Qualy: Renault, Toro Rosso, Haas, Sauber

Editor

Romain Grosjean crashed out at Monza as Jolyon Palmer missed the chequered flag by a second to have another crack at reaching Q2.

Renault

Nico Hulkenberg: “Today was tricky and in particular with the Intermediate tyres as it felt like driving on soap as we just couldn’t develop any sort of grip and balance. We had one set of Wets that felt much better and we were on good pace until the start of Q2, but at the end we couldn’t get pace on the Intermediate tyres when we needed it. We’ll do the best we can tomorrow; hopefully we can grab some points.”

Jolyon Palmer: “The tyre choice was difficult today. I pitted for Intermediate tyres from a lap that could have gotten me through Q2 but then I couldn’t get the tyres working properly. I got one lap in but it was just sliding around and couldn’t get another lap in before I saw the chequered flag. We knew that whatever happened today we start from the back so it’s not a big deal, but it would have been good to get a better crack at qualifying, regardless of where we’ll start tomorrow.”

Toro Rosso

Daniil Kvyat: “It was definitely not easy out there today! We had a few balance issues and I was fighting to stay on track almost at every corner; a lot of wheel spin everywhere too! At times it was also difficult to decide what tyre to go out on – sometimes the track was for extremes, sometimes for inters… But I’m happy with the decisions taken today and, all in all, it was a decent session from my side, I did my best. For tomorrow, it’s not going to be an easy race, especially if it’s dry – this is not a track that suits us. Having said that, we will of course try our best and see where we end up.”

Carlos Sainz: “A very difficult qualifying today and hard to read the weather as well… It was also quite tricky out there! At the beginning of the session I had no feeling with the intermediate tyres and I felt more comfortable on extremes. In the end we decided to move back to the inter, as everyone was improving on that tyre, but we had very low grip – this is because of the set-up compromise we are running for tomorrow, when it should be dry. Hopefully this will help tomorrow, because today in these conditions it was always going to be difficult. We were running with less downforce than our competitors, that’s why I was struggling a lot out there, especially in the corners. For tomorrow, when we’re expecting a totally dry race, we’ll be starting from the back because of our grid penalty, but we will try our best to make up as many positions as possible and see where we end up!”

Haas

Kevin Magnussen: “To sit and watch an empty track for that long is tough, so good job to everyone that stayed. For myself, it wasn’t the best day. At the end, I just couldn’t get any heat into the intermediates. I should have stayed on the wet tyres. I know the guys at the front were getting them to work, but we don’t have the downforce to make it work. The wet tyre would’ve been better. It was my call, so that’s what happens sometimes. It’s the first time we’ve had that crossover with this year’s tyres. It is how it is. The start position is going to be a little bit better tomorrow because of other people getting penalties, so that helps a little bit, but I’m still disappointed with today.”

Romain Grosjean: “I knew straight away the conditions were not good. The visibility was terrible. It just aquaplaned at more than 300 kph (186 mph). I lost the car in a straight line. You couldn’t see anything and you couldn’t drive in a straight line. There was just too much water for the car. I had massive aquaplaning and there was nothing I could do. There was no warning. It just went. I was unlucky to be there at that time and place. Maybe waiting a few more minutes would’ve been the right choice. From the out lap onward, I complained a lot saying that it was too dangerous and we couldn’t see where we were. I wasn’t the only one. Clearly, crashing in a straight line shows that the car cannot take it because there was too much water. I’m disappointed that we started qualifying in those conditions. What can you do? You cannot back off. If there is someone behind you, they hit you straight in your back. You don’t know what’s in front. I just think we should’ve waited. The hit wasn’t that bad. Physically, I’m alright. Mentally, crashing down the straightaway is not an easy thing to digest. It wasn’t a big impact, so I believe the car is going to be fine for tomorrow.”

Sauber

Marcus Ericsson: “Today was very difficult due to the weather conditions. I think that the performance on the wet tyres was alright and the balance of the car also felt ok. Unfortunately, when we changed to intermediates towards the end of Q1 we just could not get them to work properly. It is a bit disappointing that we could not do better in these challenging conditions, but that is how it goes sometimes.”

Pascal Wehrlein: “The first laps on the wet tyres were ok and I felt comfortable in the car. As the track conditions were improving, we changed to intermediate tyres. However, we were not able to bring them into the right operating window so I could not set a better lap time. I did my best and will now concentrate on tomorrow’s race.”