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Chinese Grand Prix - Saturday |
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Post-qualifying press conference |
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Q. Sebastian, a fantastic lap. But very last minute runs both in Q1 and Q2. Tell us about your qualifying sessions. Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, it was always last minute. I only had one run in Q1 on the hard tyre and one run at the end of Q2 on the soft tyre and one run in Q3. Obviously, as you can see, you don't need more but it was not easy. We had a problem with the car, so we tried to run as little as possible. The car was quick as you could see and Mark did two runs in Q1 and Q2 and was always up there, so very quick, so I basically had no concerns. But still if you only have one lap and if you have any mistake, you go wide or whatever, there is no second chance and it means it is the end. It was not so easy but I am very, very happy. Unbelievable we made it to pole position in the end. Yesterday was already quite good. We had some little problems. This morning was not ideal but it seems that similar to Australia the less I run in free practice the better it is in qualifying, so I am very, very pleased, very happy for the team and especially thanks to all the mechanics as they have been working really, really hard. As I said we had some difficulties with the car and they were working basically all night, so a great job by them. Thanks. Q. Two brilliants laps under pressure. No mistakes on a day when many drivers were making mistakes. Talk us through that lap in Q3 and the pressure you were under. SV: Well, I saw that everyone was observing the others for their first run and I saw the track improvement from Q2, so I was quite confident. Obviously you do not know what to expect and it is difficult when it is your first run on the higher fuel load. You cannot adapt, it has to be alright from the beginning and fortunately it was. It was a very good lap. I was extremely happy. Towards the end of the lap I felt the tyres going off but I think it was just right, so up to the last corner it was basically very good and I had a lot of grip. I am looking forward to tomorrow's race. It is a long, long race. Obviously we have the best position to start but we haven't scored any points yet. Mark did in the last race, but I think we have the car to do so, so let's hope tomorrow that the car keeps together and we have a good smooth race. Q. Fernando, your first front row start since the Spanish Grand Prix last year and what a weekend for Renault. Flying out that new diffuser at the last minute and problems with the fitting of the new diffuser this morning and going out basically with a car you had never driven before. Fernando ALONSO: Yeah, I think it has been a strange weekend for us with a completely new car this morning and as you said we only completed three laps this morning, so we arrived in qualifying with some doubts. It was just a blind qualifying for us and we didn't know how the car would respond but we are extremely happy with the result for sure and this is a big motivation for the whole team because they have been working flat out for weeks. Yesterday as Sebastian said, I think it was the same for many teams. The guys only slept one or two hours and after this enormous job I think you have to deliver when you are in the car. There is no time to make a mistake or do anything wrong, so I am happy with the performance today and this is all thanks to a big effort from the team. Q. I assume there is a lot more grip in the car now. Talk us through the moment when you felt the car for the first time and what you have been missing in the first two races and how good this car may feel to you now. FA: Well, I think the first races were not a disaster. I think the car felt more or less okay but we were not quick enough. If you put in the car three or four tenths you move up like eight or nine places. This is what is interesting from this championship that any step forward, any new part you add to the car, it can really make a big difference in positions and we proved it today. The team improved the car and suddenly we are competitive. Obviously we need to see tomorrow with fuel loads, etc. But we went into Q3 more or less comfortable and this is something new which we did not have in the first two races. Q. You had the KERS system on the engine for the first two races but not here. Talk a little about that change as well. FA: Well, I think we did some more analysis to see how the device works in some circuits and we saw that it was time to do a real test and also we had some concerns. We had problems in Malaysia with maybe the rain, there was some water in the system, and we know that is not ideal in terms of safety. For safety reasons and just to do a test we don't have KERS this race. Q. Mark, Renault one-two-three. You were on the pole for a little while there but a great result for you and the team. Mark WEBBER: Absolutely. I think the work that has gone in, as Sebastian has touched on, from our team over the last few weeks has been incredible. It would have been nice to have both of us on the front row but Fernando did a good lap as well. The session itself was not unbeatable but I was expecting it to be a little bit tighter but we will see how the fuel loads go tomorrow. But we have done a very good job. Q2 for us was strong and the car is behaving very well with a lot of grip, so I was pretty happy. Q. It was not that long ago that you were on the ground with a broken leg. A fantastic achievement for you over the winter to be P3 in the Chinese Grand Prix. MW: Yeah, that's right. It has been a very testing winter for me. I wasn't quick in winter testing either, the leg was not that straightforward to be honest and some of the other injuries I had but I had some good people around me. I have been incredibly determined to get in the best condition I can and the best shape possible to overcome the injuries that I have had to give this youngster a hard time and so far it is working and we are pushing each other hard, so it is working well. Q. Sebastian, as we go into the race there is a tyre issue tomorrow. There is the tyre choice and strategy to make. That has proved to be quite difficult. Equally from your point of view some unreliability issues will no doubt be in your mind. SV: Yeah, I mean first of all I am happy that Fernando does not have the KERS. We saw in the last race that he was defending quite well and obviously here you have a very long straight line, so you can make a difference. That is very good for both of us but we will see. It is a long race and we have to see how the car is after checking it in parc fermé, what shape it is for tomorrow. But I am confident that the boys will do a very good job. Then we will see tomorrow. It is a long race, 56 laps, and obviously as I said, we have the best position to start but no points yet, so no reason for podium feelings yet. It is a long, long way to go. Anything can happen. Who knows. We have to focus hard and see where we are tomorrow. PRESS CONFERENCE Q. Sebastian, tell us about what happened today and particularly last night. What has been fitted on the car, the problems today as I believe you both had broken drive shafts. Did that problem impact on your qualifying and does it impact on the race as well? SV: Okay, to start with, first of all, as you said, we had a problem with the car, so unfortunately both of us couldn't get enough laps. But thankfully the others were running, so we could see roughly how the tyres behaved. Then in qualifying the mechanics did a very good job and they fixed the car. Also yesterday, overnight, they had very little sleep, so basically it is all down to them. They were working really, really hard, so thanks for that. Basically in qualifying, after the first run in Q1, we noticed we had the same problem again as this morning and we were really concerned that the car would not last for the rest of the qualifying, so we agreed on doing basically as little laps as necessary and see if we can manage to get through. Basically Mark always got two runs in Q1 and Q2, so we could see that the car was very quick, so that was a good sign for me sitting in the garage and watching the others driving. In Q1 it was quite tight, we were only 13th but at the end it was enough. In Q2 I had one run which is not easy as you know that if you have any kind of problem, miss the apex or brake too late, then you are out as you don't have a second chance. Thankfully that was not necessary and we made it through. In Q3 again we were hoping the car would last but it is not an easy situation but in the end you sit in the car and try to forget everything what happens around you and focus on your job, so I focussed on driving which I enjoy. Every time I got the lap together I was very happy and in the end it was even enough for pole. That is a very, very good sign. We have the best position to start tomorrow but no points yet. It is a long, long way to go, 56 laps, anything can happen, so we will have to keep digging and see tomorrow. Q. How much has the car been modified overnight and how different has it felt? SV: Well, we did some minor modifications, I would say, nothing big. We adjusted the set up, basically fine tuned it a little bit but we didn't change it as much as probably Fernando overnight. But yesterday was already quite good but today it was even better in qualifying. Very, very quick, so very happy with that. The car feels good. It is a pleasure to drive. There is a lot of grip, so it is fun and let's hope for the same amount of grip tomorrow and let's hope that we manage to handle the tyres well and do a good race. Q. So you don't need a diffuser or KERS then? SV: Well, I mean first of all I am happy that Fernando does not have KERS as it is quite a way down to turn one. You could see the last race that he was defending very well against all the others. It is a good thing for us, for Mark and me, but obviously you are always wishing to have a better car, even better, even better. We are pushing hard at home in the factory. The guys are pushing hard to get new parts and to make the car even quicker. I think we surprised already quite a lot of people in the first two races and also today regarding the speed of our car. But again today was a good day for us, for the whole team, but tomorrow you get the points, so the most important day is tomorrow. Q. Just to clarify, the problems you had today you can change for the race? SV: Well, obviously, as I said, it was always a difficult situation sitting in the car and now knowing if it would last or not. You try to forget when you are on your hot lap but we will see for tomorrow. I hope the boys can fix it and I hope it will last tomorrow. In the end we both had the problem this morning. In qualifying only I had the problem, so Mark's car was fine as far as I heard and I hope that both of our cars are without any trouble tomorrow. Q. Fernando, a completely different car for you today to what you had yesterday. How different did it feel to you? FA: Not much. Q. And yet it produced the time. FA: It's quicker. More grip. Q. How can you have extra confidence in it when you haven't spent very much time with it? FA: I think it will take time to maximise the potential of the car that we have at the moment. We keep changing the car constantly in the first two races and at this one, again, a big update in the car, so it will take time to get the maximum of the car and to really get confidence, but I think we are working in the right direction, that's for sure and the results are getting better and better from Australia to here, so we cannot stop now. It's time to deliver, it's time to really work hard and we need to recover the gap that the top teams now have. |
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Q. Is it a surprise that you're sitting on the front row? FA: Yes, a lot. I'm very happy. Obviously our goal for this race is to score as many points as possible, to score some points. For today, for qualifying, I think Q3 was the biggest target, our biggest priority to be in Q3. We reached Q3 a little bit more comfortably than in the other two races, so that was a good sign and then when you are in Q3, it's down to the fuel loads and different strategies for the race, so we will see tomorrow, but I think we achieved our targets at every race and here Q3 was the target and then Q3 was just a strategy thing more than a surprise. Q. Is the strategy that complicated here? FA: Well, I think the super soft tyre doesn't help the strategy because it's a tyre that we all know won't do too many laps, so you need to compromise a little bit but the good thing is that it's the same for everybody, so you just need to push, to take care of the tyres in a way, especially during the first couple of laps. I am happy and I think we can do a good race tomorrow. Q. Mark, the way your qualifying started, we could be surprised to see you here at all, after your visit to the gravel trap at the pit lane entrance. MW: Why? Ah, right, that one. I was surprised, the pedal... I didn't brake that late and yeah, I skipped across the gravel on the way in so that was a bit&ldots; There's been a few legends in that gravel trap in the past, so I've joined them. Q. Having seen the speed that you had in qualifying, are you a bit disappointed to be third? It's fantastic, but&ldots; MW: It's still not bad, I'm still pretty happy. Obviously it's a bit of a surprise with Fernando. Obviously without Fernando we would be on the front row together but he did a good job. Third is also not bad. I'm pretty happy with how today went to be honest, and it's a great day for the team. We've been on the ropes a little bit, to be honest, with a few issues with the driveshafts which has been a bit frustrating for us, particularly Sebastian in qualifying, but we've come out the other side of it in a good, good position. There's no question that this team's taken a big step forward from last year in terms of performance. Now we need to realise it on Sunday afternoons and we can do that from there, there's no question about that, so it's a big credit to everyone in the team for what they've done from Brazil to now and we're in good shape. Q. What sort of assurances have the team given you about the reliability of the driveshafts for tomorrow? MW: Well, I don't think there's anyone who can tell us they're a hundred percent. The guys are going to do their best. We didn't have any problems in Australia or Malaysia. Obviously the race in Malaysia was shortened but since we went to the race boxes here we've had a few little snags. We've got time tonight to have a look at it and get on top of it. It doesn't sound as dramatic as it is but also it's right on the edge. As we know, these cars are sensitive, so we might be alright, we might not. QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR Q. (Marco Degl'Innocenti - La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, can you be more precise about the problem with your car? SV: Well, I think the word driveshaft says it all. I don't think there's much more to add. Obviously we are both in the same situation, both cars. To explain, we never faced this problem before coming here, basically this morning, so it was a bad surprise. We could fix it for qualifying, then, in my case, it happened again. We can fix it again but we have to find the reasons. There's always a reason for a problem, we have to find it, there's not too much time to be honest. Let's see tomorrow. My job is to drive the car, so I think it's better if I'm not too worried and thinking about those things too much. The boys have a hard enough time anyway, so let's see tomorrow. Q. (Marco Degl'Innocenti – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Fernando, have you got a new diffuser in your car? FA: I think you ask too much, always. You all want to know KERS/no KERS, diffuser/no diffuser. It's like if a cyclist tells the press when he will attack in the mountains. This is a little bit confidential. Q. (Marco Degl'Innocenti – La Gazzetta dello Sport) But I can ask, yeah? FA: And I can answer. Q. (Jia Chen – Soccer News) To all of you, after such a qualifying, do you think that the effect of the diffuser of those three teams who have it is weakening? SV: Well, I think first of all we have to wait until we know more about the weights of the cars, the fuel loads for tomorrow, and then we will see. I think nevertheless the race is 56 laps long, anything can happen and obviously I don't think we've seen much about qualifying yet, just the final positions. We haven't seen much regarding lap times and gaps. I think if you speak about those teams at the top of the list, basically Brawn GP, as in the last races, I think they will be strong tomorrow as well, so you can't say now we sit here, we are quicker, we have no trouble staying ahead of them. I think it will be a long and hard race, so we will see tomorrow. Q. (Jerome Bourret – L'Equipe) To all of you, you all have Renault engines, this engine has been updated over the winter, do you feel any big difference or not? SV: There's less power because we have 1000 rpm less. MW: I want to say something on the Renault side concerning my engine engineer from last year, Pierre-Emeric Benteyn, he's gone missing on Aconcagua Mountain, it looks like he's lost his life up there over the winter, but it's a very good day for Renault and I want today&ldots; Pierre lived his life to the full and was a really extreme guy and did some amazing things and he was very much part of our team and part of the Viry operation from Renault on the racing side, and it's a good day for Renault at Viry and I'm sure they are all thinking of Pierre. FA: Thanks to everybody for sure you feel the difference. Obviously, as Sebastian said, we have 1000 revs less than last year, so it's difficult to compare engines but they did a very good job. Over the winter we did a lot of tests, we really maximised the potential of the engine which last year was maybe not at the same level as the top ones. This result is a great result for Viry, for Renault and they deserve it. Q. (Michael Schmidt – Sport Auto) Fernando, there is a car in front with a conventional diffuser. You have got a new one today, one of these double diffusers. Obviously you've made a step. Is the whole discussion about these diffusers exaggerated or is it valid? FA: I think it's a little bit exaggerated because as we said many times, I think the diffuser is one part but the whole aerodynamics of the car are a package, a complete package which you need to create, it's not a magic part on the car that transforms it. I think you need to really work in a new philosophy of designing the car. There are still many improvements to come, not just from us but from everybody: from Williams, Toyota, from Brawn. For sure in Barcelona they will have new packages. That's the interesting thing about this championship, that we've only done two races, this is the third one, we will go to Bahrain next weekend and then to Barcelona and maybe you think that the championship is going in one direction but suddenly it changes and we have a different fight in the last part of the championship. This is what we cannot forget. Even if we are not competitive, or not competitive in the next two or three Grands Prix, we need to keep working because the championship is long and you need the points at the end, not now. Q. (Dan Knutson – National Speed Sport News) Mark, how big or how noticeable has been the performance gain on the car between the last race and here? MW: We haven't done a huge amount to the car. It's just circumspecific, the car seems to be working quite well here. Obviously it was pretty strong in Malaysia and Australia as well, so the car has not been very sensitive to the tracks it's gone to in terms of its pace. It seems to be pretty strong at all venues and to be honest, it's not a great deal different from the last track. Obviously what changes is your position. At the moment, we look a little bit more comfortable in relation to Toyota and Williams but we will see what happens in the race. We think we expect Brawn still to be strong in the race but you just never know. We will drive on the limit for the race and then see what's left. |
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McLaren Mercedes |
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Lewis Hamilton “Step by step, we are moving forward. And thanks to all the guys back at the factory for doing such a fantastic job and for churning away on all the new parts – every little bit helps us catch the leaders. There’s still a long way to go but this definitely feels like the start of the road to recovery.” Heikki Kovalainen “We’ve really improved our car this weekend. It was unfortunate we couldn’t go any faster in Q2 but I am glad for the team that Lewis made it into Q3. While 12th position doesn’t truly reflect my pace, it’s clear that we’re heading in the right direction. With the right strategy and some better luck in the opening laps, I’ll be aiming for my first points of the year tomorrow." Martin Whitmarsh “Lewis’s ninth place marks the first time this season that we have made it into Q3 and also demonstrates the effort we are putting in back at the McLaren Technology Centre to improve MP4-24. Admittedly, there is still a long way to go – and we will not be happy until we are back at the front – but this is an encouraging and significant step for the whole team.” “Lewis’s laps, particularly in Q1 and Q2 were absolutely tremendous and worthy of a great champion. While Heikki was unable to improve on 12th, he and his engineers did a fantastic job together to set the car up. As a result, we go into tomorrow’s race seriously optimistic of getting both cars into the points.” Norbert Haug “A great job by Lewis and the team – since the beginning of the season we have taken steps forward. I believe we have a first-class strategy. There will be cars ahead of us which will make early pitstops, beginning approximately with lap 10, but we want to cover two and a half times as much until our first stop. In Q1, Lewis was fourth, two and half tenths behind first place, in Q2 he was sixth, six tenths behind the best time – at least, we are making progress compared to Melbourne and Sepang.” “Two BMWs and one Ferrari will start behind us – we have the best-placed car with KERS in the field; we are heading in the right direction, but anyway there is still a lot of work to do. Unfortunately, Heikki missed Q3 by just 0.063sec – that must be annoying for him and the team which truly deserved two cars in the top 10 as a reward for their hard work. However, 12th is not too far behind 10th.” |
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Ferrari |
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Having opted not to run KERS this weekend in the hope of finding better reliability, Ferrari continued to struggle in qualifying this afternoon in Shanghai with Felipe Massa finding himself eliminated in the second round of qualifying while Kimi Raikkonen at least made the final round to qualify eighth. Massa starts 13th. Kimi Raikkonen “Of course I’m not happy with eighth place but, given our current potential, we have to settle for this. We got everything out of the car but we had no more new tyres for Q3 and therefore, it’s already something to have put quite a few of our competitors behind us. The problem is still the same, we are just not quick enough. The car’s handling isn’t bad, but as I’ve said before, we are giving away a second to the best. I hope we get some developments quickly but, in the meantime, we try to do the best with what we’ve got. I hope we have a good race and pick up a few points. I don’t know where we might have been if we had the KERS: at some points it gives you an advantage, but in others it can be a disadvantage. It would have been useful to run it on at least one car to understand the situation better.” Felipe Massa “The first run in Q2 was pretty good, but on the second, I made a mistake going into Turn 9 which kept me out of Q3. I had a bit of traffic on my out lap which meant I didn’t get the tyres up to the right temperature. We must try and get through these two difficult races, bringing home a few points, working in the meantime on the development of the car. Not having the KERS is definitely a handicap in my case, especially in qualifying. This is another area where we must work, to go back to using it as soon as possible.” Chris Dyer “After the disappointment of Malaysia, this qualifying had some light and shade. Kimi secured a good position, managing to make it through to the top ten, while unfortunately, Felipe was out of the final part of the session because of a mistake that prevented him from improving on his second run in Q2, just missing out by less than a tenth. In Q3, on worn tyres, Kimi did a great job, managing to put two cars behind him. We have a good strategy and hope to pick up a few points in tomorrow’s race.” Stefano Domenicali “A team like Ferrari cannot claim to be happy with getting one car through to the final part of qualifying, but given our current technical situation, that’s what we could aim for today. It was a shame for Felipe who could also have got through to Q3. We knew this would be a difficult weekend, fought out on the back foot and that is proving to be the case. Now we have a race to run, in which there will be many unknown factors to contend with. Reliability will be crucial. We will try and get the most out of the potential at our disposal, to bring home the best possible result.” |
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Red Bull |
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Sebastian Vettel (1st, Q3 - 1m 36.184s): “I’m very, very happy - it’s unbelievable. It was a bit last minute! I only had one run in each qualifying session but, as you can see, you don’t need more! It wasn’t easy, we had a problem with the car and had to run as little as possible. The car was really quick though, Mark had two runs in each session and was always up there, so I didn’t have any concerns. Still, if you have only one lap, you can’t make any mistakes. I’m really happy – we made it to pole position in the end! This morning wasn’t ideal, but it seems the less I run in the morning, the better it is in qualifying! A big thanks to the mechanics, who have been working very, very hard, basically all night, and thanks to all the team back in Milton Keynes too. We made it! I’m looking forward to tomorrow, it’s a long race and there’s a long way to go, but we have the best starting position.” Mark Webber (3rd, Q3 - 1m 36.466s): “What a result! The work that’s gone into this from the team, especially over the last few weeks, has been incredible. It would have been good to have both cars on the front row, but Fernando did a great job. I was expecting to be a little bit tighter in the end, but we’ll see how the fuel loads pan out tomorrow. We’ve done a good job. Q2 was strong for us and the car is behaving well, with a lot of grip. I’m doing what I can to give the youngster (Seb) a hard time, we’re pushing each other hard and it’s working very well!” Christian Horner, Red Bull team principal “A fantastic team result and the team’s first pole position that was brilliantly executed by Sebastian. He stuck to a disciplined strategy, which paid off and now he starts tomorrow’s race with a clear track in front of him – the best place to be! Mark has also been absolutely on it all weekend. I’m delighted with the performance and the effort that has gone into this today, not only here in Shanghai, but also in Milton Keynes. The whole team has been working really hard, but now we have to convert it. Tomorrow will be a big day!” |
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Toro Rosso Ferrari |
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Sebastien Buemi made his intentions clear when he banged in the eighth fastest time in the first round of qualifying in the clearly much-improves Toro Rosso Ferrari package. The Swiss Rookie went on to make it through the second round of qualifying and was then forced to revert to the harder prime tyre to qualify tenth for his third Grand Prix. Team-mate Sebastien Bourdais admitted to a mistake on his crucial run and starts 15th after Timo Glock takes his grid position penalty. Sebastien Buemi “I am really happy to be in Q3, as it’s more than I had expected. I don’t think I could have got any higher up the order. On low fuel, the car was very good, but we didn’t have any new Options left for Q3, so I had to do three flying laps on the Prime, so considering that, we can be satisfied with this. The team worked really well, doing a fantastic job to improve the car a lot since the start of the season and today it worked very well. Now, I am very much looking forward to tomorrow’s race." Sebastien Bourdais “I made a mistake, it’s as simple as that. I tried to optimise my line to take Turn 8, but I cut the apex too much and got on the marbles and the dirt on the left side and so the car never really turned in. Because of the dirt on the tyres, the next few corners were a disaster, losing me around half a second. Yesterday had been very promising but for whatever reason, today it didn’t work out. When you see my team-mate did two great laps, you can understand that the potential is there. Tomorrow, I will see what I can do, and even if it’s hard to make up places here, I’ll keep pushing.” Giorgio Ascanelli “It’s fair to say we are learning a lot about the car and we must congratulate Buemi for getting into Q3 at only his third attempt. He is still on a very steep learning curve and he didn’t get it quite right in Q2. We had to use all our Option tyres in the first two sessions, to make sure of getting into Q3. I also want to thank Red Bull Technology, because the car is clearly well born. I think Red Bull Racing deserve their pole and I’m cheering for them.” |
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Bridgestone |
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Bridgestone’s super soft tyre allowed driver Sebastian Vettel to record his second career pole position, and Red Bull Racing’s first ever, with a lap of 1:36.184s at Shanghai for the Chinese Grand Prix. Vettel took pole by just under two-tenths from Renault’s Fernando Alonso with Mark Webber in third. Track conditions were improved from Friday, with more rubber down. Williams driver Nico Rosberg used the super soft tyre to go fastest in the morning practice session with a time of 1:36.133s. Hirohide Hamashima, Tyre Development Director “Today was very significant for Red Bull Racing scoring their first pole position so congratulations to them and Sebastian Vettel. Today we have seen that both tyres give good performance here in Shanghai. The difference in best lap time between the two tyres is not so big, at around 0.5 seconds. The super soft gives its best lap time on the first or second flying lap, whereas the medium takes longer to get into the best temperature operating range and delivers its best lap on its third or fourth flying lap. We are still seeing graining on the super soft tyre, however this is not matched by the same amount of tyre degradation that we saw in Australia so there should be more strategy options for tomorrow’s race.” “Of course, this race is taking place at a different time of year from last season so we expected the weather to be different. It is also the first race of the season at the Shanghai International Circuit, so the track conditions are changed from those we saw last year too. Since we have been here the weather has been both quite cool and also quite warm, so it will be interesting to see what happens on Sunday. If it is cooler, the quicker warm-up of the super soft tyre should be useful, however if it is very cool we could see more graining. If it is hotter then the medium tyre will warm-up quicker. Of course, we have seen rain at Shanghai in the past, and we all know that makes for very interesting racing. Tomorrow we will keenly watch both strategy and the skies.” |
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Williams Toyota |
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In another fiercely fought qualifying battle, Williams Toyota drivers Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima both eased into Q2, Rosberg entering in fifth and Nakajima in 15th. Nakajima however was unable to progress past Q2 and was left in P15 at the flag. Glock’s five place penalty promotes the Japanese driver to 14th on the grid for tomorrow’s race. Rosberg again fared somewhat better making it into the final round of qualifying, therefore maintaining his unblemished record this season, and ended the deciding session with the seventh fastest time of the day. Nico Rosberg "This is where we are at the moment. We are the fourth best team out there so seventh place is more or less where we expected to be. We struggled slightly in warming up the tyres, but otherwise I am quite pleased. Strategy-wise, we are looking good and I’m not worried about our race pace. If you look at Malaysia we were pretty strong in the race even though the tyres are a challenge, both hard and soft. We’ll have to see how everyone around us looks in terms of fuel. It would be good if, after Australia and Malaysia, things would go a bit more our way tomorrow. I must say that, for me, today’s surprise was Alonso." Kazuki Nakajima "The car is as competitive as it was in Malaysia and we’re still making progress, so this result is a shame. I really hope I can do better in the race, but we first need to look at our data and see what was going on with the car and try to resolve it. We’ll do our best to get a good strategy in place as you never know what can happen in a Grand Prix." Sam Michael, Technical Director "It’s disappointing that Kazuki wasn’t higher today. With Nico, we could have done better in managing his run in Q3, but it didn’t work out as planned today. We should have a more competitive race pace, so we’re looking forward to a good performance tomorrow." |
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Renault |
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Today’s qualifying session saw Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet qualify in second and 16th places respectively for tomorrow’s Chinese Grand Prix. Renault worked hard on Alonso's R29 overnight fitting a new diffuser and taking KERS off both cars with the double world champion immediately on the pace with the updated package. Fernando Alonso “The car was quick this morning in P3, but we only had three laps to test the new parts we’d fitted to the car. This afternoon achieving the front row of the grid is a great motivation for the team. It is unbelievable and the first time that I’ve seen such an incredible effort. The team has been working 24 hours a day for the past few weeks to produce these parts and today it was time to deliver. So a big thanks to Enstone and to the engineers and mechanics here who didn’t sleep much last night to get the car ready. Also, three Renault engines are in the top three so a big thanks to the engine team in Viry. We can be happy with today’s result and we’re looking forward to the race tomorrow and hopefully scoring some points.” Nelson Piquet “Obviously I didn’t have the new parts that Fernando had, but it’s still disappointing not to make it into Q2 as the car was working well this morning and we had made some improvements overnight. I know it will be a tough race tomorrow, but hopefully we can make the strategy work so that I can move forward in the race.” Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering “Fernando’s front row position is a tribute to the hard work from everyone back at the factory to get the new diffuser on the car following the result of our appeal earlier in the week. It’s working as expected although we had some problems on the bodywork this morning as it burnt slightly, but once again the technicians here did a great job to get it fixed. Now we must get the same equipment for Nelson and give him the chance to move up the grid.” |
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Brawn GP |
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Brawn GP’s Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button qualified in fourth and fifth positions for Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix after a closely-fought qualifying hour at the Shanghai International Circuit today. The two Brawn GP drivers completed two runs in each of the three qualifying sessions with Jenson topping the timesheets in Q1 and Rubens just behind after using the prime tyre for their first runs and the softer option for the second. Sticking to the option tyre for the final two sessions, Rubens and Jenson both experienced understeer in their BGP 001 cars, finishing in third and fourth positions respectively in Q2. In Q3, the battle at the front was intense with Rubens finishing just 0.03secs outside of the top three. He will line up on the second row of the grid tomorrow in fourth position with Jenson one place behind and on the third row. RESULTS Drivers Car No. Chassis No. Free Practice Qualifying 1 Qualifying 2 Qualifying 3 Rubens Barrichello 23 BGP 001-01 P10 P2 01:35.701 P3 01:35.503 P4 01:36.493 Jenson Button 22 BGP 001-02 P4 P1 01:35.533 P4 01:35.556 P5 01:36.532 Weather Warm and sunny Temperatures Air: 24-25°C Track: 36-38°C JENSON BUTTON “Our car feels good around here but there were a few cars quicker than we expected in Qualifying today. You could see in Q2 that the Red Bulls were very strong in the high-speed corners and we knew then that we would have a fight on our hands. It’s going to be interesting to see how the different strategies work out in the race. Of course we would rather be on the front row of the grid but we will give it our best shot in the race tomorrow and see what happens.” RUBENS BARRICHELLO “I had a good qualifying session today but you can see how F1 can progress so quickly. Whilst we were surprised to see that the Red Bulls were quite so fast, it makes for great competition at the front. They will be tough to beat but we believe we have a good strategy. Both Jenson and I know the way to the podium here so let’s hope we can repeat that tomorrow.” ROSS BRAWN “A tougher qualifying session in Shanghai today than we have experienced in the first two races. We have always said that our competition would catch up quickly and the evidence of that is clear to see today. Our car is working well around this circuit although both Jenson and Rubens experienced too much understeer on their final runs. We are still well-placed in fourth and fifth positions on the grid and looking forward to a challenge tomorrow. Many congratulations to Red Bull for their first pole position in what is proving to be a very exciting season.” |
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BMW Sauber |
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Nick Heidfeld (11th, Q2 - 1m 35.975s): "My first and quickest lap in Q2 was the best I could get out of the car, and it was a really good one. I was hoping to get an even better lap time on the second run just because the track conditions always improve during qualifying. But then for some reason with that set of option tyres the grip wasn't there. We have to find out why that was. I missed the top ten qualifying by just one hundredth of a second, but nevertheless it is obvious we have a lack of pace. We hope an aerodynamic update, which will come for the Spanish Grand Prix, will help us. For now we have to get the most out of the situation and for tomorrow there is a chance for rain which would be great. We will think carefully about our race strategy now. As I'm out of the top ten I'm free to choose my fuel load." Robert Kubica (18th, Q1 - 1m 36.966s): “The car had no grip and was not at all easy to drive. I struggled with the softer tyre compound. After this morning's session I didn't expect this at all, as the gap between softer and harder tyres was bigger then. Additionally I made a mistake braking in turn 12 which cost me my lap time." Mario Theissen, BMW Motorsport director: "Today's qualifying was very disappointing. Data evaluation from Free Practice indicated our car would not work on this track. Both drivers complained about lack of grip, and we didn't manage to solve this problem. Because of these circumstances, both drivers had difficulties driving a perfect lap. This also affected our grid positions. We now have to get the best out of our situation with a good race strategy." Willy Rampf, BMW Sauber head of engineering: "We expected something completely different after the results of the first two races. Of course with these disappointing starting positions we cannot be happy. In comparison to other teams, we have lost some ground. Now to get closer to the top we have to reduce the gap with an intensive development programme." |
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Toyota |
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Jarno Trulli (6th, Q3 - 1m 36.835s): "It was a hard qualifying for me and I'm a bit disappointed with the results because after this morning's practice session I believed we had the pace to be at the front. But somehow, just as in Australia, the grip slipped away between this morning and this afternoon. Something was missing after that, the car wasn't there any more and I had to push hard even to make it into Q3. Still, I was happy with my final lap and in the end P6 is a reasonable place to start. Tomorrow should be a good race and there could be rain so that could mix things up." Timo Glock (14th, Q2 - 1m 36.066s): "This morning I had a gearbox problem after three or four laps in free practice so we lost a complete session. So I was short of track time heading into qualifying. The car felt different from yesterday and it was already really tricky to drive in Q1. I couldn't string a lap together and I knew it would be difficult to get into Q3 because the times were so tight. It felt slippery, I couldn't quite feel confident with the car and on the last lap I made a mistake so that was that. With our penalty it means we are starting from the back row so now we just have to hope for rain tomorrow." Pascal Vasselon, senior general manager chassis: "This was obviously a disappointing result, far away from our 2009 standards. Timo had a gearbox problem this morning which we couldn't repair so we were forced to change the unit for qualifying. So Timo had a troubled day and a troubled qualifying, which together with the penalty means he will start on the back row. Of course we will amend his strategy for this position. For Jarno it went better, but still far from expectations. The tyres have been the story of the weekend, especially the management of the softer compound, which is better than expected but still problematic. There is a window for a three-stop strategy here so it will be interesting to see how the race unfolds." |
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Force India |
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Adrian Sutil (19th, Q1 - 1m 37.669s): “We knew it was going to be difficult here today. We couldn't find a balance as we don't have enough downforce just yet. This is our main issue and why it is very difficult to drive right now. Although today was tough, we should be more competitive in the race as the pace on Friday over longer runs was better. Our goal now is to finish without any incidents. We know our car is reliable so maybe we can pick up some places like this.” Giancarlo Fisichella (20th, Q1 - 1m 37.672s): “Today it felt better than yesterday but it was still tough. We are lacking grip aerodynamically, particularly in the slow speed corners. This race might be tough but we know there is another step to come in Bahrain so the aim here is to get to the finish. We need to have a good strategy and try to do what we can.” Dominic Harlow, Force India chief race engineer: “Both drivers found low grip and a difficult balance today. The one lap performance just wasn't there and that is reflected in our start positions. We had a good race car on Friday over longer runs and, combined with some interesting opportunities in the race, we are looking for a solid finish.” |
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