Singapore GP | Post-qualifying press conference
Max Verstappen regards today's qualifying session as his 'best one ever', while Sebastian Vettel looked downbeat following today's P3 at Singapore.
( palabras)
The post-qualifying FIA Press Conference on the Singapore Grand Prix featured Lewis Hamilton, who conquered his 79th pole position, Max Verstappen in 2nd and Sebastian Vettel in 3rd.
Owing to a scorching 1'36''015, Lewis Hamilton was able to afford making a late-braking mistake (5 metres later than he should have) at his last attempt. Therefore, the Briton was forced to abort his last lap, as he had run off the kerb and ruined any chances of improving.
Max Verstappen appeared rather annoyed in the course of the weekend so far, due to his Renault power unit producing 'weird noises' or excessive vibrations, as he complained via team radio. However, his Red Bull made a significant leap forward for Q3 despite the issues, which are still there, as he underlined. "I was shaking from anger before, now I am shaking from happiness" said an elated Verstappen. "This is my best qualifying ever so far".
Referring to his last-lap abortion, Max explained the engine got out in the last sector. "I feel we could have been closer than 3 tenths, but I am still happy with 2nd after all the issues we had."
Sebastian Vettel looked rather glum, although he said he puts all his faith in the race, which is going to be 'a different story compared to qualifying'. The German praised Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes' performance, without trying to justify his shortcomings, as he simply admitted they 'had done a better job than us'.
Lewis Hamilton's flawless lap was 99.9% impossible to achieve, but in the end he did it. "It was a lap with no wheelspins, no snaps, the car was just underneath me and I can't remember one corner where I thought I could do better". The current championship leader is going to have the outside line at the start tomorrow, which makes him pretty pleased with his advantage, although there is always room for chaos at Singapore. Mercedes' biggest challenge to put it all together was on the tyres, as Hamilton explained. Everything worked out in the end on the HyperSoftys, although they were aware of having the 'wrong tyre choices' with more Soft sets compared to the opposition, and also the deltas between the three compounds are very large.
As for the race strategy, the quickest would be a two-stopper starting on the HS, switching to the US and then finishing the race on a fresh set of HS. Ferrari during Q2 abandoned the US as a starting option, which would eventually imply going on the Soft until the end of the race.
Owing to a scorching 1'36''015, Lewis Hamilton was able to afford making a late-braking mistake (5 metres later than he should have) at his last attempt. Therefore, the Briton was forced to abort his last lap, as he had run off the kerb and ruined any chances of improving.
Max Verstappen appeared rather annoyed in the course of the weekend so far, due to his Renault power unit producing 'weird noises' or excessive vibrations, as he complained via team radio. However, his Red Bull made a significant leap forward for Q3 despite the issues, which are still there, as he underlined. "I was shaking from anger before, now I am shaking from happiness" said an elated Verstappen. "This is my best qualifying ever so far".
Referring to his last-lap abortion, Max explained the engine got out in the last sector. "I feel we could have been closer than 3 tenths, but I am still happy with 2nd after all the issues we had."
Sebastian Vettel looked rather glum, although he said he puts all his faith in the race, which is going to be 'a different story compared to qualifying'. The German praised Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes' performance, without trying to justify his shortcomings, as he simply admitted they 'had done a better job than us'.
Lewis Hamilton's flawless lap was 99.9% impossible to achieve, but in the end he did it. "It was a lap with no wheelspins, no snaps, the car was just underneath me and I can't remember one corner where I thought I could do better". The current championship leader is going to have the outside line at the start tomorrow, which makes him pretty pleased with his advantage, although there is always room for chaos at Singapore. Mercedes' biggest challenge to put it all together was on the tyres, as Hamilton explained. Everything worked out in the end on the HyperSoftys, although they were aware of having the 'wrong tyre choices' with more Soft sets compared to the opposition, and also the deltas between the three compounds are very large.
As for the race strategy, the quickest would be a two-stopper starting on the HS, switching to the US and then finishing the race on a fresh set of HS. Ferrari during Q2 abandoned the US as a starting option, which would eventually imply going on the Soft until the end of the race.