Fahrerstimmen – Tag 2

It was a Simply Lovely Qualifying. We did well the whole weekend, have been fine tuning the car and then also made some final changes which helped the car a little bit. This allowed me to push a bit more to the limit and extract the most out of the car. We were improving nicely in Qualifying and then found a little bit more lap time with the corners. The big question mark is can we keep up that pace in the race? Thank you to Yuki for the tow, it helped for sure, but it was nice of him to give up one of his laps. He was a great Team player, so thank you for that. Tomorrow, the plan is to win the race and then we need a bit of luck to win the Championship, it’s as simple as that. We will go all out and have nothing to lose, whether we need to attack or defend. The most important battle needs to happen tomorrow and we need to outscore them by 12 points; we knew that if we wanted to be in the fight we had to be first. I have the least to lose and I am very relaxed. It is exciting to be on Pole, but we just need a bit of luck for the rest of it and some Abu Dhabi magic.

We did everything we could do today, but just didn\'t have the pace in the car for Pole. I was happy with my lap, but I\'m of course disappointed to not be on Pole for the final weekend of the year. For tomorrow, we\'ll focus on doing the best we can. As always, I want to win the race, so that\'s the goal.

I felt like we maximised what we could today. I was happy with my Q3 laps; we just didn\'t quite have the pace to answer Max. Our long run pace looks okay, so let\'s see what we can do tomorrow. I\'ll focus on delivering the best race I can, and we\'ll see what happens.

We were near the top of the timing screens in both Q1 and Q2, but we knew that Verstappen and the two McLarens had more pace to show come Q3. That turned out to be the case, and I think P4 was ultimately us maximising the package we had this evening. Q3 didn’t go too smoothly on our side but I don’t think we were ever in the fight for the front-row.

Tomorrow’s race will be interesting with the three title contenders starting ahead of us. On ultimate pace, I don’t believe that our race is with them but there could be some strategic implications of that battle that open opportunities for us. We will be considering every eventuality that can help us gain positions and ultimately bring home the points we need to secure P2 in the Constructors’ Championship. That is our only focus for tomorrow and, if we can do that, we can end the season on a high.

I’m satisfied with my lap in Q3 and I don’t think there was much more to extract today. I feel that our team has done a really good job in turning things around this weekend. We made some changes on the set-up between FP2 and FP3, and if paid off. I’m looking forward to the race tomorrow, to see if the changes we made will also help us to get ahead in the race. We can’t get our hopes up too high, because the cars ahead are very fast. It’s up to us to maximise our result tomorrow, and I’ll do my best to take action at the start and hope to bring home a last podium for our whole team this season.

Extremely happy to finish Qualifying in P6. I am surprised by such a strong result on a circuit with so many low-speed corners, but it is clear the setup changes we made overnight worked well. Hopefully we can maintain this pace tomorrow and continue building momentum throughout the weekend. The aim is to secure some valuable points in the final race of the season.

It feels great to finish the season with a qualifying like this one. The whole session was incredibly tight: we were just a few thousandths away from being knocked out in Q1, then pulled out a mega lap in Q2 and kept it strong in Q3 as well. I think it’s been a really good performance today, one to be proud of, and hopefully we can turn it into a top ten finish tomorrow – it would be a great way to wrap up the season. The car has been working well, and we’ve been making the right changes to keep up with the shifting conditions from day to night. It’s never easy, but we found a balance I was really happy with. Now, the goal is to hold our position at the start and try to make our way forward.

I’m super happy – delighted to say the least. It was honestly the lowest moment of the season yesterday, it was really a bad feeling being half a second away from where we should be. We were lost and changed everything on the car overnight, and the car today feels much better. It’s transformed, and we’re suddenly where we should be, so a big thanks to the team for their continual support. In the tough times, we’ve stuck together, and that makes the difference. It’s a bit late, so there are some regrets there as we could’ve had a lot more points, but we’ll take today, review things, and hopefully it\'s a good foundation for next year. It’s all to play for tomorrow, we start from the points, and hopefully we convert that.

It was a decent day today. Compared to yesterday, I’m really happy as I definitely made a step up in my driving, which allowed us to find something special and get to Q3. In Q2, I put it all together and did a very good lap, which unfortunately I couldn’t repeat in Q3 as I didn’t find more grip. I have no regrets as I think P9 was our best possible result today, and we maximised what we had to do in a track that doesn’t suit our car as much as Qatar did. Tomorrow should be a one-stop race, but yesterday we noticed a higher track degradation than expected, so I think we’ll keep having a look at it and we’ll give our best to try and score points.

Because of the pitlane incident in FP3, we had to change back to the old floor on my car, which did compromise performance somewhat and was not ideal. I knew it could be difficult to get through to Q3 but I was able to do that. I have been able to help Max and that was always the aim, I am proud of that today. I will try to support Max as much as possible tomorrow, that is my goal and my main focus. It might not be a straightforward strategy but if I can help Max to win a fifth Drivers’ Championship, then that is the priority. The top 10 looks very tight, so let’s see what I can do.

It’s a shame to miss out, but it was a very tight session and every millisecond counted out there tonight. Ultimately, I had a bit of an interrupted qualifying, being on a used set for my first run in Q2, then, as a result, it was a big jump to go onto the new set. The car has the pace, but I just didn’t quite put the lap together. I’m looking forward to the race tomorrow as I think there will be some opportunities, and generally the car has been quick all weekend.

I’m relatively happy with where we are today, as we made a good step from the practice sessions. It was one of the tightest sessions I remember, with only one tenth separating P6-P15 in Q2, and I unfortunately fell short by 0.008 of a second. For tomorrow, it’s looking to be on the limit between a one and a two-stop race, which can result in interesting strategies. I’m confident we can fight to make our way into the points, and the aim is to finish off the 2025 season strong!

The car felt quick during Quali, so it\'s frustrating to be out in Q2. We ended up playing things too conservatively today by using three sets of tyres in Q1, which we didn\'t need to do. It meant we only had one new set for Q2, resulting in us missing out on Q3 by a small margin. After missing FP1 yesterday, a lot of our data was taken from FP2, which was the first session in the car for me. In hindsight, we were over cautious, so it\'s something we\'ll learn from going into next year.

Qualifying started well in Q1. I was happy with the balance of the car and was able to extract a decent lap time out of it. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case in Q2, and we were knocked out in what was a very tight session. That was a shame as I think we had the pace to be starting in the top six for tomorrow’s race.

Despite tonight’s disappointment, we will refocus now for Sunday’s race. We will do our best to get back into the points and secure P2 in the Constructors’ Championship for the team. Every point could be crucial so that is what my full focus is on. It is important for all of us that we achieve that and end the season on a positive note. Hopefully we can do that and I can end my rookie season in F1 on a high.

It was a super tight Qualifying today and we were looking good for Q3, but missed it in the end by less than one tenth. I had a bit of a messy Turn 14 and lost time there on my final push lap in Q2 so that\'s where it got away from us. When it\'s that tight, a small margin makes a big difference so a good effort today, but would have hoped for a bit more.

Clearly it wasn’t the result we were aiming for today. The team did a great job after FP3, in getting the car ready in time for qualifying, but a mistake in the last sector cost us. I know this track well and I’ll be aiming to deliver a more positive result for the team tomorrow.

Difficult session. We couldn’t get the tyres in the right window and hit traffic in the final sector of the lap. There were a few small details which I couldn’t quite nail and, with such a tight field, every millisecond counts. Strategy will make a big difference in the race tomorrow, so it will be interesting to see how each team approaches it. Tomorrow will be tough, but we’ll look to take advantage of any opportunities that come our way.

It’s very disappointing, it feels we just tripped over ourselves today, especially as the car’s setup felt very good and there was the potential for a very good result. The run plan and sequence just didn’t work out: we were the last car out there. We waited long in the pitlane, which meant the tyres were a bit too cold, and I hit a lot of traffic both on the out-lap and the timed lap. With the field as tight as it has been at the last few events, those small margins make a big difference, and we let it slip through our fingers. The potential in the car was there earlier in the weekend and even this morning, but we didn’t put it together in Q1 and made our lives very hard for tomorrow. Following and overtaking here are very difficult with this generation of cars, so starting from the back will be a challenge, but we’ll do what we can from there.

We did a great job overnight to improve the car and it felt like we made a good step from yesterday. The car was set-up well but today\'s result is, quite honestly, just a reflection of our performance at this track. It was a very tight Qualifying throughout and we have been on the wrong end of a tenth or two to our competitors across the weekend so far. We had to go for it on the final run on Softs as we had the lap time deletion for track limits on my first run. I was very happy with my final lap, all the corners came together and that was really all we had in our hands. We have the final race of the season tomorrow. It is also the final race with our colleagues from Viry on the power unit side. I am very grateful for everything they have done especially in my Alpine career. We will give it our all for them and see what result we come out with at the end.

The difficulties of yesterday carried over to today unfortunately. I think Pierre found more pace and did a better job than me. We made some changes which made a difference, but I still didn\'t feel totally comfortable. I felt in a decent place at the start of the weekend, and we need to understand why we haven\'t been able to make the same improvements across the weekend as others did. We put a lot of pressure on our final lap due to track limits, which was my own doing. There are a few places around the lap where you\'re right on the limit, and the margins are so tight, you have to push or risk losing time. We need to work hard overnight and give it our best tomorrow. It\'s an important day for everyone at the team at the final race for Viry, so we\'ll give it our all to try and give them a nice result.