Team reaction after qualifying in Montréal (part 1)

McLaren Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton: “I grazed the barriers at the end of P3, which meant my mechanics had to change the right-hand-side suspension ahead of qualifying. Watching them working so quickly yet so efficiently to fix the car was amazing – like watching an orchestra playing! Really, really impressive. Before I went out this afternoon, I told them that I reckon I owed them pole position for all their efforts – so I was on a bit of a mission right from the beginning of Q1.

“At the end of my fastest lap, it was such a fantastic feeling crossing the line – the team came on the radio through Turn Two and told me I’d got pole. I knew it was a good lap – but, when they told me it was the best lap, it just brought back so many memories of my previous times here. It was exactly the same ecstatic feeling as when I took my very first pole position here in 2007.

“I think it’s going to be an interesting race tomorrow – I hope it stays sunny and that the track gets better. The Red Bulls are in an interesting position, because they’ll start tomorrow on the Prime tyre. They’ll have to use the Option at some stage, obviously, so it will be an interesting one. If there’s a Safety Car, it could have a very big influence on the result of the race.

“This track, this city, this country, these people – it all works out the best for me. I love it. It’s almost on a par with the feeling I get racing in the UK. I always have a good time in Montreal, the people are so friendly, and I have so many great supporters here. In fact, coasting to a halt on the slow-down lap was really enjoyable. I got to wave to all the fans – and I’d say it was a unique experience, in fact.”

Jenson Button: “I was happy with my Q3 lap, but I couldn’t touch Lewis – it was a phenomenal lap from him. He’s qualified on pole every time he’s been here, so he’s obviously a specialist around this place. Fifth place isn’t where I’d ideally like to be, but I gave it everything and I couldn’t have gone any quicker.

“It’s good to see that some teams were running different tyres in Q3 – that’s the first time that’s happened this year. Red Bull set their fastest laps on Primes, so it’s going to be an interesting start to the race, seeing if they can overtake. The Prime is the quicker tyre, but they’re going to have to change to the Option at some point during the race. And if they get stuck behind Lewis in the early laps, then I’m sure they’re going to get frustrated.

“So, overall, I think it’s going to be a good race – both fascinating and fun – and strategy will be very important: it will be all about tyre management, so going flat-out every lap might not be the quickest way to get to the end of the race in the shortest possible time.”

Martin Whitmarsh, Team principal: “Today we saw a stunning and dramatic lap from Lewis to snatch pole position in the last seconds of qualifying. He loves this circuit – he scored his first ever grand prix pole position and his first ever grand prix victory here in 2007, of course – and, having won in Turkey two weeks ago, he’s very motivated to continue his winning run here in Canada.

“He did his time on the Option tyre, and will therefore start on it tomorrow. Clearly, it’s less durable than the Prime, but you have to use it some time and we think we’ve got a strong strategy for the race.

“Jenson did a very solid job, too, securing fifth place on tomorrow’s grid, and is also well placed to score plenty of points tomorrow. He’s consistently shown himself to be an extremely fast and combative driver in race conditions – and, all things considered, we’re very happy with how things are shaping up for tomorrow.

“Finally, I want to add two more things. First, I want to say ‘Bravo!’ to our mechanics, who did such a brilliant job to get Lewis’s car ready for qualifying in so short a time. And, second, it’s fantastic that we’re racing in North America once again. So let’s hope Formula 1 puts on a brilliant show tomorrow for the Formula 1 fans of not only Canada but of all of North America, too.”

Red Bull Renault

Mark Webber: “We thought we could do a good job in qualifying on the hard tyre and it turned out to be the case. We knew we would still try and have a crack at the front row, but we also knew the McLarens were very strong on the option tyre, which they elected to take. It’s a long race tomorrow, we’re planning to do the best we can and we’re hoping the tyres will be beneficial to us. We’re also mindful that there might be the odd safety car here and there – there are many different ways tomorrow’s race may unfold. But, we’ve stuck to our guns, done a great job and Seb and I are in the top three again.”

Sebastian Vettel: “It was a pretty entertaining session, especially Q3. We went out on the hard tyres, which take a while to come in. We knew that and to be honest I didn’t get a good lap in until the very last lap, so it wasn’t perfect timing, but it worked. My final lap wasn’t that clean, so I’m happy I made it to third today; it’s good. Looking to tomorrow, I think I should have a good start as I’m on the inside. I’m happy that both Mark and I made it to these positions with what is, from my point of view, the right tyre. Yesterday’s practice showed that the soft tyre is quite difficult to last for more than a couple of laps.”

Christian Horner: “A really interesting qualifying session. We opted for a strategically different route to
the other cars around us, by opting to run on the hard tyre. Both drivers felt it was the better tyre to start the
race on tomorrow. I’m very happy with both Mark and Sebastian’s performance at this track that, coming
here, we knew shouldn’t be one of our strongest. So to achieve second and third is a really strong team
result.”

Fabrice Lom (Renault): “It’s a bit of a sad day, as it’s the first time we didn’t get pole position this year.
But, it’s still a good result – second and third is very respectable, especially on this track. It’s difficult

Ferrari

A good qualifying for Scuderia Ferrari in the Canadian Grand Prix: when the race gets underway tomorrow at noon, Fernando Alonso will be in fourth place on the grid, with Felipe Massa seventh. On a track whose characteristics at the moment seem to suit it very well, the F10 has shown, at least in terms of outright performance, that it is more competitive than in the previous race.

Stefano Domenicali: “We are reasonably pleased with this result, which maybe could even have been slightly better. Both yesterday and today we have proved capable of fighting for the top places, but we are well aware that it is the race that counts as this is when the points are given out. Traditionally, the Canadian Grand Prix is action packed and so tomorrow we must be ready to make the most of every opportunity. Compared to the earlier races in the season, there is also the variable of the different tyre choice strategies of the cars classified on the top three rows: we will see who has made the right decision. Reliability remains the crucial factor, especially on a track like Montreal which is tough on the mechanical components of the cars.”

Fernando Alonso: “So far this weekend, we have always been in the fight for the top places. We have a good grid position and now we must prepare ourselves as well as possible for a race, which for the first time this season will feature a confrontation between different strategy options, with two of the top five cars choosing to start on the hard tyres. It will be a very long and tough race and it will be vital to maintain concentration throughout, because on this track a moment’s distraction can carry a heavy penalty. Usually, our car is rather kind on the tyres which could be a decisive factor tomorrow, as will be the management of the brakes. Realistically, a podium finish is a possible goal, while it would take something special to get the win. In Q3, if I had been able to use another set of tyres, then maybe I could have cut my time down by a few hundredths, but the same applies to other drivers, therefore it’s hard to say how it would have gone if everyone had driven a perfect qualifying. All in all, we can be pleased with today’s performance.”

Felipe Massa: “It was a very tough and closely contested qualifying. In Q3, I was getting quicker with every lap to such an extent that my best time came on lap four. I definitely cannot be happy with seventh place, but at least our car is more competitive than it was in Turkey. It was a shame I didn’t manage to produce a perfect lap, otherwise I could have been higher up the order: at the end, as the track continued to improve, a few drivers went just a tiny bit quicker than me. Tomorrow, we must try and get a good start and on the back of that, build a good race. It will be important to get to the finish on a track which usually puts a high premium on reliability and one’s driving, given that there is little margin for error.”

Chris Dyer: “We are happy to have gone back to getting both cars through to Q3. Both Felipe and Fernando got the most out of the performance of the F10: a couple of tiny errors cost practically nothing in terms of lap times. It’s a shame that, right at the end, for just a few thousandths, Fernando found himself pushed back to fourth place and will therefore start from the dirtier side of the grid. From a purely technical point of view, it was a relatively quiet day, without any major problems and we believe we have a good potential to do well in tomorrow’s race.”

Force India Mercedes

The Force India Formula One Team delivered on its early weekend promise as Tonio Liuzzi and Adrian Sutil put in the team’s strongest qualifying performance to date at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in preparation for Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix. Tonio secured sixth position - his best-ever F1 starting position - while Adrian will start ninth, his fourth consecutive entrance into Q3 this season.
Tonio and Adrian made just one run in Q1 to ease into the second part of qualifying, thereby saving the softer tyre compound for use in Q2 and Q3. In Q2 the pair then made two runs, with Tonio setting the eighth quickest time and Adrian the ninth to secure a double Q3 entrance for the team, the second this season.*

In a tense Q3, both drivers then kept their nerve to record times just two tenths apart, with Tonio putting his VJM03 in a career-best sixth and Adrian ninth.

* Both drivers made Q3 in Malaysia.

Adrian Sutil: It was a good result to be in Q3 again, the fifth time this season and the fourth in a row. In general the car was good and behaved well, but we just couldn’t get the best out of the tyres on the last run. I had a little problem getting the temperature in the front tyres and the car felt a bit more understeery, but we can be happy with the lap in the end and P9 is a good starting position for tomorrow. The race will be tough and for sure it will be hard to make the tyres last over the distance, but we’ll give it our best and look to convert the performance into points tomorrow. As a team it’s looking pretty good right now, Q3 for both cars and hopefully another double points finish in the race.

Tonio Liuzzi: It’s good to be back in business after Turkey! We understood a lot of things from there and also Monaco and pushed really hard to make things better. We changed the chassis and brought some new updates that we tested on Friday and then this morning and, so far, everything is great. P6 is a good position to be in, but it won’t be easy tomorrow as the tyre wear will be high and I think it will make for a really crazy race. This circuit seems to suit us well, with our aero package and set-up, and we’ve seen a big step forward. It’s a great team effort and if Adrian and I can both finish in the points tomorrow it would make a brilliant reward for the hard work we’ve done over the past few weeks.

Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal: I am delighted with this result and so happy to see Tonio back to his best again. We believed in him and wanted to give him the support he needed to realise the potential we knew was in there. He’s justified this belief today with a gritty performance. Adrian likewise had a strong session to put both Force Indias into the top ten. As we all know it’s tomorrow that counts and Canada has a reputation as an unpredictable race so we have now got to refocus on converting this performance into a strong points haul, which I believe, should be very achievable

Renault

Robert Kubica: It was another good qualifying session for us, but there was a difficult decision to make between the tyre compounds in Q3. During Q2 we clearly saw that the option tyre was quicker for qualifying, but, like yesterday, there was a lot of graining. So we made the decision to run the prime tyre for Q3 and, although that cost us some time in qualifying, it will hopefully put us in a good position for the race tomorrow. I’m looking forward to the race and it will be interesting to see how the tyre strategies unfold.

Vitaly Petrov: In Q1 everything went okay and we did a good job, but in Q2 I had some difficulty warming up the rear tyres. I tried to push hard for three laps to build some heat, but it still didn’t work. The main problem was under braking because I was losing the rear and there was very little traction. The car was better in Q1, so we need to understand why we lost performance in Q2. For the race tomorrow, I think it will be tough to overtake here and make up positions, but I will try my best.

Eric Boullier, Team Principal: The session today was all about the tyres because it’s clear that the option is the quicker tyre over one lap, whereas the prime will be better in the race. So it’s going to be interesting to see how the drivers cope with the tyres tomorrow. Robert ran Q3 on the prime, which we believe is the best way to start the race and hopefully we will get the rewards tomorrow. As for Vitaly, it was a little bit frustrating because he had a very good Q1 and showed good pace, but he struggled for grip in Q2 and we need to try and understand the problems he had. It’s a shame because I think he had the pace to make it into Q3 today. For the race tomorrow, we will fight hard to bring home points with both cars.

Alan Permane, Chief Race Engineer: It’s good to see Robert make it easily through to Q3 once again and it was a fairly straightforward session for him. The option tyre was quicker today and he ran that in Q2, but we then chose to use the prime tyre in Q3. This probably cost us a better starting position, but we feel it’s the better tyre to start the race on and hopefully we will have an advantage over those starting on the option in the first stint of the race. Vitaly struggled for grip in Q2 and unfortunately missed out on Q3. He will start 14th and can hopefully make some progress in the race to challenge for points.

Mercedes GP

A below par qualifying performance from Mercedes GP today saw Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher qualify in tenth and thirteenth places respectively for the Canadian Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal.

Using the prime tyre for their only run in Q1, Nico and Michael progressed easily to Q2. Michael missed the cut for Q3 for the first time this season with his fastest time, set on prime tyres on his second run, only quick enough for thirteenth place.

Nico went through in seventh position but struggled with the options on his quick laps in Q3 and qualified in tenth place.

Nico Rosberg: “That wasn’t a great qualifying session for us today. We have a good car here this weekend but unfortunately we couldn’t get the tyres to work properly this afternoon. That was the big issue for us today. The harder tyre wasn’t too bad in Q1 but we struggled with the option later on and there was just no more lap time to be had. It is very disappointing to be starting in tenth place but anything can happen in the race so we can only look forward and take advantage where possible tomorrow.”

Michael Schumacher: “I am obviously disappointed after today’s qualifying. We simply did not have the balance or grip and overall we had a lot of problems with braking and handling. The car was just not performing as we expected. We had similar issues yesterday afternoon and we made some changes after second practice. This morning, the changes seemed to have made sense as our position was reasonable but this afternoon, I was facing similar issues again. It’s difficult to understand the reasons at the moment but we will look deeply into it now and find a good strategy for the race tomorrow.”

Ross Brawn: “A very disappointing qualifying session for us today, particularly as I was quite encouraged by our performance yesterday and this morning. However when it came to qualifying, we just weren’t able to put our laps together. We tried both the prime and option tyres but finding the performance seemed to get away from us. There was very little difference between the tyres and ultimately we struggled to get the best out of them.”

Norbert Haug: “Not the best possible result for us today. We certainly didn’t extract the maximum out of our cars and didn’t use the tyres in the best possible way. But tomorrow we will possibly be in a better position.”