Drivers React After Qualifying | 2024 Sao Paulo Grand Prix

Very, very tough. I mean, you saw how many people made mistakes and ended up in a wall, you know, and there's probably several times for every driver out there where they felt like, oh, this is it, I'm in a wall, and then you just save it or something, you know, so it was not nice. It's good fun because you're like risking a lot every lap and you never know how much more you need to push or you can push. I started off, probably the worst I've ever started. I had zero confidence in the car and in my ability at the time, and I was pretty nervous. I mean, I was almost out in Q1, but I worked a lot on my data. I watched a lot of videos, looked at a lot of data to see what I needed to do to improve and enough to end up on pole, so it's one of my better poles because I felt like I had to work for it a lot, but the car was good. I felt good in the end, which is a nice feeling to end with, especially going into the race later. Really enjoyed it, put it all on the line, especially my last lap when other drivers were going for two laps where I said I want to stay in the garage and just put it all on the line. It was so challenging, you know, you put one wheel wrong and you're in the wall, and even on my out lap in Q3, I went around turn 11. I completely lost the car. I went off the track. I thought, this is not a good start to go into my Q3 lap, but, you know, in the end, P2, good place to start. Good turnaround from yesterday. Yeah, especially had a very tricky day throughout the day. Yesterday, we made a lot of changes to the car. You know, it's hard to compare between dry and rain between the cars, but I think we can confirm that we made it better, and I think we did a very good job as a team overall. Liam knows P5 as well, so it's a good opportunity to score points today. Very nice, you know, to have this condition and to see that it levels out, you know, the performance across cars through the field, and yeah, it was a very good session. Worth the wake up at 4.30, definitely, but yeah, a little bit of a shame for the last run. I think maybe third was impossible. We tried something different and it didn't really work out, but yeah, very, very pleased with the result, and hopefully it keeps raining for later. Firstly, happy for the team. Very, very happy. You know, it's a great position for the afternoon, and congrats to Yuki. He's done a very good job. Personally, I'm frustrated. I made a really big mistake and lost a lot of time, so obviously, we all went out there, or most of us went out there for that one lap, and unfortunately, you pay the price for that, so we're very happy for the team, you know. This is an epic starting position for the afternoon. I mean, it wasn't a great session. Q1, Q2 were quite competitive. Q3, but to be honest, from Q1 to Q3, I felt I was the only one always on the wrong side of the red flags, which was super annoying. Every time I was on a lap, there was a red flag, so not many laps completed today. The last one was okay, but I was in the traffic of George, the one before, cold tyres, so all in all, nothing went our way today, but it's okay. I mean, P6, I'm not happy with that, but we'll try and do better for the race. I think we had an issue. I know we had an issue. We just need to go through it, but yeah. I don't know. Immediately when I hit the brake pedal, there was a beep in my ear, which normally means there's a failure, and then rear locking, and then a big crash. I mean, that's us out for the race, unfortunately. I just locked up into Turn 1. It was a bit of a strange one, because I didn't really think I broke any later than the lap before, but yeah, clearly my mistake, so disappointing, obviously, because the car was very quick, and I felt good through the rest of the session, so just frustrating. We are taking a huge risk. We are the 10th fastest team on dry, and then we were P2 in Qualifying 2, so that shows the level of commitment we had. I think Lance and myself, unfortunately, we tried all or nothing. I was fighting for Paul today, and yeah, as I said, we're the 10th fastest car, so these things can happen. Suddenly lost the car. I think I had some rustle in front of me, so maybe a bit of dirty air, and then I just had a big slide. Conditions were tricky, very, yeah, digital grip out there, very sketchy, so yeah, that was it. With these conditions, always things can happen, and things happen today, and I also got unlucky with the red flag in the end, but still, until then, I think we did a solid job. We seem to be a bit more competitive with these conditions instead of the dry, so I take it. I think it's still good, although slightly unlucky. Yeah, I find it unbelievable. I mean, the car goes into the wall, broken. It's clearly destroyed, but they wait 30, 40 seconds, so everyone else can just complete their lap times, and of course, the ones behind cannot even do a lap. I can't get my head around how that is possible to just let it go for 30 seconds, 40 seconds, and that, of course, ruined qualifying. We are already limited with the pits because we're in the back, so when you do the restart time, you have to wait until you go out, so we're always in the back, but then it really blows my mind. And what about the race? What are your chances from where you'll be starting? We start in the back, so it will be quite difficult to pass around here with all the spray and the amount of rain, but we'll have a look. It was a bit of a shame what happened with the red flag out there, but it is what it is, and unfortunately, yeah, we didn't get the lap when we needed it, and it's what really matters. And what about the race, your chances there? It's going to be hard to race from here because, yeah, having 12 cars ahead of us, it will be a very tricky one. Yeah, it was the first lap on inters, and I clearly misjudged the grip. Honestly, I haven't been very comfortable with the car in the wet this year for some reason, and yeah, we were on the line and on the limit the whole session and not enjoying that one, but yeah, we will try and see what we can do for later, but clearly a mistake and not very happy. Are you confident that the car can be fixed in time for the race later? It should be possible, but you never know. We didn't get to do a lap on inter tires, so you know, there was the whole session, and we just managed it poorly at the end. A couple of incidents with some of the drivers that, yeah, just didn't allow us to set a lap time, and then, yeah, just no lap time on inter tires, so obviously can't set a meaningful quality position, and it's really annoying. There was some pace, but not a good day. I'm not going to be negative. It is what it is. And what about hopes for the race, chances of a comeback? I don't have any hopes for the race. Just going to do what I can do. With the car I have right now, it's the worst that I've ever driven, so I probably won't be going very far with it, but yeah, maybe I'll start from the pit lane, and I don't know. We'll see, but it's undrivable. Well, it was a tough session. I think at some point it was inter, or at least I had the feeling it was inter, so we fitted it, and literally as we pulled into the queue, it started raining again, so we decided to pull me out and fit the wet, but yeah, we were just out with the balance on the wet tires, and it's really my fault because I called for the inter, so I didn't think I would be using the wet again, so yeah, I'm sorry. I had a bit of wheelspin, and I lost the rear very aggressively, and I just couldn't recover it. First time in the wet, and just, yeah, a bit slippery, a bit of a mistake, and yeah, very sorry for the guys in the garage. They have a lot of work. Let's see if they can make it to a race. I'm very sorry for them. I locked up into turn 12, but I still improved after, but I just, I don't know, we just didn't find the grip. We didn't find the balance also between front and rear axle with temperatures, I think. Felt very bad, and very awkward to drive, so yeah, I am not surprised that we are standing here right now, and that we're up. First part of the session was quite smooth. Second part of the session was bad, but yeah, I mean, nothing to say. Just the last two laps, I was right behind the car. Obviously, in the worst situation it is, when the tire track is better, and then you are right in the spring of another car because they slowed down for preparing their last two laps, so a bit of shame on that. Otherwise, I think the speed was actually there for us to grab Q2 at least.