Saturday
TV UNILATERALS
Q. Fernando, a chaotic session. And a particularly chaotic finish. You had to wait a while to find out that you were the pole sitter. How does it feel? Are you back in business?
Fernando ALONSO: Yeah absolutely. It was quite a stressful qualifying to be honest. In Q1 we had the yellow flag from Toro Rosso I think in turn 13, so we were P15 at that moment and we had to get the lap to go through turn one. We did it at the end and then in the end in Q3 as you said the times were not working, so we were waiting in parc ferme, chatting between us drivers, asking what time you did, what time you did and try to find in which position you were. Now confirmation arrived that we are on pole. A fantastic effort from the team. We put some new stuff on the car at the Nurburgring that worked very well and here we confirmed that we made a step forward. But, obviously, it is not enough. We need to keep working but finally we found the direction to go.
Q. Sebastian, you were a couple of tenths behind Mark in the first part of qualifying. You must be feeling good that you are in front now.
Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, definitely. It was a pretty difficult start to the weekend. In yesterday's practice I was struggling with the balance of the car, so not yet very happy. But overnight I think we did a good step and also looking very confident for the race, so we should be good tomorrow. But, for sure, I think the biggest challenge no matter if you are first, second or third will be the threat from behind with the cars equipped with KERS. That is big as it is quite a run down to turn one. But to come back to qualifying, first and second qualifying I was always a bit on the edge. Obviously, as Fernando mentioned, sometimes yellow flags and twice I caught traffic in the second timed lap, so it was not ideal but I was confident in the last qualifying. I think in the end it was roughly one tenth. We still don't know exactly the time. We were working around 21.5, 21.6, 21.7, so it is a good result and let's see tomorrow. It should be a good race for us.
Q. Mark, a strong position once again for the Red Bull team. But what about the battle for supremacy between you and Sebastian?
Mark WEBBER: Oh, it was Seb's day today. He did a clean lap and I made a mistake in turn two and dropped quite a bit of time, so it was his qualifying. But it is a good race tomorrow I think between all of us. Well done Fernando, obviously another Renault engine up here for us on the front and the pole for him. With Brawn, I still don't even know where Jenson qualified. We know that Rubens didn't make it through. Sebastian and I are in a position tomorrow to capitalize on some good points hopefully. The KERS cars will be arriving on the straight somewhere, we don't know where. But that is the way it is. It is unfortunate but it's the same for everyone basically.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q. Fernando, your third time that you've been fastest in practice here: one other pole, a penalty which left you sixth on the grid, and now your second pole here.
FA: Yeah, absolutely. I think it would be nice to start on pole at any place but here is a special circuit for me anyway. I had my first win here in 2003, so I will always be very happy when I drive in Budapest. It will be interesting tomorrow. Obviously we made a step forward and the car improved in the last two races and we are now a little bit more competitive, maybe not as quick as these two guys but we hope to score some good points tomorrow.
Q. Is that what you're looking for, good points? You don't feel you have a good chance of winning?
FA: Well, we will try but being honest and realistic our target is to get some good points after the last four Grands Prix when we only scored points in Nurburgring, only two points with seventh place. We need some points for the Constructors' Championship especially. If we start very heavy, we go around in eighth or ninth position and we finish our chances to get some good points. So we are aggressive this time, we've got what we wanted with the pole or maybe better than we expected and then from now on we will push all through the race and hopefully score some good points and help the team in the Constructors' Championship because it's very tight with Williams, Toyota, with McLaren, so we need to go for it.
Q. You suggested a step forward there, do you mean in terms of modifications on the car?
FA: Yeah, we have been introducing new parts all through the championship. New parts are coming for the car at every race but some of them didn't make a huge difference in terms of performance, and it seems that in the last two or three races the new stuff we put on the car is working really well. I'm confident that we have found a good direction to go in terms of developing the car and improving the car and this is the first good result of the championship so far, so hopefully this second half of the season will find us a little bit more in this room, not always fighting for Q3. Hopefully we can be in the top five a little bit more often.
Q. Of course, this is a historic circuit for Renault, isn't it?
FA: Yes, and again today, three Renault engines in the first three positions, so this is a fantastic achievement again from the Renault guys. In China we also had the same top three and this means that they are doing a really good job, so thanks to them as well for this pole position.
Q. Sebastian, as you mentioned, struggling to find a balance yesterday, was it good immediately this morning?
SV: Not quite but much better and I think towards the end of P3 we were much closer to where I wanted to be, so a very, very good job overnight, obviously, and I think we should also look strong for the race. Obviously today was a bit chaotic, especially at the end, chatting between the drivers and finding out who did whatever lap time and trying to figure out who is first, who is second, third and so on. It was quite special. But yeah, overall I'm very happy. In Q1 and Q2 I was struggling a little bit, both times when it mattered I had a bit of traffic and not the cleanest lap, but in Q3 I was confident I had the car and in the end I'm very pleased. Obviously, we missed just a little bit - as far as we know, we still have no times - what was missing to the pole today. But it should be good for tomorrow.
Q. Is it going to be fairly dirty on your side of the grid?
SV: Ah, GP2 is running now and tomorrow morning. I think we have seen in the last couple of races that it wasn't a real disadvantage. Just looking back at the last race, the Nurburgring, Rubens was nearly able to pass Mark but yeah, for sure, the advantage is the clean side but I don't think it's massive around here.
Q. And a little bit of relief that you're ahead of the Brawns?
SV: Well, I don't know... Obviously we know where Rubens is, but I don't know where Jenson is, to be honest. All we know is the top three and after that, I don't know. For sure, I think the biggest threat for tomorrow is right behind us. The KERS cars are somewhere there and it's a question of where, left or right, will they pass us down to turn one? We saw in the last race that it can make quite a big difference. We will see again tomorrow.
Q. Mark, that time must have come right at the end.
MW: Well, it would have been very confusing for the guys on the pit wall as well as you guys. All the drivers were just talking amongst ourselves after the session saying 'what time did you do?' and then you were just trying to eliminate where you might be on the grid. I heard that a few guys did 21.6s, so I thought that I wasn't in the top three, so I went to have a shower but it turns out that I'm in the top three. It was a pretty good day for us to be honest. I'm happy to be starting there, I'm in a good position for the race and I'm aiming to go forward. It's a good day for Red Bull and it's good to have my mate up here on pole compared to a Brawn guy, so it's good.
Q. You started third here in 2003.
MW: Yeah, and I helped Fernando a little bit to get his first victory. I was driving a green car which destroyed its tyres, so that was back in those days but I think we expect a different result tomorrow for me and I'm looking forward to it.
Q. You had the hydraulic problem yesterday but it doesn't seem to have held you up too much.
MW: That's right, we lost a bit of track running yesterday, also had a little bit of a problem with it in Q3, we had to change a few little things but with Felipe's stoppage we could then make a few adjustments, so it was fortunate.
Q. So you feel you're looking good for tomorrow?
MW: Yes!
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q. (Livio Oricchio - O Estado de Sao Paulo) Question is to both Red Bull drivers: low speed circuit, more or less like Monaco, high temperature when the Brawns used to be very, very fast and efficient, and you are in front of them again. Is this is the real answer, that you have overtaken them in performance?
MW: Well, it seems&ldots; again, we don't really know where Jenson is in that session. We will definitely be able to answer that question in a bit more detail tomorrow afternoon when we have a full Grand Prix behind us, seeing how our tyre characteristic is and seeing how the whole race will unfold. But we knew we would be pretty strong here. OK, it's maybe not one of our best, best circuits because McLaren and Williams and Renault have a few guys doing pretty good jobs as well but in general, our car is quick at all venues now. It was clear that the step we made at Silverstone we could take that everywhere and we're not focusing on hot tracks, cold tracks, whatever we've got. We're focusing on doing the best we can for every venue we go to and the guys have done a brilliant job with that so far.
SV: I think we are the ones to catch up, so we are better off developing and putting bits on the car that work and I think in the last couple of races we have proven that it is going in the right direction. So we try to push even harder and make the car better and even better. Even if here there are quite a lot of slow corners and so on, it's possibly not the best place for us. I still think you have to be quick everywhere and a good car is a good car, no matter where you go. I think you have seen that. I'm not that experienced but you as journalists have been around a bit longer and I think that for at least the last ten years the cars that have been on the front rows at their first Grands Prix have been there consistently for the rest of the season. So I'm looking forward to the next couple of races but first of all we need to focus on tomorrow.
Q. (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Fernando, both Renaults made Q1 at the very last minute, what happened there?
FA: We used the prime tyre on the first run. We knew the prime tyre was not quick enough to get us through Q1, so we put on the option tyre just four minutes from the end of Q1. We had the yellows flags in turn 13, so we couldn't improve our timed laps and when the yellow flag went in we had just one lap, so we tried not to make any mistakes on that lap and try to get into Q2 and we managed it but it was unfortunately quite stressful and quite on the limit.
Q. (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Fernando, could you explain to us what happened when you jumped out of the car?
FA: Nothing. What happened? My team said ‘we don't know what position you are because our system is completely off, we cannot see any timed laps.' So I jumped out of the car and they didn't know if I was ninth, seventh, third. When some of the other drivers stopped - because I was one of the first drivers in parc ferme - I was asking what time they had done, just to have a reference, how far from pole position I finished this qualifying. And everybody was saying two or three tenths more than me, so I was starting to get excited and then finally came the confirmation.
Q. (Carlos Miquel – Diario AS) Fernando, do you think a podium is a realistic option, a real option for tomorrow, third position?
FA: Right now I have to say yes, it will be our aim tomorrow. As we've already said, we don't know who is fourth, who is fifth, because it's quite confused, and we obviously need to wait two or three hours to see on which laps people will stop tomorrow but anyway, being on pole position, the podium is a real possibility. When you are eighth or ninth, the podium is just a dream, so even if we are a little bit lighter on fuel or whatever, the podium will be our target tomorrow.
Q. (Joris Fioriti – AFP) Fernando, do you think you could have the same second part of the season that you had last year?
FA: That will depend a little bit on the other people because it's true that in the last half of the season last year it was very good for us and we scored more points than anybody but this was due to the performance of the car which reached a very good level last year, in the last couple of races, plus the little mistakes that other drivers made and the other teams. I remember Singapore, Felipe with the fuel rig in the pit lane. In Fuji, at the start, all the first four cars were touching each other and going off the track, so you always had a combination of factors that put me in a very good position in the last half of the season. For sure Renault will improve the car, for sure we are a very strong team and we will be better and better at every race but at the moment, I think Red Bull, Brawn, McLaren now, they are also very, very strong. They don't help us, it will be difficult to win a race this year, or something like that.
1. Alonso
Renault 637.5
2. Vettel Red
Bull-Renault 655.0
3. Webber Red
Bull-Renault 652.0
4. Hamilton
McLaren-Mercedes 650.5
5. Rosberg
Williams-Toyota 654.0
6. Kovalainen
McLaren-Mercedes 655.5
7. Raikkonen
Ferrari 651.5
8. Button
Brawn-Mercedes 664.5
9. Nakajima
Williams-Toyota 658.0
10. Massa Ferrari
11. Buemi Toro
Rosso-Ferrari 671.5
12. Trulli
Toyota 671.3
13. Barrichello
Brawn-Mercedes 689.0
14. Glock
Toyota 679.2
15. Piquet
Renault 667.7
16. Heidfeld
BMW-Sauber 658.0
17. Fisichella
Force India-Mercedes 680.5
18. Sutil
Force India-Mercedes 683.5
19. Kubica
BMW-Sauber 666.0
20. Alguersuari
Toro Rosso-Ferrari 675.5
Qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix today was overshadowed by an accident suffered by Ferrari’s Felipe Massa towards the end of the second session. Rubens, Jenson and everyone at the Brawn GP team sends their very best wishes to Felipe.
Jenson and Rubens progressed through the first qualifying session with relative ease although Rubens suffered from traffic on his final flying lap and Jenson’s lap was compromised by yellow flags in the final sector. Q2 was going well when Rubens suffered a problem with the rear of the car at turn three on his second flying lap and was forced to return to the pits. Having again been caught in traffic on his first timed run, his best time was only enough for 13th position.
Jenson sat out for the first half of Q3 as the team changed a component as a precautionary measure and he therefore took to the track with just under three and a half minutes remaining and with a heavier fuel load than planned. Jenson had enough time for one run which put him in eighth position on the grid.
JENSON BUTTON
“The car felt reasonably good through the first two sessions today although none of my laps were perfect due to traffic and yellow flags. I thought we would be competitive in Q3 but unfortunately the work required on the car meant that I was only able to get one run and that was on a heavy fuel load with four more laps of fuel than we had planned. We were on the edge of the working range for the tyres today with the cooler temperatures so the car wasn’t handling quite as well as in practice. Starting from eighth on the grid isn’t ideal and I’m on the dirty side but we’re remaining positive and will see what we can do from there. Hopefully we will hear that Felipe is ok and we are thinking of him.”
RUBENS BARRICHELLO
“We had a great plan for qualifying today and I was confident that we could have a really good session. Unfortunately I had the problem with the rear of the car on my second timed lap in Q2 and I had to come into the pits and abandon the lap. I was unlucky to have had traffic on my first lap otherwise that might have been enough to make it into the top ten. Starting from 13th at this circuit where it is almost impossible to overtake will make for a really tough race tomorrow but at least we can choose the fuel load and we’ll give everything to get some points. But my position today is unimportant. My thoughts right now are with Felipe and his family who are really close friends of mine and I hope he is going to be ok and will be fit as soon as possible.”
ROSS BRAWN
“A very difficult day for the team today and most importantly we hope to hear soon that Felipe is ok. Qualifying was going well for both drivers in Q1 and Q2 before Rubens’ car had a problem at turn three on his final run of the session, costing him a place in the top ten. We changed the same part on Jenson’s car as a precaution just before the start of the final qualifying session. The process was completed as quickly as possible but left Jenson with only one chance of a flying lap. Having already fuelled the car at the start of Q3, he was therefore considerably heavier than planned and didn’t have a particularly good balance. It is of course frustrating to have qualified in these positions after a good start to the weekend yesterday but we have two good strategies and will take advantage of any opportunities which arise to score as many points as possible.”
Fernando Alonso - 1st: "The result this afternoon is fantastic. We knew after Germany that we were more competitive and that the car has really improved with our latest updates, so we decided to take an aggressive strategy this weekend. Tomorrow, our aim is to finish on the podium and starting from pole position gives us a good chance of doing that. Also, with three Renault engines filling the first three places on the grid, it's another demonstration of the superb work done by the whole team."
Nelson Piquet - 15th: "I knew that qualifying was going to be difficult. I managed to get a good lap in Q1, but in Q2 there was a lot of traffic and I couldn't repeat the lap time, so unfortunately I missed out on Q3. Tomorrow it's vital that we make a good start and I will do my best to have a strong race."
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering: "I think after Germany we regained a lot of confidence in the car and the developments we had made to it. We therefore came here intending to go racing aggressively and by taking pole position we have accomplished the first part of our task. We now need to translate that into a good, solid finish tomorrow, hopefully on the podium."
*Sebastian Vettel - 2nd: "That was good today. I had a pretty difficult start to the weekend and was struggling with the balance of the car in yesterday's practice, but overnight we made a good step forward and it's now looking good for the race. However, the challenge, no matter if you are first, second or third, is the threat from the cars behind us that are equipped with KERS, as there's quite a run down to Turn one here. Today's qualifying was a bit 'on the edge', first there were yellow flags and then I got caught in traffic on the second timed lap, so it wasn't ideal. I was confident in the last qualifying though and we've got a good result. Let's see tomorrow, it should be a good race for us."
Mark Webber - 3rd: "Not a great session for me in Q3, as I made a mistake in Turn 2. Sebastian did a clean lap and it should be a good race between all of us tomorrow. Well done to Fernando too, it's good for Renault to have another engine up here and to be on pole. Rubens (Barrichello) didn't make it through into Q3, so Sebastian and I are in a good position to capitalise on that and hopefully get some points. The KERS cars will be arriving on the straight somewhere, we don't know when, but that's how it is."
Christian Horner, Team Principal: "First of all, it's great to hear that Felipe Massa is conscious and the initial signs look good, especially as it was quite a nasty looking accident. Both our guys did a very good job today - second and third is a good team starting place. The KERS cars are going to be
a factor tomorrow, especially Lewis' McLaren. Well done to Renault for its top three on the grid. Hopefully we can convert our starting position into good points tomorrow."
Fabrice Lom, Renault, Principal Engineer Track Support: "A very strange qualifying session today with Massa's accident and the collapse of the timing, but in the end, it was a one, two, three for Renault, so we can only be happy. It would be good to have the two Red Bulls in front, but a great day for Renault nonetheless and congratulations to Fernando. The KERS cars are on the dirty side of the track tomorrow – let's wait for the weights of the cars, but I think we're in good shape for tomorrow."
Hirohide Hamashima - Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development
What was significant about today's running?
"Firstly, we send our very best wishes to Felipe Massa. We hope he makes a quick recovery.
"Lap times were exceptionally close today and we saw an interesting battle through the qualifying sessions. There was plenty of suspense even after the sessions had ended. Congratulations to Fernando Alonso for his first pole since Monza in 2007. Starting first is a very big prize here, as overtaking is so difficult. I am very interested to see the starting weights of the cars as I think we will have a fascinating race."
What are the tyre strategy considerations for tomorrow's race?
"The track surface continues to improve here, even though there was very heavy rain last night, and this improvement allows both tyres to work far better than we saw on Friday. Our data suggests that the super soft Bridgestone could be the favoured race tyre for many. We didn't see much running of the soft tyre in the afternoon today, but in the morning there were some driver comments that there was not as much grip from this tyre and the lap times are slower. This means that how to use the soft tyre is likely to be the key consideration for tomorrow's race."
Nick Heidfeld (16th, Q1 - 1m 21.738s):
"Today's result is a true disappointment. I was hoping to make it into the top ten. Being second fastest in free practice this morning wasn't the benchmark for what was possible in qualifying, but at least it proved overall it went quite well. Then my first outing in qualifying confirmed the performance. I was sixth fastest at that period of the session. But then it all went wrong during my second outing. I didn't have a clear track on my out lap, which was why my first flying lap wasn't good. On my second flying lap I had Kazuki Nakajima in front of me, but couldn't back off because Rubens Barrichello was behind me. Then I went wide in turn eleven and that was it. It was not even enough to get into Q2."
Robert Kubica (19th, Q1 - 1m 21.901s):
"We were a little bit unlucky in qualifying. I had yellow flags on the first quick lap of my second attempt. On my second and final quick lap I had two cars in front of me. Although they moved off line they created dirty air. So I lost a lot of time as the car was sliding. This result is very disappointing. I will try my very best tomorrow but realistically this will be a very tough race."
Mario Theissen, BMW Motorsport director:
"This was a disappointing qualifying. Looking at our performance in this morning's free practice, we had the chance to achieve top ten positions. Due to what happened on the track both drivers were unable to exploit the car's full potential. We all hope that Felipe Massa has not suffered any severe injuries in his accident."
Willy Rampf, BMW Sauber head of engineering:
"Obviously everybody in the team is very disappointed with this result. On his best lap, Nick was quicker than this morning before he made a mistake and lost everything. Otherwise he would have made it safely to Q2. Robert didn't have a free lap. That was it."
Giancarlo Fisichella (17th, Q1 - 1m 21.807s):
"I'm really thinking of Felipe right now as he's a good friend. I hope he's doing OK. Personally we knew it was going to be difficult today with the low grip but to just be one or two tenths from getting into Q2 is a little bit frustrating. The only problem was the lack of grip and it was difficult to do a good lap. It's going to be a tough race, but I would still like to get a good finish to take us over the mid-season break and into the next race where we have a lot more development to come."
Adrian Sutil (18th, Q1 - 1m 21.868s):
"First of all, I really hope Felipe is OK. I'm really thinking of him now. For us, unfortunately the qualifying wasn't as good as we hoped. In the morning I just made a mistake and went off line and lost some grip and went into the barriers. The guys did a great job to get the car ready but there was only enough time at the end of the session for two flying laps. All we needed was an extra couple of tenths that would have helped us go into Q2 so without the accident I think we could have been quite good. At least in 18th we have a couple of cars behind us but it's going to be a tough race."
Dominic Harlow, Force India chief race engineer:
"It was very concerning to see Felipe Massa's accident in the second part of qualifying today and the team sincerely hopes that he is OK. For us today we missed the cut by a tenth and a half, in what is probably one of the closest F1 qualifying sessions ever front to back. It shows that with another step in car performance at the next event we will again be back amongst the pack in qualifying. Adrian had a small off this morning, and to get the car back out for Q1 stretched the team, and I have to congratulate them on their effort and teamwork in so doing."
LEWIS HAMILTON
MP4-24-04
P3 programme
1m21.009s (19 laps, 1st)
Lewis completed three runs this morning. Starting on Prime tyres, he ran a four-lap stint (1m22.280s fastest time) to measure the changes made to the car overnight. He declared himself more satisfied with the car's rear-end and completed two further runs - a single lap of 1m22.074s (the run was cut short following Adrian Sutil's crash into the tyre barrier) and a five-lap run on the Option (1m21.009s). He finished the session fastest overall.
Qualifying
Q1 1m20.842s (2nd)
Q2 1m20.465s (2nd)
Q3 1m21.839s (4th overall)
With a change in weather conditions making the circuit trickier to drive, both drivers struggled for pace this afternoon. Lewis ran three laps on the Prime before switching to Options and setting a 1m20.842s, second fastest. He completed two single-lap runs on Options (1m21.064s and 1m20.465s) in Q2 to again finish second. Into Q2, despite some confusion over the overall positions following a brief failure of the timing system, he set a 1m21.839s to line up fourth, on the dirty side of the track, for tomorrow's race.
"It was so hard out there this afternoon," said Lewis. "Maybe we could have been closer to the front because my final lap wasn't a great one, but fourth is a good position from which to start tomorrow's race. We're still not quick enough and need to keep pushing but, nonetheless, it feels great to be back up there competing for the first few rows on the grid.
"I have a few cars to try and boost past so I hope there's some good grip on my side of the grid - it would be fantastic to get the lead into the first corner.
"Finally, I want to send my best wishes to Felipe. It looked quite a big crash so I just hope he's okay."
HEIKKI KOVALAINEN
MP4-24-03
P3 programme
1m21.655s (20 laps, 4th)
Three runs for Heikki too this morning. Two four-lappers on Primes (1m22.833s and 1m22.414s bests) and a final run on Options (four laps, 1m21.655s. Like Lewis, Heikki declared himself satisfied with the changes made to MP4-24 overnight. He ended the session fourth overall.
Qualifying
Q1 1m21.750s (15th)
Q2 1m20.807s (7th)
Q3 1m22.095s (6th overall)
Again struggling with grip in Q1, Heikki ran first on Primes (1m22.340s) and then Options (1m21.750s) to finish 15th. He completed two runs on Options (1m21.428s and 1m20.807s) in Q2 to comfortably graduate into Q3. For the final session, Heikki's best lap placed him sixth overall, on Options, with a 1m22.533s.
Heikki said: "It was harder to find grip on the track this afternoon, and the car was sliding around quite a bit. It was better on heavier tanks, but it was still difficult to get enough heat into the tyres. At one point, I overcooked them - it was tricky to get the right balance, so sixth was the best I could do today.
"The most encouraging thing about today is that we're much closer to the front. With the same upgrades as Lewis, we've made great progress, and it shows the incredible efforts of everybody in the team. I don't know if any other team in the paddock could have made such a big step. We should all be encouraged by that - but the work starts again to get us back to the very front.
"I really hope that Felipe is okay. I really hope he isn't injured as it reminds me of my accident in Barcelona last year."
MARTIN WHITMARSH
Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
"Both Lewis and Heikki drove solid laps in Q3, and the result was our best overall qualifying performance of the year so far. We believe we have a good race strategy, and we should therefore be competitive tomorrow. Our goal is to have a car, or ideally cars plural, in podium positions by flag-fall - and that looks possible.
"Felipe's accident was very unpleasant to watch on the TV monitors, and we all very much hope that he's sustained only minor injuries from which he'll make a full and fast recovery."
NORBERT HAUG
Vice-president, Mercedes-Benz Motorsport
"First and foremost, our thoughts are with Felipe Massa who suffered a terrible accident in Q2, which was beyond his control. Hopefully he will recover soon.
"After such a shocking accident, it is difficult to go back to evaluating the performance immediately after qualifying, which turned out to be due to a malfunctioning timing system - more of a guessing session.
"But Lewis and Heikki did great laps and the team has made big steps forward during the last month. Starting from the second and third rows - even if both our drivers will be positioned on the less grippy side - is a good basis for tomorrow's race. I obviously hope that Lewis and Heikki will be able to 'do a Nurburgring' on their colleagues ahead of them by making up, in the best case, respectively three or five places to the first corner."
Pending of the publication of fuel loads, the AT&T Williams team was pleased with a good qualifying session that positions Nico Rosberg in a competitive fifth position for tomorrow’s race start on a twisty circuit where overtaking is traditionally limited. Despite finishing the second ‘low fuel’ session in third and thereby making his third appearance in Q3 this year, team-mate Kazuki Nakajima was not able to maintain such strong form into the final top ten shoot-out. He will nevertheless be a strong contender for points, starting Sunday’s race in ninth place.
*Nico Rosberg:
From my point of view, fifth place was okay today and gives us a really good chance for tomorrow. Overall, we have been looking good here and my target remains a podium. Obviously we need to see where everyone else is with fuel and we need a good start and race strategy, but I believe we have some real promise. Given all of this, I am looking forward to the race. Most importantly though, I hope that Felipe is alright.
Kazuki Nakajima:
Initially qualifying went well, certainly up until Q2. I was pleased to make it through into the final ten again, but perhaps I didn’t make the most out of the final session. I struggled with tyre warm-up and couldn’t find the lap time. It may make it a bit difficult tomorrow starting from P9, but let’s see what we can achieve.
Sam Michael, Technical Director:
First and foremost, we all hope that Felipe Massa is okay after his incident. We had a good practice and qualifying session and the car has been quick around here all weekend. Our target now is to race for some good points with both cars, although starts will be tricky with the KERS cars around us, but that’s what we will have to deal with.
Sebastien Buemi - 11th: "Finishing eleventh, one tenth off P10 shows we have made progress, a very big step forward since the last race. It was a good qualifying for us, even if it is frustrating to finish eleventh because you want Q3. But it means we can run whatever fuel load we want for the race and I think we will be in good shape for tomorrow."
Jaime Alguersuari - 20th: "Finishing qualifying with a failure is never good - I had a problem with the throttle control system - but we have to be content because I didn't make any mistakes so far this weekend. On my first two sets of tyres I did a good job. As for the race, I am really looking forward to it and I will be happy if I finish."
Giorgio Ascanelli: "First of all, the thoughts of everyone at Toro Rosso are with Felipe Massa at this time. As for our performance, obviously, the development that was introduced by Red Bull Racing at the British Grand Prix, has partly been used on our cars here for the first time. It is not yet the complete package and it has proved very effective, as can be seen by Sebastien's performance.
"I have to congratulate Jaime on a good job without doing anything silly. His stop was due to a problem caused by the introduction of the new hydraulic system, required to run the new modifications. We still have a long way to go with this car, but I think we can have a good race. Eleventh on the grid better than tenth? If it's a choice between an egg today or a chicken tomorrow, I would always take the egg!"
Jarno Trulli - 12th: "I have not been particularly happy with the car all weekend and unfortunately we couldn't make it into the top 10 today. The lap times have been very close all weekend and just a couple of tenths makes a big difference in the standings. Ultimately we didn't have the pace. It's difficult at the moment to judge exactly where we were lacking but obviously we were hoping for a better result. I am a racing driver and I never give up; the race is long and anything can happen so I will do my best to score points."
Timo Glock -14th: "I am disappointed with that result, especially because this morning I felt we had quite a good package and the car felt competitive, even though I lost some time. For some reason we just couldn't get the best lap time out of the car, which is a pity. On my last flying lap I caught another car in the final corner and lost a little time; I am sure I would have been able to go faster but that's how things go in qualifying on a twisty track like this. Starting from 14th makes it difficult for us tomorrow because overtaking is pretty much impossible here but we will see what we can do in terms of strategy and of course we will do our best."
Pascal Vasselon - Senior General Manager Chassis: "Obviously we have had a few troubles this weekend. We had various technical issues with both cars, including a loss of hydraulic pressure for Timo this morning, and this has caused us to lose some valuable track time. The field is clearly very tight at the moment and if you are not getting the full potential out of your car, it costs you a lot. We haven't performed well so far this weekend and the result today was not good enough. Still, we have to focus on the race tomorrow and look at the various options we have to try to make up positions."
