30/11/2024
NEWS STORY
Max Verstappen: "I am very happy with how we turned it around today.
"The Sprint was quite shocking, we had a lot of oversteer and struggled with the balance throughout and couldn't fight at all. We changed the car but we also surprised ourselves with the turnaround and the performance in Qualifying. It felt much better and the car felt more consistent, once we were in a better window I could drive more on the limit. I'm very pleased, it has been a while since we've been on Pole. I am very proud of everyone to make those changes and to be in this position. Tomorrow we are in the fight and hopefully will have a bit of fun on track as well."
Sergio Perez: "Looking ahead to the rest of the weekend and to understand what to do with both cars, we decided to take my car out of parc ferme for the Sprint. That was to prioritise trying some different set-ups and take learnings, it compromised our Sprint but ultimately was beneficial for Qualifying and hopefully the race. We made some good improvements, the main thing has been the tyre and the first sector was still on the difficult side, but it was a good step from where we were earlier. The pace was a lot better in Qualifying and the main thing is we found the balance. The main race is tomorrow, I am hopeful we will have good pace, we are looking better on the long runs, and I think it is coming to us. The target will be to go with the leaders and try to get through the field, I think we can be competitive. I think we have made some good progress today and that's really positive."
Christian Horner: "We changed a lot of things on the car and we have given Max a car that he has been able to go out and deliver the Pole in. That's our first official pole since Austria, so that is fantastic for everyone and a great Team effort. Checo made similar set-up changes to Max, his were a little less aggressive and it was good to see him in Q3. It was an important qualifying for the Team and it is great to be starting form the front for the race tomorrow. Hopefully the changes we made to the car for Qualifying can play out in the race as well and we have a successful Sunday."
Check out our Saturday gallery from Qatar here.