In Barcelona, the upgraded McLaren car made it possible to fight for the qualifying final, and Daniel Ricciardo succeeded, while Lando Norris was outside the top ten due to a fine: in one of the corners his car was off the track.
Daniel Riccardo (9th): “I am pleased that I went to the final of the qualification, although there was no guarantee that the car would allow it, because this weekend we were not fast enough. In general, there was no confidence, although, of course, we tried to get into the third session.
Since this was successful, we can say that the task is completed – for this it was necessary to add a couple of tenths, which is not so easy to do in such conditions, since the asphalt is too hot today.
Because of this, there were difficulties with the clutch, the level of which was constantly changing. At some points it was possible to find it, at some – not. As a result, I start from 9th position, and from the clean side of the track – let’s hope that this can also become a favorable factor. So overall the day went well.
The race promises to be interesting, given factors such as rubber degradation and high physical exertion. However, although the weather in Barcelona is hot, the humidity here is still less than in Miami. It’s hot in the cockpit, of course, but it’s a little easier to bear, so after qualifying I don’t feel too tired. However, we’ll see what condition I’ll be in after 66 laps of tomorrow’s race.”
Lando Norris (11th): “Today promised a lot, so it’s a shame that everything ended like this. I don’t think in the history of racing in Barcelona anyone was fined for breaking the track limits in that turn. I must have been the first, which surprises me a little.
I thought the car didn’t cross the lines, but it turned out that it didn’t. I guess if you look at the footage from the on-board camera on my car, it looks like I’m still on the line, but on the videos that the stewards have, I crossed it. But no one has ever been fined for trespassing at this location, and it’s all a little strange.
My best lap time was deleted, which is a shame, because our car was capable of a high pace, and we could climb a couple of positions higher. It’s hard to overtake in Barcelona, so it’s going to be a tough race, but let’s hope I get ahead of a few competitors and do well in the Spanish Grand Prix.”
James Key, technical director: “There is a lot of work this weekend, because we brought a whole range of technical innovations to this track. Yesterday was mainly devoted to testing their effectiveness and working with the settings, after which we worked until late at night, analyzing the collected information. In the third training session, we were able to make progress – as expected, the car picked up speed, and so far everything is going well, although we need to continue working with new products.
Qualification left mixed impressions. Daniel did a great job making it to the final and will start from 9th position. Lando was unlucky, his best lap in the second session was annulled for being a little off the track, although the time shown on it allowed him to pass into the third session. As a result, he rolled back to 11th line, and yet in the race he can still achieve a lot.
We’ve been setting up the car with more racing than qualifying in mind, so we hope we can make some good progress.”