Formula 1 News

2010 Korean GP, qualifying: Driver quotes 

Fernando Alonso: “I am satisfied with how things went in qualifying and I think I showed all the potential of our car. In Q1, I felt that we could be really competitive, which was then reinforced in Q2 and Q3. Then, with pole having escaped me, I think that it is better to be third rather than second, because starting from the dirty side would be very difficult. We expected Red Bull to be very strong, as it’s not by chance they have taken fourteen poles from seventeen attempts this year. However, the gap is pretty close, which shows that tomorrow we can be in the fight. We must get a good start without taking too many risks at the first corner, because in the race, anything could happen and the most important thing will be to get to the chequered flag. In theory there are a couple of places where overtaking seems possible, but we will have to wait until tomorrow to see if that is really the case. Tyre degradation seems higher than at other tracks, so we will need to do a good job in managing them and in terms of the strategy: the softs give more grip while with the hards, we are all struggling to make them work at their best. Maybe it will be a case of doing more than one pit stop. On top of that, there is the unknown factor linked to the weather. The situation is definitely better than in Suzuka: the gap to the Red Bulls is smaller and we have kept strong rivals like Hamilton and Kubica behind us.”

Felipe Massa: “I am not happy, especially because sixth place means I have to start on the less clean side of the grid, which is a major handicap on a surface as dirty as this one. I was very pleased at the end of Q2, because the car was more competitive than yesterday and I thought I could fight for a top place. Unfortunately, I had a bit of traffic on the only run I did in Q3 on my last set of new soft tyres: a shame because the car was going well, but I was not able to get the most out of it. The situation in terms of grip has improved, even with the harder tyres and I expect that trend to continue tomorrow. I am expecting to have a very tough race. It it was to rain it could be even more slippery than usual, given the condition of the track surface.”

Sebastian Vettel: “It’s a special feeling to be on pole – it was very close. The track is good here – in the first sector there’s not so much you can do, just hit your braking points at the right time, but the second and third sectors are quite entertaining with nice flowing corners, but it’s easy to make a mistake. It was a small margin for pole, but it was enough and it was a good result as yesterday we didn’t have smooth running. We had a puncture in the practice, so I hadn’t done too many laps on the new track, which makes it harder to get into a rhythm. You have to take every race as it comes, Japan was a good result, but now in Korea all the focus is on tomorrow’s race. The car was quick today, no doubt, but you still need to get the job done and the most important thing is that you remain calm, which we all did as we knew what we had in us. So, we got the job done today, but let’s see for tomorrow.”

Mark Webber: “I wasn’t that happy on my first timed laps to be honest, so it was more comfortable for me to do two timed laps for my last run. It worked out okay, but obviously it was very close with Seb and I got second on the grid. It’s not a bad position to start the race, but it would have been nice to get pole, still – we can get a good result from there. I’m starting on the dirty side of the grid tomorrow and Fernando (Alonso, in third) will be solid off the line, but that’s not going to make or break the Championship, so we’ll press on from there – we’re certainly in a good position.”

Sakon Yamamoto: “I am very happy about our qualifying result at the first Korean Grand Prix. With the data we got yesterday and this morning, we could improve the car and I could do my best lap in qualifying. We were very close to the other competitors and I want to thank the team for preparing the car very well. Now we are looking forward to tomorrow, but we don’t know if it’s going to rain during the race. But, as always, we will try to do our best and bring both cars to the finish line again.”

Bruno Senna: “Today we managed to work on the car as we could run more laps than yesterday. The qualifying result wasn’t what we expected and maybe we could have done better with more experience on this new circuit. Tomorrow is going to be a long race and we will see what happens during the 55 laps.”

Rubens Barrichello: “That was a great qualifying in that the spirit was very high. I went into Q3 knowing that we had four tenths to make up; I did a good lap and made up the difference so I’m delighted. We are still at the tail end of the top ten, and we don’t seem to be as competitive as we expected we would be, but that’s where we are. The track is quite slippery so I’m predicting a lot will happen in the race and I’m hoping we will get some points out of it.”

Nico Hulkenberg: “It was as tight as we thought it was going to be out there today. It’s always disappointing not to get into Q3. The lap I was on would have pushed me into the top ten, but I lost the rear in turn 12 and was forced to abort the lap. P11 is still a good position to start from. We have the flexibility to choose our tyres so we will give that thought overnight and come up with a good strategy. There are overtaking opportunities here so there’s still a chance to score points tomorrow.”

Robert Kubica: “The car had more oversteer than during free practice and I wasn’t completely comfortable. If we had got everything perfect, we could probably have been a couple of tenths quicker, but we’re right on the limit here. Unfortunately, starting eighth also means that I will start from the dirty side of the grid. This morning, in the dry, there was a huge difference between the two sides, but if it rains tomorrow perhaps it won’t be such a disadvantage. It’s not going to be an easy race, because everybody is very close together in terms of performance, but I will try to do my best tomorrow afternoon.”

Vitaly Petrov: “I was hoping to get into the top 10 today, to minimise the effect of the grid penalty, and it looked reasonable after Q1. During the second part of qualifying, I made a mistake by pushing too hard, touched the kerb and spun. The tyres were then so dirty that I couldn’t set a proper competitive lap time afterwards. It’s a pity, but I must now focus on the race, and take every opportunity that comes to me.”

Adrian Sutil: “Although P14 isn’t exactly what we would have hoped for, we were still quite close to the top 12 and with a bit of luck could have been even closer to Q3. In Q2 I had some traffic on my first lap and then my second was good, but it was tough out there with the tyres. That said, it’s a great track they have built here. I really enjoyed driving on it – there’s a lot of challenges and kinks and it was really so grippy at the end of the session that it was a real pleasure to drive each lap. From where we are on the grid it’s going to be a great race.”

Tonio Liuzzi: “We suffered with a lot of graining on the soft tyres today. We missed out on the last run in the morning because of a puncture and didn’t try the option tyres, but we didn’t expect them to grain as badly as they did. The first two laps of the final run were good and the first two sectors of the third lap were looking really good – I was on for a 1:38.2 at that point – but then the tyres grained so badly I lost a lot of time through the last two corners as the car started to understeer a lot. Based on this wear rate it’s going to be an interesting race for sure.”

Kamui Kobayashi: “Overall, I think we achieved the best possible result. It wasn’t much that was missing to make it into Q3. This morning we found the track had changed a lot from yesterday. Therefore the set-up work we did before needed to be re-evaluated. In qualifying I found the car a little bit nervous, but generally okay. Our tyre strategy was good, and for me it was the right decision to go for only one but longer run in Q2. On my fastest lap I wasn’t lucky with traffic, but this can happen. I am looking forward to a good and challenging race tomorrow!”

Nick Heidfeld: “Qualifying here was a lot of fun. I had a clear lap with no traffic problems this time, and I also think my fastest lap was a good one, so I’m happy with it. In the morning we had some set-up difficulties, but this was solved before qualifying. It is not easy to get the tyres to work at their best. My third lap with the softer compound was my quickest. After the front tyres had been too cold I was hoping on the next lap the temperatures would go up and I would be able to improve, but instead they started graining. My grid position should be on the clean side of the track, and therefore I hope to make up positions at the start. Later it might become difficult to overtake because our top speed isn’t brilliant.”

Timo Glock: “Today was a pretty good qualifying session for me. We made the right change from this morning’s free practice to qualifying and I had a very good first run. The second one was good as well and I was able to get everything possible out of the car. I couldn’t do any more so I am happy with the result and due to Petrov’s penalty we move over to the clean side of the track, which will help us at the race start tomorrow. It should be an interesting race and I’m looking forward to it.”

Lucas di Grassi: “It was not a very good qualifying for me today. I did not manage to properly use my second set of qualifying Option tyres as in my two timed laps I got traffic and then I made a mistake, so for sure there is more to come. This is a track that improves all the time – and very quickly – and you need to be ‘on it’ the whole time. I’m looking forward to tomorrow and our first Korean Grand Prix. In the first few corners of the track there are a lot of overtaking opportunities, so it should be an interesting start. The race is also very long and a lot of things can happen, so we will see what happens as it unfolds.”

Nico Rosberg: “I’m very pleased with fifth place and it is the best possible position that we could have achieved today. It’s nice to be ahead of one of the McLaren and Ferrari cars and also Robert who has been very close to us recently. We’re in a good position for the race tomorrow. Strategy will be crucial with the tyre graining but we are strong in that area and with a bit of luck, it would be nice to give the team a great result.”

Michael Schumacher: “I had a busy qualifying getting everything together with some changes we made but I’m quite happy with my position. There was no room for much more today. The team did a great job getting both cars into Q3 and we will be starting from the better side of the track in my opinion. I’m quite optimistic for tomorrow and we should score some points, especially as our set-up is focused on the race. We had a good race pace in practice yesterday and I’m looking forward to the first Korean Grand Prix.”

Lewis Hamilton: “The team made a phenomenal effort to get all the new parts to the track for this race, and everybody has done a fantastic job at the track all weekend. We were very quick in practice, so I don’t know where the Red Bulls found an extra half a second in Q3. Still, it’s important to remember that we’re still in the fight: we make good starts, and there are some long straights here, which should suit us. I feel that we’re competitive – the car is the best it’s ever been and our long runs are strong. We just need to do the best we can with what we have – we can’t ask any more of the guys back at the factory, or the guys here, and I don’t think I could have asked for any more from me. So, yes, we can still have a very good race tomorrow.”

Jenson Button: “Yesterday and this morning I was very happy with the car; the balance was extremely good and we were looking strong. This afternoon I couldn’t get the tyres up to temperature and struggled a bit with locking fronts and rears. I didn’t have enough grip and couldn’t find enough pace. It’s going to be a bit tough tomorrow, whatever the weather does. But the good news is that I’ll be starting from the clean side of the grid, and there are a couple of long straights after the first corner, so it’ll be a fun first lap!”

Jarno Trulli: “I’m happy with how it has gone today and I think my final lap was pretty good. The track was very dusty again in both sessions today, and that obviously affects the tyres, but I think we did as well as we could have hoped for this afternoon. I want to say thank you to my mechanics again because they have been working really hard all weekend – it has been a bit of a tough couple of days so far, because the bad luck I had yesterday limited my track time, and it’s thanks to the guys in the garage that I’ve managed to get in enough running time to set me up for that quick lap today.”

Heikki Kovalainen: “I’m pretty disappointed with how it went today. We were looking ok this morning but I think the strategy this afternoon didn’t give me a great chance to go any quicker – the traffic obviously played its part, and when you’re trying to push on a dirty track it’s always going to be a struggle. But we’re here to fight tomorrow, and as the grip levels evolve I think our car will become stronger, so there’s all to play for in the race.”

Jaime Alguersuari: “We can be reasonably satisfied with this result because it is so easy to gain or lose tenths here because the track has so many corners. As we come towards the final part of the season, I must say thanks to my race engineer, who has developed a very good understanding of what I need and his decisions are nearly always right. That meant I was very happy with the balance of the car and I think I got the most I could out of the soft tyres. We did a good job in improving the car from yesterday and I think we can therefore expect further improvement in the race.”

Sebastien Buemi: “I have to say I am not happy with my performance. In Q2 on my last run, we opted to go for just one flying lap, to run with less fuel in the car, but I did not get the best of laps, making a few small mistakes which, put together, cost me a lot of time. Jaime did a really strong lap so congratulations to him for that. We need to work hard now to prepare for tomorrow, when we can face a long race in which anything could be possible. Jaime’s performance shows we are not that far from those just in front of us in terms of pace so let’s wait and see. We were not expected to get into the points in Suzuka but we did and who knows, it might happen again here.”