-up lap was fine and also the team was happy with where the tires were. We’ll definitely be looking at it tonight, to hopefully have an explanation. ‘t help, but we’ll have a lot of laps trying to come through the field. I’ll put my head down for it!”
Yuki Tsunoda – Sprint: 8th, Qualifying: 10th, 1:28.192
“First of all, happy for the team, and congratulations to them and Daniel for today’s Sprint race! For me, it’s very mixed feelings; I lost the battle against Lewis (Hamilton) in the end. If he didn’t get a penalty in the Sprint, I would be P9, and even though the final result was P8, he did a very good job of overtaking me. If I had defended better, I thought I could’ve finished ahead of him at the checked flag It. It is frustrating as a driver to lose a battle, but I did enjoy it, and something I can learn from. As a driver, I’m not completely happy, but I’m happy to pay back to the team and score a point, especially after not being able to put it all together yesterday to extract the performance of the car.
“I’m happy I can start the race in the top 10, and a better position than in the Sprint. Qualifying wasn’t the best for me personally, but we still got to Q3. I never felt very proud of my lap, I didn’t make any big mistakes but I could’ve done better overall. It’s something else to learn for the future. The team did a fantastic job and I felt comfortable and confident in the car from Yesterday, I wasn’t. able to extract the performance, but I’m happy because I feel I maximized the strong performance of the car more today. After today’s Sprint and our race performance, I’m looking forward to tomorrow!”
Guillaume Dezoteux, Head Of Vehicle Performance
“A rollercoaster for us today and overall, a very positive result for the team as we score six points and increase the gap to our direct competitors in the Constructors Championship. The Sprint race this morning has been fantastic. Daniel had a good start and managed to gain a position down to Turn 1. He was then passed by Perez but managed to keep Sainz behind for the entire race. His defense has been extremely strong, keeping the fight clean and he secured a fourth position, which is an amazing result for us. Yuki also had a good Sprint despite starting further back in P15. We put him on the softs to learn about this tire compound and to attack at the start. He gained five positions in the opening lap due to incidents happening in front of him. On Lap 14, he managed to overtake both Hamilton and Magnussen for eighth position, fighting for one point. Hamilton overtook him on the last lap, but we got the position back as Lewis was penalized for speeding in the pit lane during the Safety Car. period at the start of the Sprint.
“The qualifying session this afternoon was difficult and it was a challenge to find the right balance for extracting all the performance from the cars and the tires. Daniel started well, but in his last lap, he had a poor exit out of the last corner and lost a lot of time. It means he got knocked out from Q1, which shows once more how tight the competition is. the perfect lap together, but our first analysis suggests it was complicated for everyone out there. Tonight, we will look at various scenarios for tomorrow’s race, we will probably favor a more conventional strategy focused on the best race time and fighting the. cars around us, while for Daniel there is scope to take more risks and try to use the pace of the car to gain positions. Our car is improving and the drivers and the team are super motivated to bring home some more points tomorrow, so let’s bring it on!”
