Isack Hadjar: "The second row is absolutely a result I can be happy with.

"I came into the week with a smart approach to slowly build from session to session. Baku is not an easy track to come back to, so you need to know where you can and can't take risks. Yesterday, I knew I had to be cautious and then really switch on from Q1 today. The pace was there in the car from the off and I knew I had something to fight with. Mercedes were too far away, but to be in the mix with McLaren and Ferrari was the aim, and we did that. I wish I had been able to have more laps out there and feel like I suffered a little from the lack of mileage to get onto the first row, but it's a good sign that despite that, we were still close. The car has felt very nice all week and we can be competitive tomorrow with the race pace we've shown so far. We're in the picture to fight for a podium, so let's see."

Max Verstappen: "It's a huge shame as during the whole weekend we were on it and the car was feeling really good. We then went into Qualifying and the engine was down on power, which led to a number of other issues: we were lacking top speed, the battery kept draining and we had to abort the lap and lost temperature in the tyres, which affected us. On the final push lap, we got the yellow flag and lost time there as well. It was disappointing as we wanted to fight up front and, although I don't think Pole was possible, P2 could have been on the cards, so all in all not a good Qualifying. We need to sort a few things out and are working as a Team to find the issues. We will try as hard as we can tomorrow, even though there are a few cars ahead."

Laurent Mekies: "Difficult not to be very disappointed today. Max's pace has been very strong all weekend and he was getting closer to the top every time he went out on track, so we had high expectations for Qualifying. This was especially encouraging as we came here with our latest upgrade. However, Max's car developed a power unit issue during Qualifying which got worse as the session went on. Not only did it bring a large straight-line speed deficit, but it also made our life very complicated with energy deployment and tyre preparation. P8 was sort of damage limitation in these conditions. We will change the faulty parts tonight and I know Max will fight very hard with the Team tomorrow to make our way back to the podium.

"On the positive, Isack's return to the car after missing three races was exactly as we had all hoped. First, the most important thing is that he is fully recovered and does not have pain while driving. He has built up his rhythm very cleverly throughout the weekend and secured a solid P4 today.

"We will have two cars fighting for podium positions tomorrow and it does not look like it's going to be a boring race."