British Grand Prix: Qualifying Recap
July 13, 2019
Event: Qualifying for the British Grand Prix (Round 10 of 21)
Date: Saturday, July 13
Location: Silverstone Circuit
Layout: 5.891-kilometer (3.66-mile), 18-turn circuit
Weather: Partly cloudy
Air Temps: 18.6-20.0 degrees Celsius (65.5-68.0 degrees Fahrenheit)
Track Temps: 27.9-31.5 degrees Celsius (82.2-88.7 degrees Fahrenheit)
Pole Winner: Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes (1:25.093 – new track record)
Result: Romain Grosjean qualified 14th / Kevin Magnussen qualified 16th
Free Practice No. 3 Rundown
Grosjean: 14th overall (1:27.110), 16 laps completed
Magnussen: 15th overall (1:27.275), 16 laps completed
Fastest Driver: Charles Leclerc of Scuderia Ferrari (1:25.905)
Most Laps: George Russell of Williams (22 laps)
Q1 Rundown:
- Lasts 18 minutes, with all 20 drivers participating
- Fastest 15 drivers advance to Q2
Grosjean: 9th overall (1:26.347), advanced to Q2
Magnussen: 16th overall (1:26.662)
Fastest Driver: Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes (1:25.513)
Cutoff: 15th overall Sergio Perez of Racing Point (1:26.649)
Q2 Rundown:
- Lasts 15 minutes, featuring the 15 fastest drivers from Q1
- Fastest 10 drivers advance to Q3
Grosjean: 14th overall (1:26.757)
Fastest Driver: Charles Leclerc of Scuderia Ferrari (1:25.546)
Cutoff: 10th overall Alexander Albon of Toro Rosso (1:26.403)
Q3 Rundown:
- Lasts 12 minutes, featuring the 10 fastest drivers from Q2, all battling for the pole
Pole Winner: Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes (1:25.093 – new track record)
Second: Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes (1:25.099)
Recap
Rich Energy Haas F1 Team drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen qualified 14th and 16th, respectively, for Sunday’s British Grand Prix, the 10th round of the FIA Formula One World Championship at Silverstone Circuit.
Grosjean led the way for the Haas F1 Team duo in Q1 with the ninth-fastest lap of 1:26.347 around the 5.891-kilometer (3.66-mile), 18-turn circuit to advance to Q2 as part of the top-15. Magnussen had to abort his last-lap effort to make the top-15 and ended up 16th overall with his previous lap of 1:26.662, just .013 of a second short of advancing to Q2. Both Haas F1 drivers utilized the Pirelli P Zero Red soft tires in Q1.
In Q2, Grosjean again took to the track on soft tires and clocked the 14th-best lap of 1:26.757. Only the top-10 drivers advance to Q3.
Taking the pole for the British Grand Prix was Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes, whose fast Q3 lap of 1:25.093 bested the track record of 1:25.892 set in Q3 last year by his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton. It was the 10th career pole for Bottas, his fourth this season and his first at Silverstone. Hamilton was .006 of a second behind to take the second position on the grid.
Romain Grosjean, Driver No. 8, Rich Energy Haas F1 Team
“I’m frustrated with qualifying. We had Q3 in our hands, the car felt really good. In Q2 something was wrong with both sets of tires. The first lap I was 1.2 second off my fastest time, there was literally no grip. So, what’s happened behind the scenes – I don’t know. It just didn’t work well, I couldn’t repeat the pace of Q1. I’m hoping we find out, as we had Q3 in the car. When we can be P9 with the car from Melbourne in Q1, it’s pretty impressive with that package. There’s a lot of potential, even though with the data there’s a lot less downforce. It’s working well in terms of feeling, it’s much better. We just need to understand the difference between the two packages and hopefully we can pile on some downforce.”
Kevin Magnussen, Driver No. 20, Rich Energy Haas F1 Team
“I’m frustrated to be lacking pace. It’s not like we looked super strong, but we were at least looking close to the midfield. It wouldn’t have taken much, or a big gain to have gotten in front of the midfield. Instead, we lost a lot of pace, and I can’t really explain why. I suddenly had no front grip in qualifying without having really changed anything. We had made some changes to help the front, but it went the other way. It’s got to be something tire related again, I guess, but it’s difficult to explain. We’re spending this weekend trying to learn, hopefully get some points along the way, but it’s frustrating nonetheless.”
Guenther Steiner, Team Principal, Rich Energy Haas F1 Team
“After FP3 we looked quite positive, at least with one car. Qualifying was a harsh awakening, one car went out in Q1, the other in Q2. There was just too much up and down in our lap times. Romain (Grosjean) had one very good lap, then all of a sudden we had no performance in the car. We need to look into that and see what we can do. Considering our long run simulations on Friday, we were pretty happy with that one, hopefully we can still get something done tomorrow.”