Sat: Lotus, McLaren, Sauber, Manor

Editor

There was no qualifying on Saturday, but the drivers did get some brief running during FP3 when the weather eased up slightly.

Lotus
Romain Grosjean: “Many years ago as part of the Renault Driver Development programme I enjoyed surfing as part of the training. This would have been really useful had we tried to qualify today! The weather was pretty extreme and I really feel for all the fans who braved the elements to come watch us. I hope we’re able to put on a fantastic show for everyone tomorrow.”

Pastor Maldonado: “There’s nothing you can do about the weather and it’s been a pretty long day waiting to see if the weather would improve. We got some laps in the morning and it was very slippery on track. I definitely think it was the correct decision not to run, but I’m sorry that everyone at the track had a wasted day.”

McLaren
Fernando Alonso: Yet to be released

Jenson Button: Yet to be released

Sauber
Marcus Ericsson: “Because of the weather conditions we could only run on wet tyres today – just ten laps for me in FP3. As it is the first time I have driven on this track, I had hoped for better conditions with more driving time. I think this track suits me well. However, the circumstances are the same for everyone, so we have to deal with it. I am looking forward to tomorrow and having qualifying and the race on the same day.”

Felipe Nasr: “At least it was positive that I was able to run my first ten laps with the Sauber C34-Ferrari today in the morning. Yesterday Raffaele (Marciello) was in the cockpit for FP1, and the afternoon session was then cancelled due to the heavy rain. Today I cannot be satisfied with my lap time on wet tyres. I would have needed more laps to test different set-ups for the car. Tomorrow we will have a busy programme ahead of us.”

Manor
Will Stevens: “Despite the conditions, FP3 was pretty good fun, but we were going nowhere during the qualifying window. The track here is pretty good in terms of drainage, but the rain was just too severe. It will be a pretty long day tomorrow but I’m looking forward to a good battle with Alex.”

Alexander Rossi: “The conditions today have been pretty terrible, and I really feel for the crowd who have stuck with it, but the thing we’ve all been looking forward to is still going to happen tomorrow and I’m just as excited – perhaps even more so – about my first Formula 1 race on American soil. I want to thank the fans for their perseverance; they’re pretty heroic for contending with this weather and I’m really happy that Circuit of The Americas came through by letting them into the pit lane for autographs. So we now look forward to what will be a pretty busy day on track tomorrow, starting with qualifying at 09.00hrs. That makes for an 06.00hrs start for the team, which is pretty tough, but we all came here to race and I’m glad it looks like we’ll finally be able to do that!”