Front row for Charles, second for Lewis

• Charles Leclerc qualified P2 with Lewis Hamilton P4 for tomorrow’s Austrian Grand Prix, the team’s joint best qualifying this season, with Monaco (where Lewis started seventh with a penalty).

FP3

• In the final free practice session, Charles and Lewis focused on preparation for qualifying, only running Soft tyres.

Q1

• Both drivers started on new Softs, and kept the same set for the second run, to comfortably make the cut to Q2.

Q2

• Charles and Lewis again made the cut to the final phase, with the Monegasque improving considerably on used Softs, to set the third fastest time.
• After 5’42”, the session was red-flagged because of a grass fire at the side of the track at turn 10, as a result of Lewis running wide at that point.

Q3

• The team had two sets of new Softs available and made the most of that to qualify second and fourth fastest.

 

Charles Leclerc #16

I’m pleased with today’s result. The whole team has been pushing and we brought some upgrades here, so this result is also thanks to everyone’s collective effort.
Congratulations to Lando (Norris) for his lap, he deserves it. It has been a while since we started on the front row, so hopefully, we can use the pace we have in race trim to put some pressure on the McLaren ahead of us.

 

Lewis Hamilton #44

The car felt much better today after the changes we made overnight. We’ve done a really good job as a team to improve the package, so a big thank you to everyone at the track and back at the factory for their continued hard work. Our pace was encouraging yesterday, and with the step forward we’ve made today, I’m feeling positive about what’s possible tomorrow.

 

Fred Vasseur Team Principal

Qualifying went well for us, everything went smoothly. Right from FP3 and then from the beginning of Q1 we were on the pace and were able to put a good lap on the board. That is very important, because if you don’t get a good first lap in the first part, you have to use another set of tyres and that puts you on the back foot for the rest of your qualifying. We did the same in Q2, so we arrived in Q3 with two sets of new Softs. As I said before, the key is to have a clean weekend. It’s true that our upgrade helped today, even if it should be measured in hundredths of a second rather than tenths, but I believe it’s more about our execution. Still, Lando was on another planet today.
As for the race, we always knew it would get much hotter on Sunday, which means the race will be all about tyre management. On the other hand, you can overtake here so you don’t have to be too worried about when to make your pit stops, as it is possible to gain back position. Yesterday, our long stint pace was good, so tomorrow, with DRS being very effective here it will be important to be able to use it well.