09/03/2024
NEWS STORY
Yuki Tsunoda: "It was a difficult race today. I made some mistakes and let some cars behind me pass when I was trying to overtake the car in front, and that's my fault.
We struggled with our pace and grip today, so it was difficult to drive. On the positive side, we had a strong qualifying, and we'll look into our race pace and figure out why we struggled as much as we did. There are things I can improve on today, so we'll look through them and apply the learnings for the future."
Daniel Ricciardo: "It was a tough race and overall, a tough weekend, which is very frustrating. During the Safety Car time, when almost everyone pitted, we had a slow pit stop and a few laps from the end, I made a mistake and hit too much kerb in Turn 1, which caused a spin. I'm staying optimistic though, as I know we have some positive signs and we just need to polish our package up. We have a week off now, and there will be a big push from everyone to get it right and make sure we have a good package for the next race. I know the team wants it as badly as I do. I'm excited to go back racing in Melbourne, so let's get ready for it."
Alan Permane (Racing Director): "With Yuki, we did a conventional race like most others. We started him on the medium tyre, and when the Safety Car came out, pitted him for the hard compound. What then happened was a little difficult to take. Magnussen drove off the track to deliberately put himself in front of Yuki and then slowed him down by up to two seconds a lap, which allowed Hulkenberg, who hadn't stopped yet, to create a gap and of course pit in front of all the cars behind. That, to me, doesn't seem correct and is the very definition of unsportsmanlike behaviour. I'm sure we and other teams will talk to the FIA about it for future races. Regarding Daniel's race, we had a problem with the tyres during his pitstop and it put him at the back of the field, from here it was difficult to move forward.
"Overall, we clearly made a step with our understanding of the car and qualified well, which is positive. We now look forward to a break for our team after a long three weeks away, and I have no doubt we'll come back stronger in Melbourne."
Laurent Mekies (Team Principal): "It was a very disappointing result for the team today after a lot of good work during the weekend. Yuki was fighting for what could have been a P10 finish. He was then passed by Magnussen, who cut the track to do so and then slowed down the whole pack to let his teammate open a gap to pit in front of all of us. It made the penalty imposed on Magnussen meaningless, as it destroyed Yuki's race. It was a disappointing finish after a very good qualifying yesterday. Daniel's race was compromised by a very long pit stop during the double stack under the Safety Car. He then drove a large part of the race in heavy traffic. In an ultra-tight midfield, you fall off very quickly as soon as you don't get everything perfect, and the race was certainly not perfect for us. We'll continue working hard in Faenza and Bicester, and the team is looking forward to resuming the fight in Melbourne."
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