Qualifying report
Brazilian GP: Top 10 quotes after qualifying
Lewis today took his 60th career pole position - his second at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace and 11th of the 2016 season so far.
Photo by: Mercedes AMG
| Cla | Driver | Chassis | Engine | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Lewis Hamilton |
Mercedes | Mercedes | 1'10.736 | |
| “It's been feeling great all weekend. Every session today I was up front and able to maintain that position, finding a little bit more each time I went out. So, I'm really, really happy with it. I don't know how obvious it is watching at home but, with this being one of the shortest circuits on the calendar, it's somewhere that even the smallest margin can make a huge difference and it's usually close out there. It's a really tricky track to get right. For example, all weekend my first sector times were quite good but then I never really got it together through there in qualifying. When you have such a short lap, getting your tyres ready for the first flying lap is often difficult, so you can go into the first three corners without them being fully up to temperature yet. It's quite bumpy in places and the middle sector puts a lot of heat through the tyres, so overall it's definitely a tough circuit. It's all about having a good balance of patience and not being too greedy in some places. I've felt strong in every aspect and in all conditions throughout this weekend, so I'll prepare the best way I can for tomorrow and see how it goes from there. I'm ready.” | |||||
| 2 |  Nico Rosberg |
Mercedes | Mercedes | 1'10.838 | 0.102 |
| “That was a pretty intense qualifying out there today. I was able to improve my times from lap to lap which felt good and it was all going very well. I found a good balance, a good rhythm... a good everything, really. Then, on my last run I was able to improve again - but at the end Lewis was just that little bit quicker. But that's the way it is and there is still a lot to play for tomorrow. To win the race is definitely still possible from this position. The start is always a possibility and also with strategy it could be interesting tomorrow. I also had a good long run this morning, so I am looking forward to a great race in front of this fantastic crowd. ” | |||||
| 3 |  Kimi Raikkonen |
Ferrari | Ferrari | 1'11.404 | 0.668 |
| “Today everything felt a bit more normal than yesterday and I was happier with the car. Overall it was easier for everybody, the cooler temperatures helped, yesterday the track was very hot. To be honest the feeling in the last lap was not so good, the front was sliding in the first two corners and I struggled a bit in the middle sector to put the lap together. I knew that it was better than the previous one but I thought it wouldn't be enough because it was not an ideal one; It was good enough to be third and I'm positively surprised. Mercedes was too far but today it worked out pretty well and we can be happy with this result. There is potential in the car, we are getting where we should be. Tomorrow we can only do our best, with weather conditions you never know and things can quickly change.” | |||||
| 4 |  Max Verstappen |
Red Bull | TAG | 1'11.485 | 0.749 |
| “I was just a little disappointed with my last lap, I was expecting someone to jump ahead of me so Kimi being in front wasn’t a big surprise. It was an odd session, Q1 and Q2 felt good but then I wasn’t very happy with the grip of the new set of tyres I got. We need to look into this as the rear felt slick in sector 2, we will analyse and hopefully figure out why. We have ended up very close to third position which realistically is the best we can do in dry conditions so todays result is still pretty good. We have split the Ferraris which means we will have a fun race on our hands tomorrow, especially if the weather changes. It was a bit of a shame the rain stayed away for qualifying. We had a few drops but not enough to make conditions swing in our favour, it is supposed to rain more tomorrow so let’s look forward to that. With some wet track condition our level of grip compared to other cars should come up a bit. Long run pace looks good so after a strong start we can put on a good race. I will go out there tomorrow to perform the best I can and deliver the highest finish position possible for the team. I haven’t paid much attention to the stories of Mercedes talking with Red Bull, Nikki was in our hospitality but he just likes our food and drinks, they are very good. He is Austrian so perhaps just wanted an Austrian drink.” | |||||
| 5 | Sebastian Vettel |
Ferrari | Ferrari | 1'11.495 | 0.759 |
| “Today my last run in Q3 was not ideal: I think third position was possible, but I was probably a bit conservative around the last corner. All in all, though, I think it was a good session: the car was behaving well, but maybe in the end I could have pulled out a little bit more out of it. Yesterday on a single lap we were not particularly strong, we struggled a bit, but I think that in the long run we were quite good: so for tomorrow, if it's dry, we should be in reasonable shape. Mercedes looked very fast also yesterday in the long runs, so obviously we'll try to stay with them but our main rival I guess will be Red Bull, which had similar pace to us today. In the race I think we're usually a little bit faster, so hopefully we can get the job done tomorrow. If it rains it will be the first time for everyone this weekend: but it is what it is, I think we have enough rain tires...” | |||||
| 6 |  Daniel Ricciardo |
Red Bull | TAG | 1'11.540 | 0.804 |
| “I feel so-so about 6th place today. I felt we made progress from Q1-Q2 and then in Q3 I was little bit disappointed with my lap. Probably didn’t get the balance right in myself. It’s a tough track and it’s quite a short lap so if you make a mistake in one corner it’s very hard to make up that time. I had a good first sector but was probably a little bit conservative, a couple of corners where I was trying to not make a mistake more than trying to gain some time. We knew qualy would be tight with Ferrari in dry conditions, and it is close and I think that’s what makes it a little frustrating, but I’ll learn from that and hopefully tomorrow we can have a good race. It’s fun when it’s that close but not fun when you are the last of the bunch. The forecast has said all week that Sunday had the highest chance of rain, hopefully that’s true, just to spice things up a bit, and if so then we’ll try and make it exciting for everyone else and give the fans an opportunity to see a good race. If it rains tomorrow it’s going to be a lot of fun.” | |||||
| 7 |  Romain Grosjean |
Haas | Ferrari | 1'11.937 | 1.201 |
|
“It’s good to be back in Q3, especially after the last two races where we were out in Q1 and really struggling. Here we’ve been trying some new brakes, focusing on making them work as well as we could. The feeling was good right from the beginning and the cooler track conditions today really helped us a lot. There are still plenty of margins to improve for the future. We’re always learning more about what we need to do, but we really weren’t expecting to be in Q3 today. Generally though, when we do get things working well together, we’re quite fast, which is encouraging.” |
|||||
| 8 | Nico Hulkenberg |
Force India | Mercedes | 1'12.104 | 1.368 |
| “I’m happy with eighth place and I think it was pretty much the limit today. It was close with Checo just behind me and it means we’re starting the race in a strong position. My laps were pretty clean and tidy, although I didn’t get a great exit out of the final corner at the end of Q3 - it’s been a difficult corner for us all weekend. I think we have a good car for tomorrow, so we need to get the job done and score solid points. The long runs we did yesterday looked promising, but we have to wait and see what happens with the weather. At the moment it looks like conditions will be similar to today – overcast with some light drizzle. If we get some heavier rain, it would certainly spice things up because it can be quite difficult to overtake here in the dry.” | |||||
| 9 |  Sergio Perez |
Force India | Mercedes | 1'12.165 | 1.429 |
| “We made a big step forward from practice to qualifying and it was enough to get us through to Q3. The session was a real fight, especially in Q1, and the margins between progression and elimination were tiny. This is a very short track and you need to really hook together the perfect lap, because any mistake can make a big difference. It was very tight with Nico; we were within a few tenths of each other all afternoon, but in the end I fell just short. I made a small mistake in the final corner and it cost me some time, so I could have been a bit quicker. Overall I think we can be happy with the job we did today. We have kept some quick cars behind us and I believe we can be strong in the race. We now need to see what the weather brings tomorrow.” | |||||
| 10 |  Fernando Alonso |
McLaren | Honda | 1'12.266 | 1.530 |
| “I really enjoyed driving today and felt really confident with the car. These cooler conditions seem to suit our package a little better than yesterday’s higher temperatures, and we extracted the maximum from the car. Still, we were a little bit worried after FP3 as we weren’t completely on the pace, and I was even more worried when I saw Jenson go out in Q1. I just thought, ‘This isn’t going to be our Saturday!’ but – happily – my car behaved fantastically on each of the five Option tyre-sets I used in qualifying. The car just kept on delivering: I kept finding an extra tenth each time I went out, just finding a little extra at the limit. I hope the track time I lost yesterday isn’t going to cost me too much in tomorrow’s race, as everybody conducted their long runs in totally different weather conditions. Tomorrow, we’re expecting it to be cooler with the possibility of some rain, so it’s good to be starting in the top 10.” | |||||
Be part of Motorsport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
comments
Play along
More from
Daniel Ricciardo
Ricciardo says new RB F1 chassis brings "peace of mind"
Chinese GP
Ricciardo says new RB F1 chassis brings "peace of mind"
Ricciardo: Albon clash a “singular moment”, not part of tough start to F1 2024
Japanese GP
Ricciardo: Albon clash a “singular moment”, not part of tough start to F1 2024
The increasing hurdles in front of Ricciardo's potential Red Bull return
Prime
Prime
The increasing hurdles in front of Ricciardo's potential Red Bull return
More from
Ferrari
2024 F1 Chinese GP sprint qualifying results: Lando Norris takes pole
Chinese GP
2024 F1 Chinese GP sprint qualifying results: Lando Norris takes pole
Sainz will have to "survive with what we have" in China F1 sprint
Chinese GP
Sainz will have to "survive with what we have" in China F1 sprint
What's been going wrong for Leclerc in F1's tiny margins qualifying game
Prime
Prime
What's been going wrong for Leclerc in F1's tiny margins qualifying game
2024 F1 Chinese GP sprint qualifying results: Lando Norris takes pole
Chinese GP
2024 F1 Chinese GP sprint qualifying results: Lando Norris takes pole
Why Herbert prefers a car he had to wrestle above his F1 winners
Why Herbert prefers a car he had to wrestle above his F1 winners
Oliveira reckons MotoGP “looks too easy” on TV now
Oliveira reckons MotoGP “looks too easy” on TV now
Ocon wants set-up changes after China F1 sprint as "performance left on the side"
Chinese GP
Ocon wants set-up changes after China F1 sprint as "performance left on the side"
The short-term pain that hides a very real Williams improvement
Prime
Prime
The short-term pain that hides a very real Williams improvement
How a Shanghai to Sheffield journey paved the way for China’s F1 hero
Prime
Prime
Chinese GP
How a Shanghai to Sheffield journey paved the way for China’s F1 hero
Why F1 2026 worst-case fears could be key to new rules success
Prime
Prime
Chinese GP
Why F1 2026 worst-case fears could be key to new rules success
How the F1 driver market situation sits for each team with 2025 openings
Prime
Prime
How the F1 driver market situation sits for each team with 2025 openings
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Subscribe now
Already subscribed? Sign in here
Top Comments