Robert Kubica (8th): “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 (14th): “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.”
