P7 Sergio Perez
Q1: 1:38.814
Q2: 1:38.342
Q3: 1.37.985
Sergio: “It’s an incredible result; I am really pleased with our performance today. I think I produced a nearly perfect lap on a track where it is hard to achieve it. We’re ahead of our direct rivals and just behind the leaders. We had an advantage of four tenths on the Haas and six tenths on the Renault, and I think it goes to show that our upgrade package is already making a difference. This is a track that normally doesn’t play to our strengths, so I was a pleased at the pace we have shown. Tomorrow’s race is going to be a long one – nearly two hours – and there’s never a boring race in Singapore with incidents and Safety Cars influencing the end result. We need to make it to the chequered flag, avoid mistakes and hopefully I can make it eight races out of eight in the points in Singapore. Starting on hypersoft tyres can leave me a bit vulnerable to those behind, but track position is very important here. It’s not as crucial as in Monaco, but I’d rather be ahead than catching up.”
P9 Esteban Ocon
Q1: 1:38.912
Q2: 1:38.534
Q3: 1.38.365
Esteban: “I am quite pleased with tonight’s result. We had a great car and the upgrades worked really well, so we can be happy with what we achieved. My Q3 lap was not ideal because I brushed the wall and it probably cost me some time. Maybe without this I could have been higher up the grid. I feel good about tomorrow – anything can happen in the race and you need to keep out of trouble and be opportunistic. Overtaking isn’t easy around here so the first lap will be really important. I think we will have the race pace to score good points.”
Otmar Szafnauer, Team Principal and CEO
“The team did an excellent job tonight and we start tomorrow’s race with a great opportunity to score well with both cars. Throughout qualifying Sergio and Esteban delivered the laps we needed to progress to Q3 and seventh and ninth places are a great return for the team’s hard work so far. I want to recognise the efforts back at base to get the new parts to the track and the long hours worked by the mechanics on Thursday and Friday nights to get us to this point. Of course, it’s only Saturday and the main challenge is yet to come, but we have put ourselves in a strong position to have a good Sunday and we can be satisfied with our performance today.”
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