Brazilian GP - Interlagos - Satruday
Brawn GP's Rubens Barrichello took pole position in the rain delayed qualifying session at the Interlagos circuit in Sao Paulo today ahead of his home race, the Brazilian Grand Prix, with team-mate Jenson Button qualifying in 14th position on the grid.
Heavy rain showers left the track deluged with water and qualifying was subject to several lengthy delays. Running on the Bridgestone Potenza wet tyres, Rubens and Jenson progressed easily through Q1 in fifth and six positions respectively.
A delayed Q2 saw a slightly drier track and after some set-up changes to his car, Jenson suffered with understeer and a lack of rear grip which left him without the pace necessary to progress to the next session, with Rubens going through in 10th place.
A great drive in Q3 saw Rubens put his Brawn-Mercedes car at the top of the timesheets for his first pole position of the year.
RUBENS BARRICHELLO
"I'm so happy to have qualified on pole for my home Grand Prix today particularly after such an unusual qualifying session. It's the first time in seventeen years that I've got out of the car twice during qualifying! I'm very proud of what we achieved today. We were lucky to make it through Q2 when we should have gone for intermediates but it was a great drive in Q3. It's a good situation to be starting from the front and have your own race pace rather than be in the pack. However the job is only half done and I'm keeping my feet firmly on the ground and just focusing on having a good race tomorrow. It's great for all the fans at Interlagos who sat through all the rain delays and kept supporting me to have a Brazilian starting from the front tomorrow."
JENSON BUTTON
"It was a crazy qualifying session today and it's obviously very disappointing to have only qualified in 14th position. The first session went well and our pace was reasonably good in the wet which was encouraging. The track had dried out a little for Q2 so we made some small set-up changes but the balance of the car just felt transformed. I had massive understeer for the first few laps and tried everything that I could to set a time but the pace just wasn't there. By the third lap, the rear tyres started to go away, leaving me with no rear grip, and I just couldn't improve my time. It's going to make the race very tough tomorrow as I will be right in the middle of the pack but I'll make the most of it and any opportunities to make progress."
ROSS BRAWN
"It was a day of mixed fortunes with Rubens achieving a quite superb pole position at his home race and Jenson unfortunately not progressing from Q2. It was a chaotic and delayed qualifying with the heavy rain causing havoc and requiring the team and drivers to stay focused through the long delays. We were lucky in Q2 with Rubens who just scraped through but Jenson missed out. The lack of balance which Jenson experienced on his set of wet tyres was unexpected and proved costly as we believed it was possible to get through without using intermediates which proved with hindsight to be the wrong strategy. Jenson went for the lap right at the end but unfortunately the pace was just not there. Rubens did a fantastic job today to get the pole position. The car has been working well all weekend and the potential was evident from the result that he achieved in Q3."
From the 2009 season, the FIA is making public the weights of the cars, with their fuel load included, following Saturday's qualifying session.
Below is the weight of each car following qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix, sorted by qualifying position.
1.
Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 650.5
2. Webber
Red Bull-Renault 656.0
3. Sutil
Force India-Mercedes 656.5
4. Trulli
Toyota 658.5
5. Raikkonen
Ferrari 651.5
6. Buemi
Toro Rosso-Ferrari 659.0
7. Rosberg
Williams-Toyota 657.0
8. Kubica
BMW-Sauber 656.0
9. Nakajima
Williams-Toyota 664.0
10. Alonso Renault
652.0
11. Kobayashi
Toyota 671.5*
12. Alguersuari
Toro Rosso-Ferrari 671.5*
13. Grosjean
Renault 677.2*
14. Button
Brawn-Mercedes 672.0*
15. Liuzzi Force
India-Mercedes 680.0*
16. Vettel Red
Bull-Renault 683.5*
17. Kovalainen
McLaren-Mercedes 656.5*
18. Hamilton
McLaren-Mercedes 661.0*
19. Heidfeld
BMW-Sauber 650.5*
20. Fisichella
Ferrari 683.5*
* Declared weight
TV UNILATERALS
Q. Rubens, you love this circuit. It's your home grand prix and you love these conditions.
Rubens BARRICHELLO: I do. I do. It is a special time for me. Qualifying is obviously a great time when you go out. If you do have a balance - it doesn't matter if it is wet or dry – it just feels nice and off you go. There were plenty of strategies. It was A, B, C, D. You never knew what was going to happen next. Come back in, put on a new tyre, stay out. It was so variable but I am so happy. I am very happy. It was a great drive and it may be that we have less fuel than them but it is much better to start at the front and have your own race pace than be towards the middle of the pack. I am very, very happy with the situation and it is great to see that all the people stayed to see it because they went through a heavy period of rain. I was expecting people to leave, but very happy that they stayed to see this.
Q. Mark, welcome back. Top three for the first time since Hungary. Again conditions that you usually revel in as well.
Mark WEBBER: Yeah, it was a very tricky session, especially the first one for both Sebastian (Vettel) and I. The car was quite tricky in the real heavy, wet conditions. We scraped through just and when the track came back a little bit I was much more competitive. We knew that the inters were probably going to come into play in the back part of quali(fying). When I went out I thought 'woh, this is not too comfortable.' Then the grip came and the times were quite competitive. I saw that I was going between the top three and pole, third, pole, third and then I would have liked to have another crack at the end there, but my mistake. I think for a lot of guys it is very hard to knit six perfect laps together in those conditions but I am very happy with how I drove in that session. The guys did a great job. As Rubens touched on, it is very difficult to know what to do. A fresh set on inters maybe to get the end of the session home. Tricky, but congratulations to Rubens on his pole here at home and we will give him a race tomorrow.
Q. Adrian, again I have to say you always seem to shine in the wet. We saw you with a few odd angles with the car this weekend and looking like you've been driving it on the absolute limit.
Adrian SUTIL: Well, I am always on the limit with this car. You have to be. On Friday it didn't look great to be honest. In the dry we had a few problems. Therefore I was really hoping for rain the whole weekend and finally I got a lot of rain. We had to wait so long and it was hard to keep the focus up. It was a good session in the end. Q2, with extreme wets, went extremely well. I knew that the balance was right and in the last qualifying I managed to do a good lap in the end and it was enough for P3. Being in the top three is always a great moment and I am so happy that, finally, after such a long wait I am really competitive in the front of the field and it is nice to race here.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q. Rubens, that was an extraordinary qualifying session. You excel in these qualifying sessions, don't you? It is your sort of weather.
RB: More and more it is amazing and I found it fascinating. I have been using this word again after so many years. After 17 years in Formula One I never got out of the car twice in the middle of qualifying. It was just amazing that things change and you have to be prepared. Then you go out and people are just going mad and then you have to concentrate again and get on the car, so I am very proud of what we achieved today. We were on the borderline in Q2 and we should have gone for intermediates, but we were lucky enough just to make it. I knew the car was competitive. I am keeping my feet on the ground as we have won nothing just yet. We did fantastic today. It is amazing. It is going to be a great night of sleep but we still have to get everything tomorrow.
Q. It is your second pole here, but what does it mean to you being on pole here at Interlagos?
RB: You know it's obviously great to start from the front. It is a number that goes to the records. What it means to me is that I am doing my job the way I have to. Be as fast as I can, at the front. I am not watching what's going on on the side. I am just concentrating, focussing on mine, so like I said, I will race as hard as I can to win the race and when the race is finished I will just go on the radio and see where Jenson (Button) and Sebastian finish but it is a great start to the weekend and I am looking very much forward to tomorrow.
Q. Of course, they start 14th and 16th. You must have some thoughts on that.
RB: Well, it is amazing, isn't it? If you go back and just think that it is an impossible thing to happen. It is impossible to see that Rubens is starting from pole and all of a sudden Sebastian and Jenson are from the back. If you thought that initially then it was impossible, but then the rain came. It is such a lottery and things played in my hand. The best thing is that I have kept quite cool, kept honest and just running as hard as I can. I think everyone of us will have quite a headache as it has been an appalling time. One-and-a-half hours when we said ‘okay, we go out, two laps and then another set.' But then ‘no, no, we are staying out now for four laps. Oh no, no, come back in. Three laps.' It has been strategy from A to Z, so it was a lot to think and the team did fantastically well to prepare my car the way I wanted, so I am very happy for the starting position tomorrow.
Q. You say you have those worries and yet we haven't even got to the weather tomorrow or the potential of safety cars tomorrow.
RB: We saw today... we were not expecting the rain that came down. The worst time of qualifying was when Liuzzi went off. We shouldn't have restarted qualifying at that time. On that straight, when he went off, I was in fourth gear. You don't have much pleasure, because of the visibility plus the fact that you are aquaplaning, so you just don't know what's going to happen next. But then when the rain came down, it was a good session at the end of Q2 and Q3. I'm sorry for all you guys that you had to wait. I had to wait but I had the pleasure of driving the car after that. It was very much a situation that we need to learn for tomorrow if that's what's going to happen tomorrow in terms of rain.
Q. Mark, one better than your Q3 in 2003, but this hasn't been a fantastic circuit for you in a way.
MW: Well, it hasn't been too bad, not results-wise, but I enjoy coming here. I think Rubens got pole that year as well. Today was good for us. It was tricky – all the stuff Rubens has touched on, obviously. It was difficult to make the right calls at the right time. We're very isolated in the cockpit. You obviously only find out where you are each lap when you come round: are you doing enough, are you not doing enough, are you on the right tyre, pushing hard enough, risking enough? Because Q1 was over the edge in terms of conditions and then the start of Q2 got better, obviously – the second part of Q2 – but there were a few times there where obviously it was not really that driveable and a lot of guys survived and some didn't. Yeah, we're in a good position. I'm very happy to be starting on the front row and we can hope for some good points off the back of that. Suzuka is really the only time this year that I felt that I missed a big opportunity. The other races sometimes we weren't quick enough, had a drive-through at Spa, some other things, so I'm happy to be back and it's five percent of the job done, but a very important five percent done and we start tomorrow in a good position.
Q. Give us some idea of the conditions out there, because we did hear you on the radio saying that there were streams everywhere and standing water.
MW: Yeah, I don't think it was probably the right thing to start in those conditions. Every driver I've spoken to was of the same opinion. Fortunately the right decisions were made in the end but TV drives these things and we've got to start on time sometimes. You cannot have a car losing control in the last sector because if that happens we can't see and you have a sickening crash. We need to have a chance to control the cars and that obviously means accidents will be a lot less. If we are in a much more difficult position to control the cars through the aquaplaning, the standing water was massive and then visibility is also a big thing. We've learned today when to drive and when not to. They're not street cars, they're Formula One cars. They're quick, they're low to the ground and they go off quickly when the car gets it wrong in the conditions. So we'll make the right decisions tomorrow I'm sure. I'm sure they've learned a bit today upstairs (in race control) and we'll go from there.
Q. From a team point of view, Sebastian is still in contention for the championship. Is there anything you can do to help him; he's a long way back of course?
MW: At the start, I will back off and pull off straightaway! As I've said before, I doubt the situation will arise how we can help each other. To do a normal Grand Prix in itself is generally difficult enough, to get all the ducks lined up. There's never really been an occasion this year, with the exception of Turkey, where we've been together on the track. It's always been Sebastian up the road a bit or I've been up the road a bit: different circumstances. I'm sure that will happen in the next two races. We've already seen it's probably going to happen this weekend. No.
Q. Adrian, 20th and 21st have been your last two qualifying positions here; third today. How crucial was the tyre wear to getting through to Q2?
AS: Yeah, the session was difficult throughout. The first qualifying was definitely on extreme wets. There was so much water you just had to be really careful not to have a spin or something, to drive over the limit. And then there was a long wait. In Q2, there was the cross-over from extreme wets to standard wets. I did my best lap on the extreme wets but you just had one lap and then they started to go off, but it was a clear sign to change tyres for Q3. That's what we did and it worked out really well, so I'm absolutely happy.
Q. Nice South American connection for you, your father born down here. Are you getting a lot of support?
AS: Yeah, yeah, it feels good to be here in front in Sao Paulo. I like the circuit anyway and for sure there is a good link, close to my father's country, so there's a little bit of home feeling here, definitely. As you said, it wasn't our luckiest circuit in the last two years. Even in the dry here this weekend, I didn't have such a great feeling. I was really hoping for the rain and I knew in the rain there would be different conditions for me and it happened and turned out really well.
Q. It's often been said that the Force India car doesn't have a lot of downforce, and yet in the wet you need downforce. How do you reconcile that?
AS: Yeah, we don't have enough downforce, that's absolutely true. That's why we were struggling a little bit in the dry on Friday. The wet is a condition I really like and maybe I just get 100 percent out of it all the time. I don't know. Over the last few years, I think everybody could see that I was always much better in the rain than in the dry. Well, when the car was not competitive enough. At Monza we could do it in the dry as well. If you have a problem with the car, if the balance is not right, it's normally much better if you have rainy conditions and then you are a bit slower in the corners and you can put in much more feeling. If you have a good feeling, if you risk a little bit more than the others, you can be in front.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q. (Alberto Antonini – Autosprint) Rubens, you have driven so many cars under different regulations over the 17 years of your career. Do you think that these cars are trickier than the ones that you started with?
RB: No. I think that the cars were very tricky when we had the grooved tyres, they were very tricky. It was said that, in the first place, when we put the grooves on, we lost sixty percent of grip on the front and only forty at the rear, so to set up the cars, you had a lot of understeer at low speed, so you had to make up for that, and they were tricky. Those cars, 2007/2008 – and 2008 we lost traction control – so 2008 was very, very difficult. Now we have less downforce and on a wet track we put the same tyres as last year and that's why we need good decisions as to what time we're going out and so on, because cars aquaplane a lot with the lack of downforce, but I wouldn't say that this car is any trickier than last year, for example. I think they are a lot safer than when I started, obviously, because of all the rules for the head protection. So many things are much better now.
Q. (Rodrigo Franca – VIP Magazine) Rubens, do you think that today's pole is the most special pole of your career?
RB: Well, the most recent is always the most special one. You can see, I am very happy, but I am keeping my feet on the ground. I'm sure we're going to go out there and people are going to be over the moon, as if we had won the race. I just want to keep it very, very steady. I've done great today. I don't think we had the car to be on pole, especially in the wet, so it may be that we have less fuel than our competitors. But in any case, that's the rules right now. Next year we qualify without fuel and having said that, it was a great lap, it was on the maximum that I could achieve from the car, so I'm delighted with that, but, like I said, steady. I would love to start from the front, so here I am and now I have no-one in front, so I can have a perfect race. But again, keep my feet on the ground.
Q. (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Earlier on, Rubens, we saw your children on the TV; is it the first Grand Prix that they've been in the pits?
RB: No, they've been here before. We keep them quite private and that's why you don't see them but they've been here last year, they've been to Barcelona, Monaco. It was great, it was a great image when I was in the car and all concentrated and all of a sudden you could see Eduardo with Silvana and looking at the TV and saying ‘oh, I'm on TV,' so I will have to bring them down to earth when I go back home but it was a great feeling.
Q. (Ingo Rörsch – Sportbild) Rubens, in the first part of the season, Jenson was usually in front of you. Now, in the second part of the season, you are always in front of him. Can you explain why it has changed?
RB: I've tried to explain to everyone that I had some technical problems with the brakes. My brakes were working perfectly but unfortunately, with this car, the way it's built, I had the rear callipers running too hot and because of that, I couldn't run the rear wheel covers for most of the time. The balance was not the same. The car was still good but it wasn't as good as Jenson had it at times. For the past three years I've tried the brakes that Jenson were using and I never liked them. We tried and took them off and just before Silverstone we said we should try them again because we're losing too much time, and then since Silverstone I've been using those brakes and I have the same quality of car that Jenson is using, so since then I've made a step forward and I've been much happier with the whole condition and been helped by the fact that I could use all the aerodynamic devices on the car.
Adrian Sutil - 3rd: Being in the top three is always a great feeling, particularly after such a difficult session. On the Friday it didn't look so good in the dry so I was really hoping for rain and in the end we got too much! We had to wait so long during the session and keep focussed. Q1 was definitely extreme wets as there was so much water that you had to be careful not to spin. Then there was so much waiting until Q2. I did my fastest time in that session on the extremes but you could really only get one good lap out of them so it was a clear sign we needed to go onto the intermediates in Q3. We left it a bit until we went out and I crossed the line with just seconds to spare to start my fastest lap, which was good enough for third. I'm really happy, it's feels good to be back here at the front. I like this circuit although it hasn't been the greatest for us for results in previous years. I'm hoping for a good race tomorrow - I'm just going to give it my best.
Tonio Liuzzi - 15th: I am really disappointed and frustrated that the qualifying ended in the way it did as I was pretty convinced I could have got into Q3 and done well - as Adrian has shown today we were very much on it. The car reacted well in the wet conditions and we showed a good performance in Q1, even if we were in traffic and couldn't do the best lap time. At the start of Q2 it was very difficult conditions and it was risky to go out but once there is a green light you have to try and go out and do your best. I am sorry for the team as we could have achieved more but I was a passenger at that stage and couldn't do anything when the car caught that puddle. All the same I think we are in good shape tomorrow and if the conditions stay like this we have a well balanced car so I am optimistic for the race.
Simon Roberts, chief operating officer: We're delighted that Adrian got into the top three today. He put in a sterling performance in very difficult conditions and really got the maximum from himself and the car. It was tough to get the tyre calls right but we were pretty much spot on with the timing from wets to inters and got this fantastic result that hopefully should set us up very well for the race tomorrow. It was a real shame for Tonio that he could not have progressed much further but at the time the conditions were at their worst and there was nothing he could have done to avoid going off. We're obviously pleased he is OK and with the expected unpredictable conditions tomorrow he could still be in for a good performance in the race.
Qualifying session
Raikkonen: 5° 1.20.168, 9 laps
Fisichella: 20° 1.40.703, 3 laps
Chassis: G. Fisichella 280, K. Raikkonen 279
Weather: air temperature 17 °C, track temperature 18 °C.
Mixed feelings for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro at the end of the longest ever Formula 1 qualifying session. On the one hand, there is satisfaction at Kimi Raikkonen securing fifth place at the end of a very good session, while on the other there is regret for what happened with Giancarlo Fisichella, who was left stuck out on track at the start of Q1, when the track conditions were almost impossible to deal with. “Tomorrow we face a race that will be very important in the battle for third place and it’s a shame we will not be tackling it with both our cars in the top half of the grid, given that our main rivals are quite a way back. However, we also have to keep an eye on Toyota who are not too far behind in the classification.”
Giancarlo Fisichella: “When qualifying started the conditions were almost impossible. I ended up spinning even though I wasn’t going that quickly, but I was at a point where the track was flooded. As I turned the wheel, I hit the engine cut-out switch and that was my qualifying over with. A shame, because the car goes well in the wet, as could be seen from Kimi’s performance. I hope he manages to bring home a good number of points, but for me that will be tough as I’m starting from the back row. At the moment, everything seems to be going wrong: I am very unhappy, because I so much want to show my worth in a major team like Ferrari. I hope that, starting tomorrow, some luck comes my way, as it has not done so far.”
Kimi Raikkonen: “Overall, I’m pleased with this result. On the extreme wet tyres, we were very competitive and I actually think that if the conditions had stayed bad enough for these tyres, I could have done better than fifth place. However, on the intermediate tyres the car was no longer as easy to drive, because it is harder to get them working at their best. If it rains tomorrow, it will be very tough, because here, you see almost nothing if you are behind another car and the conditions become really difficult. I think that today, it was the right decision to delay qualifying: at least it meant we were able to drive in acceptable conditions, rather than just trying to stay on the track. The F60 worked well: we know we lack grip, but this is the problem we have carried with us since the start of the season.”
Chris Dyer: “A bitter sweet qualifying for us. Once again, Kimi produced a fantastic performance to take a good fifth place, while Giancarlo, having felt comfortable in the wet this morning, was unfortunate in that his spin occurred when track conditions were at their worst. We have gone for a strategy choice that should allow us to have a good race whatever the weather. Well done to the team who remained concentrated throughout the entire qualifying session.”
Stefano Domenicali, Ferrari team principal:
"Tomorrow we face a race that will be very important in the battle for third place and it's a shame we will not be tackling it with both our cars in the top half of the grid, given that our main rivals are quite a way back. However, we also have to keep an eye on Toyota who are not too far behind in the classification."
Panasonic Toyota Racing recorded a positive result in a severely rain-affected qualifying session for the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos in Sao Paulo today. Jarno Trulli starts from a strong second-row position while Kamui Kobayashi, a replacement for the injured Timo Glock, will make his Grand Prix debut from 11th after an impressive effort. Heavy rain played havoc with proceedings having already restricted final practice to just 18 minutes this morning. The storms caused an eight-minute delay in first qualifying before both drivers ventured out on wet Bridgestone Potenza tyres. On a very wet track they both performed well to progress to the second session, which was initially delayed by 16 minutes due to the conditions then, after just two minutes of action, halted for one hour and 11 minutes. When the rain finally stopped, qualifying could resume and Kamui was desperately close to claiming a top-10 spot, dropping to 11th in the last seconds as Jarno, also on intermediate tyres by now, progressed in the top three. Track conditions continued to improve in third qualifying, where Jarno used intermediate tyres to claim fourth place with his final flying lap.
Jarno Trulli - Car 9, Chassis TF109-06
"It was a very intense qualifying session. In first qualifying the only target was to keep the car on the track and try to do a reasonable lap time because the conditions were horrible, with a lot of aquaplaning. It was extremely hard and the important thing was to stay focused; we managed to get through which was the important thing. In second and third qualifying it was much better and the car was running well so I was able to push harder. I enjoyed it because we were putting in some quick lap times on the right tyres and it's good to be on the second row. It would be nice to repeat the Japanese Grand Prix podium and I will be fighting hard."
Kamui Kobayashi - Car 10, Chassis TF109-04
3rd Practice: 20th, 1m 30.259s (+7.077s), 4 laps
1st Qualifying: 7th, 1m 24.335s (+1.507s), 11 laps
2nd Qualifying: 11th, 1m 21.960s (+1.592s), 11 laps
"That was a very difficult session for my first qualifying experience in Formula 1. The conditions were really hard because from lap to lap the situation changed and there was a lot of aquaplaning. I have never driven this track in those conditions before so it was certainly not easy but the car felt good. I made a small mistake on my last lap in second qualifying so I missed out on the top 10 which I am a bit frustrated about. But overall, to qualify in 11th for my Grand Prix debut in conditions like that is a good result which is more than I expected so I am happy with it. We'll see how it goes in the race tomorrow; it would be great to score points and I will be doing my best to achieve that."
Pascal Vasselon - Senior General Manager Chassis
"A qualifying session of almost three hours is quite unique and I haven't experienced anything like it before in Formula 1. But the team and drivers performed well to stay focused and prepared through such a chaotic session. In the end we are pleased with the result, although we were targeting the front row. Both drivers did a very good job in difficult and changing conditions. Jarno showed he has the potential to score a lot of points tomorrow and we are really happy for Kamui. He missed on the top 10 by a tiny margin but 11th place in his first Formula 1 qualifying session is a great achievement, especially considering the weather. Now we are looking forward to tomorrow when the weather could play a part again, so it should be an interesting race."
Nico Rosberg - 7th: It was good to see that we were fastest on the wets throughout qualifying. Unfortunately, however, I think we just weren't quick enough on the intermediates. We weren't able to warm up the front tyres enough so they didn't work properly which ultimately hurt our pace. Still, seventh is a position from which we can hope for a strong race tomorrow.
Kazuki Nakajima - 9th: It was a difficult qualifying session with a long time between red flags and each round. It would probably have been better if it had continued raining because the car was very competitive in the wet, but we still managed to get a good position. It's the first time I've been in the top ten since Hungary so I'm looking forward to a good race tomorrow.
Rod Nelson, Chief Operations Engineer: It was a very busy and long qualifying today because of the weather. Both drivers were happy with the car in the wet, and we moved them onto inters at the right time in Q2. Its good to have both drivers in the top ten again, but I think we could have done a little better. It will be an interesting race tomorrow and we should do well.
Q&A with Hirohide Hamashima - Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development
Q. What was significant about today's running?
"I think it is fair to say that the rain was the main factor today and this was the longest qualifying session I can remember. A wet track is one of the biggest challenges in motor racing, because the grip level from the circuit is always changing. This makes choosing the correct tyre at the correct moment crucial, especially with the current qualifying format. At times the circuit was too wet for running, especially with some cars not running full wet set-ups. Overall we are happy with tyre performance today and it is very interesting for the championship battle to see Rubens Barrichello on pole so well done to him and Brawn GP. Mark Webber and Adrian Sutil also put in strong performances in the difficult conditions."
Q. What are the tyre strategy considerations for tomorrow's race?
"If it's dry then we think the medium compound will be the preferred race tyre, as the super soft suffers from worse degradation. However, if temperatures are very cold and there is the threat of rain the super soft with its lower temperature working range and extra grip could show benefits. If it is wet like today tyre choices become very difficult and we saw a very good illustration of this last time we visited Interlagos."
Mark will start in second place tomorrow, behind pole-sitter Rubens Barrichello. Sebastian's afternoon was cut short after he failed to make it past Q1.
Vettel will start in 16th place, one place behind the other Brawn, and current championship leader, Jenson Button.
Car 14, Mark Webber Position 2nd:
“That was a very tricky session - especially in Q1 when the conditions were really bad. The car was difficult to drive then, but we scraped through. After qualifying re-started, the track came back to us a bit and I was able to be more competitive. It wasn’t too comfortable at first out on track, but then the grip came and the times were quite good. In Q3 I kept switching between the top three, from pole to third to pole to third; I would have liked to have had another crack at being on pole, but I made a mistake. I think it wasn’t easy to knit six perfect laps together in those conditions, but I’m very happy with how I drove and the guys in the garage did a great job. Congratulations to Rubens for his pole here at home; we’ll give him a race tomorrow.”
Practice 3: P10, Best Time: 1:25.440, Laps: 5
Car 15, Sebastian Vettel Position 16th:
“I’m not happy, it’s very disappointing. It should have been better, but it was difficult in the conditions. There was a window when the circuit was at its fastest, but we couldn’t use it as we were in traffic. Afterwards, when we were in clear air towards the end of the session, it was raining hard and there was too much water, so it was impossible to improve the time. It’s not the best position to start from – we were targeting much higher, but that’s life and we have to accept it. There wasn’t really anything missing from our side today, it wasn’t about our pace, it was just a case of timing.”
Practice 3: Vettel: P15, Best Time: 1:27.047, Laps: 4
Christian Horner:
“Firstly, it’s really frustrating for Sebastian to just miss out on Q2. Unfortunately, in the window when the circuit was at its best, traffic or other cars were making mistakes ahead of him, which cost him dearly and he wasn’t able to put a lap together at the optimum time. Later in Q1, the circuit was in an atrocious state and he just missed getting through to Q2. It’s frustrating as after the delay you could see how competitive the car was once some of the standing water had moved. Mark ran very competitively and missed out on pole by less than a tenth of a second. It was a strong performance by him and it’s going to make for a fascinating race tomorrow.”
Fabrice Lom, Renault, Principal Engineer Track Support:
“That was the longest qualifying session of my career – what a session! The first part was very disappointing with Sebastian not being able to make it into Q2. The second part was much better and Mark drove very well in the difficult conditions to secure second place. I have mixed feelings, it’s going to be very hard for both Championships now, but if it’s wet tomorrow anything can happen, so we will fight.”
Robert Kubica - 8th: "The conditions in this qualifying were really difficult. At one point there was so much water on the track that the car was almost undriveable. Fortunately, after the break, the conditions were a little better. We are running relatively low downforce, which was obviously delicate in these conditions. To my surprise, the car was quite competitive when it was very wet, and it was somewhat more difficult to drive with less water. I had too much understeer. The car is set up for a dry track, so we have to see what the weather will be like tomorrow."
Nick Heidfeld - 19th: "Of course it is very annoying to be out in Q1, but I simply had no chance. We certainly knew it would rain in qualifying and we put our ride height up, but it wasn't enough given the amount of water on the track. In a Formula 1 car you don't only get aquaplaning problems from the tyres, but also with the plank. That's not driving anymore, that is swimming. At the end of Q1 when I had changed to fresh tyres the conditions turned from bad to worse, which didn't help either."
Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director): "Just like two weeks ago in Suzuka, Qualifying in Sao Paulo was again dominated by the weather. This was especially the case for the first and second parts of Qualifying. Nick was stuck in traffic at the same time Robert set his fastest lap. After that the conditions got worse, so he finally got stuck in Q1. For Robert everything went according to plan - up to his last attempt with intermediates. In the decisive run he lost time from turn seven, so he ended up eighth. Today more would have been possible."
Willy Rampf (Head of Engineering): "After qualifying in Suzuka lasted more than 90 minutes, there was another chaotic Saturday in Sao Paulo. First the third free practice was almost washed away by the water. Following this, qualifying had to be stopped several times and lasted for almost three hours. Nick was unfortunate to get stuck in Q1. Robert was one of the top contenders in Q1 and Q2, and also in Q3 things looked good until his last run. But after a good first sector on his final run he lost time and ended up eighth. Today, a position in the first two rows of the grid would have been possible."
Fernando Alonso - 10th: "I think this was the longest qualifying session that I have ever taken part in! The weather conditions made it interesting, but the car didn't have the pace to qualify higher up the grid today. If we get changeable weather tomorrow, it will impact on the race and if we can react to the conditions at the right times then we can make up some places. We will certainly try our best to do that."
Romain Grosjean - 13th: "The rain was very heavy for the first part of qualifying, but I was very happy with the car. It was the same for all the drivers and I did well in these conditions. Unfortunately in Q2 the track was drying, but we didn't have time to fit the intermediate tyres and so I did the whole session with the same wet tyres. I also want to say thanks to my mechanics for the super job they did to repair the car after my accident this morning."
Bob Bell, Team Principal: "It was a difficult qualifying session with the extreme weather conditions that we have had today. We were very lucky to get Fernando into Q2 because the car just wasn't quick enough today. It's disappointing that he is not higher than 10th, but he's in reasonably good shape for the race tomorrow and we will take it from there. The latest forecast suggests that it will be wet in the morning and there is a good chance of rain in the afternoon. So it seems the conditions will be changeable again as we have seen today."
Sebastien Buemi (6th, Q3 - 1m 20.250s):
“Of course I am happy, as sixth is my best ever qualifying result. It was a difficult session and I just stayed in the car, trying to remain focused. Our goal for tomorrow is to score some points. But with this kind of weather anything can happen. I would prefer it to be dry tomorrow, but so far this weekend, we have been quick whatever the track conditions, so I will be fighting my hardest if it’s wet or dry.”
Jaime Alguersuari (12th, Q2 - 1m 22.231s):
“That was not bad and I’m happy with the result. There was a lot of water and it was easy to crash, so my priority was to stay on the track, making no mistakes. Visibility was very bad in these conditions, so I hope we have better conditions for the race. I think I did the best I could today. To make it through to Q3 would have required using the Intermediate tyre, but we gambled on sticking on the Extreme and the final result is pretty good anyway.”
Laurent Mekies, Toro Rosso chief engineer:
“Our best qualifying result of the season with our second consecutive Q3 with Buemi and second consecutive Q2 with Alguersuari. In Suzuka, we showed we had the pace thanks to an aero update. Here, the team and drivers put everything together well in what was a very difficult session to manage. Sebastien did a very good job to secure P6 and Jaime also did well to reach Q2 in what were very difficult conditions. But it’s the race that matters, when I think we can expect a complicated afternoon. Today was an encouraging first step and now we must try and convert it into some points tomorrow.”
Heikki Kovalainen (17th, Q1 - 1m 25.052s):
“These were some of the worst conditions I’ve ever experienced in a race weekend. I like driving in wet conditions, but today there was so much aquaplaning that it was extremely difficult to keep the car on the track. Plus, there was very bad visibility when you were travelling in the spray of another car. This result shows that we still lack some downforce, so there was nothing we could do to go any faster. I hope the set-up will better suit us in different conditions tomorrow.”
Lewis Hamilton (18th, Q1 - 1m 25.192s):
“Today was one of the worst qualifying sessions I can remember. Our car didn’t feel good at all: for both Heikki and me, we couldn’t even go flat-out along the straights - that’s how little grip we had. It was a disappointing performance, but we did the best we could - I even had a small ‘off’ trying to push at the end and the car just let loose on me. We were running with a dry set-up, so it’s a lot stiffer than you’d probably want in the wet - and our shortfall in downforce, compared to some of the other cars, really shows in these conditions. I’m hoping the sun comes out for tomorrow so we’ll have a fighting chance of getting into the points, but starting 18th means your weekend is really on the back foot.”
Martin Whitmarsh, McLaren team principal:
“This was obviously disappointing for the whole team. Perhaps we concentrated too much on anticipating a potentially dry race tomorrow, and, consequently, we didn’t give our drivers a car that enabled them to graduate past Q1. Clearly, this was not what we’d hoped for, but we will be doing everything we can in tomorrow’s race. We won’t give up, and we want to score some points tomorrow by adopting perhaps a less risk-averse strategy than we otherwise would have done from positions further up the grid.”
Norbert Haug, vice-president Mercedes-Benz Motorsport:
“A great disappointment. It looks as if our cars were more surfing than driving on lots of water on the track and, obviously, as a team we didn’t give it the best possible shot during these difficult heavy rain conditions today. We certainly can’t blame our drivers for our struggle - they are proven rain specialists. In addition, I feel very sorry for our friend Sebastian Vettel, who couldn’t make it into Q2 either, which may have cost him his last chance of a shot at the title.”
