Press release
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november 02, 2020 - Honda Racing
Daniil Kvyat Season-Best Fourth For Honda F1 at Imola
Pierre Gasly matches career-best starting position #maxverstappen running second when tire failed 11-race podium streak snapped
November 2, 2020 — #Imola, Italy
Halloween was the day before, but the Fates saved the tricks for Sunday as Honda's Formula 1 teams suffered a pair of unkind results in
the Emilia Romagna #grandprix at #Imola.
The day did have a late treat however, and despite failures that stole potential podium finishes from #maxverstappen and #pierregasly,
Scuderia AlphaTauri's #daniilkvyat parlayed a late restart into a season-high fourth-place finish to lead the #Honda charge.
Verstappen's Aston Martin Red Bull and the AlphaTauri of #pierregasly made it a pair of Hondas in the second row of the grid, Gasly
matching a career-best qualifying result by starting fourth. Verstappen's 11th top-three qualifying result led Honda's best qualifying of the
season as all four of its cars started in the first eight grid positions.
The opening laps went according to plan as Verstappen passed Lewis Hamilton to run second, while Gasly slotted into fifth. The day started
to unravel soon after however as Gasly's promising run was scuttled by a cracked radiator that forced him to retire after just nine laps.
Verstappen spent the first half of the race stalking the wounded Valtteri Bottas, who led despite suffering slight damage in the opening laps.
Making his first pit stop on Lap 19, Verstappen was initially shuffled behind Hamilton as the series' all-time win leader ran long on his first
stint and then got a free pit stop when Esteban Ocon brought out a Virtual Safety Car. The Dutchman ran down Bottas on Lap 43 and had a
second-place finish in his sights when an abrupt tire failure sent him into the gravel and out of the race.
The resulting Safety Car period sent Kvyat in for new tires, while Red Bull's #alexalbon stayed out to maintain track position. The move
worked very well for Kvyat, who passed Sergio Perez and then Albon – who spun on the restart – to move into fifth. The Russian walked
down Charles Leclerc for fourth and got to within a second of Daniel Ricciardo before settling for his fourth-place result.
The result moved Kvyat up to 14th in the points and brought AlphaTauri to within 14 points of Ferrari for sixth place in the Constructors
standings.
The teams and drivers of the Formula 1 World Championship will have a week off before heading to Istanbul for the November 13 Turkish
Grand Prix. The 3.317-mile circuit has not hosted a Formula 1 race since 2011 and is a track where #Honda has yet to win.
Toyoharu Tanabe
Technical Director, #Honda F1
"Overall, this was a disappointing race for us, although there were some positive aspects, with Daniil making the most of the opportunity
provided by the Safety Car period at the end to give AlphaTauri an excellent fourth place at their home race. In addition, both our teams
were competitive all weekend, Max running second before his retirement caused by a tire problem and Pierre qualifying fourth yesterday.
However, losing second place right at the end is very frustrating as was having to retire Pierre with a failed radiator. Finally, congratulations
to Mercedes on a seventh consecutive title. They are a very strong team but we continue to work hard with the aim of catching and passing
them. Now we focus on the next round in Turkey, at the Istanbul Park circuit, which is a great track for Formula 1 cars."
Max Verstappen
Aston Martin Red Bull #racing Honda
Start 3rd, Finish: DNF
"I had a good start and was enjoying fighting and staying with both Mercedes cars. I had a good start and got past Lewis (Hamilton), I pitted early to trigger the pit stops and Valtteri (Bottas) followed, but he had damage and started holding us up after the stop so we lost a lot of time to Lewis who was in clean air. Once I got past him, the pace was there and the car felt good. I was actually having a lot of fun and then suddenly on the straight I lost the car because of some sort of tire failure, so it's a big shame because it would've been very nice to have second place and another podium. It is what it is and to score zero points is obviously not what you want but overall the race itself was very positive."
Daniil Kvyat
Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda
Start: 8th, Finish: 4th
"It was a very good and fun race, the car felt amazing and I really enjoyed myself out there! The Safety Car restart was very important, and I
managed to overtake a few cars on that lap. Unfortunately, Daniel (Ricciardo) managed to warm up his tires so even if I pushed very hard
until the end to overtake him, I just missed out on the final podium spot. It's a shame but I'm still very satisfied with my driving and happy
with the team's job. We recovered points to Ferrari in the Constructors' Championship, so I hope we can give them a little fight until the end."
Alex Albon
Aston Martin Red Bull #racing Honda
Start: 6th, Finish: 15th
"Finishing last didn't show what really happened throughout the race, it was one of those races where we spent lots of time behind other
cars in a train. I don't really know what happened at the re-start yet. The tires were cold and I had to push hard to try and stay ahead of the
cars who had pitted under the Safety Car, which caused the spin. It all just happened so quickly. Obviously, it's not what we wanted but I'm
going to focus on Turkey now and take the positives from how the car felt and an improved Saturday."
Pierre Gasly
Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda
Start: 4th, Finish: DNF
"This one is quite difficult to take. I had a great start and tried to go alongside Lewis, but he decided to close the door quite hard and I had to back off and lost one position to Daniel, but after that, I felt really good in the car and we were running in P5. The guys spotted a drop of
water pressure on the laps to the grid before the race, they tried everything to fix it but unfortunately, we had to retire the car after a few
laps. It's very sad because there was a big opportunity for us today. The whole weekend went so well, it was the best practice and the best
Qualifying we've had and the car felt very strong from the beginning. It's never nice to retire, but it's especially tough here in #Imola for our
home race, because we knew there was a potential top-five result on the table."
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