British Grand Prix – Saturday 9th July 2016. Silverstone, England

Mercedes AMG Petronas

Lewis Hamilton: Firstly, I want to say how grateful I am for all the amazing fans that we have this weekend. Right from Thursday through to today, it’s been the biggest crowd I think I’ve ever seen here. The wave of energy they send is just mesmerising, so a big thank you to everyone out there. It wasn’t the cleanest qualifying session. We had great pace all the way through – but I ran a bit wide on my first Q3 lap and had that time taken away. I just touched the kerb and it really pulled me out there. I didn’t even feel like I was going to be running wide until the car bottomed out and I just bounced outside the line, so then there was a lot of pressure on my final lap. I was just sitting there in the garage thinking “I can’t let these guys down”. The second lap didn’t feel quite as good but I was a bit more cautious – making sure I got the lap on the board. I’m grateful that I managed it and grateful to the team too for all their hard work in giving us the performance we have this weekend. The fans give me more than enough motivation. Tomorrow will be a tough race, as always, and it’s important we do our due diligence tonight and tomorrow morning to make sure we’re on top of tyres, strategy and so on. But my long run pace yesterday was strong and I feel like I’ve got the car in a good place underneath me in terms of balance for the race. I can’t wait to see everyone out there again tomorrow!

Nico Rosberg: The team has given us an incredible car. It really was a pleasure to drive out there today – especially through these spectacular high-speed corners where it’s just awesome. It’s like the car is on rails, which is just what you want as a driver, so a big thank you to everyone for that. It wasn’t my day out there today – but congratulations to Lewis, who did an awesome job. Tomorrow is the day and it’s all to play for and it will be a great battle between Lewis and me. There are some chances at the start and it will be interesting how the tyre degradation will influence the strategy. Recently I’ve had good starts, so I’m looking forward to it. I’ll definitely still be pushing for the win.

Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: That was a nerve-wracking qualifying session that went down to the last metres of the final lap. After Lewis had his first time deleted in Q3, the pressure was on. But he was super calm, went out on track and nailed it. It’s such a fine balance between taking pole and staying within those track limits – and when he performs under that pressure, you see why he is a triple World Champion. As for Nico, he did a great job too. The lost track time yesterday certainly wasn’t an advantage for him but he took a strong P2. This track needs all-round performance from the chassis and engine and today’s session shows we have both. Our long runs were good yesterday, so we will do our homework tonight and make sure to take our opportunities in the race tomorrow.

Scuderia Ferrari

Sebastian Vettel: I’m not happy with my lap, the car was better than this morning. I was in a very good lap but I lost the car at Stowe in the first run, trying a bit too hard, then in the second one I went wide in Turn 1 and lost the car from there. On this track it seems we are a bit behind, I think we have done good steps in the past, but probably not enough, also compared to other people, so I think there’s a lot of catching up for us to do. We need to make the car quicker, to put more downforce in it, make it more efficient at the same time, and add a bit of power. Replacing the gearbox is something we have to accept, and we did accept it going into the session. It’s not something that is in your head when you start a race, I look forward for a good one tomorrow, the pace is there, we don’t belong where we start the race, and that’s why I’m quite sure we can make good progress. I hope for a good start, a good first lap and then we’ll see. Maybe we’ll have some rain, anyway we need to keep our head down, keep calm and just go racing and enjoy.

Kimi Raikkonen: Fifth and sixth is not what we want, we are not happy with where we finished today, but this is the best we could achieve. We know our limits on this track and where we struggle, the circuit layout and the conditions don’t make it very easy for us and we are a bit stuck with the things we can do. This afternoon the car felt the best it has been in the whole weekend, but obviously we were not fast enough. In Q2 I made it very difficult for myself, I spun at the start of my run with the first new set, and then locked the front wheel on the next one. At my last attempt I was able to make it through to Q3, but these things shouldn’t happen. Race conditions are always different and can change a lot here, usually we are stronger in the race and hopefully tomorrow will be the same. We’ll try to make a good start, make the tires work and take the right decisions.




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