Fahrerstimmen – Tag 1

It's been a while since I've been at the top of the timesheets in any session, so it's nice to remind myself that I can still do it and that I've still got it! The summer break came at a good time and gave me the opportunity to reset and come into this weekend with a fresh mindset. I arrived here with an open mind because my confidence wasn't at its highest level, so I've tried to approach this weekend as though it's the first race of the season, not overthink things and focus on the basics. So far that seems to be working well.

Of course, this is only Sprint Qualifying though and the main Qualifying session tomorrow is the one that really matters. McLaren look very quick and Ferrari also seem strong from what we saw in FP1, so we know there's plenty of competition around us.

Overtaking is always a challenge around this circuit, so a clean start will be important if we're going to maximise the result in the Sprint. For now, it's an encouraging opening to the weekend, but there's still a lot of work to do.

We came into this Qualifying session expecting a tight battle, and that's exactly what we got. To be so close to Pole shows how competitive we are, but of course, it's a little disappointing to end up second when first was clearly within reach. The car is performing well, continuing the strong form we showed in Budapest, and that gives us a lot of confidence for the rest of the weekend. We've started on a strong footing, and I'm happy with the overall package. We'll do our best to fight for the win tomorrow, it's always tricky starting from the dirty side of the grid, but we'll see what we can do.

I was quite comfortable with the car since this morning. It’s always good to come back from a long break with such a feeling, and it means we have taken good steps in the right direction. 

I’m satisfied with my lap, it was a good effort for the team and we are in the mix at the start of tomorrow’s Sprint. We will see about the race pace, as the tricky conditions this morning were a bit of a limitation in terms of understanding where everyone truly stands. So far, it’s a positive start to the weekend.

P4 today, a bittersweet result because we made positive progress from this morning and the pace was right there during Sprint Qualifying. It was so close at the top that with a cleaner lap I might have had Pole. There are still plenty of positives to take away. Today is all good learning and we’re improving every weekend which is crucial because we want to be firmly in the mix. The performance is encouraging, and it shows we’re moving in the right direction, but we know that it’s going to be tight with Ferrari and Mercedes, and the difference will come down to the fine margins. Our job now is to tidy up those last little details and close the small gaps that still remain. If we execute well, we’ll give ourselves a real shot in the remaining sessions throughout the weekend.

On my first lap in SQ1, I carried a little bit too much speed into the final corner and picked up some damage. That cost us some performance and, even though the team did what they could to repair it, I was struggling quite a lot in the low-speed corners. Once you've had a moment like that, it can be difficult to rebuild the confidence and put everything together. Even so, the gaps were very small, so there are still positives to take from the session.

We'll focus now on doing the best race we can in the Sprint. It's going to be difficult because the field is so close at the front and overtaking won't be easy, but we'll look to maximise every opportunity and make up as much ground as possible. Most importantly, we'll use it to gather information and put ourselves in the strongest position for Qualifying later in the day.

Today it was a bit tricky to find the grip and balance in the car. We had already made a step forward from FP1, but we are still missing a little performance to get us further up the field. It’s something that we need to understand and assess overnight. For now, our focus is on improving the car’s balance for tomorrow and finding a bit more traction to close the gap. For the rest of the weekend, it is difficult to tell how we will perform, but let’s see.

I felt good in free practice and we were happy with the adjustments we were making throughout the day. Unfortunately, the car felt different during Sprint Qualifying, which made the session more challenging, so we’ll carefully review the data overnight to understand the reasons behind this and identify where we need to improve. We’ll be working hard to be as competitive as possible in the Sprint tomorrow and to have a strong qualifying session ahead of the race on Sunday.

I'm happy to be back trackside and I am even more pleased that we are back in a much more competitive position compared to recent events. The early signs of the upgrade package are positive and I've definitely felt good in the car across both sessions today. It feels much stronger, more grip, and the car is reacting well to what I want. We know there are a number of factors to these things and it's never as simple as what we see on the timesheets so we will work hard to continue improving our level of understanding in making the overall package better and better. It's a tight fight in the midfield as usual so I am sure we will need to make another step forwards tomorrow. We start P8 for the Sprint Race and that's our immediate focus with a target of scoring points inside the top eight. After that we have another important job to do in Qualifying where reaching Q3 has to be our aim. It's a good start to the weekend but we won't get carried away and our hard work will continue

It's good to come back after the summer break with a strong result, but we're mindful it's only the beginning of the weekend. FP1 was already encouraging, and after some fine-tuning we took another step forward in Sprint Qualifying. There are still some areas where to improve, and our direct competitors will keep progressing as well; on top of it, the weather here can change quite fast. Starting from P9 in tomorrow's Sprint, the goal is to fight our way into the points. It’ll be a battle but I'm feeling positive about what we can achieve from there on.

It’s been a positive Friday. It’s my first time driving at Zandvoort, so it hasn’t been easy, especially on a Sprint weekend. The team have done a good job, and we’ve already made a few steps forward compared to this morning. I’m really happy with my lap in SQ2, but not so satisfied with SQ3. Looking ahead to tomorrow, both Gabi and Pierre look quite fast this weekend and we know overtaking is particularly difficult around this track. There’s also some uncertainty around the weather, with the possibility of a wet Sprint tomorrow morning. There are a few things we’ll review with the team overnight, and hopefully we can make another step forward for tomorrow

There's been a lot to learn from today. We started SQ1 strong, but then we didn’t quite make the same step as our competitors in SQ2. It’s a shame as I felt we had the potential to get through to SQ3. We'll look into it and keep learning tomorrow. Hopefully we can put it together ahead of Sprint and Qualifying.

The rain made things a little more challenging today, especially while I’m still getting up to speed. The car is very different compared to previous years, particularly through the high-speed sections, so it was tricky at times, but I’m happy with my result in Sprint Qualifying. There are still a few areas where I can improve and continue learning, but I’m enjoying the format. The main objective now is tomorrow’s qualifying, so I’ll keep building with every session and hopefully we can put it all together when it matters.

Firstly, it's definitely positive for the team to see our upgrade package has worked well. Of course, for me, it's a little more difficult but I felt I did a very good lap today for P13 and it gives the team some useful comparisons going forwards. So, in that sense, it's bittersweet for me but it is a team game and we are all working very hard together to make our overall situation the best it can be. We have the usual limitations at the wheel from before the summer break so it will probably be challenging tomorrow on my side. We have the Sprint Race, which gives us another opportunity to find improvements and make the car a little bit quicker. The midfield is tight, opportunities might come our way, especially with an eye on the weather. A good day for the team, a positive start to the weekend so let's keep pushing.

It was a day of two quite different sessions. FP1 felt positive – I had a good feeling with the car and we seemed to be in a good place. In Sprint Qualifying, though, the feeling was different and I didn't have the same level of grip, which made it more difficult to find the same sweet spot as in the morning. We'll have a look at what changed between the two sessions.

I think that’s the most we could’ve done today, continuing from Budapest, getting the maximum out of the car. The car has felt decent, and there have been no particular issues. We’re still looking into why we sometimes have issues, but it’s good when we don’t have them because we can extract the maximum. The first lap was very good, in front of the Audis, but we had more degradation than the others on the second lap, so that’s what we need to look into. It will be more straightforward in qualifying tomorrow when we only have one timed lap.

Overall, it wasn't a bad Friday, especially considering where our pace was in FP1. There's still a lot of lap time to find and areas for us to improve. We know we won't be fighting in the top eight tomorrow, but that's not really our focus right now. It's more about making sure we're getting the absolute best out of the car we've got this weekend, until the upgrades arrive. The weather looks like it could mix things up too, potentially being wet tomorrow and dry on Sunday. For us that creates a bit of chaos, and chaos is where we can find opportunities to fight for points.

It’s been another tough Friday, to be honest. We didn’t really have a productive FP1 at all, and we encountered a lot of issues on the front wing,  so going into Sprint quali, we were a little bit in the dark. I was actually quite happy with the lap but just left a bit of time out there, particularly in Turn 11. The target is still the race on Sunday as that’s our biggest chance of scoring points, so the Sprint doesn’t matter as much in terms of position, but it does in terms of learning for the main qualifying.

I think there was more there today. We were struggling with the driveability, and there were a few other things that weren't quite right, so we need to understand why. It's really windy out there, but it's the same for everyone.

We'll go through everything tonight, look at the data, and try to make some improvements for tomorrow.

We decided to go for three laps with a single cool and with hindsight, maybe lost a bit at the end with the tires overheating, but apart from that it was quite a straightforward session. Heading into tomorrow we should be okay with the brake issues we’ve been experiencing. It’s a lot cooler here and as we saw from the running today, everything is as it should be, so let’s see what we can do tomorrow.

There’s still a long weekend ahead of us, but hopefully we can make some improvements tomorrow and see what we can do. It was a challenging qualifying session, particularly because of the steering issue we’ve been experiencing since FP1, which made the car feel asymmetric. We understand what’s happening, so hopefully we can resolve it tomorrow and take a step forward.

Tough day. In FP1 I struggled with balance and sustained damage to the floor running through the gravel at turn 13. I couldn’t learn much from that session from there on and had to change some parts ahead of Sprint qualifying. The session was very tight, and I didn’t really find the right feeling with the car, which ultimately meant not progressing into SQ2. Now the focus is on what we can achieve tomorrow.

Things seemed to go okay for us in Free Practice, but then we experienced some driveability issues in Sprint Qualifying, and it was difficult to stop the car sometimes.

The rear wing didn't open for us either, so we lost lap time with that. It's very early days with Honda's upgrade package, so we'll try to understand more in the Sprint.