Qualifying - selected team and driver quotes

[irguiz]

09 Jun 2012

Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne on failing to make it through from Q1 after his Practice Three accident; Williams’ Pastor Maldonado on the dramatic close to his last flying lap in Q2; Kimi Raikkonen on his hydraulic issues in the Lotus; McLaren’s Jenson Button on making it through to the top-ten shootout for the first time since Bahrain; and Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel on taking his second successive Canadian pole position. All 24 drivers and senior team personnel report back on Saturday’s action…

Red Bull
[Mark Webber (4th, Q3 - 1m 14.346s)
“I’m surprised I’m in fourth – it wasn’t the smoothest session, so I’m actually quite surprised to be there. I wasn’t super happy with the last few runs in terms of confidence in the car and that means you don’t get the most out of yourself, so fourth is okay. It’s a long race and we’re up there. Seb did a very good lap. The car’s good here and the weather should be good tomorrow for the race.”

Christian Horner, Red Bull team principal
“A strong team performance today. Sebastian looked really competitive throughout qualifying, going quickest on his first run in Q3 and improving slightly on his second run to take pole position for tomorrow. Mark also had a strong qualifying and will line up on the second row of the grid, we had a small issue with a tyre blanket on his last run, but nonetheless he did an excellent job and to be starting on pole and the second row is a great for tomorrow’s Grand Prix.”

[/b]Cyril Dumont, Renault Sport F1 support to Red Bull[/b]
“What a lap from Sebastian today, it was very solid. Mark was a bit behind, but I think he will be up there tomorrow also. It’s good how the team has reacted to the start of the season and got the pole today. Engine-wise, we know there are many straights on this circuit so it works the engine a lot. There is also the hairpin which is difficult as it has a low RPM; it’s not that easy but we managed it quite well and we got this result.”

McLaren
Jenson Button (10th, Q3 - 1m 15.182s)
“For Q3, we were a bit stuck for tyre choice: used options would have probably kept us 10th, so we decided to roll the dice and run new primes. It was a tough decision, and, with the benefit of hindsight, we probably shouldn’t have run at all. It was always going to be tricky to beat anyone in Q3 by running primes, since everyone else was on options, but we didn’t have any new options remaining. So we thought we’d give it a go. Today wasn’t great, you’d have to say, and 10th isn’t the best place to start, but it looks like being even hotter tomorrow - probably the hottest race of the year so far - so it may well throw up a few surprises for everyone. I still think we can still have a good race, even from the fifth row.”

Martin Whitmarsh, McLaren team principal
“Lewis drove a great lap in Q3 today, and will start tomorrow’s race from the front row as a result. And when Lewis is on the front row, you always fancy his chances, don’t you? Jenson, having lost a lot of track time through no fault of his own yesterday, was always going to be playing catch-up today. In the circumstances, therefore, he did very well to get through to Q3 this afternoon, especially as it was so close at the top of the time-sheets. But, in getting there, he’d used up all his new option tyres, which meant there was little point in his re-using one of his already-used sets of options in Q3, since doing so would have been unlikely to have afforded him the opportunity to improve his grid position significantly over the P10 that was already in the bag by virtue of having made it through to Q3. So, instead, he did just one run in Q3 on new primes, and will therefore start tomorrow’s race on those primes. I suppose you could say it’s a slightly adventurous strategy - but then, given Jenson’s troubled running so far, an adventurous strategy was always going to be what was required for him here today. And, as we all know, having watched with fearful thrill his wondrous run from stone-last to triumphant first here last year, there’s probably no-one in the world better able to exploit an adventurous strategy at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve than Jenson Button.”

Mercedes
Nico Rosberg (5th, Q3 - 1m 14.411s)
"Today's qualifying session went pretty well and P5 is a good starting position to gain a strong result here in Montreal. I can still hope for a podium finish tomorrow as we have worked very hard on our race pace over the weekend. That's why I feel quite positive because the race will depend on good tyre management as the key factor."

Michael Schumacher (9th, Q3 - 1m 14.812s)
"Well, this certainly was not how we had planned our qualifying to be today. Our calculation for Q3 was to go for two laps and attack on the second one after we had seen at the beginning of Q3 that one lap did not work properly. I don't really know how we managed not to make it over the line early enough to start the second lap but, when I passed the line, the team told me it was too late. We could not have achieved pole today as we could not do the times the guys up front were doing, but I could most likely have been able to do the time I was doing earlier in qualifying and start the race from a bit a better position. I now have to take it how it is and make the attack in the race tomorrow that I could not do today."

Ross Brawn, Mercedes team principal
"As we are getting used to this year, it was an extremely close session and warming up the tyres in the right way was a critical factor. In the final part of qualifying, both drivers had two sets of options available and completed a single timed lap on their first run. They felt that the tyres were not quite up to temperature, so Nico opted to do a second one-lap run with a more aggressive out-lap, while Michael chose to do two timed laps, with a slower lap followed by a quicker one. This worked well for Nico, who set his fastest time of the session, but we mismanaged Michael's run and lost too much time while looking for a gap in the traffic. He therefore crossed the line 0.04s after the chequered flag came out, and was unable to complete his final lap - although he had set his best first sector time before he backed off. This was certainly not a session where we achieved our full potential, but Nico did a strong job to recover from the running time he lost this morning, and we know that, even from fifth and ninth positions, we will still have plenty of opportunities to make progress through the field tomorrow."

Norbert Haug, vice-president, Mercedes-Benz Motorsport
"A good effort from Nico after he had to miss third practice this morning. He and his engineers could not fine-tune the car in the morning session, so fifth place in this competitive field constitutes a good recovery. Michael was in traffic during the out lap of his final qualifying run so he had to build a gap. The chequered flag came out at the very moment Michael crossed the start and finish line, starting what was supposed to be his fastest qualifying lap. The consequence is that he has to start from ninth position. Our long run pace yesterday and this morning looked quite good, so we are hoping for a good race for both of our drivers tomorrow."

Ferrari
Fernando Alonso (3rd, Q3 - 1m 14.151s)
“I am happy with the way things have gone so far this weekend, especially because the car has proved to be competitive, even on a track which certainly does not suit its characteristics. That is mainly down to the updates we have brought here, which have worked as we expected, which makes me confident for the rest of the season too. I well remember where we were in Australia and if today we are in the fight for pole, it signifies that we have done a good job over the past few months, especially as the others have not exactly been twiddling their thumbs. I am also pleased for Felipe, who is confirming the progress we already saw in recent races: at the start of the championship he was definitely unlucky, but we have always stayed united and now the results are coming, as indeed they should for a driver of his talent. Having said all that, we must not forget that today there are two drivers who were quicker than us, therefore there is still some ground to make up in performance terms, although finally we seem to be able to fight on level terms with the best. It was a rather stressful qualifying because here the times are always very close and it only takes a few tenths of a difference to be in front or down the back. Third on the starting grid is a good position from which to attack in the race, especially as pole is not so important here as elsewhere. Tyre degradation will be one of the key factors on Sunday, given the temperatures will be very different to what we saw yesterday afternoon. Races here are always unpredictable, but for sure it would be very nice to give all the Canadian Ferrari fans a nice result in the thirtieth anniversary year of the death of Gilles Villeneuve. Italy-Spain in the European football? We haven’t spoken about it yet with the team but, if we win, then maybe I might find there are not too many people on hand to change my tyres at the pit stop…!”

Felipe Massa (6th, Q3 - 1m 14.465s)
“I am pleased with the progress made this weekend: starting from sixth is a positive result. However, I can’t be happy with my last lap in Q3: in the second sector, I lost the rear end and that cost me a few tenths and that quite probably meant a few places on the grid. I’m very disappointed because I had the potential to do better than this sixth place. All things considered, I remain confident, because the whole team is moving forward which is very important for the rest of the season. Tomorrow, we will have to pay great attention when it comes to defining our strategy. I think the choice is restricted to just a one or a two stop, but a lot depends on tyre behaviour. We hope to make up some places and bring home a good result. On my helmet I have the name Gilles Villeneuve as a tribute to the memory of a driver who was part of Ferrari history: I am very proud of being able to pay homage to him in the year that marks the thirtieth anniversary of his death. Even if I was only just born when the accident happened, I have always been a big fan of his.”

Pat Fry, Ferrari chassis director
“It’s a good result for the team, on a track that, on paper, did not look like suiting the characteristics of our car. All the same, we proved to be competitive, even if it’s what happens tomorrow in the race that counts. We are working very hard on developing the F2012 and we can now see tangible signs of progress. That is down to all our people, from those in the wind tunnel to those who manufacture the parts to ever tighter deadlines, without forgetting all the other departments and I wish to thank them all for their efforts. We must continue down this route, because while we have managed to close a good part of the gap which separates us from the best, it’s also true that we’re not yet on top. We have various updates here and the majority of them have lived up to our expectations and this too is a positive sign. Tomorrow’s race will be very unpredictable, as indeed has been the case so far in this championship. In Montreal, the Safety Car usually plays its part and we must be ready to tackle every eventuality. There is the unknown factor relating to tyres: today we have seen how the situation changes depending on the temperature, which was decidedly higher than yesterday. It will have a major influence on strategy also because, unlike Monaco, you certainly can’t expect to keep faster cars behind you in the closing stages of the race.”

Stefano Domenicali, Ferrari team principal
“We can be pleased with this qualifying session, the best out of the seven so far this season, with both our drivers in the top three rows on the grid. We are back to being in the hunt for pole and that is the most important fact. It means that all our efforts to improve the performance of the car are bearing fruit. All the more encouraging when one considers that this track actually highlights the very qualities that to date had been our weakest points, in other words traction and top speed. We have made a step forward, but it’s still not enough to be where we want. Now we will concentrate on what looks like being a very unpredictable race. This year, we have already seen that Sunday always throws up some surprises and I don’t think tomorrow will be an exception. We must try and continue to work with the same determination and the same organisation that, especially with Fernando, has allowed us to get the very most out of our potential in the very early part of the season.”

Lotus
Kimi Raikkonen, (12th, Q2 - 1m 14.734s)
“Obviously it’s disappointing to go out in Q2 but we had some issues with the differential which meant the car wasn’t handling as it should. When the grid is so tight it makes a big difference not having the car exactly as you like it. Still, we had no issues on the long runs yesterday, we have options to choose from with the tyres, and the warmer weather is definitely suiting us better so hopefully we can put everything right before tomorrow and go from there. The race is where it counts, so let’s see what we can do.”

Alan Permane, Lotus trackside operations director
“We had a problem with the hydraulics on Kimi’s car in the session which meant the differential was not working properly, so he did a good job to qualify where he did. Romain went through to the final qualifying session comfortably and then did a really good first timed lap in that session on scrubbed tyres. The new tyres didn’t give him the grip and confidence he expected and his lap on these wasn’t any faster. It’s unusual that we would have a warm-up issue here in these conditions, but we’ll be looking at everything to understand what happened.

“The track was very dirty after yesterday’s rain so we saw a lot of evolution today, though it wasn’t particularly tricky to predict. Having said that we’ve had a little bit more trouble than usual setting the cars up; just finding the right balance with the heavy breaking here, making it comfortable enough into the corner and not having too much understeer mid-corner. Certainly with Romain it’s fair to say that he’s not as comfortable as he normally is with his car.

“I have no doubt that we’ll resolve Kimi’s issue for tomorrow. We can see the symptoms clearly on the data and we recognised it very early on. We informed Kimi that there was a problem during qualifying. It wasn’t something we could easily remedy during the session but I’m very confident that we’ll find the problem overnight and fix it.

“In terms of strategy we’ll be assessing different options. Tyre degradation is very low here, so we could see a few teams attempt a one stop race. Overtaking is very much possible here with the long straights and the DRS; it won’t be easy by any means but certainly simpler than in Monaco.”

Williams
Bruno Senna (16th, Q2 - 1m 15.170s)
“It was looking promising in Q1 and I managed to put a few good laps together, but the track evolution caught us out a little bit and there just wasn’t the grip in Q2. It is frustrating to be back in 16th position but we have learnt a lot today and I’m sure we will be stronger tomorrow in the race because the car has been looking strong during long runs all week.”

Mark Gillan, Williams chief operations engineer
“Following a reasonably competitive morning session we struggled to find the pace in qualifying which we now need to analyse and understand with Bruno finishing in 16th and Pastor qualifying in 17th, following a spin on his last flying lap. We have a lot to do tomorrow to get into the points but our high fuel, long run pace is good.”

Pirelli
Paul Hembery, Pirelli motorsport director
“The difference between the two compounds was less than many people anticipated in this afternoon’s warmer conditions, with approximately half a second between the soft and the super-soft tyres. With a short lap and evenly-matched cars, it was almost impossible to predict who might end up with pole position, as the gaps from first to last were incredibly small: just one second spanning the 17 cars in qualifying two. The level of tyre degradation is so far quite contained with the super-soft lasting for 30 laps or more, so we could see a one-stop strategy from some teams while the majority might try a two-stop strategy. The tactics will consist of the timing of the stops, and seeing which teams can get the most performance and durability out of the tyre that suits them best. Canada is always one of the most unpredictable races of the year and the last four races this year have been won by the driver who started from pole - but historically this has been less important in Canada.”