2020 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix, Saturday
Renault DP World F1 Team will line up with both cars inside the top six as Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon produced a strong qualifying display at Spa-Francorchamps for the Belgian Grand Prix.
Daniel will join Max Verstappen on the second row of the grid with Esteban lining up alongside the second Red Bull car of Alex Albon on row three for tomorrow’s 44-lap race.Both drivers were in good single-lap form on Saturday, easing through Q1 on one run, which meant they saved a set of Soft tyres for Q3.Daniel progressed through Q2 on one run with Esteban’s first effort also good enough for the top ten, despite not finding improvement on his second run.In Q3, Daniel’s first lap put him in third place, 0.6secs off the lead with Esteban in seventh. Daniel had to abort his second run, to finish fourth, while Esteban found improvement to jump to sixth place.
Daniel Ricciardo, #3, R.S.20-01, Q: P4, 1:42.061, FP3: P7: 1:43.973
“I’m very happy with today’s qualifying. It was so close to the top three, but Max got me by a couple of tenths at the end. My lap was clean and probably as good as it was going to get. I left it all out there and the second row is a big reward. The car works well in lower downforce and that was the same last year. Tomorrow looks interesting. We have good pace in the dry, but if it’s wet, we’ve shown in the past we’re not bad either. If it rains, it creates more opportunities, so whatever the conditions, we’ll take it and aim to do the best possible job.”
Esteban Ocon, #31, R.S.20-04, Q: P6, 1:42.396, FP3: P2, 1:43.485
“It’s been pretty good all weekend and we’ve certainly looked strong with the car handling a lot better than the past couple of races. All the changes we made coming into this race has given us confidence and we’ve seen it’s working well on track. It feels good, so I’m happy. We have a great chance to fight tomorrow. There is a chance of rain, so that could be interesting, and we’ll give our best for a good team result.”
Alan Permane, Sporting Director:
“It was a very good qualifying session for us today, with Daniel finishing fourth and Esteban sixth. Both cars are working well and have been nicely balanced since the first runs of Friday. Looking ahead to the race tomorrow, there is more of a threat of rain than the past couple of days, but we feel confident in all conditions. We can have a very strong race and bring a good points haul home for the team.”