ESPN rounds up all the reaction from up and down the Monza paddock following qualifying for the 2017 Italian Grand Prix
Mercedes
Valtteri Bottas (6th): "Today was a tough day. In the end, I just couldn't get the Wet tyre to work. We stopped for a new set, tried to go for one more lap, but I just didn't find any grip. Initially, in some parts of the qualifying we got everything working well, but it was really on a knife edge with the temperatures of the tyres. With more rain, I could not get the tyres hot enough. However, with the grid penalties for the Red Bulls, I'll be starting fourth, which is not too bad. And it is for sure good to be ahead of the Ferraris with both cars. We have a long race ahead of us tomorrow; luckily it's supposed to be dry.''
Lewis Hamilton (1st): "It's very hard to find the words to explain how I feel, I'm trying to figure it all out. It probably won't sink in for a long time. It was an epic day, I feel truly blessed. The Red Bulls really made me work hard for the pole today, which I'm grateful for. The weather has obviously been incredibly tricky for us all. What a day to come here in this beautiful country with the English weather and to be massively challenged. It was very difficult to see out there, and very easy to make mistakes - as always in the rain. The second to last lap was ok at the beginning, but then I backed out of it, hoping that I'd get one more lap. There was a lot of pressure for that last lap - there could have been a red flag, there could have been a yellow flag. There was a lot of risk, but I gave it everything. A big thank you to my team for making it all possible, the guys here, the guys back at the factory for continuing to support me. We've got a lot of the sponsors here from Mercedes-Benz and Petronas who have been sponsoring and supporting me for a long, long time, so I'm really grateful for that.''
Red Bull
Daniel Ricciardo (3rd): "It is, of course, annoying about those penalties here. It would have been nice to start up front especially with some different names up that end and not the usual suspects. It would have been a chance to probably stay in the front for longer but at least I put a good effort into Qualifying and that put me up to 18th for the race instead of 19th. In the end I gained one position for doing a good job and I'll take that. I didn't really enjoy Q1 and Q2. Not because of the conditions, we were just slow as I struggled for grip and felt I was a bit like a passenger. As soon as we started Q3, I felt straight away that there was some grip that I didn't have in the first two sessions. I still feel we left a bit on the table but generally it was a good recovery so I'm happy. I will enjoy tomorrow's race thoroughly and have some fun. 18th is far down the back so I don't expect to finish there."
Max Verstappen (2nd): "Qualifying was positive today and I was happy with it. To be second is, of course, a very nice surprise and in the wet I always enjoy it. Q1 and Q2 with the tyre choice was a bit difficult as the intermediates never seemed to work very well. In Q3 on the new extremes I didn't have a lot of grip, I was sliding around and I never really felt that comfortable. I cooled the tyres for one lap and then my final lap was luckily not too bad, it wasn't perfect but second was a good result for us. We always knew we had the penalties to take tomorrow and having a good Qualifying means I hopefully start 15th rather than at the back. Let's hope we can overtake, move to the front and I think realistically the aim will be for fifth or sixth."
Ferrari
Sebastian Vettel (8th): "This isn't where we wanted to be. Obviously, we didn't have enough speed, but tomorrow I think it should be fun. It will be a long race on a track where you can overtake, so anything can happen. I don't know what caused today's result, but it was not ideal and we didn't have the grip. Now we'll try to understand what happened and then we'll focus on the race. I don't think anybody was expecting so much rain. Obviously, we are all disappointed, but there's no point in complaining now. I know that we have a strong car, we have a new chance and anything can happen. We could have done better today and we tried to do it but it didn't work. I am confident tomorrow will be better.''
Kimi Raikkonen (7th): "Today in wet conditions it felt quite tricky all the time. We struggled to get the tires working, in most places we had no grip and it was very slippery. It was difficult to go through the corners and be able to push and go fast. The starting position is not ideal but we'll start in a bit better position thanks to penalties for the other cars. Now we have to wait and see how the weather will turn out. I'm sure that in the dry conditions it will be a lot different, our car should be working quite well.''
Force India
Esteban Ocon (5th): "A great qualifying session. I'm really happy for everybody in the team. We knew there was an opportunity for us this afternoon and I'm so pleased we could take it. I always enjoy driving in the wet and the conditions today were really challenging. The car felt great; there was a really nice balance and I have to say a big thank you to the team for all their hard work. We will need to fight hard tomorrow because there are quick cars all around us, but I believe we can score some really big points and I'll be aiming for the podium."
Sergio Perez (11th): "It's been a very long afternoon and I am happy the fans got a good show in the end after waiting in the rain for so long. The conditions on track were difficult; there was a lot of standing water and the cars were aquaplaning a lot, so I think Charlie [Whiting] did the right thing by postponing the session. The conditions were changing all the time and it was very important to be on the right tyres at the right moment. In Q2, we took the decision to change from wets to inters and I only had two laps to try and make it happen. In the end, I missed out by two thousandths: it's not ideal, but it was the best we could do today. It was not a perfect lap - I went a bit too wide at Ascari and I got very close to Ricciardo ahead of me, and that compromised me a little. These small margins were enough to miss out on the top ten. We'll be moving up on the grid with a few penalties and I hope to make up some more positions tomorrow."
Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal: "After such a long day it's satisfying to end the qualifying session on a high. Esteban made it through to Q3 and will start the race from third on the grid. He made the most of the wet conditions and we have a great chance to fight for a podium tomorrow. Sergio was a bit unlucky to miss the top ten shootout by a couple of thousandths, but starting from ninth gives him a good chance to demonstrate the speed of the car and bring home points too."
Williams
Felipe Massa (9th): ''It was definitely a great qualifying for the team. For many years, our car has been difficult in wet conditions and today the car was great, which for me was very important in qualifying. I was happy to be in Q3, but not so happy with my position because for sure I would have been happier to be in Lance's position. He did a fantastic job, an amazing lap and qualifying. It was great to see what he managed to achieve in terms of laptime. I'm so happy for him. We are starting P2 and P7, so we are in a good position for the race tomorrow and we will try everything we can to have a good race with both cars.''
Lance Stroll (4th): ''It feels great. I didn't expect that coming into today, but racing is full of surprises and you never know what will happen. They were difficult conditions out there, but we really handled it well as a team and pulled it off. I felt confident, felt good with the car and put it all together. Tomorrow is the race and that is where it counts, and I am just going to run my race like I always do. I am starting from a bit of a different position, but anything can happen and we have just got to be on top of our game tomorrow. The car just seems more competitive this weekend. I know the conditions weren't really normal. We expected coming into this weekend with more straights and less high speed corners we would be a bit more competitive and it just seems to be that way.''
Paddy Lowe, Chief Technical Officer: "It has been a long afternoon but from our point of view, it was worth the wait. It was a terrific result to get both cars into Q3. We had great pace in the car, especially with Lance, who is my driver of the day. We were briefing him this morning before FP3, asking him if he wanted extra practice in the wet because he's never driven an F1 car in full wet conditions but he said "No, I'll just take it as it comes" and that's what he did today. We saw some great talent out there. Good performance in the wet is one of those things that's very difficult to test or develop, so it's one of those surprises that can unfold positively or negatively on the day. Tomorrow, we have Lance on the front row, which is great in his first year of F1 - a tremendous achievement. We'll see what he can do in the race. Felipe did a great job too in very difficult circumstances and will line up seventh on the grid. So we are aiming for some good points to end the weekend.''
McLaren
Fernando Alonso (13th): "The car was great today in wet conditions, especially compared to the dry. We were much more competitive and we made it into Q2. Obviously, we didn't want to push too much in qualifying because there was no point - we'll start last anyway, due to the penalty - so we just saved the tyres and used the engine in a lower power mode, but we still did a decent qualifying. We needed to keep an eye on Stoffel's position too, as we didn't want to be in Q3 with the wrong car! We missed the opportunity to use the tow today because with wet conditions you don't want anyone in front, as the visibility is so poor. We'll save it for some future races. I think we were potentially top five or top six today, so we hope for these conditions tomorrow. It's apparently going to be sunny though, but we'll see what we can do from there."
Stoffel Vandoorne (10th): "For us to be in Q3 on a circuit like Monza means it's been a pretty good afternoon, especially as it wasn't so easy out there and there were pretty difficult conditions. I'm happy with my performance today. Unfortunately, we didn't get to have a proper go in Q3 - we had a loss of engine power so I had to abandon my quicker lap, and we don't know what the problem is at the moment. It's a shame because I really think we could have pushed our way further up. We could have taken more time to find the limit and taken a few more risks, but we didn't get that chance. With penalties we'll probably start P8, which is inside the top 10, and we've been running strong in the dry. I think tomorrow should be dry, so we'll need a good start and to keep in touch with the group in front. There's some quick cars in front and some quick cars behind, but once we're in position hopefully we can stay there. Tomorrow is when the points are distributed, and I'm optimistic in the race we can have a good go."
Eric Boullier, McLaren-Honda Racing Director: "After a chaotic Saturday in Monza, and some excellent work from both the team and drivers, it was a shame we couldn't capitalise more on a great Q3 performance from Stoffel. Despite a long delay, a lot of patience, and very difficult conditions on track, both drivers did a sterling job to keep their cars on the black stuff and in one piece in heavy rain, and it was encouraging to see us comfortably progress through to Q2. In Q2, we opted to run Fernando late in the session since we knew his grid position was less critical than Stoffel's due to his penalty. His run was solid on the Inters and he could have gone quicker still, but made sure Stoffel was able to leapfrog him for the best chance to get into Q3. He did the best job for the team under the circumstances and I'd like to thank him for his efforts. Stoffel did a great job too, clocking progressively quicker lap-times as the rain started to subside, and he maximised everything to slip through into Q3 on his final flying lap. Q3 had all the hallmarks of a topsy-turvy result with the rain getting heavier, and there was definitely scope for Stoffel to pull a surprise out of the bag in the dying moments as each car navigated through the worsening conditions. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be, and Stoffel was cruelly robbed at a final shot at a higher grid slot, when he was forced to cut his final run short - while on a faster lap - due to a loss of power, which is still under investigation. Nevertheless, Stoffel drove fantastically and we hope he'll be able to start from a stronger grid position tomorrow."
Yusuke Hasgawa, Honda R&D Co. Ltd Head of F1 Project & Executive Chief Engineer: "It was an extremely disrupted qualifying session for the team today with a delay of more than two-and-a-half hours due to rain. The weather varied all afternoon which meant it was also tricky for the drivers, as the majority of their running was done in unstable track conditions. Despite this both drivers did a great job and Stoffel put his car into Q3 for the third time this season. In the end Stoffel qualified P10, but we think he could have improved and finished further up the grid had it not been for a PU issue right at the end of the session. We're not sure at the moment what caused the problem - we need to do more investigating and then decide on our strategy for the race tomorrow.Fernando's qualifying strategy was different to Stoffel's because he was always destined to start from the back on the grid, but he also did a great job in the conditions.And of course thank you to the team for their good job with the strategy, which made all the difference.We expect tomorrow will be another challenging day for us, but as always we will come out fighting."
Toro Rosso
Daniil Kvyat (14th): "It was definitely not easy out there today! We had a few balance issues and I was fighting to stay on track almost at every corner; a lot of wheel spin everywhere too! At times it was also difficult to decide what tyre to go out on - sometimes the track was for extremes, sometimes for inters... But I'm happy with the decisions taken today and, all in all, it was a decent session from my side, I did my best. For tomorrow, it's not going to be an easy race, especially if it's dry - this is not a track that suits us. Having said that, we will of course try our best and see where we end up."
Carlos Sainz (15th): "A very difficult qualifying today and hard to read the weather as well... It was also quite tricky out there! At the beginning of the session I had no feeling with the intermediate tyres and I felt more comfortable on extremes. In the end we decided to move back to the inter, as everyone was improving on that tyre, but we had very low grip - this is because of the set-up compromise we are running for tomorrow, when it should be dry. Hopefully this will help tomorrow, because today in these conditions it was always going to be difficult. We were running with less downforce than our competitors, that's why I was struggling a lot out there, especially in the corners. For tomorrow, when we're expecting a totally dry race, we'll be starting from the back because of our grid penalty, but we will try our best to make up as many positions as possible and see where we end up!"
Haas
Kevin Magnussen (16th): "To sit and watch an empty track for that long is tough, so good job to everyone that stayed. For myself, it wasn't the best day. At the end, I just couldn't get any heat into the intermediates. I should have stayed on the wet tires. I know the guys at the front were getting them to work, but we don't have the downforce to make it work. The wet tire would've been better. It was my call, so that's what happens sometimes. It's the first time we've had that crossover with this year's tires. It is how it is. The start position is going to be a little bit better tomorrow because of other people getting penalties, so that helps a little bit, but I'm still disappointed with today."
Romain Grosjean (20th): "I knew straight away the conditions were not good. The visibility was terrible. It just aquaplaned at more than 300 kph (186 mph). I lost the car in a straight line. You couldn't see anything and you couldn't drive in a straight line. There was just too much water for the car. I had massive aquaplaning and there was nothing I could do. There was no warning. It just went. I was unlucky to be there at that time and place. Maybe waiting a few more minutes would've been the right choice. From the out lap onward, I complained a lot saying that it was too dangerous and we couldn't see where we were. I wasn't the only one. Clearly, crashing in a straight line shows that the car cannot take it because there was too much water. I'm disappointed that we started qualifying in those conditions. What can you do? You cannot back off. If there is someone behind you, they hit you straight in your back. You don't know what's in front. I just think we should've waited. "The hit wasn't that bad. Physically, I'm alright. Mentally, crashing down the straightaway is not an easy thing to digest. It wasn't a big impact, so I believe the car is going to be fine for tomorrow."
Guenther Steiner, Team Principal: "A challenging day today. It was a very confusing qualifying. Romain damaged his car on the third lap and that took him out of the game. We have a broken car that we have to fix for tomorrow. With Kevin, we couldn't get the intermediates to work, or at least it wasn't working as expected. The good thing is with all the penalties going around, it looks like he will start 11th. I would say, in all the bad luck, we got a little bit lucky."
Renault
Nico Hulkenberg (12th): "Today was tricky and in particular with the Intermediate tyres as it felt like driving on soap as we just couldn't develop any sort of grip and balance. We had one set of Wets that felt much better and we were on good pace until the start of Q2, but at the end we couldn't get pace on the Intermediate tyres when we needed it. We'll do the best we can tomorrow; hopefully we can grab some points."
Jolyon Palmer (17th): "The tyre choice was difficult today. I pitted for Intermediate tyres from a lap that could have gotten me through Q2 but then I couldn't get the tyres working properly. I got one lap in but it was just sliding around and couldn't get another lap in before I saw the chequered flag. We knew that whatever happened today we start from the back so it's not a big deal, but it would have been good to get a better crack at qualifying, regardless of where we'll start tomorrow."
Sauber
Pascal Wehrlein (19th): "The first laps on the wet tyres were ok and I felt comfortable in the car. As the track conditions were improving, we changed to intermediate tyres. However, we were not able to bring them into the right operating window so I could not set a better lap time. I did my best and will now concentrate on tomorrow's race."
Marcus Ericsson (18th): "Today was very difficult due to the weather conditions. I think that the performance on the wet tyres was alright and the balance of the car also felt ok. Unfortunately, when we changed to intermediates towards the end of Q1 we just could not get them to work properly. It is a bit disappointing that we could not do better in these challenging conditions, but that is how it goes sometimes."
Pirelli
Mario Isola, Head of Car Racing: ''The extreme wet conditions with standing water on the track clearly wasn't ideal preparation for the grand prix. Monza is the fastest circuit on the championship and even these extreme conditions didn't stop some drivers reaching top speeds of more than 300kph. On top of that, there are not enough corners to increase tyre temperature and the day was not warm. However, the indications are that tomorrow's race should be dry, which presents a completely different challenge to what was eventually seen in qualifying. Teams will have to rely on the dry data gained from free practice yesterday in what is likely to be a one-stopper. Without a full complement of information heading into the race, and with a free tyre choice for the starting grid, the teams will have to monitor tyre behaviour carefully tomorrow.''