High speeds and flowing corners, it's the penultimate race of the season and the final Sprint of the year. We're under the lights in Qatar for Round 23 of the 2024 Formula One World Championship. Get the thoughts of Lance and Fernando below after Sunday's Grand Prix.
In a chaotic Qatar Grand Prix, Fernando finished P7, securing six hard-earned points. Lance's race unfortunately finished on Lap 10 after retiring the car.
Sunday round-up and reaction
Fernando began the Grand Prix from P8, while Lance started in P15. Both opted for the Medium tyre.
Lance was involved in a first lap incident and pitted for a set of Hard tyres, while the Safety Car came out on track to neutralise the race.
After the restart, Fernando dropped to P12 and on Lap 7 Lance pitted again, serving a 10-second time penalty for the incident and changing to another set of Hard tyres.
Lance was told to retire the car on Lap 10 after reporting an issue that was impacting performance.
Fernando made his first pitstop under the Safety Car on Lap 35 for Hard tyres, before stopping again two laps later for a set of Medium tyres. He emerged in P10.
He was able to gain a further two places before another Safety Car on Lap 40 and after a pit stop for a car ahead on Lap 46, he moved up to P7 and remained there until the chequered flag.
#18 | Lance Stroll | Race
"The car wasn't feeling right from the start of the race. I locked the front left at Turn 2 which was strange because it's not really a corner you brake that much for. Then at Turn 5 I made contact with Alex [Albon] which was completely unintentional. I wasn't trying to race him; I was just trying to hold my line on the inside of the corner, but I picked up huge levels of understeer. I think maybe my tyres weren't working properly because I couldn't do anything about it. It’s a shame to retire from the race but we'll go again in Abu Dhabi next weekend."
#14 | Fernando Alonso | Race
"A very good Sunday for us finishing in seventh and with six points scored. The car felt a little stronger than yesterday and we capitalised on some of the action ahead of us with some retirements and penalties, but we were in the right place at the right time tonight. It's a good time to get some points on the board for the team and hopefully we can carry this form into Abu Dhabi and finish the season on a high there."
Mike Krack | Team Principal
"An action-packed Qatar Grand Prix where we scored six important points with a strong seventh place for Fernando. It was a race where our patience paid off with good strategy. It is such a shame that Lance was forced to retire early because he surely would have scored points as well.
"Lance's car got caught up in the busy first lap battles and there was contact with Alex Albon, which looked to be a racing incident from our perspective. Lance reported feeling something strange with the car, which was impacting performance, and we retired the car soon after that. It's onwards now to Abu Dhabi, the final race of the season, where we will look to score more points and end the year on a high note."
Next up
We're back on the track on 6-8 December for the final time this year at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Saturday
Fernando began the Sprint in P11 and Lance in P14, both on the Medium tyre.
Both drivers made up a position in the opening lap, however Fernando was overtaken by Kevin Magnussen on Lap 5. Fernando and Lance finished the Sprint in P11 and P13 respectively.
Later in the day, during Qualifying for the 2024 Qatar Grand Prix, both drivers progressed into Q2.
Fernando made it through to Q3, securing a P8 start for Sunday while Lance will line up in P15.
#18 | Lance Stroll | Sprint & Qualifying
"I had a big snap at Turn 1 on my final Q2 lap and lost about half a second. I don't think the tyres were in quite the right window at the start of the lap because the grip just wasn't there for me, so that was the end of my hopes of progressing to Q3. In hindsight, we should have done a much harder out lap.
"The car was feeling more competitive in Qualifying after a few set-up changes after the Sprint, so although it was tight out there, I think more was possible. The race is usually tougher for us given our car is quite hard on tyres, but we'll see how we go tomorrow."
#14 | Fernando Alonso | Sprint & Qualifying
"I am happy we made it into Q3 in tonight's Qualifying session and the car felt better than any other session of the weekend. We couldn't make any progress in the Sprint but we made some set-up changes after this and it all seems to be working as expected.
"The team did a good job with this and also managing all of the traffic during a busy Qualifying session. It's a good starting position tomorrow and it's hard to overtake here, so hopefully we can translate this performance into the race."
Mike Krack | Team Principal
"We have been a little more competitive in Qatar and I think Fernando's P8 in Qualifying represents the maximum that we could expect. The lap was clean and tidy, and it gives us a good opportunity to compete for points tomorrow.
"The AMR24 has not been easy to drive, though, and it has been on a knife edge with both drivers having big snaps of oversteer. That impacted Lance's Q2 session. Let’s see what tomorrow brings. The Sprint showed that it is difficult to overtake here – especially with the shorter DRS zone – and managing the tyres won't be easy. We will keep pushing to progress with both cars."
Friday
With only one Free Practice to get up to speed, Lance and Fernando used the session to collect data on the Medium and Soft compound tyres.
Lance finished FP1 in P7 and Fernando in P12.
With the track constantly improving through Sprint Qualifying, both drivers progressed to SQ2 in the top ten.
After starting their final flying lap earlier than other drivers, Fernando and Lance set times for P9 and P10 respectively.
However, with other drivers setting their flying lap later, they were both knocked out and unable to progress to SQ3, finishing the session in P11 and P14 respectively.
#18 | Lance Stroll | Free Practice & Sprint Qualifying
"It's good to be back on track here in Qatar. SQ1 was good and I was happy with the laps I set, but we came across a bit of traffic on my final SQ2 run which didn't help. I lost a bit of time with that and the margins are obviously very tight. The car's performance hasn't been too bad today, but I think it will be tricky to overtake in the Sprint race tomorrow. There's still a lot of action left this weekend so more opportunities to come."
#14 | Fernando Alonso | Free Practice & Sprint Qualifying
"It was a better Sprint Qualifying for us here tonight in Qatar. We were quite comfortable in SQ1 and we just missed out on SQ3 by a small margin. The high-speed nature and temperature of the track seems to be bit better for our package. We have an opportunity to fight for some points in the Sprint tomorrow and hopefully in the race on Sunday too."
Next up
The final Sprint of 2024 takes place at 14:00 GMT and we set the grid for the Qatar Grand Prix at 18:00 GMT.
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