Austrian GP : Post-Qualifying comments from Vettel and Stroll

Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel will start the 2021 BWT Austrian Grand Prix in ninth and 11th respectively, as Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One™ Team got both cars into Q3 for the first time this season.

Sebastian Vettel, who is celebrating his 34th birthday qualified in P8, but stewards handed three place grid drop penalty and one penalty point to German for impeding Fernando Alonso during Q2 final runs.

Both Aston Martin’s will start the race on Red Soft compounds, which makes them to commit to two stop strategy in the race. Arguably it can be fast race strategy, given teams struggled with tyre wear during Styrian GP at the same venue.

Sebastian Vettel (P8)

“We can certainly aim for points tomorrow and I am happy with our approach to start on the Soft tyres They will not last as long as the Mediums or Hards, but it will be a fast tyre so let’s wait and see what we can do tomorrow.

“We made some small improvements across all the sessions and the car has been better balanced today. We have been competitive all weekend and it is the first time this year that both cars have been in Q3. If we can run in some clean air tomorrow, we will be able to show some decent race pace.

“It is a shame that Fernando [Alonso] had his lap impacted during Q2. All the drivers agreed yesterday to slow down on the straights between Turns Eight and Nine, which I did, but other drivers jumped the queue, then slowed down in the final corners, which is not allowed. That backed me up as well. It is a strange situation and something that is really difficult to avoid.

“I am sorry for Fernando because there is nothing he could have done.”

Lance Stroll (P10)

“We can be happy with qualifying today because starting inside the top 10 gives us a good shot at points tomorrow.

“In hindsight, I think we could potentially have started a little bit higher up. The car felt good in Q2 and the laps came together nicely, but it was a little bit more tricky to put clean laps together during Q3.

“We could see today that teams were considering both the Soft and Medium tyres in qualifying, so the compounds could be quite close to each other. That is something for us to go away and think about for tomorrow because strategy could be more important with the softer tyre compounds this time out.

“We will go do our homework and come back tomorrow to fight for points.”