29/06/2024
NEWS STORY
Esteban Ocon: "It's been a busy day in Austria with the Sprint Race followed by Qualifying.
"It was always going to be a tough ask to score points as only the top eight score in the Sprint and we had to use an old set of tyres in the race. I'm pleased with our Qualifying performance where we were in Q3 again, like yesterday. That said, today's session was much closer in the midfield with very small margins separating a number of cars. We have consistently been at the top end of the pack and in the mix for the top ten. In the end, we settle for tenth place, though, really, only ninth place was possible as the top four teams are too far in front. We decided to use three new sets of Softs in Q2 in order to ensure we advanced through to Q3 and that meant we could not fight Nico [Hülkenberg] for ninth. The goal tomorrow is to hold onto the top ten and score more points."
Pierre Gasly: "It's not been the smoothest of days for us in Austria. Firstly, in the Sprint Race, we had a difficult start, some wheelspin off the line, which meant we lost places. From then we were just stuck in traffic and there was not much more we could do to advance towards the points. We changed the set-up after the Sprint in order to chase higher speed on the straights. The balance did not feel great from the first lap. The car was sliding a lot and across Qualifying we did not quite it all together. Sometimes these changes play out, sometimes not. Hopefully the changes we made will bring some benefit tomorrow in order to race closer to the points and I think we definitely have the pace to compete for the top ten. It's positive we are in the mix and we will see what we can achieve in the race. It's a close fight for ninth and tenth and I'm sure we will go for it."
Check out our Saturday gallery from the Red Bull Ring here.