Spa qualifying: What the drivers said

Eurosport - Sun, 07 Sep 15:49:00 2008

Reaction from the key protagonists following qualifying at the Belgium Grand Prix in Spa.

FORMULA 1 mercedes hamilton - 0

Lewis Hamilton - McLaren-Mercedes (Pole)

"The team made no mistakes, and I made no mistakes. I feel great. Coming from Valencia (the European Grand Prix two weeks ago) I knew we had work to do. I feel better than ever and I'm struggling not to smile. Tomorrow will be a challenging day but with the car and the package we'll be hard to beat."

Felipe Massa - Ferrari (2)

"I did a great lap, almost perfect, but it was not enough. Sometimes you do a great lap and you are still missing something. We don't know about their (McLaren's) fuel loads but they are strong here. The race is long and starting from the front row is very important so let's hope we have a strong race."

Heikki Kovalainen - McLaren-Mercedes (3)

"It has been a pretty good weekend all the way through. We have not had any big problems with the car and we have been modifying it little by little trying to increase the pace at the same time. The three sessions in qualifying were fairly straightforward for me, no big problems, but not quite enough to be higher up on the grid. But anyway we have the race tomorrow and we will see if we can be a little bit better."

Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari (4)

"I am reasonably happy with my car, which seems to be behaving the way I like. Of course, I'm a bit disappointed, as I would have liked to have done better: fourth place is far from ideal to go looking for the win, but it doesn't mean I have given up hope. We know we have a good potential, especially in race trim."

Nick Heidfeld - BMW Sauber (5)

"I'm happy with the qualifying result and for me the weekend has gone well so far. I have the feeling we are a little closer to McLaren and Ferrari here, However, I think in the race it will be very difficult for us to keep up with their pace. Tomorrow the weather conditions will be an important factor and a good start for me will be crucial."

Fernando Alonso - Renault (6)

"I am satisfied. We know that in normal conditions it's very difficult to finish in the top four and that to finish in fifth or sixth place is a good result. So that means that we have done a solid job today. We now have a real chance to get a strong result tomorrow, which is important for the championship. I'm quite confident."

Mark Webber - Red Bull (7)

"We've got more pace here than in Valencia. It was a stress to get into Q3; it was very tight as usual, and all the drivers were pretty evenly-matched so you had to find that extra few tenths to get into the final group. We'll see how tomorrow goes with the strategy, but we're in a reasonable position to mount an attack for some points."

Robert Kubica- BMW Sauber (8)

"Qualifying was difficult for me although the conditions were the best so far over the course of the weekend. The track was completely dry, but I have had problems with the balance of the car all weekend and I am lacking overall grip. This makes driving quite difficult, especially here in Spa where you have a lot of long corners.

Nelson Piquet - Renault (12)

"I'm disappointed not to make Q3 as I was in a position to be able to do that. I was on the pace, but my final run in Q2 just wasn't enough to get me through to the top ten. I am now going to work with my engineers to be well prepared for the race tomorrow, and I will do my best to progress in the race and aim to finish in the points."

David Coulthard - Red Bull (14)

"I'm not so happy with that. Fourteenth doesn't look good, but it's so tight in the midfield and we're separated by such a small margin. Let's see what we can do tomorrow."

Rubens Barrichello - Honda (16)

"We have to be pleased with what we achieved in qualifying today, particularly given that we have been pretty much at the bottom of the timesheets so far this weekend. It was a good lap and a good effort from the team. It's just a shame that the car is not able to be more competitive here."

Jenson Button - Honda (17)

"My first lap in Qualifying was the first lap that I did today so in a way it was nice to be able to beat some of our competitors and be close to my team-mate. It was a decent session for us, at the level of performance which the car is showing this weekend, and we will at least be starting from the clean side of the grid."

Adrian Sutil - Force India (20)

"It was a very close qualifying today, with seven hundredths to the two Hondas and also very close to 16th place. I think we expected to be at this pace and we can be quite happy with the performance. We knew that Honda would be our closest competitor and it was close. We know we have a fast car on the straights here and I think we can do some overtaking and have a good race tomorrow."

Giancarlo Fisichella - Force India (21)

"We were struggling a little with the grip level in the qualifying session, but the balance wasn't too bad. I had a bit of traffic on the last run and also some problems with the rear tyres graining and I lost the rear end in three places, so I lost at least three to four tenths. I think there was a possibility to get 16th position, but tomorrow there is a good chance to move up some places."

Eurosport

Comment 1 - 17 of 17

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  1. hamilton is so lucky he got a great car. let him drive a renault do you think he can win? hell no!

    From merla d, on Thu 11 Sep 11:31PM

  2. Sorry for the double post but I wasn't signed in so my ID didn't show up.

    They have to stop at least once to change the tyres as they have to use both sorts at some time during the race. As they have to stop anyway it makes sense not to fuel up to the maximum at the beginning.

    From Grey Scale, on Sun 7 Sep 9:43AM

  3. They have to stop at least once to change the tyres as they have to use both sorts at some time during the race. As they have to stop anyway it makes sense not to fuel up to the maximum at the beginning.

    From Grey Scale, on Sun 7 Sep 9:41AM

  4. alonso and massa they are the men for the reds

    From barrie, on Sun 7 Sep 7:43AM

  5. mccarthyja2008 ---
    I agree with you in part. For Q3, let them go drivers compete for fastest possible. Keep the mystery of the fuel load to race like it used to be. However, I don't believe that Kimi will qualify well even in the old format. He still have problem getting the car to his liking.
    Under the current qual format, basically we can guess what kind of fuel load the 10 top drivers are on. We can make intelligent guess because Q2 is really the fastest qualifying time judging the difference in lap time, intelligent guess can be made.

    baldyman074 ---
    Agree with you. Everyone is in F1 to be successful. Why are drivers being criticised for doing so well?

    upthehill53 ---
    I would love the reverse order. It would be very frustrating the winners of the last race become the midfield pack in the next race. Given the diffuclty in overtaking and the lack of wheel to wheel racing, the reverse order is like a race result manupulation. Result is just as predictable. The good old days has a lot of wheel to wheel racing and plenty of overtaking opportunity. This is what F1 need to return to.

    sarg g --
    I think modern F1 car is not possible to run the whole course without refueling. The fuel tank is too small. One of the reasons for smaller fuel tank is for safety reason. The good old days with super large fuel tank, any crash would result in the whole car in the flame of fire. With smaller tank, this risk is reduced.

    From ferraribeng, on Sun 7 Sep 7:38AM

  6. The size of the F1 fuel tank isn't currently regulated by the FIA sarg g.
    So why do the teams choose not to fuel for the entire race distance I hear you ask?

    I think few teams would dare go past a half race distance without refuelling once. This is purely the product of a strategic reasoning and underlines the current need in F1 to maintain a certain level of flexibility throughout each race period (the threat of safety cars etc). With this in mind the teams will usually focus on varying the weight of a car inorder to suit a specific period of the race ie: getting a good start, running a fast middle stint or protecting the tyres toward the end of the race.

    It is by varying the 'initial' fuel level of the car that the teams can attempt to 'design' various windows of opportunity during the race itself. This is of course completely dependent upon whatever strategy the team perceive their rivals are running.

    The driver can vary the fuel consumption of the car live from the steering wheel, according to the cars current race position and whether there is a need to push or not, and the team will vary the weight of the car through the fuel stop.

    There is also another aspect to consider though if the cars were indeed to go the full race distance without 'any' kind of stop, the tyre wear. To not stop at all implies using the same set of tyres for the entire race distance.

    I'm not sure a 'no stop' will ever happen, but certainly the 'no fuel stop' idea is on.

    From mark, on Sun 7 Sep 7:26AM

  7. no he didn't do hole race without stopping he stopped once sarg hope you enjoy race later more over taking next year apparently god knows how many times this year there have been guys way faster but just haven't been able to overtake think point system is rubbish to there no big gain from winning to finishing 2nd in past you have been able to gain 4 points on a opponent with winning a race now the championship can effectively be over with 4 races to go etc as guy in front really only has to finish 2nd in every race and he wins

    From carlinalane, on Sun 7 Sep 4:52AM

  8. I'm a Yank and live in Peru, so I get the races early in the morning. I was just wondering about fuel loads and strategy. Did Piquet Jr. recently finish second but never made a stop? Can these cars carry enough fuel to go the entire race distance? Excuse my ignorance, but after all, I am a Yank!!

    From sarg g, on Sun 7 Sep 2:01AM

  9. Why not turn the points system round as in the good old days of Hot Rod,Superstox and Stockcars ? The fastest started at the back and had to pass all in front to win? Ask George Polley,Barry Lee,Phill (squeaker)Powell ETC!!!! They were REAL racers !
    BAD BOB THE BAS***D

    From robert, on Sat 6 Sep 11:30PM

  10. Why not turn the points system round as in the good old days of Hot Rod,Superstox and Stockcars ? The fastest started at the back and had to pass all in front to win? Ask George Polley,Barry Lee,Phill (squeaker)Powell ETC!!!! They were REAL racers

    From robert, on Sat 6 Sep 11:28PM

  11. Conspiracy theorists would go to even the most bizarre to delude themselves. Team orders to Heikki? i.e. don't get in front of Massa? That's the most ridiculous comment i have read in a while.

    From Second S, on Sat 6 Sep 10:23PM

  12. Hamilton has a lot to be proud of. He has 11 pole positions and 8 wins from 30 races whereas Barichello, the most experienced man in F1 who has raced in the best teams with 265 races has 9 wins and 13 poles. The statistics say it all. Hamilton is a formidable force as was Michael Schumacher so please stop criticising him for his achievements, after all he is supposed to be successful, it is F1 after all.

    From Baldyman, on Sat 6 Sep 8:55PM

  13. I'm sure the only thing Kovalainen could be upset about would have been not taking P2 from Massa, nothing to do with team orders.

    From darren, on Sat 6 Sep 8:51PM

  14. Absolutely my thoughts exactly, bring back 12 laps, 4 attempts at pole, one out one flying one in lap x 3. Low fuel, ringing the cars @#$% neck!!!

    From donkeydoyle@..., on Sat 6 Sep 8:21PM

  15. Did you see the press conferance, Hamiltool looked very happy but Kovy looked quite annoyed... team orders kicking in perhaps?

    From tifosi4eva, on Sat 6 Sep 7:02PM

  16. Where's Kovalainenes comments about his session??

    From Todor, on Sat 6 Sep 6:38PM

  17. i think the new qualifying system is useless its only favouring one driver in each team and thats why kimi is loosing the championship he is always having a heavier fuel load than massa in q3 they should go back the way it was with 12 laps and the faster driver gets pole. it was a way better the only problem with that was blocking but they won't if they get the propper punishment.

    From mccarthyja2008, on Sat 6 Sep 4:21PM
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