Renault’s Nick Heidfeld on how his fiery exit from final practice ruled him out of qualifying; Rubens Barrichello on how gearbox issues on his Williams robbed him of a proper Q1 run; Heikki Kovalainen on making Q2 and out-qualifying the Force Indias in his soft-tyred Lotus; and Red Bull’s Mark Webber on pipping team mate Sebastian Vettel to pole for the first time this year. All the drivers and leading team personnel report back on Saturday in Barcelona…
Red Bull
Mark Webber (1st, Q3 - 1m 20.981s)
“It was a good session. It was clear going into qualifying that we might have had a bit of a margin and would be battling for pole between ourselves today. You can never underestimate these guys though. We got through Q1 on the first set of hard tyres, which was good, and then in the crucial part of qualifying - in Q3 - it was just about getting the lap right. The lap was pretty good and I was just praying that my number went to the top when I crossed the line. It was a nice lap, a good battle with Seb and today was my day.”
Sebastian Vettel (2nd, Q3 - 1m 21.181s)
“We can’t speak of disappointment, at the end of the day we made a good step forward. Barcelona is the place where everyone brings a lot of new parts and you’re here to find out if they all work. I think we made a step, so did the others, but it looks as though we like this track and our cars feel comfortable here. Looking to qualifying, I didn’t get into the rhythm immediately, so it was not the smoothest run, but I made it on the primes. In Q2 I felt much happier on the soft compound tyres, but unfortunately in the last qualifying I lost a little bit too much and I wasn’t entirely happy with my lap. Mark did a good lap and a better job today. Let’s see tomorrow, it’s a long race and we saved a set of tyres. I think we will be on top of KERS for the race, the guys are pushing hard and we have proved our car has become quicker, so big compliments to the aero guys in the factory and everyone here. We are working hard on KERS. I didn’t have it in Q2 or Q3 today, but I‘m sure we will have it tomorrow for the race.”
Christian Horner, Red Bull team principal
“A great team performance - it’s great for Mark to get his first pole position of the year after a perfect final run in Q3. Sebastian did phenomenal job to join Mark on the front row without the benefit of KERS. The pair had a big margin to our opposition in qualifying, although we know it will be smaller in the race. It was a fantastic team performance, we’re looking forward to tomorrow.”
McLaren
Lewis Hamilton (3rd, Q3 - 1m 21.961s)
“The Red Bulls look very strong, but I’m going to do everything I can to jump at least one - if not both - of them at the start. I hope I can attack tomorrow. When you start from the clean side of the grid, you automatically have a much better opportunity of getting a good start - and, this year, I’ve usually been on the dirty side, so tomorrow will be a bit of a bonus for me. Third on the grid is actually a perfect position – because, if you get a good start, you can slipstream the guys in front. My aim is to be P1 by Turn One! It doesn’t normally go that way, but as long as I don’t go backwards I’ll be happy. When you’re trying to eke every last drop out of the car, you sometimes lock the front wheels - and that’s just what happened on my final lap. While the flat-spot to the front-left doesn’t look perfect, we’ll manage it by re-balancing the wheels, so it’ll be fine. We’ve definitely made an improvement this weekend. We’ll keep pushing: we don’t give up, and with the DRS we should see some good racing tomorrow.”
Jenson Button (5th, Q3 - 1m 21.996s)
“I feel that I did a good lap, so I’m happy with that; my car got better and better throughout the session - I was only three-hundredths slower than Lewis. I was a bit unlucky not to be third, then Fernando got between us as well, so you can see how close it is out there. One major positive is that, like Lewis, I’ll be starting on the clean side of the grid. Another is that, also like Lewis, I’ve got two sets of (option) tyres that have only done one lap and another set that’s brand new - that’s going to be key tomorrow. Having your tyres in good condition makes such a difference - so I think we’re looking in very good shape. There’s a big difference between the option and the prime here, so there’ll be some different strategies tomorrow. We’ll be looking at the strategy tonight and I’m sure we can make the harder tyre work for us too.”
Martin Whitmarsh, McLaren team principal
“We wanted to come through qualifying having retained one set of option tyres for both our drivers, as did Red Bull, and it was for that reason that we were determined to tackle Q1 on prime tyres. There’s a big speed differential between options and primes here in Barcelona, so most teams had no choice other than to use options in Q1, for fear of not making it through to Q2. Fortunately, by contrast, like Red Bull, we were able to conserve our options. The final result at the end of Q3 was P3 for Lewis and P5 for Jenson - in other words good grid slots on the clean side of the track for both our drivers. In actual fact they may have been a little quicker had they gone out when it was less breezy, and had we been able to get our KERS Hybrid up to optimal operating temperature; but I don’t think we’d have been quite as quick as the Red Bulls. To be clear, our KERS Hybrid is an excellent system, thanks in large part to the superlative work done by Mercedes-Benz HighPerformanceEngines, but we struggled to get it up to optimal operating temperature today. Even so, we’re usually a little closer to the Red Bulls’ pace in race trim than we are in qualifying, and we’ve got two brilliant racers in Lewis and Jenson, and as I say they’ll start from the clean side of the track; so, all in all, let’s just say that we’re looking forward to an exciting race tomorrow.”
Ferrari
Fernando Alonso (4th, Q3 - 1m 21.964s)
“I did a perfect lap: I reckon that if I tried to repeat it twenty times, I could not do better! When you do a lap like that it’s hard to put into words what one feels: always being on the limit, in every corner is a really special feeling for a driver. I am very happy with this result, because we have never made it to the second row this year. Sure, pole position is still a long way off: today, Red Bull was once again out of reach and we must work hard to try and get closer. This morning we ran some set-up changes on the car that did not produce the results we were expecting, also partly down to the conditions changing in terms of wind direction. We went back to what we had before for qualifying and instantly it was better. In general, we have made a step forward in performance terms, thanks to the updates we have brought here. So far, in the races we have gone better than in qualifying and so I think we can be in the fight for the podium. It will be tough at the start because the McLarens always get off the line well and then they have one more new set of soft tyres than we do.”
Felipe Massa (8th, Q3 - 1m 22.888s)
“This was definitely not the qualifying performance we were expecting, but all weekend long we have struggled with the balance of the car: we would have needed to be perfect to start a bit further up the order and that was not the case. Let’s hope that, on full tanks, the car works better and then we can see if we can get a good result. On a track like this it will not be easy to manage the tyres in the best way nor to find the best possible strategy. In Q2 we decided to stay in the garage, running the risk of not getting any further, because it would not have made much sense making the cut and then finding ourselves in Q3 without any new tyres: the outcome proved us right, even if we had hoped to make a better job of that opportunity. It is clear we suffer more than the others on the hard tyres. Overtaking? We will definitely see more than in the past at a circuit like this and that will mainly be down to tyre degradation.”
Stefano Domenicali, Ferrari team principal
“This sport never stops throwing up surprises! This morning we had the worst FP3 of the year, with both cars struggling a lot and then we find ourselves commenting on our best qualifying position. Certainly, this fourth place was down to an incredible performance from Fernando, who drove a simply stunning lap in Q3: it is further valediction, if one was ever needed, of why we have made the right choice in extending our relationship in the long term. Felipe was unable to find the right way to go in terms of set-up and he will start from the fourth row. So far this year we have seen that our race pace is better than it is in qualifying: let’s hope it continues like this and that tomorrow we will manage to bring home a good result. It would be important for the team and for all our fans, of whom there are so many here, mainly down to the presence of Fernando.”
Pat Fry, Ferrari head of race track engineering
“A great lap from Fernando who managed to put everything together perfectly without even the slightest mistake. He was brilliant and this position is mainly down to him. We tried to manage tyre use in qualifying as well as possible, without taking risks at the start of Q1, before staying in the garage in Q2 so as to have the chance of a strong hand in Q3 with a new set of option tyres. We introduced a lot of new parts here, but the others have done the same and it seems the gaps have not changed that much: we have to do even better to catch up with the best. A track like this favours cars that have a lot of aerodynamic downforce: that can be seen very clearly by analysing the best times in each sector. Our car is competitive in the first one, but we pay a very heavy price in the other two. That’s where we must improve. As for tomorrow’s race, a lot will depend on tyre life and on finding the right moment to change tyres. It will be a busy time in the pits and everyone will have to give it their best shot to be perfect and that includes the drivers.”
Renault
Vitaly Petrov (6th, Q3 - 1m 22.471s)
“We have got to be happy with the result. The team made a big improvement today, and the result of my car reflects that. Things felt good, the balance of the car was fine and I was able to put in a fast time in Q3 to ensure that we got the car in a good position on the grid. I knew what we had to do today, and did it so I am pleased and looking forward to tomorrow. It should be another action packed race and strategy will be very important.”
Nick Heidfeld (DNQ, Q1 - no time)
“It was a challenging day, and there was not much more we could have done after the exhaust problem this morning. The was a small hole in the right exhaust and then it overheated. Then, when I heard a strange noise, the power cut out and there were flames so I had to stop. Since then, the team worked flat out to try and get me out for the qualifying session, but it was not to be. At least I managed to get a couple of laps on the hard tyres today, and during the race tomorrow I will need to push hard to make up some ground and get up the order.”
Alan Permane, Renault chief race engineer
“It’s been a mixed day for us, that much is certain. It was a great day for Vitaly with P6 on the grid for tomorrow’s race, but there was potential in the lap for an even better time. There was an issue in the second sector, but Vitaly’s first sector was great, and his final sector was fantastic. This was satisfying after having a KERS problem with his car yesterday, which we have fixed and there were no issues from it today. (The problem with Nick’s car was) a failure from the right hand exhaust which caught fire. The bodywork around it then caught fire too and made quite a mess. Nick was able to park the car and get out without any harm to him, but there was a lot of work required in a short period to fix the car ready for qualifying. We tried hard, but unfortunately we were not able to get the car ready for the session. We fitted a different engine and essentially replaced the entire rear end of the car, including gearbox, suspension, radiators and wiring looms. There’s definitely scope for a strong race from Vitaly, especially if he drives like he did today. He has good pace and the car seems to be working well. It’s going to be interesting with the tyres, as there is a big difference between the two compounds. The hard is a lot slower so the soft will be preferred, but its high degradation makes things difficult. We will have to see how the strategy evolves. With Nick, we face a big challenge because we start from the back of the field but we have more strategy options than with Vitaly.”
Mercedes
Nico Rosberg (7th, Q3 - 1m 22.599s)
"With our focus on the race pace this weekend, it was to be expected that we might suffer a little in qualifying. However I am not too disappointed with seventh place as we should be stronger in the race tomorrow, and I believe we can aim to be better than in Istanbul. I have one set of new tyres left which is good for us, and I hope that we can move up with the right strategy."
Michael Schumacher (10th, Q3 - no time)
"Unfortunately in Q3, my KERS system did not work but we reacted in the best possible way. We took the decision to go out on prime tyres to be able to react if other cars did the same. As no-one did, we came in without setting a time so we can now choose our strategy for tomorrow. I will certainly try to have another of the good starts that I have made recently, make up some positions right at the beginning, and take it from there. With DRS and KERS, overtaking is possible even in Barcelona, so it is important to use your tyres well, and I still have a set of fresh tyres left. I will definitely try to make the best out of it."
Ross Brawn, Mercedes GP team principal
"We had a fairly good qualifying session today whilst being mindful of preparing for the race and being in the best possible position for tomorrow. We clearly couldn't have challenged the cars right at the front of the grid, however Nico did a very good job, and he is in great shape for tomorrow's race. Unfortunately with Michael, we incurred a KERS problem of a nature which made it difficult to think that he could achieve a competitive time, and therefore he did not complete a lap. This has the advantage of giving us maximum choice for his tyre strategy for tomorrow."
Norbert Haug, vice-president, Mercedes-Benz Motorsport
"Michael's car suffered a KERS problem before his planned Q3 lap, and therefore we decided not to use another set of fresh tyres. Our strategy in qualifying concentrated from lap one on saving tyres for the race and that is what we have achieved today, albeit probably to the cost of a better place on the grid. Nico got the best possible result under these circumstances. We are sorry for Michael as he definitely would be starting further up the grid without the KERS issue. However tomorrow is the race, and our aim is to repeat what we have achieved in the last two races; to be placed in the top five at the finish line."
Williams
Pastor Maldonado (9th, Q3 - 1m 22.952s)
“I am really happy for the team and all the guys. We’ve tried really hard to find a good balance all weekend. Yesterday’s practice, particularly the first session, was really difficult for me. The car wasn’t great so we took a bit of a risk and decided to run the new rear wing in qualifying. The car seems more competitive, but we still need to keep pushing and improve. I am happy today.”
Rubens Barrichello (19th, Q1 - 1m 26.910s)
“I knew we had a gearbox problem as soon as I went out in Q1 as it felt strange. I think there is a big positive in saving a set of tyres, which is one way of looking at it, but having seen where Pastor finished, we could also have had a good shot inside the top ten. I will be pushing to be there tomorrow.”
Sam Michael, Williams technical director
“That was a great effort by Pastor today to put Williams back into the top ten in qualifying. The next step is to get some points. We had a gearbox problem on Rubens’ car so we're looking into that now. He's fairly low down the order but, taking into consideration our pace and the fact that he will have new tyres, he should be able to make good progress. Thanks to everyone at the factory for their efforts in getting the new rear wings out here. We still have a lot of work to keep progressing.”
Toro Rosso
Sebastien Buemi (11th, Q2 - 1m 23.231s)
“I am very happy with this eleventh place. We finished ahead of the Saubers and Force India and when you consider that as planned I will have some new parts for the next race, it is also a very good sign for Monaco. On top of that we have saved an extra set of new soft tyres for the race, because we opted not to try a second run in Q2, so at the moment everything is looking good. In some ways, it is better to be eleventh than tenth, because if I had made it to Q3, we would probably have gone out and used another set of tyres, but this way, I am on the clean side of the track with one set extra.”
Jaime Alguersuari (13th, Q2 - 1m 23.694s)
“The car worked well in the high speed section of the circuit, but in the slow ones, I did not have a good feel for the car, so we need to look at the data to see how to improve the car in Sector Three before tomorrow’s race. Overall, I am pleased for the team because the result for both of us is good and I think we can run a competitive race. We can expect a three pit stop strategy, because Pirelli’s new Prime is harder than it was before. I am looking forward to having a good race at my home circuit.”
Giorgio Ascanelli, Toro Rosso technical director
“I think eleventh place is a bit better than expected, because at the end of the day, Seb pulled out a magnificent lap. Jaime’s position is a more accurate reflection of our standing, even if he did not get it quite right for whatever reason. It was a difficult session as the temperatures were higher and the car was tail-happy, so Jaime was unable to manage the tyres in the final sector, but like I said Seb did a superb lap with our aggressive choice of only doing one lap on that final run. With Jaime, it was not the right decision to give him another set of tyres for another run in Q2, but you don’t want to upset a driver in the heat of battle when he tells you he can go quicker! We had some updates here and they are producing the results we expected. It involved a lot of work for a small step forward and I think they will work more effectively next weekend in Monaco as we now have a better understanding of them.”
Sauber
Sergio Perez (12th, Q2 - 1m 23.367s)
“I had no particular problems on my last lap, but it wasn’t good. Being 12th isn’t too bad and I’m very positive for the race, but my run with the new tyres today didn’t work out. This is a shame because I’m happy with the car and this is crucial for tomorrow’s race. Compared to this morning, we have made a lot of set up changes and they work.”
Kamui Kobayashi (14th, Q2 - 1m 23.702s no time)
“On my last lap, when I was on new soft tyres, a Force India was in trouble in front of me, he made a mistake in turn ten and that was it for me. It is a shame because our new aero package is working well. We have clearly made progress and the car was definitely good enough for a place in the top ten. However, for the race we should be okay and dealing with the super hard tyres will be tricky for everyone.”
James Key, Sauber technical director
“It was a bit frustrating for all of us and not representative of where we want to be. Much like the last race, we need to come back a little bit tomorrow and try make something of it in the race. We made some good changes to the car overnight, and Kamui in particular was a lot happier with his car on newer tyres this morning. His pace looked pretty promising for qualifying so we didn’t really change the car much for him. For Sergio there was a little bit of work to do to improve his balance a bit, but that was worked on between FP3 and qualifying. Otherwise FP3 was generally quite good and we were happy the pace we appeared to have yesterday had carried over to this morning, so making a shot at Q3 possible. We did just a single run on soft tyres in Q1. Then we did a quick lap on used tyres in Q2 and a single lap on new tyres at the end of the session. Unfortunately Sergio was just a bit shy of the top ten, while Kamui ended up being stuck behind a slower car for half a lap, so he unfortunately lost his time and was unable to progress from P14, which was set on old tyres.”
Lotus
Heikki Kovalainen (15th, Q2 - 1m 25.403s)
"This is obviously a great day for Team Lotus and I want to thank everyone here and back at the factory for working so hard to get us to this next step in our story. There is a lot more to come from this car and while we have performed really well today we can see that we can keep progressing and taking the fight to the cars around us on merit. With the work we did overnight and in FP3 I can feel that we have found a much better balance in the high-speed corners, and we can work more on how it feels in the low speed corners which is where I think we will find even more time, but for now this is a good feeling and puts us into a good position for the race tomorrow."
Jarno Trulli (18th, Q1 - 1m 26.521s)
"First I want to congratulate to the whole team for getting Heikki into Q2. That's a great achievement for us and a sign of what's to come. For me the session was interrupted by what looks like an electrical issue that meant I was stuck in second gear when I went out for my first run, but we changed the steering wheel and I managed to get a lap in right in the last few seconds that still put me ahead of Rubens, so we'll start tomorrow from 18th and with the pace we have in the car in race conditions I think we'll have a good afternoon."
Thierry Salvi, Renault Sport F1 support leader
"We worked hard last night on the data from yesterday and in this morning's session we were able to do more work with the floor and the new exhaust which I think helped us perform so well today. Heikki reaching Q2 is very good news for the whole team, and we feel that there is a lot more to come. Rather than just working on different parts of the car and making those parts work, we will be able to make them work well together and the results of this will continue to be seen as we progress through the season. The plan for tomorrow is to keep our focus on maintaining our reliability. The performance matters throughout the race, not just in qualifying, and we need to see how the tyre degradation influences our strategy but for now congratulations to everyone and we must enjoy this feeling today."
Tony Fernandes, Lotus team principal
"I am so thrilled. It is almost unbelievable but this is a great day for Team Lotus and just reward for the effort that the whole team keeps putting in. I am so thrilled for everyone associated with our team. Heikki did a fantastic lap and the whole team worked together brilliantly to give him the chance to take his car into Q2, and on top of that Jarno managed to put in a great lap in the dying seconds to put himself into 18th place under a great deal of pressure. We have a lot of work to do so we are not going to get carried away, but it is important that we enjoy days like this and the feeling that comes with hard work being rewarded with this sort of result. As I keep saying, these small steps will keep us moving up the grid, so well done and thank you to everyone."
Mike Gascoyne, Lotus chief technical officer
“That is a very pleasing result and thank you to the whole team for today's result. We took advantage of the misfortune that befell a couple of the other cars but Heikki did a great job to get the best out of his runs today, and Jarno put in a strong performance to get in a decent time at the end of Q1 after a gearbox problem cut into his first run. Now the important thing is to focus on having a good race tomorrow and learning as much as we can about the upgrades we have brought here over a race distance."
Force India
Paul di Resta (16th, Q2 - 1m 26.126s)
“I don’t think our position on the grid is that representative of our true pace this weekend. We took the decision very early on that saving tyres for the race would free up our strategy a bit. That means I’ve got two sets of new options and a set of new primes to use tomorrow. On paper that looks like the sensible approach so hopefully things will work out. How we use the tyres is also important because there’s a big difference between the two compounds in terms of pace. Also, the prime being used here is much harder than usual and so it lasts a bit longer. I’m looking forward to the race and I’m sure we can come away with a better result than our qualifying performance.”
Adrian Sutil (17th, Q2 - 1m 26.571s)
“We switched back to our traditional aero package this morning because we didn’t really have enough time to understand all the new parts that we brought here. So we went back to a package and balance that we were already happy with. We also know that qualifying is not as important as it used to be and that race strategy now plays a bigger factor in your race result. That’s why we only ran the prime tyres during Q2 so that we could keep some new option tyres for the race. We feel this is the best approach for tomorrow and hopefully it will pay us back.”
Robert Fernley, Force India deputy team principal
“We took the decision today to sacrifice grid position to be better prepared for the race. It means losing a few places on the grid but gives Paul and Adrian three sets of new tyres for the race. From P16 and P17 it will be tough to score points, but the races so far this season have demonstrated that there is plenty of room to make the strategy work to our advantage. We also reverted back to our older spec aero platform because we haven’t really found the crossover we hoped to achieve with the new introductions. That’s why we felt it was safer to stick with a known quantity. We will take another look at our new concept and try to develop it through for Monaco, but I expect it to be a phased introduction over the next two or three races.”
Virgin
Timo Glock (20th, Q1 - 1m 27.315s)
“I think we had a good qualifying today. We had a bit of trouble with the first set of tyres as they didn’t work as they should and I was a little worried. The second lap was pretty spot on I have to say, although I made a small mistake in turn 7 as I was pushing so hard. We spent pretty much the whole of Friday not being able to concentrate on set-up and it’s been quite hard to get the old package working well again. We tried our best this morning and in the end it wasn’t too bad in qualifying. Now we have to focus on the race and just stay positive as we chip away at improving the car step by step.”
Jerome D’Ambrosio (23rd, Q1 - 1m 28.556s)
“It wasn't such a smooth day for me today. For some reason in the morning session we couldn't find the same speed that we had yesterday and then in qualifying I only really had one lap because I had a hydraulic failure during my first run. But even though it wasn't the most straightforward session, the team did a great job to fix the car and we are in the race, so let's see tomorrow.”
John Booth, Virgin team principal
“This morning Jerome struggled to extract the same speed as yesterday from our race package, and his qualifying was then compromised by a hydraulic failure on his first qualifying run. The team quickly located the cause, a cut O-ring, and replaced it in record time, enabling him to get out on track, even though his time was not representative of either his or the car's potential. Timo had a better session, although he had slightly less rear grip than we expected on his first run, but a tyre pressure adjustment enabled him to set a quicker lap. As for the race tomorrow, a two-car finish continues to be our goal. We are operating both cars in a specification that complies fully with the technical directive regarding engine/exhaust configurations issued to the teams last week by the FIA. We will continue to refine our recent upgrade over the forthcoming races."
HRT
Vitantonio Liuzzi (21st, Q1 - 1m 27.809s)
“We can be happy about today’s qualifying, there was some improvement with the upgrades, now we need to keep pushing for new updates in the next race. We are in the right direction to improve the car and the team as a whole. So we’re doing well and need to work hard to make the next step. It’s very positive to be in and amongst the Virgins, it’s important for us to do a good race tomorrow for the home crowd. There’s always a great atmosphere in Spain but it’s even more motivating when you’re driving for a Spanish team, you can feel the support and want to give something back to the fans by doing well. Hopefully we can get a good start tomorrow and have no issues with pit stops. It will be a difficult race as we’ve suffered a bit with the new Pirelli compounds.”
Narain Karthikeyan (22nd, Q1 - 1m 27.908s)
“Yesterday and today have been very difficult, especially P2 and P3 where we drove with new parts and didn’t have the right balance. After that I was a little bit worried about qualifying but we pulled everything together. We sat down and analysed the situation. I’m happy to be in front of our nearest competitors for the first time and also close to Tonio. I’m pleased to be in this position, especially since it’s the team’s home grand prix, now let’s see how the race goes tomorrow”.
Colin Kolles, HRT team principal
“Today’s qualifying had some positives and some negatives. The positive side is that we were quicker than one of the Virgins and made some steps forward. The negative part is that we could’ve had both Virgins behind us but Tonio didn’t have the best lap. My impression is that we made some progress and will make some more, let’s see what happens in the race. We will use a strategy which best suits the car, not too different from the rest. We’ll try and run as much as possible on option tyres.”
Pirelli
Paul Hembery, Pirelli motorsport director
“We’d like to congratulate Mark Webber for his first pole position with us. Like a number of other drivers he was able to use the new PZero Silver hard tyres to get through the first qualifying session and also save a set of PZero Yellow soft tyres for the race, making use of what appears to be the perfect strategy so far. But Mercedes have also put a very interesting plan in place by running Michael Schumacher on the PZero Silver tyres in Q3: it will be fascinating to see how he gets on in the race. As we’ve hoped, the teams are using our tyres to put in place increasingly creative race tactics, which should provide us with another great race tomorrow. I’d also like to give a special mention to Williams: a fantastic effort from Pastor Maldonado has put the team in the top 10.”
Minggu, 22 Mei 2011
FIA post-qualifying press conference - Spain
Reproduced with kind permission of the FIA
Drivers: 1 - Mark Webber (Red Bull); 2 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull), 3 - Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)
Q: Mark, it is not your team-mate for once. Your first pole of the season and your first since Belgium 2010. How did you do that?
Mark Webber: Well it was a good session. I think it was pretty clear going into qualifying we might have had a bit of margin so it was going to be probably down to Seb and I, maybe, for the front row. Without being arrogant, but it just looked like that. You can never underestimate these guys but we thought we were probably going to battle for pole between ourselves. We got through on the first set of hards so that was nice to do that. Some other people did as well. Then coming to the crucial part of qualifying it was just getting the lap right for Q3 so that lap was pretty good. I was just praying my number went above number one when I crossed the gantry over the start-finish line and it did. It was a nice lap. It was a good battle with Seb and today was my day.
Q: Was it important for you to be second out on the track to Sebastian so you knew what you push for, what you had to achieve?
MW: I don’t have a clue what time Sebastian does. You don’t know if he makes a mistake or if he does a phenomenal lap or whatever. You have just got to take control of yourself and get the job done.
Q: Sebastian, I suppose the consolation is that this is your 10th consecutive front row start. But how disappointing is it that your run of pole positions has come to an end?
Sebastian Vettel: Well I don’t think we can speak of big disappointments. At the end of the day I think we made a good step forward. Barcelona is usually the place where everyone brings a lot of parts and you are here to find out if all of them work. I think we did a step so did the others, but it looks like we like this track and our car feels very comfortable. In quali itself, Q1 I did not really get into the rhythm immediately so it was not the smoothest run but I made it on the primes. Then Q2 I felt much happier on the soft compound and unfortunately then the last qualifying I lost a little bit too much. I wasn’t entirely happy with my lap. We had some problems. Mark did a good job so it was between us and he did a better job today. We see tomorrow. It is a long race. We saved a set of tyres, so did I think the top three and Jenson (Button) as well so we will see what we can do tomorrow.
Q: Talking of problems. Was it KERS? You didn’t use it on your final run. How much did you lose from it and how big a problem could that be in the race?
SV: Well I am not afraid. In the race I think we will be on top of it again. It seems to be a bit of an endless story. The guys are pushing very hard and I think we did an exceptional job today. We proved that our car has become quicker. We had a quick base but we made it even better so big compliments to the aero department in the factory and to all the guys. Yes, we are working very hard on the KERS. No, I didn’t use it for Q2 and Q3 but I am sure we will have it tomorrow. It is difficult to say. It is not right to say I did not have KERS that is why Mark is on pole. I think he deserved pole. He did a better job today but surely it was not ideal.
Q: Lewis, third place in the current climate I am sure was exactly what you were hoping for. But you were pushing very hard and made a slight error into turn 10 that may have flat-spotted one of your tyres. Can that be a concern for the race?
Lewis Hamilton: No, I don’t think it will. I do have a slight flat spot but fortunately I can start on those tyres and we can rebalance the wheel so it shouldn’t be a problem for the race. But, no, very happy with today’s result. Obviously you can see the gap between ourselves and the Red Bulls has increased. However, we have improved this weekend so the guys have been working extremely hard. Fortunate just to stay ahead of the Ferrari. That was very close.
Q: Looking ahead to tomorrow’s race. We have seen more overtaking in 2011 and this track could be the acid test for the new regulations. Do you think your race pace is good enough to keep with Sebastian and Mark?
LH: No. No. They have got a second in qualifying, probably a second and a bit. But we will push as hard as we can. Obviously we have got to push to the amount where you also save your tyres through the run. We have been closer in the previous races so I anticipate we will be much closer than one second but whether or not it’s within a tenth or so we will wait and see.
Q: Mark, pole last year and winner here last year. I am sure you would love a repeat?
MW: Absolutely, yes. I can go and relax tonight, have a good sleep, and come back and do the best job I can tomorrow. I am looking forward to it. It should be a good race. As you say, a lot of changes from previous years with the tyres and the rear wing around here but in the end I have got a lot of experience already from the first few races and looking forward to trying to get the victory tomorrow.
Q: Mark, from what you were saying a couple of days ago we must assume all has gone perfectly so far?
MW: Yeah, it was a pretty good Friday. Nice build up this morning and got a reasonable lap in the end there. It was nice to get a clean lap and get a reasonable lap time down. You never know if it was quite enough but today it was. Obviously Seb did not have the smoothest of days so that can happen. I have had plenty of those. That’s the way it goes sometimes. We are both on the front row so great for the team. We didn’t bring any developments here but we just brought the new spark plugs but it seems like everything is working in the right direction. The guys have done a great job at the factory. Again it is a credit to all the team. We can get very, very blasé with these type of performances but it is down to a lot of hard work from everyone at Milton Keynes and also Renault, endless effort from them as well at Viry. Seb and I are working reasonably hard as well so in the end good result for the team and we’re in reasonable shape for tomorrow’s race.
Q: Your seventh pole position and last year you were again on pole here and you became the 10th winner from pole in 10 years.
MW: I hope we make it 11. I think it is a different Barcelona grand prix tomorrow, like we have not seen before. For sure there will be a few lead changes, here and there maybe. I hope not too many, but if I am in this position coming round the last corner then, of course, I will be happy.
Q: Talking of the last corner. Another journalist asked, did you use the wing in the last corner. Was it open?
MW: Yep.
Q: It is thought that perhaps you were the only team to do that.
MW: Yeah, it is not easy. I don’t know if I opened the lap with it but I think I might have closed the lap with it, but you have got to concentrate. The car is good, no question about it. We have a good car aerodynamically, there is no secret about it, and we know how to get the car to perform well in most conditions. This is what we decided to do today and we won’t leave much change on the table in terms of performance wherever we can. We try to give the maximum. If the corner is a corner which you can take in that style then we will try.
Q: Sebastian, how much were you were hurt by this morning. You didn’t do one lap.
SV: Yeah, not much. Nothing big. We had to fix the car a bit and I didn’t get too much of an impression of the car. We planned some things to test but couldn’t do that, but nothing big. After we fixed the car, the boys did a good job, and at least I had one lap so nothing to worry about for today or tomorrow.
Q: An amazing lap as well.
SV: Probably better than the one in quali in Q3. It was important to get the lap. This afternoon was a bit more difficult. Initially in Q1 I didn’t feel too happy. Lost a bit too much. Q2 on the soft compound I felt much more comfortable and then in the last run maybe didn’t do the best lap of the weekend. Lost a bit too much time.
Q: The race itself, how do you see that?
SV: It is long. Is it 66 laps? It is a long time I guess and as we have seen so far there are a lot of things that can happen in the race so it is over when it’s over, not before. Usually around Barcelona it is quite tricky. I had some races where I followed one or the same car for 60 out of 66 laps and it was not very entertaining but I think tomorrow could be quite different.
Q: Lewis, Fernando Alonso was very close at the end there. Was that a surprise for you?
LH: Not really. We knew they were going to be quick. When we looked in Q2 they didn’t look to be that close then all of a sudden in Q3 they were a lot closer. But it doesn’t matter now. It is the pace we have in the race and it is going to be interesting how close we are and if we are able to stay ahead of them.
Q: You have been quite a critic of the harder tyres. What are they going to be like to race on?
LH: I think on that side of things I really was just joking. It was a bit of a disaster to drive yesterday with the balance of the car that I had and I think everyone was struggling to switch on the tyres. If you look at the season so far Pirelli have done an incredible job really. I think we have all underestimated how good a job they would have done and when we got to the first race the tyres were fantastic. These tyres, the super hard, isn’t as good as the hard tyre that we had previously but hopefully tomorrow they will go longer, which will still allow exciting racing. I did say it was a disaster, but I was really referring to the balance of my car and I think they are pretty good.
Q: Was there more time in the car this afternoon?
LH: No, that was as fast as it was going to go. We made some changes going into qualifying with the set-up, which was the wrong change basically, and the car was quite a bit worse in qualifying than it was in P3. But you are stuck with it and you have to go through qualifying and the race with it but it would only be maybe a tenth or two if you were to improve the set-up. But I did the best I could with it and the team, as always, did a great job getting us out in good gaps so I am looking forward, hopefully, to a good battle, at least for the first 100metres with the Red Bulls. After that with whoever is behind.
Q: (Matthias Brunner - Speedweek) After what Lewis said, lots of people complained yesterday about the harder tyre. From what you learned today, do you expect a better performance during the race or rather similar?
MW: I think it will be similar. We’ve been testing those tyres for a few events now and it was pretty clear, in Sepang, that they behaved a bit differently because the track temperature in Sepang is different to here, even though the track here is nice and warm. It’s a bit of a dangerous game with that tyre because, particularly if McLarens and Red Bulls want to put an option on in Q1, then we send maybe two or three teams home so that’s maybe not ideal for some people. So we need to keep an eye on that. And also, we need to be careful in Formula One with our long run pace that we don’t get too close to the other categories in terms of lap times. We still need to be (the) pinnacle, we need to be able to push the cars to the limit throughout a grand prix and have very strong lap times in grands prix, man against the machine, and push the car to the limit. So as long as we can keep doing that then that’s good, but I (don’t) think the long runs on Friday were particularly impressive for a Formula One car round here. If you look at a GP3 lap time, I think they did a 1m 38s and some of my laps at the end of my long run were 1m 30s, so eight seconds, and I think the budget’s a little bit different. We need to keep an eye on that. Pirelli are working hard but we need to make sure the degradation and pace is still of a sensible magnitude and the cars can be put on the limit and not get too far to the showbiz side of things.
LH: Too slow at the moment, isn’t it? Well, maybe not for you guys but for us.
Q: (Frederic Ferret - L’Equipe) Mark, we saw you waiting in your car after your lap. Were you thinking of having another run or were you waiting in case Seb was going to go out?
MW: They were thinking of another run with Seb, so we waited to see and then they said no cars will go again because it was pretty clear that… I mean, Lewis is a phenomenal driver, but I think it was going to be pretty difficult for him to get us from there, so we were pretty confident that we would still have the front row, so we decided not to go again. That’s why we waited in the car for a minute or so, it wasn’t too long, didn’t get straight back out.
Q: (Oleg Karpov - Klaxon) Lewis, was it actually possible for you to go through the last corner with the wing open?
LH: No. Mark was just explaining that even though he’s got the wing engaged, it’s not that it’s too easy, but for us, we’re flat out without the wing engaged and it’s quite difficult. A slight difference in downforce but that’s actually good because it gives an indication of how much downforce they have, considering you generally lose 30 points or something when you engage the wing, something of that magnitude.
Q: (Michael Schmidt - Auto, Motor und Sport) Lewis, it looked as if on your last outing you flat-spotted the left front tyre. Is it as bad as in Malaysia, or can you count on that tyre tomorrow?
LH: No, nowhere near as bad as Malaysia. Malaysia wasn’t really too bad, but we were overly cautious - or the engineers were overly cautious going into the race. But no, there’s no way that they could put me on another set of tyres for tomorrow. They think the tyres will be fine, we just need to re-balance them a little bit. That’s one of the limitations of our car. Since I’ve been in the team we’ve always had lock-ups - it almost as if other teams look as if they have ABS brakes, because they never lock up like we do. But it’s something that we’re trying to improve and it is much, much better this year. But yeah, when you’re trying to eke every little bit out of the car, you sometimes happen to lock the front wheel. I did, but hopefully it won’t impede my race tomorrow.
Q: (Don Kennedy - Hawkes BayToday) Sebastian, you were seen in Parc Fermé having a good look at Alonso’s Ferrari. Was there anything that you saw there that interested you, because I would have thought that given the time differences there wasn’t much for you to worry about?
SV: It looked interesting. I think everyone brought some new stuff. It’s nice to see our exhaust more than twice in the pit lane! It’s the usual game. Obviously, I’m not working in the aerodynamic department but it’s nice to have a closer look, because usually, for us, it’s very difficult to get close and in Parc Fermé there are no mechanics around, pushing us away so it’s easier.
Q: (Bob McKenzie - Daily Express) Lewis, if these guys get away cleanly tomorrow and don’t have a problem in the race, do you see any way that you can get ahead of them?
LH: Ah, I’ve just been thinking about it. The old circuit is still there, the last two corners so I could maybe use the last two corners and then I will be able to match their pace maybe, if I don’t take the chicane. But otherwise, no.
Q: (Bob McKenzie - Daily Express) And if Sebastian’s KERS isn’t working, for some reason, at the start, do you think you can get him there and get one place?
LH: It’s always possible. Our KERS seems to work quite well. It’s always possible to overtake if he doesn’t have it, but then without a doubt he will be on my tail for quite some time and eventually find his way past, I’m sure.
Q: (Bob McKenzie - Daily Express) Is it despondent, is there despondency when you see two guys as fast as they are, that you will be in a separate race, won’t you?
LH: No. You know, Formula One, as Mark was saying, is the pinnacle of motor sport and nothing comes easy. At the moment, they’ve just done a better job and every single team is trying their hardest to catch up and we’re second quickest at the moment, so we can’t complain too much. I just hope that at some stage we can find a significant improvement in the car in terms of downforce, that we can have a proper race with these guys.
Q: (Livio Oricchio - O Estado do São Paulo) Mark, what happened that you came back, fighting for pole position? Do you understand how to use the tyres better over one lap or is it a question of adaptation to the circuit?
MW: Probably a little bit of both, actually. I’m getting a better understanding of the tyres more and more. Obviously, they’re new for everybody and it’s up to everybody to get on top of them. Also, I wasn’t particularly slow in Sepang and also in China, but we didn’t have the smoothest of weekends in terms of the car, technically, so, whether it was not the best qualifying strategy in terms of tyres or blah, blah, blah, then you’re at the back of the grid, or you don’t have KERS at the start - all those little things add up. Seb’s also done a good job. Turkey was a fair weekend and I wasn’t as close as this. Obviously, Seb didn’t have the smoothest day today but also there’s still an improvement from my side. I don’t mind the track here so I hope that I can start being a bit more competitive now. A few things together have added up, it’s small margins as we know. It doesn’t take much and before you know it you’re back in the ball game.
Q: (Matthias Brunner - Speedweek) Lewis, what is the best remark today about your new overalls?
LH: I’ve got a word in my head but I can’t use it! Umm… colourful!
Q: (Michael Schmidt - Auto, Motor und Sport) Sebastian, how big was the temptation at the end to give it another try for pole position, and is that one set of fresh tyres you saved so important or more important than to give up a potential pole position?
SV: Well, we will find out tomorrow. In the end we decided that staying in the garage is more important than probably swapping from right to left on the grid. Why did we do it? Because there was quite a big margin to the people behind, plus they saved their set of tyres. I’m generally a bit against the temptation that, for tomorrow, it’s all clear, it’s either one or the other car, but surely a Red Bull. A grand prix is a long, long way, it’s a long distance, it will be tough tomorrow and the McLaren is very competitive in the race. So is Ferrari. I only want to remind you of the pace they had in qualifying two weeks ago in Turkey and then on Sunday. You cannot take anything for granted tomorrow, but surely the temptation was big, because I wasn’t happy with my lap. It’s a different story when you get everything 100 per cent right and you feel that you have reached your maximum, and then you’re still a tenth or two behind. I think you are much more relaxed when you jump out, but in that case I was actually keen to go again, just to prove it to myself but I didn’t get the chance today. Maybe (I’ll) get it tomorrow.
Q: (Frederic Ferret - L’Equipe) Mark and Seb, do you agree with Lewis that victory is for a Red Bull tomorrow?
MW: I hope so. Obviously, we need the cars to run well. Eventually, we can see that with these regulations, the fast cars can still get through, whatever sometimes happens in the first part of the race. It’s not like the old day when if you lost 10 seconds somewhere in the race, then you could maybe get stuck behind someone. If all goes well and smoothly, then of course we should be able to go for the victory, but you never, never know. We had Turkey last year: there were a few races last year when Lewis was maybe not as strong in qualifying and in the race I couldn’t get rid of him. But I hope it’s not like that tomorrow.
Drivers: 1 - Mark Webber (Red Bull); 2 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull), 3 - Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)
Q: Mark, it is not your team-mate for once. Your first pole of the season and your first since Belgium 2010. How did you do that?
Mark Webber: Well it was a good session. I think it was pretty clear going into qualifying we might have had a bit of margin so it was going to be probably down to Seb and I, maybe, for the front row. Without being arrogant, but it just looked like that. You can never underestimate these guys but we thought we were probably going to battle for pole between ourselves. We got through on the first set of hards so that was nice to do that. Some other people did as well. Then coming to the crucial part of qualifying it was just getting the lap right for Q3 so that lap was pretty good. I was just praying my number went above number one when I crossed the gantry over the start-finish line and it did. It was a nice lap. It was a good battle with Seb and today was my day.
Q: Was it important for you to be second out on the track to Sebastian so you knew what you push for, what you had to achieve?
MW: I don’t have a clue what time Sebastian does. You don’t know if he makes a mistake or if he does a phenomenal lap or whatever. You have just got to take control of yourself and get the job done.
Q: Sebastian, I suppose the consolation is that this is your 10th consecutive front row start. But how disappointing is it that your run of pole positions has come to an end?
Sebastian Vettel: Well I don’t think we can speak of big disappointments. At the end of the day I think we made a good step forward. Barcelona is usually the place where everyone brings a lot of parts and you are here to find out if all of them work. I think we did a step so did the others, but it looks like we like this track and our car feels very comfortable. In quali itself, Q1 I did not really get into the rhythm immediately so it was not the smoothest run but I made it on the primes. Then Q2 I felt much happier on the soft compound and unfortunately then the last qualifying I lost a little bit too much. I wasn’t entirely happy with my lap. We had some problems. Mark did a good job so it was between us and he did a better job today. We see tomorrow. It is a long race. We saved a set of tyres, so did I think the top three and Jenson (Button) as well so we will see what we can do tomorrow.
Q: Talking of problems. Was it KERS? You didn’t use it on your final run. How much did you lose from it and how big a problem could that be in the race?
SV: Well I am not afraid. In the race I think we will be on top of it again. It seems to be a bit of an endless story. The guys are pushing very hard and I think we did an exceptional job today. We proved that our car has become quicker. We had a quick base but we made it even better so big compliments to the aero department in the factory and to all the guys. Yes, we are working very hard on the KERS. No, I didn’t use it for Q2 and Q3 but I am sure we will have it tomorrow. It is difficult to say. It is not right to say I did not have KERS that is why Mark is on pole. I think he deserved pole. He did a better job today but surely it was not ideal.
Q: Lewis, third place in the current climate I am sure was exactly what you were hoping for. But you were pushing very hard and made a slight error into turn 10 that may have flat-spotted one of your tyres. Can that be a concern for the race?
Lewis Hamilton: No, I don’t think it will. I do have a slight flat spot but fortunately I can start on those tyres and we can rebalance the wheel so it shouldn’t be a problem for the race. But, no, very happy with today’s result. Obviously you can see the gap between ourselves and the Red Bulls has increased. However, we have improved this weekend so the guys have been working extremely hard. Fortunate just to stay ahead of the Ferrari. That was very close.
Q: Looking ahead to tomorrow’s race. We have seen more overtaking in 2011 and this track could be the acid test for the new regulations. Do you think your race pace is good enough to keep with Sebastian and Mark?
LH: No. No. They have got a second in qualifying, probably a second and a bit. But we will push as hard as we can. Obviously we have got to push to the amount where you also save your tyres through the run. We have been closer in the previous races so I anticipate we will be much closer than one second but whether or not it’s within a tenth or so we will wait and see.
Q: Mark, pole last year and winner here last year. I am sure you would love a repeat?
MW: Absolutely, yes. I can go and relax tonight, have a good sleep, and come back and do the best job I can tomorrow. I am looking forward to it. It should be a good race. As you say, a lot of changes from previous years with the tyres and the rear wing around here but in the end I have got a lot of experience already from the first few races and looking forward to trying to get the victory tomorrow.
Q: Mark, from what you were saying a couple of days ago we must assume all has gone perfectly so far?
MW: Yeah, it was a pretty good Friday. Nice build up this morning and got a reasonable lap in the end there. It was nice to get a clean lap and get a reasonable lap time down. You never know if it was quite enough but today it was. Obviously Seb did not have the smoothest of days so that can happen. I have had plenty of those. That’s the way it goes sometimes. We are both on the front row so great for the team. We didn’t bring any developments here but we just brought the new spark plugs but it seems like everything is working in the right direction. The guys have done a great job at the factory. Again it is a credit to all the team. We can get very, very blasé with these type of performances but it is down to a lot of hard work from everyone at Milton Keynes and also Renault, endless effort from them as well at Viry. Seb and I are working reasonably hard as well so in the end good result for the team and we’re in reasonable shape for tomorrow’s race.
Q: Your seventh pole position and last year you were again on pole here and you became the 10th winner from pole in 10 years.
MW: I hope we make it 11. I think it is a different Barcelona grand prix tomorrow, like we have not seen before. For sure there will be a few lead changes, here and there maybe. I hope not too many, but if I am in this position coming round the last corner then, of course, I will be happy.
Q: Talking of the last corner. Another journalist asked, did you use the wing in the last corner. Was it open?
MW: Yep.
Q: It is thought that perhaps you were the only team to do that.
MW: Yeah, it is not easy. I don’t know if I opened the lap with it but I think I might have closed the lap with it, but you have got to concentrate. The car is good, no question about it. We have a good car aerodynamically, there is no secret about it, and we know how to get the car to perform well in most conditions. This is what we decided to do today and we won’t leave much change on the table in terms of performance wherever we can. We try to give the maximum. If the corner is a corner which you can take in that style then we will try.
Q: Sebastian, how much were you were hurt by this morning. You didn’t do one lap.
SV: Yeah, not much. Nothing big. We had to fix the car a bit and I didn’t get too much of an impression of the car. We planned some things to test but couldn’t do that, but nothing big. After we fixed the car, the boys did a good job, and at least I had one lap so nothing to worry about for today or tomorrow.
Q: An amazing lap as well.
SV: Probably better than the one in quali in Q3. It was important to get the lap. This afternoon was a bit more difficult. Initially in Q1 I didn’t feel too happy. Lost a bit too much. Q2 on the soft compound I felt much more comfortable and then in the last run maybe didn’t do the best lap of the weekend. Lost a bit too much time.
Q: The race itself, how do you see that?
SV: It is long. Is it 66 laps? It is a long time I guess and as we have seen so far there are a lot of things that can happen in the race so it is over when it’s over, not before. Usually around Barcelona it is quite tricky. I had some races where I followed one or the same car for 60 out of 66 laps and it was not very entertaining but I think tomorrow could be quite different.
Q: Lewis, Fernando Alonso was very close at the end there. Was that a surprise for you?
LH: Not really. We knew they were going to be quick. When we looked in Q2 they didn’t look to be that close then all of a sudden in Q3 they were a lot closer. But it doesn’t matter now. It is the pace we have in the race and it is going to be interesting how close we are and if we are able to stay ahead of them.
Q: You have been quite a critic of the harder tyres. What are they going to be like to race on?
LH: I think on that side of things I really was just joking. It was a bit of a disaster to drive yesterday with the balance of the car that I had and I think everyone was struggling to switch on the tyres. If you look at the season so far Pirelli have done an incredible job really. I think we have all underestimated how good a job they would have done and when we got to the first race the tyres were fantastic. These tyres, the super hard, isn’t as good as the hard tyre that we had previously but hopefully tomorrow they will go longer, which will still allow exciting racing. I did say it was a disaster, but I was really referring to the balance of my car and I think they are pretty good.
Q: Was there more time in the car this afternoon?
LH: No, that was as fast as it was going to go. We made some changes going into qualifying with the set-up, which was the wrong change basically, and the car was quite a bit worse in qualifying than it was in P3. But you are stuck with it and you have to go through qualifying and the race with it but it would only be maybe a tenth or two if you were to improve the set-up. But I did the best I could with it and the team, as always, did a great job getting us out in good gaps so I am looking forward, hopefully, to a good battle, at least for the first 100metres with the Red Bulls. After that with whoever is behind.
Q: (Matthias Brunner - Speedweek) After what Lewis said, lots of people complained yesterday about the harder tyre. From what you learned today, do you expect a better performance during the race or rather similar?
MW: I think it will be similar. We’ve been testing those tyres for a few events now and it was pretty clear, in Sepang, that they behaved a bit differently because the track temperature in Sepang is different to here, even though the track here is nice and warm. It’s a bit of a dangerous game with that tyre because, particularly if McLarens and Red Bulls want to put an option on in Q1, then we send maybe two or three teams home so that’s maybe not ideal for some people. So we need to keep an eye on that. And also, we need to be careful in Formula One with our long run pace that we don’t get too close to the other categories in terms of lap times. We still need to be (the) pinnacle, we need to be able to push the cars to the limit throughout a grand prix and have very strong lap times in grands prix, man against the machine, and push the car to the limit. So as long as we can keep doing that then that’s good, but I (don’t) think the long runs on Friday were particularly impressive for a Formula One car round here. If you look at a GP3 lap time, I think they did a 1m 38s and some of my laps at the end of my long run were 1m 30s, so eight seconds, and I think the budget’s a little bit different. We need to keep an eye on that. Pirelli are working hard but we need to make sure the degradation and pace is still of a sensible magnitude and the cars can be put on the limit and not get too far to the showbiz side of things.
LH: Too slow at the moment, isn’t it? Well, maybe not for you guys but for us.
Q: (Frederic Ferret - L’Equipe) Mark, we saw you waiting in your car after your lap. Were you thinking of having another run or were you waiting in case Seb was going to go out?
MW: They were thinking of another run with Seb, so we waited to see and then they said no cars will go again because it was pretty clear that… I mean, Lewis is a phenomenal driver, but I think it was going to be pretty difficult for him to get us from there, so we were pretty confident that we would still have the front row, so we decided not to go again. That’s why we waited in the car for a minute or so, it wasn’t too long, didn’t get straight back out.
Q: (Oleg Karpov - Klaxon) Lewis, was it actually possible for you to go through the last corner with the wing open?
LH: No. Mark was just explaining that even though he’s got the wing engaged, it’s not that it’s too easy, but for us, we’re flat out without the wing engaged and it’s quite difficult. A slight difference in downforce but that’s actually good because it gives an indication of how much downforce they have, considering you generally lose 30 points or something when you engage the wing, something of that magnitude.
Q: (Michael Schmidt - Auto, Motor und Sport) Lewis, it looked as if on your last outing you flat-spotted the left front tyre. Is it as bad as in Malaysia, or can you count on that tyre tomorrow?
LH: No, nowhere near as bad as Malaysia. Malaysia wasn’t really too bad, but we were overly cautious - or the engineers were overly cautious going into the race. But no, there’s no way that they could put me on another set of tyres for tomorrow. They think the tyres will be fine, we just need to re-balance them a little bit. That’s one of the limitations of our car. Since I’ve been in the team we’ve always had lock-ups - it almost as if other teams look as if they have ABS brakes, because they never lock up like we do. But it’s something that we’re trying to improve and it is much, much better this year. But yeah, when you’re trying to eke every little bit out of the car, you sometimes happen to lock the front wheel. I did, but hopefully it won’t impede my race tomorrow.
Q: (Don Kennedy - Hawkes BayToday) Sebastian, you were seen in Parc Fermé having a good look at Alonso’s Ferrari. Was there anything that you saw there that interested you, because I would have thought that given the time differences there wasn’t much for you to worry about?
SV: It looked interesting. I think everyone brought some new stuff. It’s nice to see our exhaust more than twice in the pit lane! It’s the usual game. Obviously, I’m not working in the aerodynamic department but it’s nice to have a closer look, because usually, for us, it’s very difficult to get close and in Parc Fermé there are no mechanics around, pushing us away so it’s easier.
Q: (Bob McKenzie - Daily Express) Lewis, if these guys get away cleanly tomorrow and don’t have a problem in the race, do you see any way that you can get ahead of them?
LH: Ah, I’ve just been thinking about it. The old circuit is still there, the last two corners so I could maybe use the last two corners and then I will be able to match their pace maybe, if I don’t take the chicane. But otherwise, no.
Q: (Bob McKenzie - Daily Express) And if Sebastian’s KERS isn’t working, for some reason, at the start, do you think you can get him there and get one place?
LH: It’s always possible. Our KERS seems to work quite well. It’s always possible to overtake if he doesn’t have it, but then without a doubt he will be on my tail for quite some time and eventually find his way past, I’m sure.
Q: (Bob McKenzie - Daily Express) Is it despondent, is there despondency when you see two guys as fast as they are, that you will be in a separate race, won’t you?
LH: No. You know, Formula One, as Mark was saying, is the pinnacle of motor sport and nothing comes easy. At the moment, they’ve just done a better job and every single team is trying their hardest to catch up and we’re second quickest at the moment, so we can’t complain too much. I just hope that at some stage we can find a significant improvement in the car in terms of downforce, that we can have a proper race with these guys.
Q: (Livio Oricchio - O Estado do São Paulo) Mark, what happened that you came back, fighting for pole position? Do you understand how to use the tyres better over one lap or is it a question of adaptation to the circuit?
MW: Probably a little bit of both, actually. I’m getting a better understanding of the tyres more and more. Obviously, they’re new for everybody and it’s up to everybody to get on top of them. Also, I wasn’t particularly slow in Sepang and also in China, but we didn’t have the smoothest of weekends in terms of the car, technically, so, whether it was not the best qualifying strategy in terms of tyres or blah, blah, blah, then you’re at the back of the grid, or you don’t have KERS at the start - all those little things add up. Seb’s also done a good job. Turkey was a fair weekend and I wasn’t as close as this. Obviously, Seb didn’t have the smoothest day today but also there’s still an improvement from my side. I don’t mind the track here so I hope that I can start being a bit more competitive now. A few things together have added up, it’s small margins as we know. It doesn’t take much and before you know it you’re back in the ball game.
Q: (Matthias Brunner - Speedweek) Lewis, what is the best remark today about your new overalls?
LH: I’ve got a word in my head but I can’t use it! Umm… colourful!
Q: (Michael Schmidt - Auto, Motor und Sport) Sebastian, how big was the temptation at the end to give it another try for pole position, and is that one set of fresh tyres you saved so important or more important than to give up a potential pole position?
SV: Well, we will find out tomorrow. In the end we decided that staying in the garage is more important than probably swapping from right to left on the grid. Why did we do it? Because there was quite a big margin to the people behind, plus they saved their set of tyres. I’m generally a bit against the temptation that, for tomorrow, it’s all clear, it’s either one or the other car, but surely a Red Bull. A grand prix is a long, long way, it’s a long distance, it will be tough tomorrow and the McLaren is very competitive in the race. So is Ferrari. I only want to remind you of the pace they had in qualifying two weeks ago in Turkey and then on Sunday. You cannot take anything for granted tomorrow, but surely the temptation was big, because I wasn’t happy with my lap. It’s a different story when you get everything 100 per cent right and you feel that you have reached your maximum, and then you’re still a tenth or two behind. I think you are much more relaxed when you jump out, but in that case I was actually keen to go again, just to prove it to myself but I didn’t get the chance today. Maybe (I’ll) get it tomorrow.
Q: (Frederic Ferret - L’Equipe) Mark and Seb, do you agree with Lewis that victory is for a Red Bull tomorrow?
MW: I hope so. Obviously, we need the cars to run well. Eventually, we can see that with these regulations, the fast cars can still get through, whatever sometimes happens in the first part of the race. It’s not like the old day when if you lost 10 seconds somewhere in the race, then you could maybe get stuck behind someone. If all goes well and smoothly, then of course we should be able to go for the victory, but you never, never know. We had Turkey last year: there were a few races last year when Lewis was maybe not as strong in qualifying and in the race I couldn’t get rid of him. But I hope it’s not like that tomorrow.
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