Formula 1 News

2011 Turkish GP, qualifying: Driver quotes 

Heikki Kovalainen: “I’m happy with that. We only have to find a little bit more to join the fight in Q2 but today we had a good strategy and got everything that we could from the tyres. I’m pleased with my own performance – the quick lap was right on the money with no mistakes so it’s a good feeling to keep edging closer. We’re all looking forward to the Barcelona upgrade package where hopefully that will deliver a greater performance gain compared to what the opposition will bring but we’re nearly there so for now it’s just about keeping up the effort and putting in another strong performance tomorrow.”

Jarno Trulli: “I’m pretty much satisfied with my run today. Unfortunately I had a DRS issue which obviously costs a lot of time on a circuit like this but I think that all round we did as good a job as we could today. Our race pace definitely gives us a chance to fight with the cars ahead so hopefully we can sort out the DRS issue and replicate what we did in the race in China.”

Sebastien Buemi: “It’s a bit hard to understand why we are so far off. I would say that this morning, the track was quicker for us and I am not sure why I could not do the same lap time this afternoon as I managed in the morning. Maybe it’s down to the drastic increase in temperature that we seem to have lost some grip. Overall, I am therefore disappointed with this qualifying session as I feel we could have done better and maybe been higher up on the grid, as one tenth of a second would have made a big difference. Let’s see what happens tomorrow, when apparently there is a chance it might rain and that could change everything.”

Jaime Alguersuari: “All things considered, this is not such a bad result as at least we have saved a set of new tyres for the race which is a positive point. Maybe we could have improved the balance of the car on another set, as it changed a lot from this morning to the afternoon, which was down to the change in temperature and track condition. I did not do so much running in the morning which obviously did not help. But I must be positive and am looking forward to having a good race tomorrow as we have enough tyres to do well, so let’s see what happens.”

Lewis Hamilton: “We’re starting on the dirty side of the grid – so our biggest challenge tomorrow could be getting off the line. Every year here I’ve started on the dirty side here! Mercedes GP and Ferrari have picked up their pace, and it might be hard to overtake the Mercedes GP because they’re very fast on the straights; so if it pans out like that, the Red Bulls could edge away from us. We don’t have an extra set of unused tyres, but you never know what the weather will do tomorrow. We’re definitely in the fight and I’ll be pushing all the way – just as we did last year. So I’ll try to get a good start tomorrow – fingers crossed we can gain some places that way. I’m looking forward to driving a strong grand prix – it’s a long race here and there should be opportunities to overtake.”

Jenson Button: “Sixth position isn’t great, but we can still do well: Mark Webber had a good race from 18th in China, so we can definitely have a good race from sixth. Maybe I should have just done a single run for Q3 because my second run wasn’t any faster than my first – and you tend to lose time if you push these tyres too hard. But to be honest I couldn’t get a really good balance in qualifying. It’s difficult to know people’s overall pace from Friday running because the changeable weather has mixed everything up. I’d hoped for more but we’ll see what happens. It’s a pity that I’m on the dirty side of the track – it might cause a few problems with the getaway into Turn One tomorrow – but we’re competitive. We’ll be in the running tomorrow.”

Nico Rosberg: “I’m very happy with our performance in qualifying and it’s amazing to see where we are right now. After a difficult start to the season, we are getting closer to the front and I’m pleased that we are making a small step forward each weekend: thank you to the team for a great job so far. We saved one set of new soft tyres for the race, which will be important in terms of strategy. I’m really looking forward to the race.”

Michael Schumacher: “Understandably I am not happy at all with today’s qualifying. It was just strange, it seemed that the more I pushed on my last lap, the more went wrong. I was at the limit of what I had in my hand but the car was just sliding around and therefore I never got into my rhythm. It’s a real shame after this morning’s promising session.”

Sergio Perez: “Of course I’m disappointed about today’s qualifying result. In Q1 my lap time with the harder tyre compound was okay, but then in Q2 the run on the softer compound was not good. Generally we did some changes after Friday’s practice sessions. It was quite difficult to do the set-up because of the changing weather conditions. Some changes were in the right direction and others were not. However, my car was ok in qualifying. It will not be an easy race for us but I still hope to manage to score a point tomorrow.”

Kamui Kobayashi: “I went out to do a first run right when Q1 started because I wanted to check another set up option. But then on the middle of the back straight the engine suddenly stopped. It was a problem with the fuel system. I hoped to make it back into the garage but I stopped before the pit lane entrance. Anyway, for me the session would have been over even if I had make it into the garage because it takes a lot of time to change the fuel system. I have to accept that it was bad luck for me and I want to do a good race tomorrow. Although I like overtaking a lot, I must admit there are an awful lot of cars between me and the first point.”

Sebastian Vettel: “I’m very happy. It was a bit funny in Q3 today, as both Mark and I decided we would skip the second run and so we finished earlier than normal. It was a strange feeling, as the other cars are on track setting times and you are in the garage watching – they might beat you, but you can only watch the screens and there’s nothing you can do. It was an odd feeling but a good decision to save tyres for tomorrow’s race. I messed up the car yesterday morning, so we missed the session in the afternoon, but the guys fixed it for today and I think they did a very good job. We have been up there with the times today, although we didn’t have a trouble free morning and we had a bit to catch up. I like the track here which helps and it was nice to see that, without many laps, I was able to come back and find the rhythm, so all-in-all I’m very happy today.”

Mark Webber: “I would have liked to have got a couple more tenths to have the margin; obviously Sebastian did a very good lap for pole, but my lap wasn’t too bad. We spoke before qualifying and decided that, as tomorrow is going to be a long race, every lap you could save today might help tomorrow. It turns out that we’re in the best possible grid positions and the team did a good job, as we have saved a set of tyres too, so it’s looking good. There were some good decisions from the team. I’m happy with today and am looking forward to tomorrow’s race.”

Rubens Barrichello: “After all the work we have done this weekend at the factory and trackside, I have to always put a great lap together in qualifying and I’m very happy with my last lap. Unfortunately though, we just ended up outside the top ten, which is not that penalising with the tyre situation. We also weren’t running the new rear wing which was one of our upgrades for this race so it was a good qualifying session for us to finish 11th despite that.”

Pastor Maldonado: “That’s the happiest I’ve felt after a qualifying session this season. The new parts the team have worked really hard to deliver to this race have definitely improved the car. It feels quicker and easier to drive so our efforts have paid off. Because of a problem, I haven’t run KERS all weekend. If it was working in qualifying, we would have been three tenths quicker. Anyway, we need to focus on tomorrow now. It will be a difficult race and will probably be very tight, but I am confident that we can get a good result.”

Adrian Sutil: “It was quite a straightforward session for me with no major issues. I think we used the tyres well, there were no problems with traffic and it was a great team effort. But we should remember that the races so far this year have shown that qualifying is not as important as it used to be and it’s more important to have a good car for the race. I’m pretty happy with my set-up for tomorrow and feel more comfortable with the car than I did at the last race. In terms of the tyres, the hard seemed to perform very well yesterday, but the softs are looking good in the higher temperatures so it will be interesting to see how that develops in the race.”

Paul Di Resta: “I think it was another great team performance today and we are roughly where we expected to be. There were no problems in Q1, and in Q2 I only did one run because we thought it would optimise our race strategy and save a set of tyres. I’m happy with my set-up for the race and I think we’ve sacrificed a bit more today to have a better car tomorrow. Hopefully that will put us in a reasonable position to fight the cars ahead of us and pick up some more points.”

Jerome D’Ambrosio: “Another good day for me although we had hoped for something a bit better in terms of performance. But that’s where we are at present with the new package. We need to keep our heads down and keep pushing forward, keep improving and fine-tuning it to the track. In terms of my own performance I’m happy because I maintained the level I was at in Shanghai, which shows I have learned a lot and also applied what I’ve learned. But it’s a long road for me, I still need to understand why sometimes things go well and sometimes they don’t, so I will continue to keep working hard and keep a cool head.”

Timo Glock: “Not a perfect qualifying for me for sure. I suffered some engine hesitations in turns 12-14, which we will address for tomorrow, but otherwise from my side it was okay. For some reason though, I wasn’t able to get the same from the car as Jerome today, so we’ll have to look at the data and see if there is something we did wrong, maybe between Free Practice 3 and Qualifying, but there wasn’t so much to change so right now I can’t say. I have to focus on tomorrow now when we hope for better things and to bring both cars to the finish.”

Vitaly Petrov: “I’m not fully satisfied with where I qualified today because we’re capable of finishing even higher than seventh on the grid. However, for both of us to secure top 10 positions should be seen as a positive thing and it is good that we don’t have any mechanical problems. We can still continue to work and push hard to make sure we can be fighting closer to the front of the grid tomorrow.”

Nick Heidfeld: “It’s not too bad to be in P9 – I struggled earlier in the day and in Q2 I found the balance and grip from the tyres that I was looking for. It could have been even better as I had some understeer problems with the front tyres but it was ok. I feel more confident going into tomorrow, we know that with the DRS we can overtake better, we’ve seen that already so we can finish higher than our grid position. Usually the car is better on race pace, and we know we can get good starts so gain some strong positions.”

Fernando Alonso: “Fifth place is not the sort of result one can be pleased about, but today I am happy because I felt the car was more competitive than it has been in the first three qualifying sessions of the season. Getting into Q2 without using the soft tyres is significant. We have made a small step forward in terms of performance: it’s not yet enough and we quickly need to make a bigger one, but it’s definitely a confidence boost for the whole team, who are working in the right direction. I would say that this the first sign of light at the end of the tunnel in this early part of the season. Fifth place also means I avoid the dirty side of the track, which is usually a big handicap here. It’s hard to say what will be the best strategy for tomorrow, because we don’t know how the tyres will behave: we will have to be ready for any eventuality and be very flexible. Finally, I want to take the opportunity to express my great sadness at the death of a great personality in Spanish sport, Severiano Ballesteros, who put Spain on the golfing map: I offer all my sympathies to those close to him at this painful time.”

Felipe Massa: “It was not a good qualifying for me: I did not manage to get a clean lap in Q3 after I made a significant mistake at Turn 9, when I ended up going off line: we therefore decided it was better to pit and save that set of tyres for the start. In Q1, with the hards, I did not get a great lap and so as not to take any risks, we decided to also use the softs, so I only had one new set available for the final part of qualifying. Now we will see what we can do in the race tomorrow: usually our pace is better than in qualifying, but it will not be easy to do well, given that I’m starting from tenth. We will see what the tyre degradation will be like, maybe it will be a bit higher than what we saw in China. A shame, as I could have been on the third row, along with my team-mate. This morning, in FP3, the engineers saw an engine parameter that they were not sure about and so it was decided to change it at the end of the session. So I went back to the engine I had already used in Malaysia and China, which according to the schedule is still meant to do three races.”

Jerome D’Ambrosio: “Another good day for me although we had hoped for something a bit better in terms of performance. But that’s where we are at present with the new package. We need to keep our heads down and keep pushing forward, keep improving and fine-tuning it to the track. In terms of my own performance I’m happy because I maintained the level I was at in Shanghai, which shows I have learned a lot and also applied what I’ve learned. But it’s a long road for me, I still need to understand why sometimes things go well and sometimes they don’t, so I will continue to keep working hard and keep a cool head.”

Timo Glock: “Not a perfect qualifying for me for sure. I suffered some engine hesitations in turns 12-14, which we will address for tomorrow, but otherwise from my side it was okay. For some reason though, I wasn’t able to get the same from the car as Jerome today, so we’ll have to look at the data and see if there is something we did wrong, maybe between Free Practice 3 and Qualifying, but there wasn’t so much to change so right now I can’t say. I have to focus on tomorrow now when we hope for better things and to bring both cars to the finish.”

Narain Karthikeyan: “I should’ve done better today considering that my team mate did quite a good lap. My first set of tyres was alright but with the second set I couldn’t feel any grip, the car was sliding all over the place so we must try and find out what went wrong. It’s my third race back in Formula 1 and Turkey is not an easy track, there are a lot of bumps and it’s quite technical. So the longer I spend in the car the more comfortable I will get. The car is improving a lot, reliability is good so once again my aim for tomorrow is to try and finish the race.”

Tonio Liuzzi: “We were motivated coming into this weekend with the upgrades and we’re pushing for more in the future. We’re all pushing every race and every hour back in the factory so this result is important as it is a reward for that work and confirms that the gap is closing with the rest. We’re nearly ahead of both Virgins which is our aim, they’re pushing as well so it won’t be easy. But we’re closing the gap with the leaders, which is very important for us. I struggled a bit at the beginning with the first set of tyres but the second set had a really good performance, the car reacted very well. We had a few problems in the morning, we were a bit worried we didn’t have the right balance for qualifying but in the end it all went well. 21st position is a great result for tomorrow where we will try to finish ahead of both Virgins which is our target. It is important to keep in this line.”