What the teams said - qualifying in Sochi

Williams

Stroll set his fastest times in the first two sectors of his final lap of Q2, but a snatch of oversteer at Turn 15 cost him time and the lap was only enough for P12. Massa’s first run of Q3 put him P7, but he improved again on the deciding lap to move ahead of Verstappen into P6. Suitably, Stroll will be one of three men to move up a place as Sainz is demoted three grid spots for his collision with the Canadian rookie in Bahrain.

Felipe Massa - 6th, 1:35.110

“It was a great qualifying for us. It's so nice to see that we are in the middle of the two Red Bulls. They were better than us in the first three races, on qualifying and race pace, but this is a good track for us and we are fighting with them. I'm happy with the position we're starting, but I'm also happy that maybe tomorrow we can fight with them again. I will try everything I can, I'm very motivated and I hope everything will be right for us to have a good race tomorrow.”

Lance Stroll - 12th, 1:35.964

“It was a bit unfortunate at the end as I think Q3 was possible, but I just missed out at the end of my lap in Q2. I didn't get to do the warm up lap I wanted, and around here it is quite important to get the tyre working properly. I had a good start to the lap and then I lost a lot of grip in the last sector, made a couple of mistakes and just lost the rear, which wasn’t great. I was a couple of tenths up but didn’t manage to hold it. There is more in it. I think this weekend is quite tricky with tyres and getting them to work properly, but we can race from P12 (P11). It is a long race tomorrow, we will see what happens and hopefully luck is going to be a bit more on our side.”

Paddy Lowe, Chief Technical Officer

“It is absolutely fantastic to get sixth place on the grid with Felipe. We have split the Red Bulls which should make things interesting tomorrow, especially since we think our race pace looks competitive. On Lance’s side, given that this is a new circuit and there was a lot of learning to do this weekend, he has done a very respectable job to get the car to 12th. The tyres have been very tricky for everybody, as they have been every year here because of this smooth surface, so there has been a lot of learning along the way to get that final lap in qualifying. We look forward to an exciting race tomorrow. Well done to the team for what has been a trouble free weekend so far. Finally, congratulations to Ferrari for their first front row lockout since the 2008 French GP, back when Felipe and Rob Smedley were still part of their team!”

McLaren

As usual, Alonso grabbed his car by the scruff, eventually ending up 15th after describing his quickest lap of the afternoon as ‘nearly perfect’. Vandoorne set the 17th-fastest time in Q1, but will start the race from the back of the grid after incurring a 15-place penalty for exceeding the maximum number of annually permitted power unit components.

Fernando Alonso - 15th, 1:36.660

“It was a good qualifying in terms of the performance of the chassis and aerodynamics – the balance of the car felt quite good; quite grippy in the corners. I felt competitive, and my Q1 lap was very good.

“The tyres are tricky around here, as you need to warm them up quite hard, but everything went okay today. The sunny weather helped – and I think it’s going to be a good tyre for the race.

“Points tomorrow are our target, we need to have a good start, a good strategy, and a good race. Even then, we won’t be fast enough to get into in the points so we’ll need some help from the guys ahead of us.”

Stoffel Vandoorne - 17th, 1:37.070

“After receiving the grid penalty yesterday for changing power unit components, we chose to direct our focus more towards tomorrow’s race.

“We knew we’d more or less be starting from the back, so our main aim will be to try and get the most out of tomorrow’s race. Although we know it’s going to be difficult for us to overtake around here, I still think that a lot of things can happen over a race distance. Even if it turns out to be a one-stop race, it’ll be a long afternoon – and, hopefully, there’ll be some incidents or a Safety Car, which could create some scenarios that might play into our hands.

“We expected to have another difficult weekend, but I’m hoping for a better day and the opportunity to make something happen in the race.”

Eric Boullier, Racing Director

“We knew even before the start of qualifying that this would be a tricky session for us. Stoffel’s 15-place grid penalty, which was received yesterday for fitting the fifth MGU-K and turbo of the season, meant he was always likely to be starting from the back, and that’s unfortunately the case for tomorrow.

“It’ll be a tough afternoon for him, but he’s resolved to fight hard – it’s good to see such fighting spirit given the somewhat trying circumstances.

“Fernando drove with all his typical vigour this afternoon, leaving absolutely nothing on the track when he set his fastest time of the day, in Q1. He looked utterly magnificent out on-track, and we can only hope that we’re able to provide him with a package better suited to his mighty talents sooner rather than later.

“We approach tomorrow’s race looking to make the most of each and every opportunity that may come our way. Rest assured, we’ve lost none of our fight.”

Yusuke Hasegawa, Honda R&D Co. Ltd Head of F1 Project & Executive Chief Engineer

“We expected this circuit to be challenging for our package, and, unfortunately, today’s result reflects this.

“During FP3 this morning we were concentrating most of our time on finding the best balance for the car. Both drivers tried various ride-heights and mechanical balances in order to find the best setting for qualifying at this circuit. As this circuit is quite tricky for tyre management, we also focused on the usage of each type of tyre in order to warm them up efficiently.

“During qualifying today, Fernando showed his excellent performance once again by reaching Q2 in tough circumstances. Stoffel also showed a brilliant performance keeping his motivation high despite having a 15-place penalty for the race.

“Tomorrow’s race will be hard, but everyone in the team will fight hard to get the best we can out of our package and push for points.”

Haas

Grosjean’s struggle with the balance of his car continued and it resulted in 20th place as the Frenchman was also thwarted by the yellow flags at the end of Q1 when Palmer spun his Renault into the wall. Magnussen at least progressed to Q2, shaving a third of a second off his Q1 time to qualify 14th.

Romain Grosjean -20th, 1:37.620

“I’ve been very unhappy with the car since yesterday morning. Something is just not working, and then today we had the yellow flags on my last lap while I was trying to improve. We need a solution for those yellow flags. Three races now we’ve had at least one Haas (car) out because we get a yellow flag on our last attempt, so that’s a bit too much. Kevin has been pretty happy with his car and I haven’t. It was nothing in the brakes, it was just the car wasn’t doing anything I wanted. I think tomorrow will be very hard.”

Kevin Magnussen - 14th, 1:36.017

“As a team we’re struggling a bit more this weekend than in the first races. It’s not perfect, but I think P14 for me today was the best I could do. I think with a perfect lap P11 could’ve been possible, but it’s very close from 11th to where I am, very close. I don’t think any of these guys probably had a perfect lap. It is what it is. To be in that group is a good effort from our side. We’ve been a bit unlucky this weekend having to go back on the brakes in the middle of the weekend, but I think we’ll still have a good car for the race. Hopefully, we can get through the first corner well and have a good race.”

Guenther Steiner, team principal

“A difficult day. Ups come with downs. Today we didn’t really deliver what we could’ve done. Romain qualifying last, though he’ll start second to last with Vandoorne’s penalty, doesn’t justify the speed. Again, we ran into a yellow, number three now (China, Bahrain and Russia). Kevin was very close to at least 11th position, if not 10th, in Q2. It didn’t work out, so he’ll start 13th. We’ll try to do our best for tomorrow.”

Red Bull

The Milton-Keynes team were convinced they got pretty close to the maximum out of the RB12, but it was nowhere near enough to live with the red and silver cars ahead of them. Indeed, Ricciardo and Verstappen even found a white one between them in the shape of Massa’s fleet Williams.

Daniel Ricciardo - 5th, 1:34.905

“I don’t think the practice session timings were completely representative of our pace and I felt like we were always a bit better than the timing screen showed but we hadn’t quite put it all together. In Q1 and Q2 we were trying to circulate and build temperature in the tyres but in Q3 we went for it and decided just to do one push lap which seemed to work so I’m glad we chose to do that. I’m pretty happy, I think fifth was all we could ask for today and that’s obvious looking at the gap to the front. Fifth is our best qualifying result here in Russia and we have to take the positives for now so I’m pleased to have achieved that for the team. I think Ferrari and Mercedes will be battling for the win tomorrow but we will definitely have a good fight for the top five. Compared to the Williams I think we have more rear downforce and could be better on the tyres but they have the straight-line speed and if you compare us to Ferrari and Mercedes they still have a bit of everything on us. For everyone watching at home I hope we can all have a good race and it’s definitely good for the sport now that Mercedes is being challenged.”

Max Verstappen - 7th, 1:35.161

“A frustrating day all things considered, we knew this would be one of our toughest tracks of the season but I had hoped qualifying would go better than that. Q1 was not too bad for us but in Q2 I had a really bad feeling with the rear tyres and I suddenly lost grip, especially going into the last sector. Sector 1 and 2 went well on most of my laps but the time just fell away in sector 3 as I just didn’t have the heat in the tyres. P5 was our target and that looked possible based on my first sector splits but the time I lost in the final sector cost me that goal. In Bahrain our car had a good setup and worked with the tyres but here the long straights make it very hard to go quick and compete at the front. Tomorrow should be a one stop race and we will of course try to push and go forward but I just think the top four are too quick here. The target will remain P5 in the race tomorrow which would be a good result for us here.”

Christian Horner, team principal

“Ultimately Daniel got everything possible out of the car today. P5 was the maximum achievable and a clean controlled lap in Q3 delivered that. Max had looked the quicker of the two in the previous sessions of qualifying but unfortunately he got out of shape on his last run and dropped a place to Massa, so we line up in fifth and seventh for tomorrow’s grand prix. Fifth happens to be our best ever qualifying at this track but obviously it leaves us with a lot to do tomorrow.”

Sauber

A less than satisfying session for the Swiss squad with, for the first time this season, neither driver making it beyond Q1, as Wehrlein pipped team mate Ericsson for 18th place. Both will at least move up a grid spot thanks to Vandoorne’s penalties.

Marcus Ericsson - 19th, 1:37.507

“A disappointing result. I think we have made some progress today in FP3 and then in qualifying. Unfortunately we identified a power unit issue in FP3, and we were not able to fully fix it for qualifying. I am sure we will sort this out for tomorrow. On top of that I got yellow flags on my last lap in Q1. We could have been close to Q2 today without having these issues but that’s how racing goes sometimes. However, I am still positive, as we are moving in the right direction.”

Pascal Wehrlein - 18th, 1:37.332

“I cannot be satisfied with this result. I made a mistake on my last lap in qualifying, which definitely cost time. Overall I am having difficulties with the balance of the car. Also, our top speed on the straights is not good enough. The tyres behave differently compared to Bahrain, but this is the same for everyone else. Nevertheless, we will do our best for tomorrow’s race.”

Force India

They weren’t entirely satisfied, but having got both cars into Q3 for the first time this season, Force India had little to complain about. Ocon in particular was made up with his inaugural appearance in the top-ten shootout.

Sergio Perez -9th, 1:35.337

“It was not an ideal qualifying session for me, but in the end we got a good result and we can be pleased to be in Q3. I didn’t get the perfect lap; I feel I have left something on the table and when the margins are so close a tenth of a second would have put us a couple of places further ahead. It was not easy to get the tyres in the right operating window and to keep them working for the whole lap. Also, the track conditions changed a lot from yesterday and I think this affected everyone. The key for tomorrow’s race will be having a good start and a clean run into turn two: it’s a tricky one and in the past there has been plenty of action there at the start. I am optimistic for the race and I think we can aim to make up some positions from where we start.”

Esteban Ocon - 10th, 1:35.430

“It’s the first Q3 appearance of my career and I’m pretty happy with our performance today. The team has done an awesome job to improve the car during each session and I felt very comfortable by the time we started qualifying. I made a few small mistakes on my Q3 lap so I’m a little bit frustrated because there was the opportunity to be even higher up the grid. If I can make a clean start in the race, there is all to play for tomorrow. It’s important that I make the most of my best qualifying position in Formula One to score some more points.”

Robert Fernley, deputy team principal

“The top ten was our target today and it’s encouraging to see both Force Indias make Q3 for the first time this year. The team has done an excellent job over the last few days to extract more and more performance from the car and today’s results show the progress we have made. The Q3 laps of both drivers were clean and tidy, but they both felt there was a bit more speed in the car and that they had the potential to be even higher up the grid. Even so, locking out the fifth row of the grid represents our best qualifying performance of the year and gives us every chance to score solid points tomorrow.”

Mercedes

For the first time in 19 races a Silver Arrows won't line up on pole - and for the first time in 31 races, they won't take at least spot on the front row either. Lewis Hamilton in particular struggled - but as both he and Valtteri Bottas pointed out, they're still firmly in the hunt for top honours on Sunday...

Lewis Hamilton - 4th, 1:33.767

"I just wasn't quick enough today. It was all in the last sector, I was losing half a second there. I've been struggling there all weekend with the balance and it's been tough to utilise the tyres. We'll go back to the drawing board tonight and try and improve. Ferrari did a great job. They look quick on race pace and my race runs weren't great yesterday, so it's going to be tough. But we'll give everything we've got. Sochi isn't the easiest track to follow on, but there are long straights which should offer the opportunity to move forward. That's our goal. I'm on the dirty side of the grid so I haven't done myself any favours off the start. But that was the best job I could do today. We've got a real race to look forward to. There's no point being upset; we'll channel our positive energy and hopefully Sunday will be better."

Valtteri Bottas - 3rd, 1:33.289

"I think we can see Ferrari were quicker today. We were close in the end, but not close enough. All weekend they've had the upper hand and they've managed to extract more out of the tyres. They are looking very strong here and, as we've seen so far this year, Ferrari have a good race pace and we expect it to be the same tomorrow. We made an improvement from yesterday: it wasn't quite enough but I think the changes we made overnight should help us in the race. Tomorrow is where it counts and starting on the second row is still not a bad place to begin the race. There's a very long run down into Turn 2 and a lot of slipstreaming. Ferrari is ahead today, but hopefully not tomorrow."

Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport 

"Today's result showed that, while Ferrari and ourselves are a long way ahead of the other teams, it's still a work in progress for us to get the car into the right window and performing consistently. We made a good step compared to yesterday but this afternoon, the top three were covered by less than a tenth of a second and Valtteri could even have been on pole with his final lap until a small mistake in the last sector. As for Lewis, he hasn't been happy with the car, finding it tricky to drive, and this is a place where you need to feel good with the car to hook it all up. So we start from the second row tomorrow and now it's our job to look forward and see what the race can bring. As the hunters and not the hunted, maybe we have some different cards we can play to chase the race victory."

James Allison, Technical Director 

"It always hurts when you're not at the front and even more so when the gaps are so small. After struggling yesterday in practice, we did a good job to unlock the performance of the car overnight and made a good step forward relative to our competitors and Ferrari in particular. However, it wasn't quite enough to get either car on the front row. We will knuckle down this evening, prepare thoroughly and look forward to a strong race tomorrow in what are expected to be broadly similar conditions."

Ferrari

A historic Saturday for Ferrari, as Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen delivered a first front row lockout in nearly a decade. For Vettel, only a second pole since joining Ferrari was snatched on his final effort - while for Raikkonen, the achievement was balanced out by the fact he had been on provisional pole, but failed to improve on his final flyer...

Sebastian Vettel - 1st, 1:33.194

"I think it's just great. We had had a very good run also yesterday and this morning, and the car was phenomenal. So there's no real secret to today's result, it's just the fact that if you get along with the car you find the rhythm and know what to expect. We knew it would be very tight against the Mercedes, it could have gone the other way, but I am very happy that we locked out the front row for the team. I had a good start to Qualifying , then in Q2 I lost a bit the rhythm. My first run in Q3 was not very tidy, so I left it to the last run. For us it's so important as Mercedes had done an impeccable job in the last few years, so it's great for the team and for me that we managed to break that. But now we'll see what tomorrow brings. It's a long race and we'll try to confirm this result."

Kimi Raikkonen - 2nd, 1:33.253

"Generally, it has been a very straightforward weekend: we have been happier with the car, set-up wise, since the beginning and when you start well it's easier to work and improve here and there. This first row is great for the team, obviously I would rather be in front, but this is not an easy track to get a good lap. I'm happy to take second place, it's a lot better that it has been so far this year. It's good but it's only qualifying, tomorrow is the day where we get points, and we have to do a good job out of it. I expect us to be ok, for sure it's going to be a close fight. Hopefully we can make a good start and see what happens."

Renault

A day of contrasting fortunes at Renault. Hulkenberg secured his third consecutive Q3 appearance, and capitalised by beating the two Force Indias to a share of the fourth row. Palmer meanwhile followed up technical issues in FP3 with a mistake in Q1 that sent him into the barriers, and ensured his elimination in Q1...

Nico Hulkenberg - 8th, 1:35.285

"I think that was the best we could do with the package we have currently, so it's been a satisfying afternoon from that point of view. The challenge will be in the race; our pace then has been trickier so far this season so tomorrow will be the true teller of where we are in the car with our recent upgrade. We'll push, as always, and hopefully come away with some nice points."

Jolyon Palmer - 16th, 1:36.462

"I have to say a big thank you to all my crew and everyone in the garage who has worked so hard over this weekend, they really have been amazing and now they have a bit more work to do. I was pushing hard and took too much kerb which pitched me into the barriers. I was on the back foot slightly with missing FP3, but anything can happen in the race, so I hope for a better day."

Alan Permane, Sporting Director

"It's good to have a car in the top ten once again; Nico has established himself as a regular Q3 runner which is excellent, and we're confident that there is more to come from the car as we upgrade it in the future. Unfortunately for Jo, he easily had the pace to charge for Q3 but it was not to be today. Nico's race looks a straightforward one given his qualifying position. For Jolyon, he is out of position so we will be looking for every strategic opportunity to make the most of the pace of the car."

Toro Rosso

Having been disappointed on Friday, Toro Rosso made progress overnight, with both Sainz and home hero Kvyat far happier with the car's underlying performance. It was Sainz who had the upper hand in qualifying, edging his team mate by two spots and two hundredths of a second - and while the Spaniard carries a grid penalty into Sunday's race, both men are eyeing up the points in Sochi.

Daniil Kvyat - 13th, 1:35.968

"After this morning's FP3, I'm happy with my result in today's qualifying session. The car has been difficult to drive all weekend and we also had a few issues this morning which we couldn't completely solve for qualifying. But I drove well and I'm happy with my lap. Tomorrow we will try our best to fight for points!"

Carlos Sainz - 11th, 1:35.948

"Yesterday we were totally out of position, but today we managed to pick-up the pace a bit and to qualify in P11, which isn't that bad. It's just unfortunate that I have that 3-place grid penalty for tomorrow… We are definitely lacking some pace around this circuit, but it can be an interesting race. I'm really enjoying this midfield battle which is making every Quali and race very exciting. I'd say points are possible and, even if it will be tough to go forward, I will give it my all and let's see where we end up."

James Key, Technical Director

"So far it hasn't been the easiest of weekends for us. We've had similar problems to most of the other teams, trying to find the right grip level for shorter runs. Unfortunately, we fell victim to a little bit of that this afternoon. We ran quite conservatively on Friday, so we knew that there were certain things that could be addressed immediately for FP3; but we also made quite a lot of changes to our set-up today and this began to give us a more reasonable balance and a slightly better approach to try and optimise the tyres a bit, this seemed to work this morning and we made some reasonable steps for FP3. In qualifying we ran into trouble during Q2 with our final tyre sets and neither driver felt they had the grip they should have had – and perhaps they had in earlier runs -, and this left us in a bit of a compromised situation without either car in Q3. Ultimately, I think it's very tight but we've also lost a bit of ground in the last few races and we need to make that up in the next events. Sadly, Carlos has got his grid penalty to take from Bahrain, so he won't be starting from P11. We have a few challenges for tomorrow, but of course you have to approach it with a good plan and we'll do everything we can to try and squeeze the cars into the top ten."

Pirelli

Mario Isola, Head Of Car Racing

“The key to qualifying was the preparation of the tyres on the warm-up lap, with some drivers choosing one, and others preferring two, in order to extract the maximum performance. On the final run, Vettel did two warm-up laps, while Raikkonen chose one. This precise tyre management was a highlight of an exciting and closely-fought session with some very close margins at the finish. Apart from that, it was a straightforward qualifying session today, with the tyres behaving exactly as we expected. As we’ve seen from the past the surface remains quite slippery here, despite some natural ageing of the asphalt.”