Ferrari’s Felipe Massa substitute, Luca Badoer, on struggling to 20th on the grid; Renault’s Romain Grosjean on his debut Formula One qualifying performance; and McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen on taking dominant one-two grid slots in the bright sunshine of Valencia. All 20 drivers and senior team personnel report back on Saturday’s action…
Williams
Nico Rosberg (7th, Q3 - 1m 40.185s):
“Qualifying was generally ok. I’m in P7 with quite a lot of fuel, possibly more than anybody else around me, so I have a strong strategy for the race. There was no point in trying to out qualify the cars with KERS because they will overtake me off the line anyway. I’d prefer to qualify behind them, have more fuel on board and then beat them in the race. This track suits our car so we could have a points-scoring race tomorrow.”
Kazuki Nakajima (17th, Q1 - 1m 39.795s):
“We had a failure on my car which caused the engine to cut out during Q1 so I didn’t have a chance to show what we could do. It’s a shame because I think we were strong enough to have been in the top ten today. We have a good race pace, so I just need to use that to my advantage and do my best tomorrow.”
Rod Nelson, chief operations engineer:
“Today was obviously disappointing for Kazuki. We are still looking into the problem which stopped him out on the circuit, but we do know it wasn’t driver error. We are reasonably pleased with where we are with Nico. He’s on the clean side of the grid, which is a large advantage here. He’ll have KERS cars on the dirty side next to him, but hopefully we’ll stay ahead of them this time. We’re happy with the strategy we’ve chosen.”
BMW Sauber
Robert Kubica (10th, Q3 - 1m 40.512s):
“If lately you have been starting from the rear of the grid, you cannot be disappointed with tenth in qualifying. We have to be realistic. I think today overall was a good day. Unfortunately I had some traffic on my final run and I made a small mistake. This cost me a few tenths. Scoring points will be difficult tomorrow.”
Nick Heidfeld (11th, Q2 - 1m 38.826s):
“It is the sixth time this year I have just missed the top ten qualifying and come 11th by fractions of tenths of a second. Of course I’m a little bit disappointed, but on the other side it means we have freedom regarding the fuel we carry and I hope for a good race. Everybody in the team is determined to put in a good performance and show what they can do for the future. Our car is generally somewhat better and I think from P11 points are possible.”
Mario Theissen, BMW Motorsport director:
“We are satisfied with the qualifying result. Compared to recent races it was a step forward into the midfield, and this is what we had expected from our development package. With Robert we have got one car into the top ten and Nick in 11th is just behind. Q3 didn’t go ideally for Robert, otherwise he could have finished even higher up. Congratulations to McLaren-Mercedes for having both cars on the front row. This proves how quickly things can change.”
Willy Rampf, BMW Sauber head of engineering:
“Our goal was to get at least one car into the top ten. With Robert we did so. However we expected to be in a better position. Nick missed Q3 only by the blink of an eye. Overall we took a step in the right direction with the aero update. Technically we had a qualifying without any problems.”
Toyota
Timo Glock (13th, Q2 - 1m 38.991s):
"That wasn't a good result. We struggled a bit for pace this morning in the short third practice and in the end we were just a couple of tenths away from being in the top 10, which is a pity. I was having trouble in first qualifying but in the second session the car wasn't too bad until the final corners when the rear tyres dropped off quite a lot. I was pushing to the maximum but the tyres didn't really survive. So we have to start again from 13th as we did in Hungary and try to repeat what we did there by finding a way to get into the points. It will be a difficult task but I will do everything I can."
Jarno Trulli (18th, Q1 - 1m 39.807s):
"I was expecting qualifying to be a bit difficult but not as bad as that. This morning the car felt reasonable even if we were a little short of grip. But it was much worse in qualifying; I really had no grip and there was nothing I could do. I just kept pushing and took a few more risks than normal but itdidn't work out. I don't know why we struggled so much; it is a mystery to me. For the race tomorrow I can just do my best and see what happens."
Pascal Vasselon, Toyota senior general manager chassis:
"We can only be unhappy about that result as it is another extremely disappointing qualifying for us. In the last races we have shown that our race pace is better and gives us a chance to move up the field, although obviously that will be tough. Now we have to take a close look at all our options to see how we can fight back as we did in Hungary. Track conditions are changing continuously so we will look at the effect of that on the tyres for the race and try to make the best of it."
Toro Rosso
Sebastien Buemi (15th, Q2 - 1m 39.514s):
“Even though I got into Q2, I’m a bit disappointed, because in Q1 I was sixth with a good lap time and then in Q2, we did not manage the tyre situation well, especially on my ‘out’ lap and I ended up doing worse than in Q1. Now we must look at what happened, because I think I might even have had the possibility to get into Q3. We are making progress.”
Jaime Alguersuari (19th, Q1 - 1m 39.925s):
“I know what I am capable of and with this being only my second Formula One qualifying session, I have to be patient. I am happy that even though this track is longer than at my first race in Hungary, the gap to the drivers ahead of me is getting smaller. I am feeling more confident in the car every time I drive it. It’s going to be tough tomorrow as it seems to be getting hotter and hotter. I think I can do a good job in the race, bring the car home and hopefully end up at least in the top fifteen.”
Giorgio Ascanelli, Toro Rosso technical director:
“Not much to say: we got one car through to Q2 and both cars have run reliably over the past two days.”
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