Lewis Hamilton (5th in practice / 10th in qualifying)
The 37-year-old Briton was riding high throughout qualifying and looked like he could mess up the top two rows. In the third part of the qualification, however, he made a mistake in the first timed lap and crashed into the barriers. The car sustained significant damage.
“I’m fine. The impact was decent, but I’m fine. I have disappointed myself greatly. I apologize to the team, everyone has done a lot of work to prepare the car as best as possible. I hate it when I damage the car.
I think we were fighting for a place in the top three. I don’t know what happened, I have no excuse. In the seventh turn I lost control of the rear of the car and it was over.
Of course, I am pleased with the speed of our car. We didn’t expect to be so close to the top. It is a huge positive for us. I will start quite far behind, I don’t know what I can get out of it. Tomorrow, however, we only have a sprint, in which I will hopefully make up some of the loss,” believes Hamilton.
George Russell (3rd in practice / 5th in qualifying)
Russell also underlined the bitter end of Friday presented by Mercedes. Like his more experienced colleague, he ended up in the barrier, but for a change in the last corner.
“We need to find out the extent of the damage. Such mistakes are nothing supernatural. It could have been the fourth position. I improved by about a tenth in the timed lap. I drove completely on the edge because I thought I had a chance for third place. Apparently it wasn’t like that in the end.
Now we have a car inspection. I apologize to the team and especially to the guys in the garage. Lewis was doing a fantastic job, he was literally flying around the track. It’s possible that I didn’t choose the best settings for qualification. But again, it could be an advantage for the race. Physically I feel fine, I’m just a bit worried about the car, maybe it’s not too damaged,” hopes Russell.
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