| 1 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | Mercedes | 1:08.322 |
| “It was so close in qualifying, as it always tends to be in Brazil. I knew going into the last run in Q3 that I had to improve if I wanted to be on pole. I could feel and see that I was improving corner after corner. It’s such a good feeling to get everything together in the end. It was very unfortunate that Lewis wasn’t there for Q2 and Q3. So it was up to me to deliver for the team, and I’m very happy that I could. I have the clear goal to still try and become second in the Drivers’ Championship.
Having a good target makes everyone in the team work harder, including myself. It’s going to be important to have a good, clean race tomorrow, but it won’t be easy, the Ferraris are very quick as well. Turn 1 and 2 are always tricky in Interlagos, but hopefully I will get a good getaway so there won’t be any issues. It’s only my third pole position, so I will very much like the view from the starting line tomorrow.” |
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| 2 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | Ferrari | 1:08.360 |
We have improved since Friday, and that’s the important thing. I was happy with my car today.
But in my last run, I was perhaps a bit too shy in braking for the first corner.I had a better run at the end of my out-lap. So there was probably more grip than I expected there. In the last sector, I knew I could make up for some of the lost time. And I did, but it wasn’t enough. However, it was very close, and we’re usually even closer in race conditions, so my motivation is high for tomorrow and I’ll being aiming for a win.” |
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| 3 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | Ferrari | 1:08.538 |
| “The feeling with the car was good most of the time. But somehow the laps were always a bit tricky, with everybody trying to get their free space. When the tyres switched on well, then everything was easier, but with the traffic in the out-lap it was not always the case. Some sets were feeling better than others purely because of having a bit better out-lap. It was a bit hard to trust them and not get a front lock-up at the first corner.
Overall the car itself was nice to drive when the tires worked, so it’s a bit of a shame. It was not the most straightforward qualifying but in the end it was a decent result. I think we did a solid job today, we can consider it a good team result. For sure there was more to get, but the race is tomorrow and it’s going to be long. For the start we’ll try our best, the first corner is quite tight, so we’ll try to make a good start and see what we can get.” |
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| 4 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | TAG Heuer | 1:08.925 |
| “I think we maximised the result in Qualifying today but we were just not fast enough. In general the pace has been simply not quite good enough across the whole weekend. I think both Daniel and I have been chasing the car balance and we could never find the full grip and potential. In Qualifying the grip was a little bit better; we lose a lot of time on the straights here but I think there are also one or two tenths we could have found. I never expected to beat Ferrari and Mercedes on this track as it’s just not strong for us, but I did expect to be a little closer. For sure I would love some rain in the race, but I don’t think it looks like that’s going to happen. Maybe I will do some praying tonight! We may need a bit of luck to be honest, but you never know what can happen up front and it can still be an exciting race.” | ||||
| 5 | Sergio Perez | Force India | Mercedes | 1:09.598 |
| “I am very pleased with today’s result, especially given how difficult the last couple of weekends have been for me in qualifying. It was a good fight to get into Q3 because our rivals were pushing us really hard, but I managed a good lap in difficult conditions to be sixth – the maximum we could hope for today. I have to say ‘thank you’ to the team: we went through everything to understand how the latest upgrades on the car work because I seemed to struggle a bit in qualifying at the last few races. The engineers have worked so hard and today’s result proves our pace. I am pleased to be back on form and I am looking forward to the race. It was quite cold today and we expect a much warmer track in the race, so managing the tyres and being on the right strategy will be especially important. Perhaps there could be some rain too – you never know in Brazil, which could help us have a nice battle at the front.” | ||||
| 6 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | Honda | 1:09.617 |
| “I’m happy with P7 today, particularly because it was a difficult qualifying. Conditions were very tricky. You see drops of rain on the visor, and that takes some confidence away even when the asphalt is completely dry. So you have to trust what the car is doing, and commit to the corner. Even though your mind is saying something different. Yesterday, we weren’t completely happy with the balance of the car and with the performance. But today the car stepped up and we were more competitive. P6 is a fantastic starting position for scoring points. But we know that Hamilton and Ricciardo will come back very strongly tomorrow. I’ll try to defend as much as I can even though tomorrow. We expect a very sunny day and completely dry conditions. So it’s not going to be easy to hold on to our position. A little bit of rain is always welcome for us. We seem to be more competitive in damp conditions, but being in the top 10 tomorrow is our goal. Saturday has been great, let’s see what Sunday brings.” | ||||
| 7 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | Renault | 1:09.703 |
| “That was a good qualifying effort today and I think it was as good as it gets from the car here. We had some nice laps at the end of Q3 so I’m happy with that. I would have liked there to have been a little more rain to mix it up a bit. But that wasn’t to be. The name of the game tomorrow is to get to the chequered flag and to get points. We have reasonable race pace so it should be a good battle with Force India, McLaren and Williams; let’s see what happens.” | ||||
| 8 | Carlos Sainz | Renault | Renault | 1:09.805 |
| “It was a good day. I’m feeling more confident with the car and today was definitely a step forward from previous sessions. There’s still scope for improvement and adaptation. But to be in Q3 for the third time with my new team is a positive experience. Points are definitely the target tomorrow. It’s going to be an interesting race with Hamilton and Ricciardo fighting back, but we have the pace, so we just need to keep pushing.” | ||||
| 9 | Felipe Massa | Williams | Mercedes | 1:09.841 |
| “I was happy with qualifying until Q3 where I lost a lap because a driver disturbed me on purpose. That is really disappointing. I think if you make a mistake it’s ok but it wasn’t a mistake. I am really disappointed. It was raining a little bit on the last lap and I didn’t put it together. I was locking up and I’m not starting in the position that I should be.” | ||||
| 10 | Esteban Ocon | Force India | Mercedes | 1:09.830 |
| “It was not a perfect session and I just missed out on making Q3. The margins are always tight here and a few hundredths would have made the difference. For whatever reason we didn’t make our usual step between Friday and Saturday. And that’s one of the reasons we were not as strong as we should have been. I was also struggling with putting all the sectors together over one lap because I was gaining time in sector one, but losing grip in sector two. It feels as though we just didn’t get the most from the tyres when it mattered in Q2. I will move up a place on the grid with Daniel’s grid penalty. And I have a free choice of tyres for the race.” | ||||
