Saturday Team Quotes

McLaren Formula 1 Team

Oscar Piastri (2nd, 1:27.304): "First of all, it's great to see Lando is okay. Overall, I am happy with the job we did today. Being so close to Pole is frustrating but we didn't have much more in it and Max did a great job. I think we can fight from where we are as our pace is good, so we're in a strong position to challenge for the win. I think it's going to be a tough but fun race."

Lando Norris (10th, No Time): "A disappointing end to Qualifying but I know what I have to do tomorrow. We have a good car, it's quick and I'll work with the engineers overnight to put a plan in place to work my way up the field. Thank you to the entire team for their hard work this evening, I'm ready to go again tomorrow to score some strong points."

Andrea Stella, Team Principal: "Firstly, the most important thing from today's Qualifying session is that Lando is okay and ready to race tomorrow, after a rare accident from him. Today showed us we have the pace as a team to consistently fight for the top positions in Qualifying, but we have seen once again how tight the field is and how a few milliseconds can make the difference, like in Suzuka. Oscar did a great job today, narrowly missing out on Pole to Verstappen, who looked quick throughout the Qualifying session, as did Russell. Both Oscar and Lando have been fast all weekend, so we are confident in the pace of the car. The team and both drivers will be looking to make progress tomorrow and we believe we can fight for the victory in tomorrow's Grand Prix."

Scuderia Ferrari HP

Charles Leclerc (4th, 1:27.670): "I'm not pleased with P4. I am satisfied with my driving and I have understood how to maximise the car's potential, but unfortunately, this is the most we can extract from it at the moment. We just don't have enough grip to carry the kind of speed our competitors are carrying through certain corners, and we have to analyse that. I don't expect any miracles tomorrow, but if we have a good start, a podium could be on the cards. I will give it everything to make that happen."

Lewis Hamilton (7th, 1:28.201): "Considering how tough practice was, that was a decent recovery in quali. Obviously not where we want to be, but the car felt better out there, so we're moving in the right direction. My lap in Q3 wasn't great, but you can overtake here, so the goal's to fight through and make up ground tomorrow."

Frédéric Vasseur, Team Principal: "We cannot be happy overall considering the gap to pole position. However we have Charles starting from the second row and Lewis in seventh place so it will be interesting to see how the race pace will be with both our cars. No one did a proper long stint yesterday but since the beginning of the season we have performed better over a long run than on a qualifying lap. We have to maximise what we have at the moment and we will fight to collect another good points tally, being ready to take every opportunity that the race might present. One can overtake at this track, so tonight we will be preparing for every possible scenario."

Oracle Red Bull Racing

Max Verstappen (1st, 1:27.294): "I'm really proud of the Team, after the red flag they stayed calm and chose the right strategy. It is really nice but definitely unexpected to get pole today. The Team made some final adjustments going into Qualifying which allowed me to be a bit more comfortable in the car and attack the corners. Our progression in Qualifying was really nice: we tried to improve run by run and it felt good in the car and we made things a lot more comfortable. The tyres were overheating less which was positive, we found the right balance and when everything cooled down a bit, the car came alive at night. I'm really proud of the Team, after the red flag they stayed calm and chose the right strategy. I wasn't entirely sure what the right call was and then GP came on the radio and the Team were definitely right. It is always a Team effort, all the engineers helped with this and helped improve on particular corners. I knew what I had to do to beat the lap record but it's always extremely rewarding to put a good lap together here. Looking to tomorrow, it will be a bit more tricky as here you can pass if you have more pace. There are a few more DRS zones, so it will be difficult to keep everyone behind but we will give it everything that we have."

Yuki Tsunoda (8th, 1:28.204): "It is only my third race with the Team but my confidence is building up in the car, I have to keep pushing and we want more. It was an okay Saturday to finish P8. Congrats to Max on pole, he did a great lap. My last push lap in Q3 was quite messy and I was expecting slightly more today. We are still learning and it feels like there's always something that happens when I push more, unpredictable things happen, and it's been quite difficult to put everything together for a clean lap. It's pretty frustrating when I can't put it all together in Q3 when it counts, but it is at least positive to be in Q3 again this weekend. Some of the difficulties are due to experience, it is only my third race with the Team but my confidence is building up in the car, I have to keep pushing and we want more. Hopefully we can be more consistent in the race tomorrow, our setup is more focused on the long run rather than the short run and I had more confidence in those laps. I will do my best to overtake and to finish with good points."

Christian Horner, Sporting Director: "To get that pole, our second in the last three races, is phenomenal and really rewarding. Coming into Quali off the back of FP3 it was all about who was going to be third and then suddenly in Q1 Max went quickest. In Q2 we were right there and then there was the unfortunate accident for Lando in Q3, thankfully he was okay, but it meant there was only three cars with two new sets left, which was Oscar, George and Max. We had to make a decision as a Team and the driver has to buy into that and be happy, we elected to do the two timed laps and that puts you under pressure because if there is any issue at all you have lost that margin. A great call by everyone. What was so impressive for me was because Max had to take the pitstop to change tyres, he had to carry the six or seven kilos more fuel than anyone else, and then he went quickest on that first lap. That put the pressure on the other guys and then his last lap was outstanding. To get that pole, our second in the last three races, is phenomenal and really rewarding. It was a wonderful performance by Max and the Team. The set-up changes we made definitely helped, and it gave Max a car he could attack with, we still expected to see a margin to the other cars but it seemed to disappear this evening and Max set a track record out there. We will have a fight on our hands with Oscar tomorrow but we are starting in the best possible position. It was good to have Yuki up there in Q3 as well, he is really finding his way in this car and with the Team. I have been impressed by how calm he is, he was in the ice bath 10 minutes before the session! We are super satisfied with him, and he is right up there to win good points tomorrow."

Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team

George Russell (3rd, 1:27.407): "P3 is a great result for us this evening. If you had offered us third before the session, I think we would have taken it. Seeing how tight the field was at the end of Q3 though, you do begin to think about where we might have found that extra tenth to claim pole. Nevertheless, we should be pleased. It was a tough session with the red flag taking away our first lap. The only thing that mattered then was that final effort and I think we did a good job to deliver a solid starting position for tomorrow. It is going to be a long race so we should be able to put our race pace to use. We looked competitive on Friday, even if Piastri in the McLaren looks to have an edge on the rest of the field and will be difficult to race. P3 gives us a chance to fight for the podium again and hopefully we can get on there for our fourth top three finish in the first five races of 2025."

Andrea Kimi Antonelli (5th, 1:27.866): "That was a very intense Qualifying! The session as a whole went well, and I continued to build my speed. I had a big snap on my first lap in Q1 and had to burn a second set of new tyres to get through to Q2. That wasn't ideal but we still made it through to Q3 and, with the red flag, it all came down to the final effort anyway. I need to rewatch my lap to see exactly what happened, but I had a moment in the first sector that cost me a few tenths. That was a shame as the rest of the lap was strong and I think we could have taken P4. I'm feeling more and more confident each and every weekend. This track is such a big test as you need lots of confidence and to get really close to the walls through the high-speed corners. Step-by-step, and the more experience I'm getting, I feel like I'm starting to put it all together with more consistency. Let's not get ahead of ourselves though and see what we can do tomorrow. It will be a long race and hopefully we can bring home some solid points for the team."

Toto Wolff, Team Principal: "That was an exciting Qualifying session, even if we ended up on the wrong end of the top three. There was very little between ourselves, the McLarens and the Red Bull of Verstappen in the end. You would always want to be starting from pole position, but we didn't expect to be in the fight for P1 after FP3. George did a great job therefore to put the car in the mix and he will be looking forward tomorrow. Kimi meanwhile once again put in a strong performance despite it being so early in his F1 career. He made a small mistake in the first sector which cost him a couple of tenths. Without that, he would likely have been P4, but P5 is still a great starting position. The car seems to be provided a stable platform for us to work with. Over the first five races, we've been consistently in the fight for the podium and hopefully we can keep that going in tomorrow's race. The McLarens looked to have very strong long run pace on Friday, so we think it will be difficult to fight Piastri for the win. Let's see what happens though and, as always, we will be giving it our all."

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director: "We had a decent final practice session, and the car was working well. Like Bahrain though, it looked like McLaren would be totally out of reach in Qualifying. In the cooler conditions later in the evening though, the W16 car was working much better than in FP2 yesterday. That was a pleasing development and meant we were able to stay close to the front. With Kimi, we used a second set of Soft tyres to get through Q1. As it turns out, he'd have just made it through with his first lap, but we rightly didn't risk that. From there on it was straightforward to get both into Q3, George with two new sets and Kimi down to one. The timing of Norris's red flag wasn't ideal as it came out just before both our drivers would have completed their first laps. That meant it all came down to the final efforts at the end of the session. Neither lap was perfect, with both drivers quite rightly making sure we got the laps in to put a time on the board. Kimi had a poor first sequence but finished strong and we're pleased to see him secure P5 on the grid. George was looking close to the times Verstappen and Piastri set but lost a little in the final corner to put him P3. Overall, we're left with a sense we could have achieved a bit more but in many ways it's a healthy sense of frustration. We've improved a long way since last year and we'll keep pushing. The points are all to play for tomorrow and there should be plenty of opportunity as it's rarely a dull race here in Jeddah."

Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team

Fernando Alonso (13th, 1:28.303): "Jeddah is one of my favourite circuits and I think I achieved the maximum from the car with P13 in Qualifying. We managed to progress into Q2, but we used up all of our new Softs to get there, so it was always going to be difficult to progress any further than that. We have struggled again for performance this weekend and it could be a challenging race for us, but anything can happen on a street circuit like this."

Lance Stroll (16th, 1:28.645): "Qualifying was our most competitive session this weekend so far. We made some small progress, but we just didn't have enough pace to get through to Q2, although the cut-off time was very tight. We did some set-up changes following the practice sessions yesterday and progressed a little bit, but the car is not easy to drive in the tricky conditions here and we still have plenty of areas to work on and improve. Tomorrow will be all about taking opportunities; we will see how it goes."

Andy Cowell, CEO & Team Principal: "We worked hard to unlock more performance from the car leading up to Qualifying, but it's such a tight grid with a tenth of a second covering a couple of rows. Our session was well managed by the garage and the pit wall with both drivers delivering clean and tidy laps aided by good tyre preparation. There is a long race ahead of us tomorrow. We will come out ready to take any opportunity to progress and compete for points."

BWT Alpine F1 Team

Pierre Gasly (9th, 1:28.367): "On the whole, it is positive that we made it back-to-back Q3 appearances after last weekend in Bahrain. Today there were certainly a few things we could have done better, which we will learn from for next time as I am sure we could have been higher than ninth place. The whole team has done a great job and the package is good at the moment. We have put ourselves in a position to fight for points tomorrow, which, of course, is the target. We will need a clean race in a tight field. We know where and who our race is against with Carlos [Sainz] a few places ahead. That's our aim and I'm looking forward to it tomorrow night."

Jack Doohan (17th, 1:28.739): "It's not the end result we wanted in Qualifying, but, overall, I'm pleased with the steps we made today after a challenging Practice yesterday. We made good steps forward between Free Practice 3 to Qualifying. We were able to work through some things and find some improvements overnight and I immediately felt the positive impact in the first few laps of today where I was much more comfortable in the car compared to yesterday. The end result in Qualifying is not one we are happy with especially being so close to reaching Q2. We remain optimistic and we know overtaking opportunities are better here than other circuits and we will aim to take advantage of a few things like strategy with the ambition of progressing forwards to the points."

Dave Greenwood, Racing Director: "Wrapping up Qualifying in Jeddah with one car in Q3 for the second consecutive weekend is satisfying but there was potential for more today from that session to have Pierre starting higher up the grid. Qualifying here at this circuit tends to throw up certain challenges, particularly with traffic management or stoppages for red flags. Pierre stringed together some strong laps to progress through each session but every lap took a lot of hard work from the team and the driver to optimise performance. We pushed after the red flag in Q3 to get Pierre two timed laps with a pit-stop between, however Pierre aborted the scrubbed lap and that put us out of sync and we then needed to hold in the box which did not help the tyre preparation. The final lap in Q3 did not see any progression from Q2 which is extremely disappointing as the pace was there today in the car. On Jack's side, the car felt much more connected for him this morning in Practice and again he felt more comfortable in the car in Qualifying, which showed being closer to Pierre at the start of the Q1 session. With where we're starting there's a strong chance to move forwards and the aim is for points again tomorrow."

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team

Oliver Bearman (15th, 1:28.648): "I honestly don't think we had Q3 in us today. I was happy to get through Q1, it was a good lap I thought. It was a bit more difficult in Q2; I felt really good on the used tire but then jumping onto the new set, it's really difficult to get them into the correct window and unfortunately that was the case today – I didn't improve on my new tires. It's difficult to say about long runs, it was a messy day yesterday with red flag interruptions, but degradation is a little higher than last year. We've been decent on race trim this season though, so hopefully I have the pace delta I had last year and have a good race."

Esteban Ocon (19th, 1:29.092): "I lost a little bit of time in the first sector, but even if I remove that, we would've been out. We've struggled the whole way through this weekend, unfortunately. I think it's been a tough one and although we've improved a few things, we need to keep working to optimize what there is. I'm sure we'll get on top of the issues we're facing and get more consistency in terms of performance for the future."

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal: "Unfortunately we underperformed in qualifying, I don't feel we maximized our potential. It's actually quite tricky to get the performance out of the soft tires and I think as a team we've still got a lot to learn. When we put it right, we can see the potential, but it's a fine edge. I think if we understand those things, we have potential, and tomorrow is a completely different story in the long run. We'll learn from this qualifying, but we're now focused on tomorrow and how we can move forward."

Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team

Liam Lawson (12th, 1:28.191): "It's obviously good to extract everything out the car and I did the best lap I've done all weekend, but unfortunately we were just shy of where we needed to be pace wise. The work the team have done on the car has been very, very good. I think we did everything we could and put ourselves in the greatest possible position for Qualifying. It's obviously good to extract everything out the car and I did the best lap I've done all weekend, but unfortunately we were just shy of where we needed to be pace wise. It's tough when the midfield is super close. Every race I'm becoming more confident with the car. We've come from a track in Bahrain which is super technical and then you come here and you've just got to commit as hard as you can. It's exciting to drive, it raises the heart rate, but obviously it bites hard as well which we've seen today. I'll try and create as many opportunities as possible tomorrow."

Isack Hadjar (14th, 1:28.418): "I think I had two tenths in my lap and that would have been a perfect lap. I expected more on the last lap of Q2, so it's a bit disappointing. The very first lap of Qualifying I thought we had a nice car and it felt since then we didn't make any progress. We were simply not fast enough for Q3. You can't really make mistakes here, it's concrete walls, not barriers or tyres. I have struggled the whole weekend so far, but Liam did a very good job and was able to maximise the car today, it was the best the car could do. I don't think it's harder than any other track, it's just hard to extract the most from it. I think I had two tenths in my lap and that would have been a perfect lap. I expected more on the last lap of Q2, so it's a bit disappointing. I didn't have a nice feeling around the lap or consistent balance, you constantly have to adapt corner by corner, which is quite tough. I think it's going to be a one stop race, so opportunities are limited but I am looking forward to tomorrow and we will try out best."

Laurent Mekies, Team Principal:

Jody Egginton, Technical Director:

Claudio Balestri, Chief Technical Officer:

Guillaume Dezoteux, Head of Vehicle Performance:

Alan Permane, Racing Director:

Williams Racing

Carlos Sainz (6th, 1:28.164): "I enjoyed pushing the limits of the car today, especially on such a demanding track where confidence makes a big difference. I'm proud of the progress we're making and felt more at home in the car from the start of FP1. The target for tomorrow is to bring home as many points as possible. This will require patience, discipline, and I will need to pick my battles to maximise the race result. Let's go for it!"

Alexander Albon (11th, 1:28.109): "Today was frustrating because we should have been in the top ten quite comfortably, but we missed it. We went out in Q2 when nobody else did and this track is a bit like Monza in that you need the air circulation and in Q2 we didn't have a tow; I needed two or three cars starting their outlaps or something to get the air moving. I was really happy with my lap and we were strong on the straights. We have the car to score points and there are opportunities tomorrow so let's see how it plays out in the race."

James Vowles, Team Principal: "A great result for Carlos. Really good to see how he progressed session on session. He's really in control of what he's doing and working well with the team to get the right run plan and executed it perfectly. With Alex, we hold a responsibility towards the result. We were a little bit too early and gave him a clean lap but cost him the opportunity to get to Q3. It was just a few milliseconds that separated him from Q3 and that's an effect you can get from air circulation and other cars going round. The great thing is that Alex has shown pace all weekend, and I think we have two cars that can score points. We've got to keep a level head, and Jeddah always throws a tremendous amount at teams, so let's take every opportunity that comes our way tomorrow."

Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber

Nico Hulkenberg (18th, 1:28.782): "That wasn't the qualifying we had hoped for. I locked up the front wheel and ran wide at Turn 1 during my final run in Q1. I truly believe we had the potential to make it into Q2. The margins are so fine that everything has to come together perfectly every time. We'll need to analyse exactly what happened, as the lock-up felt a bit unusual. I even braked slightly earlier because I sensed the front tyres weren't as ready as they had been on the previous run. Even then, I didn't get the bite or deceleration from the brakes that I expected. The starting position is, obviously, not ideal, but we'll take on the challenge and do our best to make the most of it tomorrow. We'll need a bit of action ahead of us and a smart strategy to move forward."

Gabriel Bortoleto (20th, 1:29.462): "First of all, I want to thank the team for their hard work in changing the chassis and getting the car ready in time for today. Unfortunately, it was a frustrating qualifying session for me. After a decent first push lap, I wasn't able to put together a clean run. On my second attempt, I picked up a plastic bag, which forced me to pit so it could be removed. Then on the third attempt, I got a bit too optimistic with the tow from Max [Verstappen], missed the braking point, and ended up spinning. We're always pushing to the limit, doing everything we can to reach Q2, but I made a mistake, and it didn't work out today. Missing FP2 and the long runs yesterday definitely didn't help and tomorrow will likely be a challenging race – but we'll give it everything and try to learn as much as we can about the car's behaviour."

Jonathan Wheatley, Team Principal: "Ultimately, we're a little frustrated with the qualifying session today as we were confident to make it through to Q2. Both drivers suffered issues at Turn 1, with Nico not getting the bite out of the brakes he expected and running off at Turn 2, while Gabriel was carrying significant speed from a tow and ultimately lost the car at Turn 2. In addition, due to the issue of him missing FP2 yesterday, Gabriel did not accumulate the laps you need to get a clean run on a demanding street circuit like Jeddah. So, we rebuild, get stronger, learn from what happened and get ready to challenge tomorrow. Last but not least, I would like to thank the team for the huge work required to get Gabriel's car ready for FP3 and Qualifying today, following the fuel leak that forced us to change the monocoque."