Team reaction after qualifying in Abu Dhabi (part 2)

After a difficult second session on Friday, the team managed to improve the cars for Saturday in Abu Dhabi. Things were already a lot better in third free practice. In the qualifying for the last Grand Prix of the 2010 season Kamui Kobayashi came 12th, while Nick Heidfeld was 14th. Neither driver was a hundred percent happy, with Kobayashi having some trouble with the brake balance and Heidfeld knowing, in hindsight, another lap would have helped to get the maximum grip level out of the tyres.

Kamui Kobayashi: “I missed Q3 by just a fraction of a second, and it was definitely a possibility for our car on this track. In general the car is much better than it was on Friday, and my lap was quite okay. But since we changed the brake material for free practice three, which is routine, I have had problems. The brake balance between front and rear isn’t right. This obviously results in a lack of confidence and makes it difficult to put three perfect sector times together. Nevertheless I’m very much looking forward to the race tomorrow, and I believe I can score points from where I am starting.”

Nick Heidfeld: “We have improved the car a lot since Friday. Qualifying wasn’t bad, but I am not completely happy. It takes a few laps to heat up the tyres. In Q1 I used a set of Prime tyres and then a set of Option tyres. Like last year, the difference isn’t really huge here. Although it is hot, the tarmac seems to be very smooth and doesn’t offer too much grip. It is not easy to get the car’s balance right here. In Q2 I used a single set of the softer Option rubber. The last lap was okay, I had no traffic or mistakes, but I still could feel there was more grip to come from the tyres.”

James Key, Technical Director: “We seemed to head in the right direction for the set-up in free practice 3 after some good work by the drivers and engineers over night. We were fairly happy how the cars felt going into qualifying. There it was really all about the tyres, which spec to use and how long to stay out, because the warm-up was an issue, particularly with the changing conditions. The track temperatures and the length of the life of the tyres were the two factors we needed to trade off. So we tried longer runs in each session, and for us this was okay. Traffic was also a problem today, so to do more laps was sensible. It was a good lap by Kamui, he missed out on Q3 by just 1.3 tenths, but we have some fresh tyres for tomorrow. It’s gonna be a fascinating race with the way the grid turned out today. We just hope for a good race on our side and some more points.”

The Force India F1 Team enjoyed its best qualifying performance since the Italian Grand Prix at the Yas Marina circuit as it seeks to seal its best-ever finishing position in the constructors’ championship in tomorrow’s race. Adrian Sutil will start from 13th after a strong Q2 showing, while Tonio Liuzzi will start 16th as he posted a time more than a second quicker than his 2009 qualifying lap.

Adrian Sutil: I am pleased with how qualifying went for us. It was not easy in the last few races but it was a clean lap today, close to the top ten and it puts us in a strong position for the race. The VJM03 worked very well and the balance was good - we could even do three laps on the soft tyre, which is unusual in qualifying. We finished very close to the top ten and now the clear goal is to break into the points. I am convinced we can get up there based on the performance throughout the season - we need a good start and strategy and a race that comes to us. It’s not easy but we will push and do our best. We need some points, that’s absolutely the main goal.

Tonio Liuzzi: We were in good shape today. We didn’t have enough for Q3 but we’ve shown a step in performance from the previous races. The balance was good and with the second set of tyres it was getting better and better. Unfortunately I got some traffic with Petrov on my last lap in the last sector and lost about three tenths, which cost us at least a position or two. We do know though that the car is quick and I think we are in good shape and for the race tomorrow.

Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal: A very good performance from the team today. Last year we struggled to get out of Q1 and today we were just under three tenths from Q3, showing just how much we have improved over the past 12 months. It also demonstrates just how hard everyone has worked and is a real fillip going into tomorrow’s race. We are in a good position to get into the points, our race pace has been very strong and we’re all hungry to get back into sixth again. If we can finish the season with only teams who have previously won the constructors’ championship ahead of us it’s going to be the icing on the cake for what’s been a great season for us so far.

Jaime Alguersuari: “It was very difficult today to make the step from Q1 to Q2, but in the end I think I got a good lap, improving by a tenth. I would say we were not as quick as we expected to be here and could not really attack the Saubers and Force Indias. Therefore we tried running with less downforce to be faster down the straight, but it made Sector 3 very difficult and I had too much oversteer, which meant I could not attack the track. As for the race, I think that right from Friday the situation here was clear. This is the sort of race where you can have a lot of crashes and retirements, which could give us a chance to get into the points if we stay out of trouble and do something good with the tyre strategy. Tomorrow, we have nothing to lose, so I will start the race in an aggressive fashion and then see where that takes us.”

Sebastien Buemi: “I lost quite a bit of time at Turn 19, as I just brushed the wall on the exit to it, which cost me three tenths and a place in Q2, so I cannot be happy with the way the session went. It was ironic that it was my team-mate who knocked me out of Q2, but now we need to focus on the race and the car’s performance has not been too bad overall in free practice, so I will be trying my best as usual to get the very most out of the package for the final time this season.”

Giorgio Ascanelli: “We seem to have been around 17th and 18th most of the weekend, so you could say the qualifying result was not surprising. I did actually think we could have pipped Tonio (Liuzzi) at the last moment, but it did not work out that way. At the time that we took the decision to do longer runs on the Prime tyre, it seemed like the correct choice, but I suppose that with full hindsight you could say it was the wrong choice as Tonio outqualified us doing two laps on the softer Option. So I was wrong. One cause for satisfaction at the end of the season? Whatever happens tomorrow, Jaime is the driver who has completed the most laps, the greatest mileage this season, including all running at the 19 Grands Prix, including the Friday and Saturday sessions.”

The perfect end to Lotus Racing’s final qualifying session of the season saw the battle of the new teams culminate in a dominant display by the Anglo-Malaysian squad, with Jarno Trulli finishing in 19th place, over half a second ahead of Timo Glock, and Heikki Kovalainen very close behind Jarno in 20th.

Jarno Trulli: “That was great and I’m delighted we finished the last qualifying session of the season as best of the new teams. The car was really good this afternoon which is a little surprising as I had quite a bit of rear-locking under braking which we didn’t have in FP3. Nevertheless, the track was improving throughout the session, so it was important to get a good lap in at the end which I managed to do. I think I could have found another tenth but I just wanted to make sure we were in front, and the fact we are, with a decent gap to Timo, is a sign of how well we are finishing the season.”

Heikki Kovalainen: “I thought the session was ok for me but congratulations to Jarno for putting in a great qualifying lap. I think I put in as good a performance as I could, and as both cars are ahead of our direct rivals it’s where we want to be. We’ll look to carry over today’s performance into the race tomorrow and the main aim is to end the season as best of the new teams.”

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: “I don’t think we could have asked for any more today. Both cars were strong, well balanced and dominated the other new teams which was the number one goal. We have worked hard all weekend to get the best out of the tyres, and both Jarno and Heikki did that in qualifying, putting us in a very strong position for tomorrow’s race.”

Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: “That was a fantastic display from the whole team. To end the final qualifying session of 2010 so far ahead of our main rivals is a great effort, and is just reward for the extremely hard work everyone has put in throughout the whole season. I have enjoyed every second of this weekend so far. On top of the strong performances on track yesterday and today, we have been able to take a few more important steps forward for 2011 and next year is looking more exciting than ever. However, for now it is all about this weekend. Richard Branson and I were measured up for our flight attendant uniforms today and that adds an extra bit of excitement to tomorrow’s battle, but now it is all about making sure we keep our concentration and focus and finish the season as well as we did today.”

In the qualifying session for tomorrow’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the spectacular Yas Marina Circuit, Virgin Racing’s drivers, Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi, were classified 21st and 22nd.

The session was held in bright sunshine, just before darkness began to fall and the artificial light took over. Timo was unlucky to be blocked on his second flying lap on his first set of tyres, and Lucas likewise reported issues with traffic. Both drivers did well to improve on their second runs, but ultimately the team was not quite able to match the pace of the Lotus pair.

However, tomorrow’s Grand Prix is held over 55 laps of the Yas Marina circuit and tyre management will be a key feature of the race. The engineers will work to develop an optimum strategy in order to maximise the chances of finishing ahead of the other new teams.

Timo Glock: “It was a reasonable qualifying in the sense that we got the most from the car, so I am pleased with my performance, although it is disappointing that we were unable to beat Lotus. It’s hard to believe but it’s the last race of our debut season tomorrow so we obviously hope we can do something in the race and maybe get ahead of the Lotus cars one last time.”

Lucas di Grassi: “All things considered, my lap time in qualifying was reasonably good, although traffic and track position played a big role in my qualifying times. Now we have to focus on tomorrow’s race – the last of the season – in which we will try to do the best job possible and finish the year with a good result.”

John Booth, Team Principal: “Both drivers suffered a little with traffic out there today. There was a problem with Lucas’ brake drum which adversely affected his braking, nevertheless we simply weren’t quite quick enough to beat our closest competitors. Tyre choice and management for tomorrow will be interesting and we look forward to an exciting season finale.”

The last qualifying session of the 2010 season got underway this afternoon in Abu Dhabi. Both Hispania Racing drivers, Bruno Senna and Christian Klien, were on good form and were able to run faster than in the morning session, where the Brazilian ended up 22nd and in front of another new team, and the Austrian was 24th. Once more, the Hispania Racing cars were reliable and in the decisive qualifying hour both Bruno Senna and Christian Klien did 10 laps and will start tomorrow’s race from 23rd (1.45.085) and 24th (1.45.296) position respectively.

Dr Colin Kolles, Team Principal: “The gap to the other new teams was not too big today. After fixing the problems Christian Klien had in the practice session, he could perform better. Bruno Senna could do a good lap and was close to our competitors. We could have achieved a better result but unfortunately we couldn’t bring the sectors together. For the final race of the season we are hoping to have good fights with the other new teams and to achieve a satisfying result for us.”

Christian Klien, Race driver: “It was a difficult day for us and we had problems with the brakes in the third practice. That’s why we had to change the braking system which then worked better than before. Unfortunately, there was not enough time during the qualifying session to get used to the new set-up and I didn’t feel very comfortable in the car. But I hope that we can do a good race tomorrow and finish with both cars again to end the season in a good way.”

Bruno Senna, Race driver: “The track conditions were quite changeable today, but it improved during the day, even in qualifying. It was difficult to adapt to these changes but I could manage a good lap on the option tyres. It’s going to be the last race of my first season in Formula 1, so I hope we can have a good and competitive one tomorrow.”