Haas F1 Team
Romain Grosjean
“It was close. We were only one-tenth off of Lewis’ P10 time. All things considered, to be that close, it’s a good thing. We successfully made all the right decisions at the right time in qualifying, including tire choices. It was a very difficult qualifying session, but we showed how much we’ve improved as a team from day one through today. We were perfect today in our execution. We were fast on both the extreme wet and intermediate tires. We weren’t too bad on slicks. I know that tenth-of-a-second that denied us today is somewhere in there. I’m pretty happy with everything. If it doesn’t rain tomorrow it’s going to be boiling hot, and that always makes for a good race.”
Esteban Gutierrez
“That was one of the trickiest qualifying sessions of the season, with a lot of interruptions. In Q1, we were quite unlucky. I basically only had one clean lap, so it wasn’t an easy one for us. In Q2, I was struggling to find the temperature on the tires. The conditions out there were difficult. With only one line to take, you’ve no margin for any mistakes. I’m not happy with 15th, but tomorrow I hope to overtake and make my way up the grid. It’s going to make for a very interesting and exciting race, and I’m going to give it my all to try to advance as much as I can.”
Guenther Steiner, team principal
“It was quite an exciting qualifying session with a lot of action out there. To keep cool in this situation is very difficult, but I think the team did a good job. We managed everything very well, so we’ve no regrets. We ended up 11th and 15th. Being 11th is starting to get old, but at least by being there Romain can start on new tires, so that will be an advantage. Esteban can make his way up. He’s in good company, with Kimi (Raikkonen) just ahead. We’re almost there, but still not in Q3, which is where we want to be. But 11th is a good starting position. Tomorrow we’re confident we can move up. We’ll be trying hard to get points.”
