Drivers Post-Quali Quotes 2019 Singapore F1 GP

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc claimed pole position under the lights for the Singapore Grand Prix, in a typically warm and humid qualifying session with track temperatures that remained in the region of 33°C. Leclerc set his pole time on the Red soft tyre: the compound he also used to get through Q2, with all the top 10 on the grid all starting on this tyre tomorrow.

Leclerc also picked up his third consecutive Pirelli Pole Position Award straight after qualifying. The prize-givers were Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso: two members of the world-famous house music trio Swedish House Mafia.

Sergio Pérez and Daniel Ricciardo got penalized. Most of the the quotes were obtained before the news got out that Ricciardo was disqualified.

We have summed up the drivers comments according the qualifying results for the 2019 Italian Formula 1 Grand Prix.

Scuderia Ferrari

Charles Leclerc (P1 - 5th time in 2019)

Charles Leclerc

“Coming to Singapore, we expected to have a difficult weekend. I struggled with the car yesterday and was not satisfied with my driving. I knew that there was more to extract and focused on the improvements I had to make on myself to do a better job today.
Pole felt out of reach but this morning, the car came alive and felt great. The team in our factory in Maranello did an incredible job to make this result possible by giving us the high-downforce package we need on this track.

The lap itself was not perfect. I made some mistakes and there were some close calls. To finish it like this just feels amazing. I have to keep my head down now and stay focused. It is difficult to overtake here, so the start will be the most important part of the race for me. I hope it will be an exciting one.”

Sebastian Vettel (P3 - 6th time in 2019)

Sebastian Vettel

“I’m not completely satisfied with my Q3, as I wasn’t able to improve on my second attempt. I made a mistake in sector 1 and I realised I was not improving, so I decided to abort the lap. It started off very well, but I wasn’t able to put together the lap I potentially had. Overall, first and third is great for the team and even if I cannot be entirely happy we can say that we were able to extract the most from today.

The new parts we have on the car worked as expected this weekend, since we are not losing out in the corners to the extent that we were in in Hungary, a track quite similar to this. We were able to extract more performance and also, in terms of race pace, I think we can be competitive.

Yesterday we suffered with a lack of front grip, but tonight as the temperature dropped, it was better for us, the balance also improved from yesterday to today. The race will be really long but I think we could have some opportunities.”

Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport

Lewis Hamilton (P2 - 7th time in 2019)

Lewis Hamilton

"I don’t think we were expecting the Ferraris to be so quick today, they’ve clearly made some improvements to their car and it’s working really well, so fair play to them. We had a deficit after the first run in Q3 and I was sitting in the garage thinking “Oh my God, it’s a second – where am I going to find a second?”

But all you can do is tighten your seat belt and launch the car through those corners, and I managed to improve by about second. I gave it everything I had tonight, but I couldn’t find any more time. Nonetheless I’m really glad to be on the front row and I hope that I can fight tomorrow with the Ferraris – it’s going to be a tough one, but not impossible."

Valtteri Bottas (P5 - 1st time in 2019)

Valtteri Bottas

"This is a disappointing result because I think we had the possibility to achieve more today. I felt much more comfortable in the car in qualifying than I did in any other session of the weekend. I was actually pretty happy after Q1, thinking that we might be able to fight for a spot on the front row today.

But the Ferraris just kept getting quicker and quicker, they kept improving their times and ultimately we just couldn’t match them. Unfortunately, Q3 was pretty messy for me; I never managed to get the ideal tyre preparation because I was stuck in traffic on both of my out-laps, which compromised my timed laps. Tomorrow will be tricky, starting fifth is far from ideal, but we’ll go into the race with a fighting spirit. There’s usually a lot of action in Singapore, so we will see if there are any opportunities and try and make the best of it."

Aston Martin Red Bull Racing

Max Verstappen (P4 - 6th time in 2019)

Max Verstappen

“Before the weekend we hoped to qualify higher than the second row but as soon as we were on track we quickly realised that Ferrari and Mercedes were very fast. Yesterday you could see that we all had more to come but clearly they stepped it up more than we did and we didn’t have the pace to challenge for pole. Balance wise the car felt pretty decent but we just didn’t have enough grip which we need to look into.

I didn’t expect Ferrari to be on pole but they did a really good job and we will have to work harder. We came here wanting to fight for the front row and P4 feels a bit disappointing on a track like this where we hoped to be quicker but it was the best we could do and at least we are ahead of one Mercedes. Let’s see, as anything can happen in the race tomorrow.”

Alexander Albon (P5 - 1st time in 2019)

Alexander Albon

“I felt like the car was getting away from me a little bit in Q1 and I was chasing a bit of balance. Then towards the final run we changed a few things, the set-up felt better and I started to get my confidence back as the car’s performance improved. That’s all part of the learning curve and I’m understanding more and more about how to make the car go faster around this track.

Strategy will be important tomorrow and the tyres don’t look like they’re holding on that well. The track is also very technical so I’m expecting a long, hard race. Of course I would have liked to have finished a little higher up today and there is still work to do, but overall I felt it wasn’t a bad result. I will focus on the positives and take a cold bath before the race and be ready to fight from P6.”

McLaren F1 Team

Carlos Sainz (P7 - 4th time in 2019)

Carlos Sainz Jr.

“It’s been a very positive day for us. Congratulations to the whole team. We showed good pace on a low-speed track, which we know has been one of our weaknesses. The rear-end and the car in general has been behaving well the whole weekend and we managed to put together a very good lap in Q3, despite an engine misfire at the end of Sector Three.

“We lost a couple of tenths there but it didn’t affect the outcome, with P6 being likely out of reach today. P7 was the best position possible out there and it’s a good spot from which to fight tomorrow.”

Lando Norris (P9 - 1st time in 2019)

Lando Norris

“It was a good quali all the way until the final run in Q3. I was getting more and more confident in the car, which was nice. Q1 was good, Q2 was good and then I didn't quite get the out-lap I wanted which was a little bit annoying, because around here it’s important to have the confidence.

“I just made some stupid mistakes on my final run in Q3, pushed too hard in an attempt to make up time that I’d lost and the lap just ended up messy. It’s annoying, especially because I was behind two other cars that I shouldn’t be behind. But overall, I was very happy with the car – the team did a great job for me.”

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Renault F1 Team

 

Nico Hulkenberg (P9 - 2nd time in 2019)

Nico Hulkenberg

“I’m happy with the result, but it could have been a little better. It was okay, I lost some rhythm in Q2 with a lock-up at Turn 1, so I had to reset myself.

The ending was clearly a bit extreme but the tow has a big impact here and it’s worth a couple of tenths, which you can’t make up in the corners. That’s why we had some games at the end. It was peculiar with all the cars bunched up. Our pace was clearly very strong today and we have to back it up with points on Sunday.”

 

Daniel Ricciardo (P20 - 2nd time in 2019 )

Daniel Ricciardo

“Our intention was to get into Q3, so to achieve that with both cars is good. I’m not disappointed, it was a good effort and we’ve recovered well throughout the weekend. I’m content with eighth and there’s plenty to play for there.

We have to focus on the race now. We’ll see what happens and get along with our business. The race is the toughest of the year, but I enjoy the challenge.”

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Alfa Romeo Racing

 

Antonio Giovinazzi (P10 - 3rd time in 2019)

Antonio Giovinazzi

“It hasn’t been the smoothest weekend so far, so to qualify so close to the top ten is a decent result. I think I could have improved a little in my fastest lap, but looking at the pace of the Renaults and McLarens, it would have been very difficult to beat them.

Starting in P11 tomorrow, because of Perez’s penalty, means we are the first of the cars with a free choice of tyres and that can be an advantage. We saw the softs degrade a lot yesterday, so we can pick another compound and make a good strategy out of it. It’s going to be a long race tomorrow, but if we take any chance we get, we can finish this weekend positively with some points.”

 

Kimi Räikkönen (P12 - 3rd time in 2019)

Kimi Raikkonen

“This hasn’t been an easy weekend for us so far. The car is improving step by step but still we’re not fast enough.

I don’t know if it is about the tyres, sometimes we seem to have grip but then it goes away and that makes it hard to feel confident and push properly. The long runs yesterday have shown more consistency so hopefully the race will be a bit easier for us.”

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Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda

 

Pierre Gasly (P11 - 1st time in 2019)

Pierre Gasly

“We knew before Qualifying it would be tight in the midfield to make it to the top 10 here. I managed to do it in Q1 with the ninth-fastest time, then in Q2 we just missed out by a tenth, so it was really close. It’s always a bit frustrating when it’s that close, but I think we did the best with what we had.

Tomorrow we will start the race P12, so we need to look at our strategy options to see where we can take advantage by choosing our starting tyres for the race. I’ll be pushing as much as I can, it’s a long 61 laps where a lot of things can happen, so it will be important to have a clean race and keep fighting until the end to hopefully score some points for the team.”

 

Daniil Kvyat (P14 - 2nd time in 2019)

Daniil Kvyat

“I cannot be happy with my Qualifying, the last lap felt very poor and I knew once I crossed the line there wouldn’t be a chance for Q2. I ran into a lot of traffic which was unfortunate as it cost me some time, and a little mistake with the engine switch in Sector 1 did not help.

Not taking part in FP3 hurt us quite a lot and at a track like this every lap counts. I wasn’t really in the rhythm when I went out on track for Q1 and I didn’t have a great feeling in the car. I expect a tough race tomorrow as it can be quite unpredictable around here, however maybe that will work in our favour, so we can have a chance to finish in the points.”

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Rich Energy Haas F1 Team

 

Kevin Magnussen P13 - 5th time in 2019)

Kevin Magnussen

“We didn’t have the pace today. I kind of expected it to be a tough day. Now we’ll see if we can make the tires hang on in the race and hopefully hold our starting position. I’m not expecting to make much ground, but you can always hope that people make some mistakes.

If we can hang onto our position then maybe with safety car and a lucky pitstop or something, we could make some progress even without having the pace. That’s what we cross our fingers for tomorrow.”

 

Romain Grosjean (P17 - 1st time in 2019)

Romain Grosjean

“I think there was more in the package than what we got. We changed the car after yesterday, reverted to a lot of parts from the Melbourne-spec – on my side of the garage. We didn’t have a chance to try it in cool conditions because FP3 was still warm.

I think the balance got away from us in qualifying, so we couldn’t quite extract the maximum. It’s unfortunate but I think we just didn’t get the time to set it up right for the cooler temperatures. Maybe it’s a better package for the race, we’ll see tomorrow.”

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SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team

 

Sergio Pérez (P15 - 4th time in 2019)

Sergio Pérez

“Everybody did a tremendous job to put the car together in time for qualifying. It’s very unfortunate that I damaged the car in final practice. This circuit doesn’t allow a single mistake, but I made one. We’ve got a lot of work to do ahead of tomorrow, but I believe that we have an opportunity to recover and fight back.

It’s a long race and I’ve been in this position before in Singapore. I know that anything can happen here: even when you think you are down and out, you can still come back strong. We have good race pace and there are two hours of racing ahead of us. We have to make sure that we finish the race, stay out of trouble and then we can have a shot at the points.”

 

Lance Stroll (P16 - 4th time in 2019)

Lance Stroll

“We were in a bad position out on track. I think we had a four-second gap to the car in front and I was being pressured to start the lap from the cars behind. So I had to keep track position or I think it would have been a bigger mess. I don’t think it’s anyone’s fault. We’re all doing the best that we can to try and get free air.

In Q1 there are 20 cars on the track and everyone knows how important it is. Clean air is very, very important here and I just feel like I had a lack of grip on that second run so I couldn’t deliver the lap time that we needed to get through. And it was very tight too: we were missing a tenth to make Q2 so there’s very little in it. I think we had more potential. There were a few more tenths in the car today. I will now focus on racing well tomorrow.”

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ROKiT Williams Racing

 

George Russel (P18 - 3rd time in 2019)

George Russell

“We decided to risk it and go as late as possible to get the best from the circuit. Unfortunately, lots of other drivers were trying to do the same and my warm up lap was 20 or 30 seconds slower than every other I have done this week.

When I started the lap I almost spun off as I had no temperature in the tyres, so from the first corner I knew that the lap was pretty much ruined. It was a shame as we had a small chance of a good result, but it wasn’t meant to be."

 

Robert Kubica (P19 - 4th time in 2019)

Robert Kubica

"We improved the car balance for qualifying and I was a bit surprised, so probably under drove a few corners on my first lap. I knew I had a second set of new tyres and the track evolution was pretty big, but we had a problem with the refuelling between the runs and left the garage too late.

Unfortunately, I took the chequered flag before opening my final lap. It’s a shame but that’s how it is. The race will be a big challenge. The track is demanding both physically and mentally. It is also hard on the tyres and the car, so it will be a tough one."

✅ Check out 2019 Italian F1 GP Qualifying Report & Classification
✅ Check out 2019 F1 Championship Standings

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