It was another tough qualifying for the Uralkali Haas F1 Team, with drivers Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin qualifying on the last row of the grid, the position they have grown all too accustomed too.
Schumacher put in a good performance during qualifying at the Losail International Circuit but was yet again eliminated from qualifying in the first session. The German will start the first-ever Qatar Grand Prix from nineteenth place on the grid.
Despite his starting position, Schumacher has enjoyed driving around the circuit and actually believes the team have exceeded their targets for this weekend.
“It’s a fun track – I enjoy driving here and definitely night driving is something to get used to. We knew it was going to be tough but actually overall I’m quite happy. We maximised what we had from the lap time and matched our targets, if not even exceeding them a bit.
“There was always going to be traffic in the last corner, it’s just the way the last sector builds. Everyone wants some temperature for the last corner but then nobody wants to give up a position, so we all stack. We managed it well as a team so I’m very happy about that.”
“It was miracle work” – Nikita Mazepin
On a weekend where he had a real advantage, Nikita Mazepin has had the weekend from hell! The Russian driver who is one of two on the grid to have raced at the circuit before, has so far sat out the vast majority of the weekend with technical issues.
Mazepin has had almost no running time on the circuit, and is therefore unsurprisingly starting Sunday’s race from last place. Mazepin is just glad that the car was able to be fixed in time, and is extremely grateful to all the mechanics for their incredible job.
“I think I’ve done around 10 laps on a track that’s totally new to me. What the team did to turn the car around in such a short amount of time – they’ve changed literally everything that’s possible to change – was great. It was miracle work, it wasn’t just my car crew working on it but also Mick’s. It was very special from them, but it was a tough qualifying.”
