Car 1 SEBASTIAN VETTEL, Position: POLE POSITION (3rd Practice – P1, 1:37.258)
“There was a lot of talk going into this GP about the regulation changes and there will be a lot of talk before the next one. I think everyone will lose out on something, but people expect us to lose more than other teams and that is where I disagree. Overall it was a very good day for us – it’s good to have the front row for our team, but it will be a long race tomorrow. It’s always tough here. It’s a tricky circuit, as there are so many corners – I think there are 25 before we cross the line again, so to get all of them right is very difficult and to get the perfect lap is quite tough. I think my first lap was quite good, I was very happy and Mark was obviously with his second run. So, it’s a good result and a good place to start from tomorrow, we’ll see what we can do.”
Car 2 MARK WEBBER, Position: 2nd (3rd Practice – P4, 1:38.068)
“That was a pretty good lap. There are so many corners here that you’d like to put them all together perfectly from all of your runs, but that’s not the case and you have to try and put them together when it counts. I didn’t have the smoothest build up in qualifying, so the guys did a good job to recover with me. I knew there was more to come on the last lap, I just had to put it all together. Still, it wasn’t easy, but it was a good lap and it was good to go a bit faster in the last sector. Seb was strong in the first two, but in the end it is a great day for the team off the back of all the talk. Of course, there are no points today, so we’re looking forward to tomorrow’s race and we’ll go from there.”
CHRISTIAN HORNER:
“A tremendous team performance and to have both drivers up on the front row is a great team result. It’s thanks to excellent execution in all three qualifying sessions and to the hard work that’s going on – not only trackside, but also back in the factory – to ensure that we can continue to produce cars that are capable of challenging for the pole, week in and week out. There are no points for today however and with the double DRS zone that we know will be very powerful here, it will make for a fascinating race tomorrow.”
(Renault) CYRIL DUMONT:
“So again, another very good qualifying for Red Bull Renault. It was our third one-two of the season and eighth pole position. It was a good recovery from Mark today after the Q1 session, which was not so easy for him. Regarding the new regulation, it’s a good result – I think the pace is there, even with the race set up! I hope we have a good race tomorrow.”
Pirelli’s tyres have had a big impact on the racing this year and have made the job of tyre technician even more crucial. Jon Gates remembers the first time he stepped up to the role ...
THE FIRST TIME I... WORKED AS A GRAND PRIX TYRE TECHNICIAN (JON GATES)
The first time I worked as a tyre technician was in 2002 at the French GP in Magny Cours, for Jaguar. I had been a truckie until that point, but the guy who was doing the tyres left, so I got my chance. I shadowed him for a couple of races and then at Magny Cours I was on my own. I remember that through every session – practice, qualifying and the race – I could hear my heart beating in my headset. I was that much on edge. It was pretty nerve-wracking because the tyres are one of the few mechanical changes that you can make to the car during the race. That’s quite a responsibility, as your mistake could compromise the entire race. The race was pretty straightforward, but I felt like I hadn’t shadowed the previous guy enough! I knew what I was doing, but I was very nervous. I don’t think I made any mistakes though. I was on Pedro de la Rosa’s car that day and he finished ninth. The first time I had a really chaotic, race was probably Spa 2005. It was a wet race and there were some strange calls! The conditions were pretty difficult and the engineer didn’t know what to call for. I had full wets and intermediates ready and they didn’t make their mind up until the car was rolling down the pitlane – that was pretty nerve wracking.
And talking of chaotic races, you can include the last one in Canada! When were out on the grid in the rain after the stoppage, the generators tripped and the tyre blankets were completely soaked, so I was getting little shocks off them. We had to disconnect it all, take the tyres back to the garage and get them in the dry to get the blankets working and the tyres warmed up. Then we had the change in conditions after the restart. We had extreme wets and intermediates ready and the dry line appeared, so we could move to dry tyres, but we had to have both types ready – so there was a point when we had every type of tyre ready. There was a lot of stacking and de-stacking going on!
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