07/07/2024
NEWS STORY
Yuki Tsunoda: "It was a good but tough race. Based on the pace we had in Free Practice we knew it would be difficult to score points in dry conditions, so I think the wet conditions helped us keep the gap to the cars in front small.
"Normally, in previous races I haven't appreciated the rain, but I think it helped us today. It's one point and we take it. Now we look ahead and move forward, and I'm excited about using what we've learnt over the last couple of weekends for the coming races before the break. Hungary has a mix of high and low speed, so hopefully we can use our strengths and fight in the top ten."
Daniel Ricciardo: "It was a mixed conditions race which was exciting; ultimately grabbing some opportunities, but unfortunately, we were not competitive. It was one of those days where we struggled more than we should have, so we'll try to get into it and figure out why. In the last three weekends, I think we have lost out a little bit on the latest upgrades battle compared to some of our competitors in the midfield, so we've got some work to do looking at the next races. It's good now to have a week off for all of us to reset and come back to Budapest which is a completely different circuit."
Jody Egginton (Technical Director): "The weather has certainly played its part today, but overall, I feel we made the right calls at the right time, which certainly contributed to getting a car into the points. Yuki drove a strong race today, making a couple of passes on the opening laps and having enough pace to keep himself in touch with those in front. On Daniel's side of the garage, race day was not so straightforward. An issue was identified with his car before the race and resulted in a significant amount of work to get his car turned around for the race. In terms of overall performance, the midfield remains very tight, and the focus remains on delivering aero updates to the car to move the package forward and give ourselves the best possible chance of scoring points."
Laurent Mekies (Team Principal): "This weekend has been a great advert for Formula One and has demonstrated that while the sport is enjoying fantastic growth in new markets, the classic venues like Silverstone still have so much to offer. The huge crowd clearly enjoyed it and they should be congratulated on not letting the bad weather dampen their enthusiasm. From our side, it's clear that the fast nature of this circuit has not suited our car particularly well and we are not where we want to be, namely dominating the mid-field as we did earlier in the season. However, we are coming home from this triple header with another well-deserved point for Yuki and the team, executing strongly in difficult changing conditions. Daniel was trailing the same tight mid-field group and finished outside of the point despite putting up a good fight. This race is only the midpoint of the season, the 12th of 24 rounds and we have seen how quickly the hierarchy can change from race to race, from the front of the grid to the back. It is more than ever a development race, and everyone in Faenza and in Bicester is flat out looking for a much-needed further step of performance for our car."