“Ahead of this weekend, we didn’t expect to be quick enough for third on the grid. It’s a complete surprise, but it’s a fantastic result.
“I thought my first Q3 lap was good, but you just never knew what the others were doing. On my final lap, I was two tenths up, but I was way over the limit, locked the rears into Turn 17 and had to bail out of it. Fortunately, my previous lap was an awesome one, so I’m so happy to be third.
“I’m very happy with third, actually – you’re on the clean side, so it’s a better position to start from than second, and you get the clean line on the inside, so I can make it hard for Mark [Webber] to get into the first corner ahead of me.
“Today’s qualifying could prove crucial for us; we came here determined to minimise the damage because we knew a lot of the other teams would be quick because they’d brought updates to this race. And, for tomorrow, anything’s still possible – there’s a long straight around the back of the track, and, if we can stay close enough, then there’s a possibility to use the F-duct and overtake.
“I’ll be relying on the guys to do the best job possible during the pitstops tomorrow – as they usually do – and I think we’re going to have an exciting race.”
