Formula 1 News

2011 Chinese GP, qualifying: Driver quotes 

Vitantonio Liuzzi: “Today was alright, we could’ve achieved more from the second set of tyres but we got a strange reaction from them with a bit of under steer. We closed the gap with Virgin which is the aim, considering that we didn’t use all the new development it was a positive qualifying session. Now we have to push hard for Turkey. I’m sure we can give Virgin a better race than in Malaysia. We have shown that in both soft tyre and hard tyre conditions we are competitive so the 107% rule should no longer be an issue. We have to now focus on developing the car and try to finish ahead of our main rivals.”

Narain Karthikeyan: “The day started off well with the third practice session where the car went really well. I think that I could have gone quicker and done a better time. We have a better package and qualifying shouldn’t be an issue anymore, our target is now to get closer to Virgin. I definitely need to get some laps under my belt, my aim is to finish the race.”

Fernando Alonso: “I had not expected much more than this from qualifying. Fifth and sixth places represent the maximum we can aspire to in our current situation. We already knew all about Red Bull and McLaren, but here we saw an improvement from Mercedes, so the situation is now even more difficult. We are trying to improve our performance: we are a great team and we know how to react. Yesterday, we tried some new components, but it is still too early to use them in a race: we hope to make a significant step forward in Turkey. I would give the team 10 out of 10 for how they managed qualifying over these first three races: it is always very difficult to find the compromise between the need to take risks and being prudent and we have already seen mistakes costing some drivers dear in these three sessions. At the moment we should not be trying anything clever, instead keeping things simple. I think the podium is still within our reach. This year there are more variables, like the tyre degradation and the use of the moveable rear wing, which come into play during the race, as we have seen in the first two Grands Prix. It could be a bit warmer tomorrow than today, so we will see if that changes anything, although I don’t expect it to. Strategy will be very important in determining the final result.”

Felipe Massa: “It went a little bit better than in Malaysia, but we are still behind. Vettel’s performance is not surprising, whereas Webber’s definitely is. The McLarens are also quicker than us and Mercedes has improved and will be a very tough competitor tomorrow in the race. In Q2 after the red flag, I went out immediately to try and be first out and get a clear track. Perez was ahead of me but I passed him on the out lap and it was a good thing, because that meant I got a clean lap and improved my time. I really hope we will see a repeat of the Malaysian situation with a performance jump from qualifying to the race: if that was the case, then a podium might not be out of reach. The track has improved a lot compared to yesterday: there is more grip and the cars slide less, thus using the tyres less and that will be a factor to take into consideration when working out the ideal strategy.”

Nico Rosberg: “I’m happy with our performance and it was a good day for us. It’s clear that we have improved the car this weekend and I’m really pleased for everybody back at the factory who will have enjoyed watching that today. We’re still not where we want to be but we have made progress and are closer to some of the guys in front of us, today at least. We have also worked hard on the race pace so there is every chance of a good race tomorrow.”

Michael Schumacher: “What a shame for me today as we have clearly demonstrated this weekend that as a team we have improved a lot. Nico proved that strongly with his fourth place which was our realistic target. I didn’t quite get my lap together in Q2 and since then we have found out that my rear wing was not functioning correctly as I was braking into turn 14. I am obviously hoping to have a strong start and that we have good race pace tomorrow so I can hopefully make up some positions.”

Rubens Barrichello: “I’ve been having a weekend of experiments. We tried a new version of the exhaust in practice; we do not fully understand it yet, so we went into qualifying with our original set-up. I was happy with Q1 but then we had the rush hour! On the restart, Sutil tried to overtake me going into the first corner which spoiled both of our laps. We’ve made progress since Malaysia so I’m looking for points.”

Pastor Maldonado: “I’m a bit disappointed by the red flag because the lap I was on at the time was looking good. We could have fought for a place in the top ten today so it looks like we’ve made some improvements with the car. We need to keep working and concentrate our minds for tomorrow. I’m looking for some points.”

Vitaly Petrov: “I am very disappointed with what happened after having just completed a very fast lap which put me in fourth position at the end of Q2. The car lost power so I stopped on the side of the track. The track was getting quicker and my times were up from this morning, things were going very well. Because of the power failure, I couldn’t move off the track and so that was the end of my qualifying. The positive thing is the car was looking fast and I hope I can make up some ground tomorrow from P10 on the grid.”

Nick Heidfeld: “It’s quite frustrating to be starting from P16 because I don’t think it’s a fair reflection of our pace. We were always going to do one run on the soft tyres in Q2, but the red flag made the last few minutes on Q2 very busy. You really needed to be first in the queue at the end of the pit lane because there was not much time to get around and cross the line before the end of the session. I managed to do one final lap, but I was stuck in traffic and I couldn’t get a clean lap. As I said, our race pace is definitely better than our grid position, but starting from P16 is not going to be easy. I think it’s a track where you can overtake so hopefully I can make a good start, like in the previous two races, and fight for points.”

Sergio Perez: “Generally we made some changes to the car and I feel much more comfortable with the handling now. This explains the improvements here in Shanghai from Friday to today, but also the comparison to Malaysia. Q1 was fine for me and then in Q2 the team did a good job getting me out at the front of the queue after the red flag, but then we had to wait a while and the tyre temperatures cooled down. It is a shame because I think the changes we did for the final run would have paid off.”

Kamui Kobayashi: “It is a shame not to be in Q3 for the first time this year. In Q1 it was really tight for me after I was stuck in traffic, and then was the last car to slip through into Q2. Then in Q2 I had a problem with the first set of soft tyres. I just didn’t have enough grip, and we have to find out why this was. On the second run I couldn’t make the best use of the other set because, after the red flag, we had to queue at the pit lane exit and the temperatures dropped. Also with all the traffic obviously I didn’t have the best chance to set a quick lap time. However, I believe points are still within reach as our overall performance is good.”

Jenson Button: “After Q2, I thought we’d have a shot at pole today, but, looking at Sebastian’s final laptime, second place was realistically all we could do. Still, it’s great that we got two cars into the top three – we really extracted the maximum from the package today. Overnight, we made some improvements to the car; I think there are still areas where we need to improve to challenge Red Bull, but I want to say a big thank-you to the guys in the garage and back at the factory, they’ve been working really hard and have given us a car that we can really build on over the next couple of races. This is my best grid position of the season; the car felt really consistent all afternoon and I got pretty much everything out of it. For tomorrow, I think our race pace will be a little bit closer to Red Bull than our quali pace. We can have a good race from this grid position.”

Lewis Hamilton: “We made some really positive set-up changes on Friday evening and I was much happier with our car today. In qualifying, Jenson and I were very close and we’re both up there. Jenson did a fantastic job to put his car ahead of me, but I sacrificed a bit of my own pace to enable me to have a fresh set of Options for the race. We took the decision to complete just a single run in Q3. Of course, that was a compromise, but it means I’ll have a fresh set of tyres for one of the stints tomorrow. And last week’s race in Malaysia showed us how important it is to have fresh tyres for the race. Today’s strategy should increase my chances in the race. It’s always good to have a fresh set of tyres in the bag, and I wanted to make sure I had options to cover everything. To be able to put on a new tyre at the end of tomorrow’s race will be a great positive and will help the longevity of the tyres.”

Adrian Sutil: “It was a good qualifying and I am looking forward to the race tomorrow. This weekend has so far been much better than the last ones, with no real problems so it looks good for us. It was a little bit difficult at the end of the session when the red flag came out and I missed out on a final flying lap, but overall I am very happy and our car performance is improving well.”

Paul Di Resta: “I could not have wished for more today and it’s nice to get into Q3. After missing the whole of FP2 yesterday we knew that it was going to be difficult this morning, but we’ve got a small upgrade here and it certainly improved the performance today. Luckily I did my quickest lap in the second running in Q1, as I just struggled a little bit with balance in the others. Our race pace seems to be not too bad, so fingers crossed we can pick up some points again tomorrow as we have in the previous two grands prix.”

Timo Glock: “Overall a better day than yesterday because we were at least able to complete our programme, but we were not able to get the best result in qualifying which is disappointing. I had some warm-up issues on the first run and the tyres were not working really at all on the second, so I have to think the changes we made between free practice and qualifying were not for the better. I think overall we went a little too conservative, but who knows? That might help us in the race. We’ll have a good look at the data now and see what that tells us, then look to a good strategy for tomorrow and aim for the chequered flag.”

Jerome D’Ambrosio: “I’m very happy. What I take away from today is that I continue to improve, and although I still have a lot to learn, I’m going in the right direction. That’s the most important thing for me. It’s still the beginning and I have a lot to do, but the way I’m working – and how everyone in the team is working – is good and the results are showing that the direction we are following is the right one. It was a good Saturday.”

Sebastian Vettel: “We have done it again, but every single time is tough. I think today wasn’t as straightforward as we planned – especially in Q2; I made a bit of a mistake in the run I did then. In Q3 I was confident that we were able to improve quite a lot. Obviously today we did a good job, but it’s just eight metres on the track tomorrow. It will be a long race, but I think we can be happy with the car. We did some good long runs on Friday and so we have a reason to feel good, but it’s also a threat to feel too good – so I pay attention that doesn’t happen.”

Mark Webber: “It’s a very frustrating day. We didn’t have a smooth P3 or Q1 and we paid the ultimate price at end of the day. We thought we had enough to get through on the prime tyres – we have the pace, but I couldn’t get the tyre working on my second run. We’ll see what we can do tonight, but I can only go forwards. I can’t remember the last time I was out in Q1; it was a long, long time ago, so it was a bad day for us.”

Jaime Alguersuari: “I need to congratulate the team for doing a good job and choosing the right strategy to tackle this session. Getting Sebastien and myself into Q3 is definitely a success for the whole team as it was no easy task. We did not really expect to be there to be honest, looking at the speed of some of our rivals and the red flag in Q2 definitely helped us. Tomorrow I think there is a possibility to pick up a good amount of points and I am optimistic because today, we chose a car set-up better suited to the race than to do a quick lap in qualifying. It’s true we are not used to starting from this position and I might have to run a defensive race and see how our tyres perform, as this will again be a key factor.”

Sebastien Buemi: “I am very happy for the team result, with two cars in the top ten. As for myself, I am a bit disappointed that, for the sake of half a tenth I have dropped from seventh to ninth. The team can be very pleased with this performance and with the result we have not seen for a while. Whatever the circumstances today, I know the team has worked very hard at the track and back at the factory to do the very best it can and in general we look much more competitive than we were last year. I hope it will be good enough to get us in the points tomorrow. It will be an important race for us, given we have these good grid positions. The first thing will be to make sure we get all the way to the end and if we do that, then I think it could be a good grand prix for us.”

Heikki Kovalainen: “From my perspective I’m very happy with that. I left it all until the last minute and swapped to a one lap run, putting myself under a bit of pressure, but I put in a good final lap and got under 1.38. After FP3 we already knew we’d have a bit of a tricky qualifying session as the track temperatures were a lot lower than yesterday and that definitely affects our car. We’re quite easy on the tyres and when the temperatures drop we need to work harder to get them up to the optimum heat, which means we don’t get everything out of them, but in the race conditions we’re definitely stronger and you can see that we’re steadily doing what we want which is to keep pushing towards the midfield.”

Jarno Trulli: “I am really happy from the driving point of view because I pushed hard out there today and said over the radio that I think I got as much as I possibly could out of the car today. I’m still working on finding the right balance but little by little we’re progressing so I think we keep on doing a good job across the whole team and after a good weekend from the reliability point of view we should have a good race tomorrow.”