Formula 1 News

2008 Italian Grand Prix, qualifying: Team quotes 

Ron Dennis: “Heikki performed tremendously well this afternoon, and his P2 grid slot for tomorrow is a fully   deserved reward. As for Lewis, the weather conditions   made things difficult for everyone, not only us, and in addition to that we were caught out by a   less-than-fully accurate weather forecast. As things   turned out, there was only a narrow window of   opportunity in which to cut a quick lap, and things   didn’t fall kindly for Lewis. But the weather may be  unsettled tomorrow, too, and if  so he should still be  in a position to score a good  result even though he’ll  be starting from a lowlier  grid position than he would  ideally have preferred.  Lastly, I want to congratulate  Sebastian Vettel and my  old friend Gerhard Berger, of  the Scuderia Toro Rosso  team, on the occasion of their  first ever pole  position. But Heikki has a very good  strategy for  tomorrow so let’s see what happens.”

Willy Rampf: “Following our strong   performance in dry conditions yesterday, we are   obviously disappointed with positions ten and 11.   Robert didn’t make it to Q3 because the rain was   heavier towards the end of second qualifying. The grid   looks very different to what we are used to, which   means we can expect a very interesting race tomorrow.   We obviously have to see what strategies the different   drivers have chosen.”

Giorgio Ascanelli: “I thought we would be third, but   with Hamilton and Raikkonen out, this is the result. Of   course, it’s obvious we haven’t got the heaviest fuel   load in the world and so now we must hope for a   competitive race for tomorrow. Both drivers did a good   job as did the whole team and we can be happy with our   day’s work.”

Stefano Domenicali: “Of course we’re not happy. “It was   a frenetic qualifying, in which random factors in the   shape of the rain and traffic, played a key role.   However, that was the case for everyone. On the wet we   are not competitive at the highest level. Having said   that, we must look at this result in the light of the   championship and, we can take some consolation from the   fact that our main rival is behind us. I wish to   congratulate Scuderia Toro Rosso and Sebastian Vettel   who produced an amazing result, which included putting   a Ferrari engine on pole in Monza.”

Ross Brawn: “Our approach was actually   quite good. We did most of the right things but what   came as a surprise to us was that on the second set of   tyres we didn’t seem to have the same level of grip as   the first set and that caught us out. Usually, one   would expect a new set to add performance but it was   quite the opposite today and that’s really what hurt us   because prior to the stops we were in a position to   qualify into Q2. Things didn’t work out for us in  qualifying today but  we are certainly hoping for  inclement weather tomorrow.  Our car is not too bad in  the wet and so if we get on  top of the problems we  experienced today we should  still be able to take  advantage, despite our positions  on the grid.”

Luca Baldisserri: “Rain and traffic weighed heavily   against us in this session. We struggled, especially in   terms of getting the brakes to the correct working   temperature. We made choices in terms of set-up aimed   at the race and probably today, these worked against   us. Therefore, before evaluating this result, we should   wait until tomorrow afternoon.”

Pat Symonds: “It was   hard work out there today for the teams and the   drivers. It was necessary to make decisions that needed   to be changed rapidly because of the weather   conditions. At the end of a session like that we are   thankful to have no damaged cars. Fernando’s grid   position is probably as good as we would have hoped for   in the dry and tomorrow’s race will once again be  about  handling the changing weather conditions.”

Mario Theissen: “That was the   most action packed qualifying I can remember. Under   these weather conditions it was a lottery.   Congratulations to Sebastian Vettel and Toro Rosso, who   did a brilliant job under these conditions. If you  look  at the result you find some of the top drivers  down in  the rankings, and of course we are not  satisfied with  our grid positions of ten and 11. Today  it was vital to  go out at the right moment and set a  quick lap time  with warm tyres. We were not able to do  this.”

Mike Gascoyne: “An exciting   qualifying session and great to get one car into Q2. On   his first run in Q1 Adrian looked very comfortable but   on his second set of tyres he really struggled for   grip, which was a shame as I really think he could have   got through as well. Giancarlo did well to get a clear   lap in Q1 and was unlucky just to miss out by a couple   of hundredths from Q3. Overall we have been strong  with  both cars in every session so far this weekend  and we  have to look to have to score some points  tomorrow.”

Norbert Haug: “This is exactly what should not have   happened to Lewis – but we have to accept it after so   many great qualifying results we had. Heikki was great   and will start from the front row. Lewis’s competitors   are not too far away; at least this is positive.   Congratulations to Sebastian Vettel and Toro Rosso on   their first pole – this was a top performance. Tomorrow   is another day and we will fight and be focused to do  a  better job and this time with both cars than today.”

Vijay Mallya: “I am   absolutely delighted with this qualifying result here   in Monza. We’ve been striving for this all year and   finally, in some of the worst conditions this season,   we have got it. I have to say thank you to Giancarlo   for driving a fantastic lap in the wet and cross my   fingers that he can convert this into a strong result   tomorrow. Adrian was unlucky today. As we have seen   many times over this season though, he is a very   capable wet weather driver and I am in no doubt that he   will show this in race conditions tomorrow.”

Christian Horner: “A very exciting three qualifying   sessions with the varying amounts of rain. Both drivers   progressed comfortably into Q2 and Mark made it into   Q3, with David ending up in an unlucky 13th position.   It was a great drive from Mark to qualify third. It’s   been a great day for Red Bull and congratulations to   Sebastian Vettel on his first pole position. Three Red   Bull chassis in the first four is a fantastic result.”

Fabrice Lom: “For Red Bull Renault, it was a good   qualifying result today. Mark is third on a track that   we hope will be good for us tomorrow. It will be a bit   more difficult for David in 13th, but the conditions   were changing during Q2 and he had some bad luck as the   rain was stronger for him when he went out. It was the   same for Raikkonen and Hamilton. Sebastian Vettel is  on  pole position, so well done to him and Toro Rosso.”

Sam Michael: “It was an exciting   session, the kind of which we don’t see too often and   these conditions pay dividends for teams that can think   on their feet. We now have quite a mixed grid with  cars  out of position from where they would normally  be, so  the race on Sunday is going to be interesting.  Nico did  a great job in all three qualifying sessions  and is  well prepared for a strong race tomorrow.”

Denis Chevrier: “A   qualifying session is always a delicate exercise, even   more so when it’s wet. In these conditions, you have to   simply remain on track, avoid incidents, deal with the   traffic, and cope with the poor visibility. Fernando   made it through to Q3, which bodes well for tomorrow,   even if the uncertain weather and the unknown fuel   loads make for a very unpredictable race.”

Pascal Vasselon: “Our   weather forecast said it was very likely qualifying   would take place in full wet conditions and so it   proved. That meant we were fully prepared for this   possibility and overall it went reasonably well. The   whole team did a fantastic job throughout qualifying   without any mistakes to get both cars through to the   top ten. Only two teams managed that so it’s a very  good result  for us on top of a fine performance from  both drivers.  We are a little bit disappointed by the  final ranking  in Q3, but obviously as usual we will  have to wait for  tomorrow’s pit stop laps to know more  about today’s  performance. All the tyres here have  been on the hard side,  including the full wet that we  used today, so they  didn’t suffer in the conditions  and lasted well. Now we  will concentrate our efforts  on tomorrow. The weather  forecast remains uncertain  and we should see a wide  range of strategies so it is  sure to be an eventful  day.”