Turkey Saturday quotes: Renault
Fernando Alonso - 7th: "Today we made it easily into Q3 and so I will start the race in seventh place, which is more or less where we expected to be, although I think that we could have done a little better. For tomorrow, the start of the race will be vital, but I think that we should be able to fight for some points. It's important not to forget were we were just two races ago. We are moving forward, that is for certain."
Nelson Piquet - 17th: "I am extremely disappointed today after my performance in qualifying. I finished in 17th while my teammate progressed comfortably into Q3. So it's not going to be an easy race tomorrow, but I will give my maximum to try and recover. I will work hard with my engineers this evening so that we can try and improve for tomorrow and for the races to come. After that it will be down to me to do what I can on the track during the race."
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering: "It was unfortunate for Nelson to drop out of qualifying so early, especially as he had shown very equal pace to Fernando all morning. But that is what qualifying is all about; it's very competitive and it's necessary to produce the goods at the right time.
"However, I'm sure he can still have a strong race tomorrow. Fernando is quite nicely positioned given our current performance - let's see if we can use the strategy tomorrow to improve upon that starting position."
Denis Chevrier, Head of Engine Track Operations: "We probably did not have the best qualifying session today, but Fernando finished more or less where we expected. The competition was once again very tight, especially in the top ten, but I hope that we are able to fight with them tomorrow.
"The weekend is therefore a continuation of the progress we saw in Barcelona, which is encouraging. For Nelson, today is a bit disappointing because it will be difficult to adopt a strategy that will allow him to fully recover. So he needs to prepare himself for a difficult race, but we will do out best to support him."
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
What could have been: When Villeneuve’s shock return thwarted an F1 rookie
Friday favourite: Renault's original F1 title-winner that began the Alonso era
Why Renault's survivor wasn't part of Alpine's plans
FIA still chasing answers over bizarre Shanghai F1 grass fires
How a Shanghai to Sheffield journey paved the way for China’s F1 hero
Hamilton expects to lose positions if F1 China sprint is dry
Verstappen 'deserves' fourth in China F1 sprint qualifying with wet struggles
How a Shanghai to Sheffield journey paved the way for China’s F1 hero
Why F1 2026 worst case fears could be key to new rules success
How the F1 driver market situation sits for each team with 2025 openings
What's been going wrong for Leclerc in F1's tiny margins qualifying game
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments