Mercedes
Like Pink Bull, Mercedes managed a miraculous turnaround after a troublesome Friday. Hamilton mentioned Q3 wouldn’t be doable yesterday, and but he went on to seize third on the grid – his greatest beginning slot since Silverstone. Russell backed him up with fourth, placing Mercedes in an amazing place for the race. And given they had been the quickest staff on the onerous compound tyre in race trim final weekend, and regarded sturdy right here within the Grand Prix final 12 months, Mercedes may very well be one to look at tomorrow.
Lewis Hamilton, third, 1:29.841
“I’ve been working actually onerous to enhance my qualifying performances and to get myself again up on the entrance on a Saturday. The automotive got here alive right now and we had one in all our strongest Saturdays shortly. That was an amazing feeling. Having only one effort in Q3 after the purple flag was tough, and there was maybe a little bit bit extra left within the automotive, however general, I’m actually grateful for what we achieved right now.
“I additionally need to say a giant thanks to everybody within the storage. We’ve been transferring round on steadiness all weekend and so they’ve put in a giant shift to get the automotive into a very good place. We at the moment are ranging from a strong place to struggle for the rostrum tomorrow. We don’t know precisely the place our race tempo might be in comparison with others, however with the adjustments we made in a single day, it felt like we had improved since Friday. We’ll be giving it every part on Sunday.”
George Russell, 4th, 1:29.867
“In the event you had advised us yesterday that we might qualify on the second row of the grid, we might have completely taken that. With the enhancements we made in a single day although, and the way the automotive felt in FP3, I might have reconsidered. I used to be feeling tremendous assured within the automotive, and every part was coming simply. That feeling abandoned us in Q1 although and I might have bitten your hand off for P4. We had been affected by a scarcity of grip and had been solely simply capable of progress by means of every section to Q3. I used to be capable of put in a good lap although as soon as we had been there and general, we will’t be dissatisfied with the place now we have ended the day.
“We will finally see right now as a very good restoration. Yesterday, we had been heading in the right direction to be mired within the midfield and but right here we’re with a second-row lock-out. We might like to be beginning additional ahead however the staff has completed an amazing job to get us again on observe so a giant thanks to them. Hopefully we will go on the assault tomorrow and struggle for the rostrum.”
Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport
“After a troublesome Friday, we might have completely accepted, and been pleased with, locking out the second row of the grid for tomorrow’s race. With the progress we made with the automotive in a single day although, and subsequent tempo we confirmed in FP3, P3 and P4 feels a little bit underwhelming. With all that mentioned, it’s not a foul place to be beginning the race from.
“The fluctuations in efficiency throughout Friday and Saturday that has affected many groups has been unusual. Ferrari dropped again a little bit right now while Max (Verstappen) took a step ahead, together with ourselves. I believe we are going to see extra of these fluctuations tomorrow, too. Hopefully the work we’ve completed to enhance the automotive from Friday may even translate into our race tempo and we will have a aggressive Sunday preventing for the rostrum.”
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director
“After a difficult Friday, it’s satisfying to have each automobiles on the second row after a qualifying session the place it will have been straightforward to complete a lot additional down the order. Our groups again in Brackley and Brixworth did an amazing job in a single day to supply course for FP3, and as quickly as we hit the observe, it was clear that each automobiles had been in a a lot happier place.
“Qualifying right here is all the time frantic – with quickly enhancing observe grip within the early levels and the potential jeopardy of yellow or purple flags. We had managed to maintain two units of recent Smooth tyres for Q3, however Sainz’s accident and the next purple flag meant that we solely had one shot at it within the closing levels. Each Lewis and George did their quickest laps of the weekend to say the second row and set us up strongly for tomorrow. It’s all the time a demanding race right here in Singapore and managing the rear tyres might be key tomorrow night. Security Automobiles can supply alternatives to offset or do one thing totally different, as we noticed final 12 months, and we might be aiming to race for the rostrum and strong factors after some difficult Grands Prix because the summer season break.”
