Esteban Gutierrez was another driver to bemoan the yellow flags at the end of the second segment of qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix, believing he had the pace to move into Q3 for a second consecutive weekend.
The Haas F1 Team driver will start thirteenth on the grid for Sunday’s race at the Marina Bay Street Circuit once Sergio Perez takes his grid penalty, but the Mexican believes he could have qualified inside the top ten but for the yellow flags, ironically caused by team-mate Romain Grosjean and by McLaren-Honda’s Jenson Button.
Gutierrez felt the team made progress with their car balance between Friday’s running and Saturday, and was happy that the aero package updates seem to have been working.
“FP3 was much better in terms of car balance,” said Gutierrez. “We used the morning session to evaluate certain things and I think we found a good compromise considering we had an updated aero package.
“Qualifying was very frustrating. It was a missed opportunity. I was preparing myself for that lap and I believe I would’ve had the opportunity to fight for Q3 if I could’ve completed it.
“We were really unlucky today. However, I’ll take the feeling I experienced during the first part of the lap into tomorrow for the race.”
