Valtteri Bottas did everything right and won his 9th F1 pole position. His team mate pole king Lewis Hamilton could not get his lap together and was 0.6 sec to slow.
Both Mercedes drivers will start from front row for the 4th time this season. They can score (again) a record breaking 5th 1-2 finish today.
We have summed-up the drivers comments in order of the starting grid about today's adventures in Baku.
Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport
Valtteri Bottas - P1 for the 3rd time this season
Valtteri Bottas
"This feels really good. In every run in Qualifying I found room for improvement, little bits here and there, and I managed to get everything together in Q3 and had a very strong first lap. I think the package we have brought to Barcelona is working very well and the car was very strong, especially in Sector 3.
All the credit for that goes to the team, thank you to everyone back in Brackley and Brixworth. Our long run pace looked good on Friday, but a lot can happen on a Sunday. The start and Turn 1 will be particularly important. Tomorrow, Lewis and I both want to win, so I’m looking forward to a hard and fair fight."
Lewis Hamilton
"I wasn’t quick enough today and wasn’t able to extract the full potential from the car. I have been struggling with the car all weekend, so I will have to look into the details, figure out how I can improve my pace and keep working.
Valtteri had a good qualifying session and did a great job, so he deserved pole. Our long-run pace looked good, so hopefully we should be strong tomorrow as well. My starts have been decent so far this year, so hopefully that will continue on Sunday as it’s not that easy to overtake on this track."
Scuderia Ferrari
Sebastian Vettel
“We are happy but we’re not happy. By that, I mean that the car is well balanced and I think the updates we have brought have helped with the driveability of the car. However, it’s obvious that we are still not where we want to be, because we are very quick down the straights, but we are losing too much time through the slower corners.
The result of all that is that we are not in front and so we have to continue to work hard. Nevertheless, I think that having a well balanced car means we can have a good race, so I’m ready to give it my all tomorrow.”
Charles Leclerc
“It is not the qualifying result we hoped for. We have been working on finding the right balance, especially with the new parts we have in place.
Unfortunately, we were still a bit off today. I went wide in Q2 and some parts were damaged when I went over the kerb. The team did a great job and tried to fix the car during the session to let me continue driving. After the incident, the balance was different and we have to check our data to make sure we get our car back in shape for the race tomorrow.
Our competitors are strong, but we remain confident of our potential and will do our best to catch them.”
Aston Martin Red Bull Racing
Max Verstappen
“I think we maximised qualifying today and I was very happy with how close we were to Seb and that I was able to split the Ferrari's. The Mercedes cars, and especially Valtteri, were just too quick, but we recovered quite well and the car balance was a bit better than before.
Of course, I would have liked to get a bit further to the front, and we still have to find some time but our pace in the long runs was good and in the race we’re normally a bit more competitive so I’m positive.
Mercedes are quick but I think we can fight for a podium.”
Pierre Gasly
“Today was pretty positive, and it was a decent qualifying with P6. We knew after FP3 it would be tough and we thought Ferrari would make a bigger step in qualifying, but Max was just a tenth behind Vettel and I was around a tenth behind Charles, so we’re a bit closer than we thought. For sure Mercedes are extremely quick but I think we have a decent car and hopefully we can take the fight to Ferrari tomorrow.
It could be an interesting race with the option for a one-stop or two-stop, and anything can happen at this track where we know the start is really important, so we’ll try to maximise that for tomorrow. There’s still a lot of work to do, but overall things are getting better and I think the work we’ve been doing since the beginning of the year is starting to come together and pay off. Hopefully, tomorrow we can get some good points.”
Rich Energy Haas F1 Team
Romain Grosjean
“I hope we can carry this form over in the race. Here we’ve got the tires to work nicely, an area we’ve been struggling with recently, but we’re happy with today. We’re not far off the Red Bulls and we’re a good chunk ahead of the cars behind us.
I think we can be proud of that. Everyone knows this track very well, so it’s not easy to make a difference. We extracted the best from today. It’s been a good day – a good qualifying.”
Kevin Magnussen
“We probably did the maximum we could do today. We were just two tenths of a second from one of the Red Bulls and ahead of the rest of the midfield, so I’m quite happy. We’re not quite sure about race pace for tomorrow, we know it’s a difficult track to overtake on.
Today we were sixth tenths of a second faster than the next best in the midfield behind us, so hopefully we’ll have enough to keep those guys behind. I don’t think it’ll be an easy race, but I think we’re in a good position to score good points starting both cars in P7 and P8.”
Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda
Daniil Kvyat
“FP3 was smooth on both sides of the garage, and our main challenge of today was to adapt to the cooler conditions that were not really expected. We worked on the Qualifying preparation and Alex was able to finish the session with a competitive lap. It was a bit more difficult for Daniil, and it seemed clear we had some more work to do to make him happier with his car.
Given he made it into Q3 again I think we can say we achieved this goal. In Qualifying, Daniil outpaced most of our direct competitors and Alex was not far away at all. This was again a very tight midfield and the engineers did a very good job to adapt the cars to track evolution and manage traffic during the session. For tomorrow, our strategy options are open, and we are analysing all the scenarios to convert these good grid positions into points. Our Friday long run pace was competitive and the track conditions should be similar to FP2, so there could be some good opportunities.”
Alexander Albon
“Today I made too many mistakes to be honest. We were looking quite strong the whole of Qualifying, but I just tried something a bit different into Turn 5 and pushed too much on the entry which led to a big snap on the exit. Since the tyres are sensitive, I was fighting the rest of the lap with the rear tyres and trying to keep them in the window, but I could tell they were sliding too much.
It’s frustrating because I didn’t get the job done today. We knew we were in a fight for Q3, but Qualifying 12th and starting P11 tomorrow, I’m still in a good position as our race pace from yesterday looks quite good.”
McLaren F1 Team
Lando Norris
“I’m pretty happy. I improved almost everywhere on my final push laps but maybe a small mistake cost me a couple of places and ultimately a place in Q3. We knew from yesterday quali wasn’t going to be amazing but hopefully our race pace looks more promising.
“I’m looking forward to tomorrow with a free choice of tyres having qualified P11, but will move up one place due to penalties. Not a bad day but getting through to Q3 would have been better.”
Carlos Sainz
“Today was a tricky session and we still need to analyse why. We were looking good in quali until Q2. A snap in Turn 5 in my last attempt compromised my lap so I tried to recover in Sector 3, pushed too hard and did a mistake.
That’s it. I’m confident with our race pace and the weekend is not over yet, so we’ll prepare thoroughly for tomorrow.”
Renault F1 Team
Daniel Ricciardo - P13 ( due to 3 places grid penalty)
Daniel Ricciardo
“We did a pretty good job to get into Q3 today. That was the target and I certainly felt after yesterday we had the potential to achieve that. We probably could have been slightly higher in the order for Q3 but I lost the rear out of Turn 13 on the second run and lost some time.
That stopped it from being a really good session, but, in any case, it was a strong effort today. We have the penalty to add, but we’ll get our heads down in the race and look for points.”
Nico Hulkenberg
“I’m quite disappointed with myself about that. I made a mistake on the first run, touched the wall slightly and we had to change the front wing and we also suffered bargeboard damage. If you make mistakes, you pay for them.
We could have made Q2 at a minimum today. We’re lacking a bit of pace and harmony in the car at the moment. We’ll give it our best tomorrow and aim for a better result.”
Alfa Romeo Racing
Kimi Raikkonen
“We struggled a bit with the set up at the beginning of the weekend, but then FP3 was quite okay. Then the conditions changed and this made it difficult for us. On one hand I’m not happy, on the other hand we tried everything.
We did the best lap of the weekend in qualifying but unfortunately it’s not fast enough. It’s not one big issue we have, it’s lots of little things which we need to work on and improve.”
Antonio Giovinazzi
“I have been struggling with my brakes all weekend and it was no different in today’s qualifying. It’s quite disappointing to go out in Q1, I did a mistake in Turn 10, locked up the fronts and that probably cost me a place in Q2. Tomorrow’s race will be challenging because overtaking here is not easy.
We will continue working on making improvements and see what we can do in the race.”
SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team
Sergio Pérez
“It’s been a disappointing weekend so far and I don’t have the answers as to why at the moment. This track demands a lot from the car - it has a bit of everything - low, medium and high-speed corners – and it’s never been our best circuit over the years, so I’m not too concerned. In any case, I’m looking forward to tomorrow - that’s the day the counts and hopefully we can score some points.
It’s going to be tough because track position is very important here, but we will try our best. I think our race pace is looking better than our qualifying speed so that’s a positive. Let’s see what we can do with the strategy to move forward in the race.”
Lance Stroll
“It is frustrating to be out in Q1. I didn’t maximise the lap, but we knew this weekend would be tough. It is still very tight in the midfield and we were fighting with Renault for space in Q2, but every little detail counts when it’s that close.
We usually race better than we qualify so we will analyse the data overnight and see what tomorrow brings.”
ROKiT Williams Racing
Robert Kubica
"It was a good session, considering the circumstances in FP3. Thanks to the mechanics for their hard work getting the car ready after my error in practice.
However, I was really pleased with my last effort in qualifying and I felt I got the most out of the car.”
George Russell
“I started the weekend with a positive feeling in FP1, but this disappeared session by session. We kept reducing front-wing and aero balance which should have given us some understeer, but we were still struggling with oversteer, especially on the last run when the track was getting better.
The changes that we are making are not giving us the results, so it is a bit confusing.”
✅ Check out Qualifying report & result 2019 Spanish F1 GP
✅ Check out Start Grid 2019 Spanish F1 GP
✅ Check out 2019 F1 Championship Standings
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Valtteri Bottas did everything right and won his 9th F1 pole position. His team mate pole king Lewis Hamilton could not get his lap together and was 0.6 sec to slow.
Both Mercedes drivers will start from front row for the 4th time this season. They can score (again) a record breaking 5th 1-2 finish today.
We have summed-up the drivers comments in order of the starting grid about today's adventures in Baku.
Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport
Valtteri Bottas - P1 for the 3rd time this season
Valtteri Bottas
"This feels really good. In every run in Qualifying I found room for improvement, little bits here and there, and I managed to get everything together in Q3 and had a very strong first lap. I think the package we have brought to Barcelona is working very well and the car was very strong, especially in Sector 3.
All the credit for that goes to the team, thank you to everyone back in Brackley and Brixworth. Our long run pace looked good on Friday, but a lot can happen on a Sunday. The start and Turn 1 will be particularly important. Tomorrow, Lewis and I both want to win, so I’m looking forward to a hard and fair fight."
Lewis Hamilton - P2
Lewis Hamilton
"I wasn’t quick enough today and wasn’t able to extract the full potential from the car. I have been struggling with the car all weekend, so I will have to look into the details, figure out how I can improve my pace and keep working.
Valtteri had a good qualifying session and did a great job, so he deserved pole. Our long-run pace looked good, so hopefully we should be strong tomorrow as well. My starts have been decent so far this year, so hopefully that will continue on Sunday as it’s not that easy to overtake on this track."
Scuderia Ferrari
Sebastian Vettel - P3
Sebastian Vettel
“We are happy but we’re not happy. By that, I mean that the car is well balanced and I think the updates we have brought have helped with the driveability of the car. However, it’s obvious that we are still not where we want to be, because we are very quick down the straights, but we are losing too much time through the slower corners.
The result of all that is that we are not in front and so we have to continue to work hard. Nevertheless, I think that having a well balanced car means we can have a good race, so I’m ready to give it my all tomorrow.”
Charles Leclerc - P5
Charles Leclerc
“It is not the qualifying result we hoped for. We have been working on finding the right balance, especially with the new parts we have in place.
Unfortunately, we were still a bit off today. I went wide in Q2 and some parts were damaged when I went over the kerb. The team did a great job and tried to fix the car during the session to let me continue driving. After the incident, the balance was different and we have to check our data to make sure we get our car back in shape for the race tomorrow.
Our competitors are strong, but we remain confident of our potential and will do our best to catch them.”
Aston Martin Red Bull Racing
Max Verstappen - P4
Max Verstappen
“I think we maximised qualifying today and I was very happy with how close we were to Seb and that I was able to split the Ferrari's. The Mercedes cars, and especially Valtteri, were just too quick, but we recovered quite well and the car balance was a bit better than before.
Of course, I would have liked to get a bit further to the front, and we still have to find some time but our pace in the long runs was good and in the race we’re normally a bit more competitive so I’m positive.
Mercedes are quick but I think we can fight for a podium.”
Pierre Gasly - P6
Pierre Gasly
“Today was pretty positive, and it was a decent qualifying with P6. We knew after FP3 it would be tough and we thought Ferrari would make a bigger step in qualifying, but Max was just a tenth behind Vettel and I was around a tenth behind Charles, so we’re a bit closer than we thought. For sure Mercedes are extremely quick but I think we have a decent car and hopefully we can take the fight to Ferrari tomorrow.
It could be an interesting race with the option for a one-stop or two-stop, and anything can happen at this track where we know the start is really important, so we’ll try to maximise that for tomorrow. There’s still a lot of work to do, but overall things are getting better and I think the work we’ve been doing since the beginning of the year is starting to come together and pay off. Hopefully, tomorrow we can get some good points.”
Romain Grosjean - P7
Romain Grosjean
“I hope we can carry this form over in the race. Here we’ve got the tires to work nicely, an area we’ve been struggling with recently, but we’re happy with today. We’re not far off the Red Bulls and we’re a good chunk ahead of the cars behind us.
I think we can be proud of that. Everyone knows this track very well, so it’s not easy to make a difference. We extracted the best from today. It’s been a good day – a good qualifying.”
Kevin Magnussen - P8
Kevin Magnussen
“We probably did the maximum we could do today. We were just two tenths of a second from one of the Red Bulls and ahead of the rest of the midfield, so I’m quite happy. We’re not quite sure about race pace for tomorrow, we know it’s a difficult track to overtake on.
Today we were sixth tenths of a second faster than the next best in the midfield behind us, so hopefully we’ll have enough to keep those guys behind. I don’t think it’ll be an easy race, but I think we’re in a good position to score good points starting both cars in P7 and P8.”
Daniil Kvyat - P9
Daniil Kvyat
“FP3 was smooth on both sides of the garage, and our main challenge of today was to adapt to the cooler conditions that were not really expected. We worked on the Qualifying preparation and Alex was able to finish the session with a competitive lap. It was a bit more difficult for Daniil, and it seemed clear we had some more work to do to make him happier with his car.
Given he made it into Q3 again I think we can say we achieved this goal. In Qualifying, Daniil outpaced most of our direct competitors and Alex was not far away at all. This was again a very tight midfield and the engineers did a very good job to adapt the cars to track evolution and manage traffic during the session. For tomorrow, our strategy options are open, and we are analysing all the scenarios to convert these good grid positions into points. Our Friday long run pace was competitive and the track conditions should be similar to FP2, so there could be some good opportunities.”
Alexander Albon - P11
Alexander Albon
“Today I made too many mistakes to be honest. We were looking quite strong the whole of Qualifying, but I just tried something a bit different into Turn 5 and pushed too much on the entry which led to a big snap on the exit. Since the tyres are sensitive, I was fighting the rest of the lap with the rear tyres and trying to keep them in the window, but I could tell they were sliding too much.
It’s frustrating because I didn’t get the job done today. We knew we were in a fight for Q3, but Qualifying 12th and starting P11 tomorrow, I’m still in a good position as our race pace from yesterday looks quite good.”
Lando Norris - P10
Lando Norris
“I’m pretty happy. I improved almost everywhere on my final push laps but maybe a small mistake cost me a couple of places and ultimately a place in Q3. We knew from yesterday quali wasn’t going to be amazing but hopefully our race pace looks more promising.
“I’m looking forward to tomorrow with a free choice of tyres having qualified P11, but will move up one place due to penalties. Not a bad day but getting through to Q3 would have been better.”
Carlos Sainz - P12
Carlos Sainz
“Today was a tricky session and we still need to analyse why. We were looking good in quali until Q2. A snap in Turn 5 in my last attempt compromised my lap so I tried to recover in Sector 3, pushed too hard and did a mistake.
That’s it. I’m confident with our race pace and the weekend is not over yet, so we’ll prepare thoroughly for tomorrow.”
Renault F1 Team
Daniel Ricciardo - P13 ( due to 3 places grid penalty)
Daniel Ricciardo
“We did a pretty good job to get into Q3 today. That was the target and I certainly felt after yesterday we had the potential to achieve that. We probably could have been slightly higher in the order for Q3 but I lost the rear out of Turn 13 on the second run and lost some time.
That stopped it from being a really good session, but, in any case, it was a strong effort today. We have the penalty to add, but we’ll get our heads down in the race and look for points.”
Nico Hulkenberg - P16
Nico Hulkenberg
“I’m quite disappointed with myself about that. I made a mistake on the first run, touched the wall slightly and we had to change the front wing and we also suffered bargeboard damage. If you make mistakes, you pay for them.
We could have made Q2 at a minimum today. We’re lacking a bit of pace and harmony in the car at the moment. We’ll give it our best tomorrow and aim for a better result.”
Kimi Räikkönen - P14
Kimi Raikkonen
“We struggled a bit with the set up at the beginning of the weekend, but then FP3 was quite okay. Then the conditions changed and this made it difficult for us. On one hand I’m not happy, on the other hand we tried everything.
We did the best lap of the weekend in qualifying but unfortunately it’s not fast enough. It’s not one big issue we have, it’s lots of little things which we need to work on and improve.”
Antonio Giovinazzi - P18
Antonio Giovinazzi
“I have been struggling with my brakes all weekend and it was no different in today’s qualifying. It’s quite disappointing to go out in Q1, I did a mistake in Turn 10, locked up the fronts and that probably cost me a place in Q2. Tomorrow’s race will be challenging because overtaking here is not easy.
We will continue working on making improvements and see what we can do in the race.”
SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team
Sergio Pérez - P15
Sergio Pérez
“It’s been a disappointing weekend so far and I don’t have the answers as to why at the moment. This track demands a lot from the car - it has a bit of everything - low, medium and high-speed corners – and it’s never been our best circuit over the years, so I’m not too concerned. In any case, I’m looking forward to tomorrow - that’s the day the counts and hopefully we can score some points.
It’s going to be tough because track position is very important here, but we will try our best. I think our race pace is looking better than our qualifying speed so that’s a positive. Let’s see what we can do with the strategy to move forward in the race.”
Lance Stroll - P17
Lance Stroll
“It is frustrating to be out in Q1. I didn’t maximise the lap, but we knew this weekend would be tough. It is still very tight in the midfield and we were fighting with Renault for space in Q2, but every little detail counts when it’s that close.
We usually race better than we qualify so we will analyse the data overnight and see what tomorrow brings.”
ROKiT Williams Racing
Robert Kubica - P19
Robert Kubica
"It was a good session, considering the circumstances in FP3. Thanks to the mechanics for their hard work getting the car ready after my error in practice.
However, I was really pleased with my last effort in qualifying and I felt I got the most out of the car.”
George Russel - P20
George Russell
“I started the weekend with a positive feeling in FP1, but this disappeared session by session. We kept reducing front-wing and aero balance which should have given us some understeer, but we were still struggling with oversteer, especially on the last run when the track was getting better.
The changes that we are making are not giving us the results, so it is a bit confusing.”
✅ Check out Qualifying report & result 2019 Spanish F1 GP
✅ Check out Start Grid 2019 Spanish F1 GP
✅ Check out 2019 F1 Championship Standings
Please share this on social media:
✅ Check out more posts with related topics: