RB
Tsunoda and Lawson put in superb qualifying laps to grab third and fifth on the grid. Starting there, both looked competitive in the early stages. But Tsunoda made an unlucky mistake in pitting for the full wets when the rain got heavier. While he looked set to climb back through the order and was supremely quick, the Safety Car and red flag prevented him from climbing back up the field, and he didn’t have the same sort of pace after the restart.
As for Lawson, he was in the thick of the action. He was sent spinning by Piastri, was punted in the rear wing by Bearman, and then went side by side, almost banging wheels with Perez. He took home two very hard-earned points.
Liam Lawson, 9th
“It was such a crazy race, with crazy conditions today. I’m very happy for the team, we scored some really good points, which is important for us. I do feel like we missed out a bit, from where we started, we just got a bit unlucky. Our race got unwound a little bit when we got turned around at the start by the McLaren, which cost us a lot of time; from there it was a bit of a battle and then we boxed for Extremes where we also lost time. We had good speed, especially at the start of the stint, but we struggled a bit more towards the end. Alpine made the most of getting a double podium which is amazing for them. They’re only ahead now by five points. It’s totally doable for us, so we’ll obviously focus on scoring some points in the last triple header.”
Yuki Tsunoda, 7th
“I got my best-ever qualifying result this morning and I was extremely happy to start the race in P3. Overall, the team did a fantastic job and we had a good turnaround from yesterday where we made a lot of changes to the car after the Sprint, even if it was difficult to make a real comparison as the conditions were different.
“Coming to this afternoon’s race, I had a good start and first stint, and I’m generally very happy with my driving, but unfortunately, some things came against us. During the race the Red Flag came out at the wrong time for us and the Alpines scored a lot of points which is a shame for our place in the Constructors’ Championship. Overall, the rewards don’t really show our results on paper, so it’s definitely a mixed-feeling day, but it’s nice to score points again. There are a lot of positives to take from this weekend and we’ll keep pushing in the last three race weekends.”
Laurent Mekies, Team Principal
“We had an amazing qualifying this morning. It was an incredible job from the drivers and Team where we were consistently topping the timesheets throughout qualifying. The strong performance is a testament to the hard work that everyone is doing.
“The race was a rollercoaster. We knew it was going to be tricky and dependent on the weather conditions. We were in a very strong position in the first half of the race, with Yuki holding onto P3 with incredible pace alongside Liam defending amazingly. Our race was affected when the red flag came out however; it diminished both drivers’ advantage, but that’s part of racing in these conditions. We came away with eight points, which is a great result. Congratulations to Max on a brilliant drive and well done to Alpine, even if the points they scored today will make for an even closer fight for us over the final three races. It’s still very close, and we had a fast car this weekend. We now have 19 days before the final triple-header of the season, and we will be working flat out at home to build on the upturn in performance we have seen in the past two races and extract every second from the car. We’ll be fighting hard in Las Vegas.”
Jody Egginton, Technical Director
“The day started well with both drivers qualifying in the top five, demonstrating strong performances on both the wet and inter tyres. We were set up for a strong race. The first phase of the race was going well, with Yuki running strongly in P3, and Liam also delivering a solid opening stint running in P7. With the rain increasing and track conditions worsening, both cars moved to the wet tyre. The two Alpines stayed out, taking track position, which they maintained with the red flag. Our pace at the restart wasn’t as strong as we needed to keep up with the cars ahead. Yuki came home P7, and Liam finished P9, spending many laps defending from Hamilton and Perez. It’s good to score points with both cars, however, seeing what Alpine achieved from the race, we’re left frustrated as there was potential for more points. We’ll go away and review the race and drivers’ feedback to determine what we could’ve done differently so we’re ready for Las Vegas.”
