Styrian GP : Post-Qualifying reaction from Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes

Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton will start 2021 Styrian Grand Prix from P2 & P5 on the grid after qualifying in P2 & P3 respectively.

As expected Red Bull and Max Verstappen looked strong in the qualifying session and took Pole. But Mercedes are in good position to make it hard for Championship leaders.

Both Mercedes drivers will start tomorrows race on more durable Yellow marked Medium tyres, compared to Red Bull’s mixed strategy.

Lewis Hamilton (P3)

“Firstly, well done to Max – they have been so fast this weekend and they’ve had two tenths on us through every session. I have been giving it absolutely everything but it just wasn’t the greatest of qualifying sessions for me today. Nevertheless, it’s still the front row after the penalty and we live to fight another day – we’re there with the Red Bulls at the start so let’s see what we can do, it makes for an exciting race.

I’m proud of everyone’s hard work, and for continuing to push, we’re still in the fight and we’ve done a good job given the circumstances. I’m going try and enjoy my evening, gather my thoughts and come back strong tomorrow.”

Valtteri Bottas (P2)

“Today was about maximising the situation, trying to forget the penalty and just be perfect in everything you do. I think it was a good qualifying session, we worked well as a team together to find a good set-up and the changes we made gave me a better feeling in the car than I had in Practice. The lap was good, I don’t think there was another two-tenths to find with our package today so I think we maximized what we could.

The Medium should be the better race tyre for our car, even though the Soft runners around me will have a small advantage at the start. The key will be to get past them quickly tomorrow – obviously I’d rather start second than fifth but it is what it is, I need to deal with the consequences. It will be close with Red Bull, so far this season they’ve had the edge in qualifying and it’s been tight in the races so we’re looking forward to it.”

Toto Wolff, Part owner and Team Principal

“Overall, I think our qualifying result was probably a big better than we expected after practice. Valtteri made a strong recovery from a tricky Friday and did a good job of damage limitation for his penalty – he will start P5 tomorrow and has a good opportunity running the Medium tyre in the opening stint.

On his side, Lewis had strong runs and looking at the data, it’s not clear where he’d have been able to eke out any more time this afternoon. We ran a slightly unusual session, with Valtteri doing three runs in Q2, while Lewis did the same on the Soft tyres in Q3. That allowed us to squeeze everything out of the car and control the pace of our out laps in the best way to manage the tyres for our car.

Both drivers will be starting on Medium tomorrow and we have generally raced stronger than we have qualified this season. I think we have a quick race car and a few different options on the strategy. It’s going to be an exciting afternoon of tough racing – and the weather might play a part, too. I’m looking forward to it!.”

Andrew Shovlin

“It felt like pole was just out of our reach today but the drivers did a good job and we ran the session well so we can’t be too disappointed. Valtteri recovered from a difficult afternoon yesterday and did a good job to get second. 

It’s a shame that he’s got the three-place penalty but he did everything possible to put him in a strong position for the race tomorrow and has a lot of opportunities being surrounded by soft runners.

Lewis has had an interesting weekend exploring new setup directions which has ultimately benefited both drivers. No doubt he’ll have felt there was a little pace in there but we’ve got a good opportunity tomorrow from the front row and a car that was working well on the long run on Friday. 

It should be an interesting race with a few different strategies and that’s even before we factor in the weather which could be quite exciting.”

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