Belgian Grand Prix - Qualifying
Q. Giancarlo, your best qualifying position this season up to this point was 13th. Only one question to ask you. How did you do it?
Giancarlo FISICHELLA: I don't know. It is unbelievable. I did not expect to be on pole position, especially after yesterday. I was sixth and I was quite surprised because there was a lot of understeer and the measurements on the downforce were not good. This morning we went through the problems and the car was much better straight away and in the qualifying session the car was even better than I expected, so I was able to be the quickest in Q1, the fourth quickest in Q2 and pole position in Q3. It is amazing. It is fantastic. I am so happy about that and I need to thank the team as they did a fantastic job. I did not expect that result, so I am really, really happy and really confident for tomorrow.
Q. Jarno, you were quick all through the day; tell us why you think that we've got the result that we've got this afternoon?
Jarno TRULLI: Well, it's a mystery honestly. We haven't done anything on the car compared to the last few races and suddenly here we are extremely competitive. We've been competitive all the way through while we've been setting up the car and it's great, it's great for the engineers, for the team and all my mechanics in the team because we're going through a difficult moment because we don't understand why sometimes we struggle so much and sometimes we are so quick like today. So it's a very good day, I'm very confident for tomorrow because as I say, I've been running most of the weekend on heavy fuel, so being second in qualifying with a good fuel load, I think I'm going to have a good race tomorrow.
Q. Nick, a poignant result for you with BMW announcing that they are pulling out of F1. What will this mean to you and the whole team?
Nick HEIDFELD: It is obviously very important to everyone in the team. We said after BMW decided to pull out that BMW wants to leave on a high and not with what we have shown in the first couple of races. It is even more important for the squad in Hinwil. We are working at the moment on securing the team. It is difficult to say what is going to happen at this moment in time but it is great that we can show that we had a good performance.
Q. Giancarlo, you have picked a great moment for all kinds of reasons to get this result. You have shown what you can do today.
GF: Yes, absolutely. This is one of my favourite circuits. I did well in the past and I was sure to be competitive this year too. But I did not expect, as I told you, to be on pole. It is great. I feel so happy for myself, for the team, for the mechanics and engineers. Everybody did a fantastic job. We did a fantastic step forward, especially from the last race. Considering out budget I did not expect that.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q. Giancarlo, tell us really what has made the difference.
GF: Obviously the new aero package for this circuit and actually yesterday I was quite surprised to be sixth and the car balance was completely away. We understood the problem this morning. We went through the problem and straight away when we put the car on the ground it was much better. We were confident to be top 15. Like that to be top 10. But to be on pole we did not expect that. In Q1 I was first and in Q2 I was fourth quickest, so we played to do the pole and I am on pole. It is a fantastic result. I am really happy for that and for myself, for the team and for all the mechanics and for the engineers. They did a fantastic job, even in the factory the development has been really good. I could not believe that considering out budget. It is amazing, so thanks to all the team and we need to keep going like that.
Q. There was a bit of an incident this morning when you hit something and damaged the nose. Can you tell us something about that?
GF: It was on the out lap. It was a rabbit. You know what, my engineers told me that in England when you do something with a rabbit it brings you luck. That was true, so next time I will go round the circuit to find some other rabbit.
Q. But it damaged the nose section, didn't it?
GF: I damaged the nose and we were able to repair it at the end of free practice and for the qualifying session everything was perfect.
Q. Would you say that you are quite aggressively fuelled for tomorrow?
GF: Well, actually I think we are a little bit aggressive. We knew to be top three was important. But don't forget I was fourth quickest in Q2, so we are not so slow.
Q. Jarno, why do you think this situation is as it is?
JT: It is a good question which none of us can answer at the moment, especially when things go wrong. As when things go right we know that we have got a good car. We always had it from the beginning of the season but we understand that sometimes it just slips away and we are not competitive and we are very bad sometimes. Sometimes it happens through the weekend from one session to another. We came here and straight away we were looking really strong and in qualifying basically I was always topping the time. In Q1 I took it a little bit easy but in Q2 I was again top and I think I did also a very good Q3, so it is looking pretty good for the race and I have to thank the team. I dedicate this to all my mechanics and everybody there as we are going through a difficult moment and sometimes it is hard to not understand what is going on.
Q. Obviously you had new wings here and a little bit of a problem with the back end. How much of a difference have the wings made and did you get the grip that you needed?
JT: We did not really get any special update here, just the downforce and the wing level for this kind of circuit. We took a lot of wing off yesterday and spent most of the time basically balancing the car between the high-speed section and the mid-speed section which normally requires more downforce. The car has been more or less competitive. We made a little change on the car set-up this morning which went in the right direction for better handling and better traction and it is looking pretty good for tomorrow because I spent most of the weekend on race fuel and only qualified on low fuel. I am very happy.
Q. Quite a few of you came in after one lap of Q3 to change tyres. Was there a difference in tyre wear?
JT: It was just a question of limiting time. We couldn't do two runs. We were only able to do one proper run, so as everybody did, we went out with a set of used tyres just to check the balance and come in for new tyres and do two flying laps.
Q. It was the same thing with you Nick?
NH: Yes. The problem here is that the circuit is so long and you didn't have enough time.
Q. Having finished six times in 11th, you must be very pleased with third?
NH: Yes, definitely I am. Before I was joking with my number one mechanic. He did show me three and for me it was clear that we would make it into Q3 anyway. I thought that was what he meant. Then I asked him 'do you mean position three or Q3.' Then he laughed and said both and it was great that we managed to be there.
Q. And some new bits on the car here as well?
NH: Yeah, we have a couple of small updates but nothing major. A bigger one is planned for Singapore. I think one reason why it's a bit more mixed here is that it's a completely different track. It's the first time that we've used the medium downforce package. Up to this point we've usually stuck on the car what we've found but here that's probably why it looks completely different.
Q. And yesterday you said you still had some set-up work to do; presumably that went well this morning?
NH: Yes. Actually, I think from the end of P2 until now we made good progress. We made changes overnight all of which we kept, and then this morning we made another couple of changes and it went pretty smoothly. Of course, from time to time we have traffic, that's a problem especially in Q1, that's what happened. In Q2, I wasn't happy with the set of tyres. We all know that sometimes there are small differences, so I was convinced that Q3 could be quite good. QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q. (Marco Degl'Innocenti - La Gazzetta dello Sport) Giancarlo, until yesterday it seems that you were dreaming of driving for Ferrari in the last two races. Has that changed something...
NH: You'd better stay where you are, no?
GF: Oh yeah, it's always a dream for all drivers in Formula One, I think, and even in the other categories, to drive for Ferrari. It's a dream, especially for an Italian driver like me. So far it's still a dream and considering today's result, I need to think about that if they are going to call me. I'm just concentrating on Force India's season, on tomorrow's race and then we will see. I don't want to think anything about the next race, if I am there or at Force India, but I have a contract with Force India and I have had no contact with Ferrari.
Q. (Ian Parkes - The Press Association) Giancarlo, congratulations. Obviously it's an astonishing performance but is any part of today a show to try and help you get that drive with Ferrari?
GF: I have no idea. I know that Luca (Badoer) is last again today and he had an accident but that doesn't mean anything. He's still learning and for sure, my result is something that is incredible with a Force India. It's a great day. As I told you, I want to do the best and just be concentrated on tomorrow's race.
Q. (Istvan Simon – Autopiac) Giancarlo, do you remember when your first pole position was?
GF: My first pole position was in Austria 1998, yes, it was wet; a long time ago.
Q. (Marco Evangelisti – Corriere dello Sport) Giancarlo, your team is supposed to have financial trouble for next year. Can this kind of result help the team to go on and what about your own career?
GF: Well yes, there are a lot of rumours about that but for sure being on pole helps any team, so I hope it's a good help. Our budget is limited compared to most of the other teams but we are doing well. Everything is going well, there is no problem to go ahead. And about my future, it's too early to say. I didn't have any contact with other teams and I still haven't spoken to Force India about next year but today is something that is good to go ahead for the future. I would still like to be a Formula One driver in the future, but obviously I need a car to be competitive, like today.
Q. (Balazs Vajta – Autosport Es Formula) This is a question for all three drivers: for tomorrow, do you prefer a wet or dry race, and did you take that into consideration with your fuel loads in qualifying?
NH: I would definitely prefer wet conditions. I enjoy driving in the wet; although I'm starting P3, it would be nice. No, we didn't take it into consideration for the fuel level. It would have been even more important for downforce level. As I tried yesterday on low downforce, I tried the dry set-up, I was nowhere. You put a little downforce on the car and suddenly it works. We had a small forecast for rain maybe in qualifying which just appeared an hour before qualifying, but we stuck to what we planned and no, we don't think it will rain.
GF: Well, in my case, considering today it's going to be better if it's dry tomorrow, even if yesterday in wet conditions, from what we see, I was the quickest, so in any case I would be happier.
JT: Well, we planned a dry race and we've been running mainly in dry conditions, so we prefer to go on dry.
Q. (Ian Parkes – The Press Association) Jarno, obviously Toyota have waited such a long time for that first victory. How would you assess your chances going into tomorrow now?
JT: I will just go out and try to do my best. I know that we can win the race and I will really be pushing very, very hard because we need this win, the team needs it.
Q. (Marco Degl'Innocenti – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Jarno and Nick, we know that Sauber still want to race, and there are also some rumours about the future of Toyota, so how do you think that your performance and your race tomorrow at Spa could influence your near future?
NH: Well, I think it's always important to show a good performance. For sure, people look at the performance you do at the moment but you know we have both been in Formula One long enough and we have both fought against very competitive drivers and I think I can speak for both of us, we did beat quite a lot of the good guys who are still in Formula One now. So it can only help. I'm very confident for next season anyway, as I said before, both in talks with other teams before BMW decided to pull out. What I hope more is that this result will help the team to survive for next season. As I said, BMW is pulling out but it doesn't mean that the Sauber guys in Hinwil will stop. We are all working very hard to secure the future for them.
JT: Well, regarding the situation with the team, obviously a win or a good result will definitely help everyone, everyone in the team for a decision for next year. So far I'm not aware of what's going on with Toyota but for sure they are keen to stay if they can win races and they can be competitive but as you all know, it's a deciding moment because in the economic situation they cannot take any decision on the future budget. But we definitely need a good result, especially for the team because I stand by all my mechanics and engineers working in the team with their families etc. They also need a job for next year, so I will go for it tomorrow.
Q. (Ottavio Daviddi – Tuttosport) A question to both Italian drivers: apart from these results, I don't think this is a good moment for Italian drivers in Formula One. I mean there are no younger drivers coming in etc. Do you think this result can change the situation?
JT: It's a crazy season, to be honest. If you look at the season, it changes at every race and sometimes we see competitive cars being slow from one session to another or from one race to another. It's hard to understand what's going on. It's also harder to get a feeling of what will happen. One thing that is certain is that there is a lot of uncertainty in Formula One at the moment, in the teams and in the drivers' market. It's like that and you just have to play it by ear. We are out there to do our best and we will do it for us and for our team and eventually we will see.
GF: You know last race we didn't get through Q3 and this race we are first and second. It depends on the car, the situation. I think we show many times how good we are and we have been in Formula One since 1997,1998, so I think we are good enough to be good, to win. It depends on the situation, it depends on the car, that's all.
Q. (Joris Fioriti – AFP) Jarno, you've had lots of ups and downs this season; Nick, you've had a season way beyond your expectations and Giancarlo, you are definitely coming out of nowhere, so is tomorrow going to be the day when you are going to take your revenge, all three of you?
JT: It's not a question of revenge, we are out there tomorrow to try to do our best for us and for the team and obviously a podium finish for all three would be a good position, definitely. For me, I think I have another goal, because a podium won't be enough, especially to make the Japanese happy. They want to win and I want to give them a win and this is all I'm thinking about, so I will try really hard.
NH: The same: it's nothing to do with revenge. As we all know in Formula One, sometimes, unfortunately, it's all about the car. You can believe that all three of us here didn't perform very differently from the beginning of the season, we are the same drivers but the cars just suit the circuit here better, obviously. You always try to do the best, no matter if you're fighting for tenth or first.
GF: At the beginning of the season, in testing, we were 1.8s/2.0s slower than the leaders and I was quite sad about that, because I was not so confident to have a development like that. Through the season we made a big step forward, they did a fantastic job: today we are on pole. It's just amazing. As I told you, the car is very important, you need to be lucky, to have a lucky day. Today everything has gone perfectly. In the last race the problem was in the last run and I was 16th but it was possible to get through, even into the top ten. You need to be lucky and focussed.
Luca Badoer: 20th 1.46.957 11 laps
Kimi Raikkonen: 6th 1.46.633 6 laps
Chassis: L. Badoer 280, K. Raikkonen 279
Weather: air temperature 16/19 °C, track temperature 20/25 °C, partially cloudy.
Qualifying did not live up to the expectations of Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, with one driver, Kimi Raikkonen on the third row and the other, Luca Badoer, on the last one. “One could certainly say the starting grid order is unexpected,” said Stefano Domenicali. “As we have already seen several times this season, the pecking order between the teams can change really suddenly from one race to the next. For our part, we would have liked to be a little bit higher up with Kimi, but all the same, we are in a position that will allow us to fight for a podium finish, especially when looking at the F60’s performance over a long run. As for Luca, once again we could see an improvement in his performance, but unfortunately, it was not enough to avoid him ending up last on the grid again.”
Luca Badoer: “I’m not happy, because this morning, at the end of free practice, I had hoped to make it through to Q2. Unfortunately, partly because of traffic and partly because of a few small problems, I didn’t manage to put together a perfect lap. I was counting on doing so on my final run, but there was the incident with Vettel which then led to me going off the track and that put an end to my qualifying. I have made another step forward in terms of performance, but it’s still not enough: for me the hardest thing is getting into a rhythm and finding the limits of the car. Unfortunately, there’s no opportunity to do the testing that would put that right. I am sure that tomorrow, I will perform better than I did in the Valencia race. I will try and do my best.”
Kimi Raikkonen: “Of course I would have preferred to have started from further up the grid, but I think we did our best today. We knew it would be hard to be at the front, but all the same, this is a good position, especially as the gaps between the front runners are pretty tight. With more fuel on board, the car handles better than on a light load and that was the case again in this qualifying session. Such an unusual grid makes it even harder to make any predictions for tomorrow and we will have to make the most of any opportunities that present themselves. The final outcome will depend a lot on the first two corners after the start. The fact the car handles differently at various sections of the track can be explained by the lack of aerodynamic downforce we have this season.”
Chris Dyer: “We are a bit disappointed because, after yesterday’s showing, we expected a better result. Sixth place for Kimi must be assessed in the light of the different fuel loads of all the cars in the top ten. We believe we have come up with a good strategy and, given the car’s performance over a long run, we expect that,yet again, we can fight for a place on the podium. As for Luca, everyone can see that, day by day, his performance level is improving: unfortunately, it is not yet at a sufficient level to see him through at least to Q2.”
Lewis Hamilton - 12th: "We did the best job we could today. We'd always known the car would struggle in the mid-sector corners: being one second down in the mid-sector shows the true downforce level of our car. We expected that we wouldn't have as good an aero package as some of the others - we just didn't know to what extent. I guess today we found out.
"But I'm not too disappointed – this year has been a rollercoaster ride for everyone, but I'm enjoying it still and I love driving this track. My plan for tomorrow is a points finish."
Heikki Kovalainen - 15th: "This morning, we started to become a little surprised by the pace of some of the other cars. We were struggling in the high-speed corners a little more than in either Hungary or Valencia, where the circuit configurations are slower.
"We expected today to be tough and our results show we are still lacking in high-speed efficiency, downforce and straight-line speed.
"Still, it was very close today; there was quite a bit of traffic in the session and, with just a couple more tenths, we could have made it into Q3. I'll be racing hard tomorrow and I feel confident we can go forwards from here. Nevertheless, we know where we are and we're not down because of this. We've shown progress compared with Silverstone and we'll keep pushing to improve on our issues."
Martin Whitmarsh - Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes: "First of all, I want to say 'Well done!' to Force India on the occasion of their first ever pole position. But Giancarlo Fisichella's pole wasn't the only unexpected element of today's grid – far from it, in fact – and I think it's fair to say that very few people would have successfully forecast today's top three.
"As for us, the reality is that we didn't provide our drivers with a quick enough car, and the consequence was a disappointing qualifying result. Having said that, the microclimate here is notoriously unpredictable, and it's a long lap, and form upsets are therefore relatively common. So Lewis and Heikki are both aiming to score points tomorrow."
Norbert Haug - Vice-president, Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: "Formula 1 is really tough and enormously hard fought these days and creates more and more surprises. Very well done to Giancarlo and Force India for their first pole position on this demanding racetrack. The fact that world champions Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, as well as the current world championship leader Jenson Button, will respectively start from 12th, 13th and 14th describes how unpredictable this sport is these days and that the slightest problem – even if it costs you only a tenth or two – puts you on the back foot.
"A shame for Lewis and Heikki who could not make it past Q2, Lewis by 0.075 seconds and Heikki by a bit over two tenths. Both drivers suffered in the fast corners in the long middle sector. The times were closer than ever: in Q2, the top 10 was covered by five and a half tenths and the top 15 by seven and a half tenths – on a circuit of more than 7km length!
"Tomorrow we hopefully can overtake some cars already on the first lap and then build on a good strategy. Even from 12th and 15th, it is not impossible for us to do a decent job in the race and we certainly will try very hard.
"On a different note: it is of course very pleasing to see that all Mercedes-powered teams – championship leaders Brawn GP, Force India and Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, have put a car on pole at least once during the first 12 grands prix of the season covering a total number of six pole positions so far."
Nick Heidfeld - 3rd: "Today's good result is obviously very important for our team. After BMW announced it was pulling out of the sport we are working on securing the future for the team in Hinwil. Nobody has given up in this difficult period of time and today's qualifying result is a reward for it. We did our homework in practice, made several changes and I'm quite happy with the balance of the car. I think the fact that the 2009 cars are run on a medium downforce level here for the first time this year might be the reason for the grid being very different to previous races. In Q2 I firstly got stuck in traffic and then at my second outing I had a set of tyres which wasn't as good, therefore I knew I would go faster once I was in Q3. I still wouldn't mind a wet race tomorrow - even though I'm third and we did not take it into consideration in terms of fuel load and downforce level."
Robert Kubica - 5th: "Even yesterday we had a good feeling as we were quite competitive. When we changed the engine before this morning's practice session, I immediately started losing speed on the straights. Unfortunately we were not able to solve the problem before qualifying. This is a bit unlucky as we have a very competitive car for the first time this season. I hope we can solve this issue by tomorrow. I expect a tough race tomorrow as the pack is close together."
Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director): "As has happened in a couple of previous races this season, the balance of power got pretty heavily shaken up today. Of course we are very happy with this qualifying result. For the first time this season we were able to reclaim the position that we safely had last year. It seems that our car and its tyres are a pretty good combination on this track. That makes me confident for tomorow's race. Congratulations to Giancarlo Fisichella and Force India for the first pole position of the team."
Willy Rampf (Head of Engineering): "Of course qualifying third and fifth is fantastic. Yesterday's results indicated our performance could be pretty good here. We improved the car's set-up overnight and learnt quite a lot about the optimum use of the tyres. This was the basis for the strong qualifying. After the tough last couple of weeks, the qualifying result is a reward for the entire team who worked flat out on the further development of the car. A big Thank You to the entire team."
Fernando Alonso - 13th: "Today we just weren't competitive enough and we struggled in both Q1 and Q2 where I did my maximum but still missed out. However, it was an unusual session today as we had big competitors knocked out in Q2. Tomorrow this should make for an interesting race and then there is always the weather which may play a role. So we will not give up and will do our best to fight back tomorrow."
Romain Grosjean - 19th: "It was a difficult session today as there was a lot of traffic. I was blocked on a couple of my quick laps by a Toro Rosso and then my last quick lap was ruined by the yellow flag. However, the car has been good all weekend and I really love this circuit so I will give my maximum to move forward, finish the race and gain more experience."
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering: "Today we have seen a very unusual grid formed and unfortunately we are not in the right part of it. It has been difficult to understand where the performance is this weekend because the lap times of the cars are all very close. Fernando just missed out on Q3 and Romain had some issues with traffic. We must now have a look to see whether we can use strategy to gain some points tomorrow."
Jarno Trulli - 2nd: "I am very happy to be on the front row again. We have always known that when things go right we have a very competitive car and all weekend we have looked extremely strong. In qualifying I was always in the top two, even though in first qualifying I took it a bit easy. I did a very quick lap in third qualifying and second place gives us a great chance tomorrow. We dropped the downforce a bit yesterday and spent most of the time balancing the car. Then we made a small change to the set-up this morning so I had better handling and traction for qualifying and it worked well. Also, I spent most of the weekend driving on race fuel so I am very happy with how things have turned out and it is looking pretty good for tomorrow. I have to thank the team who have worked really hard to improve and get a result like this; I dedicate it to all my mechanics."
Timo Glock - 7th: "Today was a good result for the whole team and it is a nice feeling to be fighting at the front again. My lap was pretty tidy so overall I am happy with it; we have worked hard on improving the qualifying pace and we got our reward today. The team brought a new aero package to this race and it seems to be working well. From the start of the weekend we believed we could be strong here because the car felt quick throughout practice and it's great to carry that speed into qualifying. We had good race pace in Hungary and Valencia so I am optimistic for tomorrow. I hope to finish in the top five; it will not be easy but I'm really looking forward to the challenge."
Pascal Vasselon - Senior General Manager Chassis: "It has been a good weekend for us so far and we are happy to be back at the front. We saw from the start of the weekend that both cars were quick and consistent in all conditions and it is a good feeling. For the first time in three races we have qualified where our race pace has been so the weekend looks promising and we are ready for an exciting Sunday tomorrow. Congratulations to our drivers who have done a very impressive job this weekend; they both work extremely hard and it is very satisfying to see that rewarded. I would also like to say thanks to the people back at the factory, as well as those here at the track. They never give up and it is particularly pleasing to deliver a good performance at Spa, which is so close to the factory in Cologne. Now our clear target is to convert this strong qualifying into a result tomorrow."
Sebastien Buemi - 16th: I had a good first run on the option tyre, but with my second set I had a bit of traffic on my warm-up lap and I didn't get my flying lap together. Then at the final braking point I locked up my rear wheels and so the lap was spoilt. Even though we knew it could be difficult to get to Q2, I am disappointed with my performance. Finding the right compromise on set-up is difficult here between running low downforce for the fast sections and having enough to deal with the slower parts. As for the race, we need to look closely at our tyre strategy as both types of tyre work well here.
Jaime Alguersuari - 17th: It was always going to be tough to get into Q2. We were lacking speed on the main straight in Sector 1 and Sector 3, but I did a good time in Sector 2. The main thing for me is that I am making progress: in Hungary I was last on the grid, then Valencia 19th and today I am 17th, so it's getting better. Hopefully, I can work my way up to pole one day! I still need to build up more confidence with the car and the tyres in the quick corners.
Sebastian Vettel - 8th: "It was quite an interesting session - and not the best for us obviously; eighth and ninth will be tough tomorrow on the grid. Unfortunately I made a mistake on my last flying lap in Q3. I lost the rear going into Turn 14, which leads on to the back straight and lost all the speed, so there was no point in completing the lap. The results were quite a surprise today; I don't think anyone expected Fisi (Fisichella) to be on pole."
Mark Webber - 9th: "That was a strange session – we expected to be more competitive than that. Fisi (Fisichella) on pole! A great day for them, but we were surprised by that. A lot of the guys were too quick for us; it shows you just never know in this game. It should be an interesting race tomorrow. We had to change the engine before qualifying, but that wouldn't affect our result and we were pretty confident going into the session. We put in a new engine as we had to make some checks on the one that we used this morning, but it looks like it is okay."
Christian Horner, Team Principal: "A different Q3 to normal – I bet none of the bookies predicted that one! Our guys had a strong Q2 and the fuel effect is reasonably large around here, so we'll wait with interest to see what the fuel figures are later today. Congratulations to Force India for their first pole position. We' look forward to what should be a really exciting race tomorrow."
Fabrice Lom, Renault, Principal Engineer Track Support: "Again – a bad day. We apologise to Mark for the electrical problem that we had on his engine – it really seems as though we have a black cloud hanging over our heads at the moment. I can only assure Red Bull and the people that want to beat us that we will never give up – and when this black cloud lifts, we will fight like hell!"
Nico Rosberg - 10th: We have really struggled all weekend but we managed to get the best out of Q2 and finishing 10th was possibly the best we could achieve carrying quite a lot of fuel. We have a good strategy and therefore I think we can fight for some points tomorrow. It was a very strange qualifying session here today, I think maybe the way the teams are using their tyres is making quite a difference.
Kazuki Nakajima - 18th: We struggled here yesterday in practice, but Nico managed to either drive very well or find a set-up direction that I didn't. I hope I can learn something from the progress he made today and have a better time tomorrow in the race to make up for today's disappointment.
Sam Michael, Technical Director: We had a difficult day yesterday and we changed a lot of things overnight which definitely made the car better. It was an unbelievably tight qualifying session considering how long the lap is, which goes to show how much of a difference the rules have made. Nico did a fantastic job to get the car through to Q3 and from that point we adjusted our strategy to concentrate on Sunday. Congratulations to Force India for their first pole.
Giancarlo Fisichella - 1st: This is one of my favourite circuits, I did well in the past and I was sure we would be competitive again this year. I didn't expect to be on pole though! It feels just great, like a dream. I am so happy for myself, for the team, for the mechanics, the engineers, who have done a fantastic job. They did a great step forward for Valencia for the last race considering our budget and our resources. This morning we had a small accident when I hit a rabbit, but my engineer said it would be lucky and it was ! What a result. I am now not only looking for points, but for more. We've got this far we need to finish the job!
Adrian Sutil - 11th: This is an unbelievable day for the team. Congratulations to Giancarlo: it was an amazing result for him and such a good boost for the team. We've worked hard so the guys really deserve it. For me, it was quite a good session but I'm still a little bit disappointed as I couldn't use the soft tyre set effectively. The hard set was much better on my car - we don't know why but we will look into it for sure. Normally we should have been Q3 - as Giancarlo showed - but from 11th I still think points are possible. We are quite good on the long run pace, the car feels good and it was from this point of view I am quite happy.
Dominic Harlow, chief race engineer: Simply an incredible result today and full credit to Giancarlo on a series of fantastic laps. We started today a little unsure of our performance, and knew we had to work on the understeer that was in the car yesterday. The engineers worked on it, tried a few things in FP3 and found the right direction. From there both drivers were much happier. For Adrian the two tyres seemed closer in performance in qualifying, and somehow he just missed out on Q3, Giancarlo concentrated on the soft tyre in Q2 and I think the track improvement came in that direction. I want to say thanks to the tunnel, the factory and to the team and hope that tomorrow we convert this qualifying result to solid points.
Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and managing director: What an unbelievable result we have had here. I am so proud of Giancarlo, the team in the garage and the factory and also for the entire Indian nation. There is nothing more to say: we've done both ourselves and the country proud.
Rubens Barrichello - 4th: I'm extremely happy with our qualifying performance today and the second row of the grid is a great starting position for the race. The results today have to be one of the biggest surprises of the year and it's great for Giancarlo Fisichella to be up there on pole. It's good to see that the 'old-timers' still have it! I took the best out of my car today, particularly in Q2 which was one of my best laps around Spa, but that was only enough for sixth position in that session. We've been quite aggressive on the strategy and the race is wide open tomorrow so I'll push as much as I can and we can get a good result from here.
Jenson Button - 14th: I didn't expect to qualify in 14th position today but we really struggled with grip levels, particularly on the softer tyre. The car hasn't felt quite right all weekend and unfortunately I wasn't able to get any more out of it today. Rubens and I are usually very closely matched but he was quick on the option and I wasn't, so we need to look into the reasons for that. I just couldn't find any grip on the softer rubber so the rear end felt unstable and I had no confidence under braking, particularly in the middle sector. It's strange as our set-ups are different but not by much. It's going to be very tough in the race from here but at least we have more time to choose our strategy. We need to get it right and see if we can score some points tomorrow.
Ross Brawn - team principal: It was a challenging qualifying hour today and the end result has seen one of the most mixed-up grids of the season which is great for the sport and will probably make for a very interesting race tomorrow. Rubens put in another very strong performance today and fourth place on the grid, with an aggressive strategy, puts him in a good position for the race tomorrow. It's fair to say that qualifying got away from us a little bit today with Jenson. We have been struggling with the car balance on his side this weekend and although some changes were made overnight, we were not able to get the car to a position which he felt comfortable with. Looking on the positive side, our main championship rivals are behind one of our cars and only a few places ahead of the other. We have focused on our race performance during the practice sessions here and believe we will have the pace to take the fight to them tomorrow.
Hirohide Hamashima - Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development
What was significant about today's running?
"Today was fascinating from a tyre perspective and it was also a wonderful day for Force India and Giancarlo Fisichella for their pole position. Choosing between the two tyres here has been very temperature dependent, making it difficult for teams to decide which to use. This was particularly true in qualifying, as track temperature changed considerably. The soft compound worked very well with the lighter fuel loads of Q1 and Q2, however the heavier cars of Q3 tended towards the medium tyre."
What are the tyre strategy considerations for tomorrow's race?
"The tyres are very close together on ultimate lap time, with the soft giving better grip, but the medium giving better stability. Just like Friday, we could not find any graining today and this means that both compounds are working well. Because of the close performance of the tyres we believe there will be a wide range of strategy possibilities for tomorrow's race, and we will be interested to see what happens."
