Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Qualifying Report – Drivers and Teams
With the sun setting over the Yas Marina circuit, we saw the last qualifying session in the Formula 1® 2016 season and what a great qualifying it was.
Hamilton controlled the session being one of the first drivers out on track – cruising on his out lap and managing to gain time during the last sector. His team-mate, Rosberg on the other hand found time during the first sector with both drivers setting similar times.
Ferrari were fastest in FP3 however it transpired that the Mercedes team were simply holding back for Qualifying.
RedBull are the other closest rivals with Ricciardo qualifying 3rd for the race tomorrow however his team-mate, Verstappen spun off meaning he could only qualify down in 6th – not the result they were hoping for but all is to play for in the race tomorrow.
See what the drivers and teams had to say after the qualifying session today.
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Qualifying Report
Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton – 1st
Time – 1:38.755
“It’s been an awesome weekend so far. It’s rare that you end almost every session on top, so I’m very, very happy with that. It’s down to the hard work done by the mechanics and the engineers to get the car where I need it, so I’m grateful to them for that, as always.”
“It feels so good out there tonight. It’s really sad that this is the last qualifying session we’re going to do in this great car! It’s a dream for any driver to have something this good to drive.”
“I’ve been doing practice starts from the pole slot all weekend as I wasn’t planning on being anywhere else for tomorrow. I came here knowing that this was a big part of what I needed this weekend and now, I’ve got that and can focus on the race.”
“All I can do is focus on my own race but I can’t control what happens behind me – you never know what might get thrown into the mix so I’m just hoping my car is beautiful as it has been so far this weekend and aiming for the win.”
Nico Rosberg – 2nd
Time – 1:39.058
“I came here to be on pole so I’m not ecstatic today. I was feeling good in the car and put in some good laps at the end but Lewis did a great job and was just a few tenths quicker.”
“I’m still in a good position to win the race and I want to end the season on a high. There are quite a few opportunities here tomorrow so I’m looking forward to an exciting battle.”
“The Yas Marina circuit is a great track and I’m feeling very good before the last race of the year. I’m proud and I’m happy about how this season has gone for me so far until now.”
“Tonight I will relax a bit with Vivian and some friends and come back tomorrow in top shape.”
Toto Wolff – Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport
“No matter what it looks like from the outside, a 1-2 lockout in qualifying is never easy to achieve.”
“It’s a great result for the team to see this car take the front row in it’s final race weekend before it heads to the museum. It was also a great driving demonstration from our boys this evening.”
“Lewis was on his own lever all the way through, setting the benchmark in Q1. As for Nico, he did exactly what he needed to do tonight and could perhaps have been a little closer without a couple of errors in his lap.”
“It sets up for the perfect scenario for tomorrow’s race – we have RedBull running the alternative tyre strategy too which could add a bit of a spin to the race.”
“As for us, we will be going racing in just the same way as we have done all year and see how things play out.”
“The boys are free to race, like they always have been – we will stay true to ourselves, our values and our principles which have served us so well in the past three seasons. It’s going to be a thrilling showdown to a fantastic season.”
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Qualifying Report
RedBull
Daniel Ricciardo – 3rd
Time – 1:39.589
“I’m definitely pleased I got the third place I was after. It feels really good. This morning was hard – I did a run quite early and I was nearly a second off Max so it didn’t look good on paper.”
“The track warmed up so much that we didn’t really know what to expect coming into quali – Q1 was a bit slow and then I picked it up and in Q3 was solid enough so I was happy.”
“We’ll see about the strategy – it’s nice to do something different to Mercedes. We know on the same equipment we’re going to be quick so we feel it should make us go a little bit longer at the start and then perhaps we can bring the race back towards us during the end when our tyres might be a bit different.”
“Obviously they’ve got a bit more pressure than us this weekend which I’m kind of envious about but if the win is there for me tomorrow, then I’ll go for it. There will be no holding back!”
“You always have this level of respect as they’re fighting for the tittle but if they leave the door open and I think I can pass, then I won’t make it easy for them and let them sail into the sunset….”
Max Verstappen – 6th
Time – 1:39.818
“I’m pretty disappointment with sixth today. Qualifying up until Q3 went very well, we had no issues and didn’t touch the car. In my last run I was pushing hard and was a few tenths up but I locked up into Turn 11.”
“If it wasn’t for that, I think I would have been around P3 – it was all a bit unfortunate as my pace was there and the car get good. It would have been great to be a bit higher on the grid as the tyre strategy means that by starting on the supersoft we need a really strong start and to be careful with the cars behind.”
“We should be able to stay out a little longer and the pace has been up there all weekend so I’m definitely aiming to go forward tomorrow and work with my guys up front.”
“I’ll put today behind me and focus on having a strong race, closing the season with another successful result.”
Christian Horner – Team Principal
“A great final lap by Daniel to find that half a tenth and to move himself up ahead of Kimi – it’s the best seat for tomorrow’s start.”
“It’s a shame for Max because he was up on his lap but he arrived at Turn 11, he just lost the front axle and therefore that time he found was gone.”
“Nonetheless, starting third and sixth on the grid here for what’s bound to be an exciting start isn’t a bad place to be.”
“Strategically, we’ve chosen to start on the supersoft tyre believing it’s going to be a little bit more robust than the ultrasoft which again brings another dimension to the race.”
‘Hopefully we can get a good start and we should be in good shape with those tyres.”
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Qualifying Report
Ferrari
Kimi Raikkonen – 4th
Time – 1:39.604
“It was a pretty good qualifying, the car behaved well all day. Today we went a lot faster than we had been at practice. We did our best and it was almost enough for third place but my lap was not perfect in some places.”
“It’s har to say if we’ll be able to fight with the Mercedes tomorrow – usually in race conditions we are a little bit closer but I’m sure they will also be very strong.”
“Tomorrow, we can only do our best and we’ll try to make a good start and after that we’ll see.”
Sebastian Vettel – 5th
Time – 1:39.661
“I’m not that happy with the result. I was struggling a bit with the balance of the car to start with and in the end, it was good but in the last lap I had a messy last sector.”
“I saw a bit of smoke from Verstappen ahead, enough to lose a bit of concentration. After this morning we were expecting a bit more time but not really to fight the Mercedes but to beat the RedBull’s”
“For tomorrow, it should be positive – Mercedes are a bit far away but we hope to get a good advantage and be in front of the RedBull’s tomorrow. We are on the soft compound which should give us a good line for the first lap.”
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Qualifying Report
Force India
Nico Hulkenberg – 7th
Time – 1:40.501
“I’m very happy and I think seventh place was probably the maximum result for us today. I’m pleased with my laps and especially considering the lack of running I had throughout the weekend.”
“Going into qualifying, I thought it was going to be quite difficult but we made good progress with the car during the session and I had great confidence to really push on all my laps.”
“Hopefully tomorrow we can deliver more of the same to end the season and my time with Force India in style. The cars ahead in the top six may just be out of reach but we will give it a go and see where we end up.”
Sergio Perez – 8th
Time – 1:40.519
“I am pleased with the result for the team, locking down the fourth row of the grid but I am not totally happy with my performance because I know that I could have done better.”
“I had a bit of understeer on my last lap so I tried to change my lines to counter it but it didn’t really work. I could have been P7 with a perfect lap but Nico was just ahead and it’s still a great result for the team.”
“I’m looking forward to our last race as team-mates and beating the cars around us to finish the season on a high note.”
“I want to outscore our rivals because finishing fourth in the championship is a really high objective for us.”
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Qualifying Report
McLaren
Fernando Alonso – 9th
Time – 1:41.106
“I think we have to be happy today. It was a good quail for us.”
“The conditions are always difficult here and because you practice in hot conditions then you head into qualifying with the track conditions being much cooler. This means that you need to anticipate what’s going to happen and make the set-up changes a little blindly as you don’t really know just how much the conditions will change.”
“Happily, our car felt competitive and making it into Q3 and finishing 9th in the final qualifying session of the season is extremely positive. We have capitalised on the performance of the car today and we got everything we could get out if it.”
“There are no big threats from behind us in terms of the championship and it’ll be hard tomorrow to finish higher than in the position we are already in.”
“Let’s enjoy this final race and hopefully tomorrow we can finish on a high and score some good points.”
Jenson Button – 12th
Time – 1:41.272
“It was good fun out there this evening – I really enjoyed it.”
“As the track cooled down, we needed to balance the car up with more front-end grip but didn’t have anything left in the car so the resulting understeer, cost me quite a bit of time.”
“To be fair however, 12th position isn’t a bad place to be in for tomorrow. We get to run new tyres with these tyre regulations and it’s often better to start on the outside of the top 10 in order to have the best strategy for the race.”
‘I’d definitely rather have a good race start tomorrow than to have a good qualifying today.”
“None of the compounds last for long around here so it will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow – points are definitely possible.”
Eric Boullier – Racing Director
“Both drivers did a very good job in qualifying this evening – optimising all the available performance with their cars today.”
“The result, P9 for Fernando and P12 for Jenson – this provides a good platform from which both of them can aim for point-scoring finishes tomorrow.”
“In particular, it would be very nice if Jenson scores in what may or mat not end up being his last Grand Prix and the fact that he’ll have a free hand in regards to the tyre choice will assist him we hope.”
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Qualifying Report
Sauber
Marcus Ericsson – 22nd
Time – 1:42.637
“A disappointing qualifying for me. The car has been difficult to drive throughout the weekend – especially on the ultrasoft tyres.”
“We were already struggling to find a good feel on them yesterday in the practice sessions and we knew that it would not be an easy qualifying today.”
“On my last lap in Q1, it was a shame that I pushed a bit over the limit and locked up the tyres into Turn 17.”
“I lost all my lap time there. When it comes to tomorrow – the long-pace run was looking encouraging compared to the short runs so I’m still quite optimistic that we can be stronger in the race.”
Felipe Nasr – 19th
Time – 1:42.247
“I felt that I extracted the maximum out of the car today, although it was not enough to make it into Q2.”
“I had a clean lap on my second set of ultrasoft tyres so I was putting decent lap times in.”
“It was positive that we were able to make the tyres work better than on my first set and besides that, I again had a misfire on my quick lap.”
‘Thinking about tomorrow, we need to make sure that we maintain our tenth position in the championship – this is our clear objective.”
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Qualifying Report
Williams
Felipe Massa – 10th
Time – 1:41.213
“It definitely was not a very easy qualifying today but I was happy with the result. To be honest, I wasn’t happy with the tyres but I tried my hardest to set up a good lap.”
“I had a good time in Q2 which was important and I expected more from my lap in Q3 but maybe I didn’t have as much grip in these tyres as Q2.”
“We’re not far from where we expected to be and we will see what we can do compared to the other cars.”
Valtteri Bottas – 11th
Time – 1:41.084
“Obviously I would have liked to have been in Q3 but for some reason, I couldn’t get any extra grip from the ultrasoft tyre compared to the supersoft.”
‘The car felt good with the supersoft but I don’t feel like we got the most out of the qualifying tyre however, tomorrow is a different game!”
“P11 gives me a free choice of tyres for the race, this can open up opportunities.”
“It would be nice to end the season with a good result, for the whole team – and for Felipe. There’s obviously a battle on the line up at the front so that could create an exciting race ahead.”
Rob Smedley – Head of Performance Engineering
“Felipe was more comfortable on the ultrasoft tyre than Valtteri today. It’s a shame that Felipe wasn’t able to repeat his time in Q2 to get himself into ninth rather than 10th.”
“In Valtteri’s case, he just couldn’t get the qualifying tyre to work – we’re in 10th and 11th, that’s not where we want to be but we won’t give up! We will keep pushing and do what we can.”
“We’re in a position to get some points for tomorrow and finish the season on an upward trajectory.”
The Formula 1 Girl 🙂
xxx