24/08/2024
NEWS STORY
Max Verstappen: "I couldn't quite fight for pole today against but we are doing everything we can to make the car as competitive as possible.
"I was happy to be on the front row, it is not quite as close as we would have liked but we will see what happens tomorrow. We are looking to optimise the balance of the car, especially as it is very windy on the track, but we will see how the car runs tomorrow and analyse the limited long runs we got yesterday. In the past we have been very strong in the race, which is a positive. It will also depend on the tyre degradation; we will need to see how much it will rain overnight and see how everything goes tomorrow. On pure pace, it will be difficult to beat the McLarens but anything can happen in Formula One so we will see. I will try my best tomorrow in front of my home crowd and we will see where we are."
Sergio Perez: "Qualifying was going well, but unfortunately my lap was compromised by Lewis in Q1 and that harmed the rest of our session, as then we only had one set of new tyres in Q3. It is what it is, but I think we have the pace and are going to be strong tomorrow. We improved the car from some of the issues we had in the practice sessions, which is promising. The conditions have been tricky this weekend, especially the wind today, so it will be about maximising performance from the data we have. Overall I think today with P5 was a solid result, and we can fight from there with the people ahead. The target for tomorrow will be to hopefully make up some places at the start and secure a good result."
Christian Horner: "Firstly, congratulations to Lando, that was a strong lap from him. It was very tricky for all the drivers in the wind today, you get a snap and then in one corner you look bad and then on the next lap you look ok. Our main focus is on tomorrow and let's see if that pays off, Max has put himself in a great position in tricky conditions. Checo put in a good performance as well, top five matches his best result in quali here in Zandvoort. He was strong throughout the session, and he even effectively lost a set of tyres in Q1 when he got into a bit of traffic with Lewis, so he had to run another set and therefore couldn't benefit from that in Q3. I think it is going to be an interesting race, strategy will play a pivotal role, and the weather could play a part too, as it has all weekend. Lando is on the clean side of the grid, there's a reason why it is the preferred position here but let's see, we need to get a good start, it is not that long a run into turn one so hopefully we get away well."
Check out our Saturday gallery from Zandvoort here.