Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

Australia
Qualifying report

Chinese GP: Top 10 quotes after qualifying

Lewis Hamilton pole position time of 1:31.678 was 3.72s quicker than the 2016 pole position time and 0.56 seconds faster than the all-time circuit lap record set by Michael Schumacher in 2004

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG, celebrates pole in Parc Ferme

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG, celebrates pole in Parc Ferme

Motorsport Images

Pole man Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG, celebrates
Top three qualifiers Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG, Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, and Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes AMG
Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari
Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes AMG, in Parc Ferme after Qualifying
Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari SF70H
Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari SF70H
Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing RB13
Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing RB13
Felipe Massa, Williams FW40
Nico Hulkenberg, Renault Sport F1 Team RS17
Sergio Perez, Force India VJM10, leads Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari SF70H
Daniil Kvyat, Scuderia Toro Rosso STR12
Daniil Kvyat, Scuderia Toro Rosso STR12
Lance Stroll, Williams FW40
ClaDriverChassisTimeGap
1 united_kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1'31.678  
"It's been an interesting weekend so far, obviously, after missing running yesterday. It's been a challenge for all of us, trying to compile a lot of yesterday's work into this morning. Ferrari have been so fast through practice and then into qualifying. We knew it was going to be close and that we'd have to pull out all the stops to beat them. I managed to just chip away at it session to session, then make my last lap my fastest lap - which is always the target but doesn't always work out that way. The lap started off not quite as well as my previous attempts. But from there it got better and better. I felt really strong coming into the final corner knowing I was up by a couple of tenths. But it's always a bit nervy going into Turn 14, as you want to brake late to gain some time but it's easy to lose more if you get it wrong. Waiting to find out what the others had done after I crossed the line was pretty tense! I'm really happy with today and super grateful for the huge effort the team had put in to keep us in the fight. It's more exciting than ever right now. We're really fighting these guys out there and that's what racing's all about. It pushed you to raise the bar every time you go out, which I love. A big thank you to all the fans too. There were a lot of British flags out there which is great to see."
2 germany Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1'31.864 0.186
“Tomorrow is another day. It was a bit closer than in Australia, so a good session overall with lots of chances for tomorrow. We’ll see what the race can bring, with the different conditions and everything. Of course I would have liked to be even closer, knowing that the Mercedes would be very strong in Q3, as they proved to be. We had some luck with Valtteri, because when you’re a thousand of a second apart, it could be one way or the other. I was happy with my lap, even if I braked a bit too early for the last corner, hit the kerb hard and had to wait for the car to settle. That’s where I lost a bit of time, but not all the gap to Lewis. There wasn’t much more I could have gained. So this result on a totally different track, with conditions significantly cooler than Melbourne, is definitely good news. The confidence is there, I trust what the car is telling me and she seems to respond to what I tell her. It’s a good match but we need to improve further." 
3 finland Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1'31.865 0.187
"It's a real shame Sebastian managed to get between us. I think last time it was a couple of hundredths and now it's a thousandth. Around a lap here there are a quite a lot of places you can lose one thousandth of a second, so I will look to see where improvements can be made as always. But anyway, the race is tomorrow and we are first and third on the grid as a team, which is a good place to start. Anything can happen with the weather too. Lewis was strong today and Ferrari were very quick too. We were always expecting a close fight and I think it will be the same tomorrow. Thanks again to the team, who did a great job in the short amount of practice time we had today to get the car set up well. It was really enjoyable to drive. Let's see what tomorrow brings."
4 finland Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1'32.140 0.462
“I’m not that surprised from the result after strong performance in Q2, because in the end I was struggling a bit with the front end, especially in the first corners; in Turn 3 there was not much we could gain. It has been tricky to get everything right, with the limited running we had yesterday, and we’re still not 100 per cent where we want to be, up there in front. There are some details in the set-up that need to be improved, and as you push more they become more apparent, but it’s already better than in Melbourne. Handling-wise the car wasn’t bad, even though I had experienced understeer in the beginning and then, for whatever reason, it changed to oversteer. In Q2 I made two runs, because we had tires available so why not go out and see what the other cars were doing? Conditions will be different for tomorrow and there will be a bit of guessing for everyone if it rains, so we’ll see” 
5 australia Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1'33.033 1.355
“Personally I’m happy with what I was able to get out of the car this afternoon but obviously as a team and as a driver we want more. I felt like up until today we still probably hadn’t got the most out of the setup but in qualifying I felt pretty comfortable with the car. I could lean on it more or less as much as I wanted but we are still missing some performance compared to Mercedes and Ferrari. However, I felt we improved the balance a lot from this morning and we made some bold changes which helped us in qualifying. You won’t see me looking disappointed if it rains tomorrow as the wet conditions always create more opportunities and it will be up to me to maximise those if it happens. We hope to have a good car in the wet; downforce plays a huge role in those conditions so we will have to wait and see. Whatever happens it will certainly be an exciting race for the spectators and we will do all we can to be on the podium.” 
6 brazil Felipe Massa Williams 1'33.507 1.829
“I think it was a very good qualifying session for us. I’m happy with my performance, with my lap and with the balance of the car. We were able to get ahead of Hulkenberg right at the end, so I think we did the best we could today. We need to be completely open minded for tomorrow because there may be crazy weather and there may be rain. But hopefully we can fight and have a good performance like we did in Australia.” 
7 germany Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1'33.580 1.902
“When we started driving in FP3 I felt immediately positive and happy with the car and its balance. It felt better and more together than in Melbourne, and perhaps this track suits our car a little better too. I think from FP3 to qualifying, we were able to improve the car; I was happy, I was confident and it was a nice surprise when I heard the position over the radio. The forecast says rain for tomorrow, which brings its own challenges, but whatever happens I’ll approach the race open minded and do my best.” 
8 mexico Sergio Perez Force India 1'33.706 2.028
“I’m very pleased with the qualifying result today. It’s probably a bit better than I expected, but the team did a fantastic job getting the car in shape for qualifying considering the lack of track time we had yesterday. All of my laps were clean and tidy and I think we maximised the performance today. It’s looking like we will have a wet race, which could generate some more opportunities because there will be a lot of unknowns about how the wet tyres will perform. It will be a big challenge but the team is ready for the fight and hopefully we can come away with some more points.”  
9 russia Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1'33.719 2.041
“We had a lot of things to focus on today and in the end we did a good job. I’m feeling confident and we managed to put some very good laps together – I’m satisfied with my qualifying session! After not the easiest of FP3’s – not having run much yesterday, this morning we struggled a bit with the balance of the car – my team of engineers and myself managed to put everything together for qualifying, which ran smoothly. We’re satisfied with our performance and getting into Q3 was a nice achievement! I missed out by a tiny bit to P7, but I will try to make up for it tomorrow. If the rain does finally come during the race, it will definitely offer more opportunities, but also more threats – as we know, anything can happen in the rain and we will need to do the best job possible, stay patient and take calculated risks at times. It will be a fun race, whatever the weather!” 
10 canada Lance Stroll Williams 1'34.220 2.542
“The first run in Q1 wasn’t good. I was just getting into it and didn’t deliver the lap I knew I could deliver. On the second set of tyres, I just kind of calmed down and it was an amazing lap; I was really happy with the car. Then moving on to Q2, we had a good session. To get into Q3 the time was a tenth slower than my Q1 lap, but I knew it was good enough. Since I had used two sets in Q1, I only had one for Q3, so I just went for it. It wasn’t a good lap, but my goal was to get into Q3. Tomorrow there is a long race ahead of us, so even though Q3 wasn’t as good as I think it could have been I am still very happy with the overall qualifying.” 

Be part of Motorsport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Chinese GP: Hamilton beats Vettel to pole, Verstappen out in Q1
Next article Alonso says 13th on the grid a "divine present"

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

Australia