Hungarian Grand Prix – Budapest,
Qualifying session
Session Driver Pos. Time Laps Driver Pos. Time Laps
Q1 MS 13th 1.19.410* 3 FM 1st 1.19.742 3
Q2 MS 12th 1.18.875* 6 FM 1st 1.19.504 3
Q3 - - - - FM 2nd 1.19.886 11
* + 2” as per Stewards decision number 29
Chassis: MS 254 FM 252
Temperatures: air 21 °C track 27 °C
Jean Todt:
“Obviously, this qualifying session did not
go the way we might have expected. Felipe fought for pole
position right to the end and managed to put his Ferrari on
the front row of the grid after a great qualifying performance.
It is clear that the Ferrari package, made up of the 248 F1
and the Bridgestone tyres is very competitive, but Michael’s
penalty for what happened in this morning’s free practice
made it more or less impossible for him to get through to
the final part of qualifying. Thanks to some fantastic laps,
Michael did the best he could, which equates to eleventh place
on the grid. I do not wish to comment on the Stewards’
decision: everyone can draw their own conclusions. On a track
where overtaking is particularly difficult, the decisive factors
will be the same as ever: reliability, strategy, tyre performance,
teamwork and the performance of the drivers. It’s possible
that the tyres will play an even more important role than
usual. Obviously, we will only find out about this in the
race. For our part, we will do our utmost to produce the best
result possible.”
Felipe Massa:
“It was a good qualifying and it is always important
to start from the front row. Maybe I could have been on pole,
but I had a bit of traffic even from the moment I came out
of pit lane on my out lap for my second timed run. That meant
my tyres were not up to temperature, especially going into
the first corner. Apart from that, I am happy with the package
I have. We have worked well over the past two days, fine tuning
the car and trying to get the most out of the Bridgestone
tyres. I think that even on old tyres, I will be able to maintain
a good pace and I will be out to get the best result possible.”
Michael Schumacher:
“I prefer not to go into a long explanation of what
happened this morning. Everyone can form their own opinion,
looking at the replay. I would rather just concentrate on
preparing for tomorrow’s race as well as possible in
these unfortunate circumstances. Eleventh place was the best
I could hope for, taking into account the penalty given me
by the Stewards. At least it means I start from the clean
side of the track. I hope to make a good start and move up
a few places and I will be trying to make the best of it tomorrow.”
Ross Brawn:
“Naturally, we are very disappointed about
what happened and by that I am referring of course to events
involving Michael in this morning’s free practice. It’s
true he made a mistake, but I leave it to you to decide if
the penalty was fair. It’s a shame because we had a
great potential and we were unable to exploit it. Felipe drove
a really good qualifying and probably lost pole because of
a little bit of traffic as he was coming out of pit lane to
start his final run. Track conditions improved and the tyres
have begun to behave as we had expected, which is encouraging.
The 248 F1 are well balanced and we will try and make the
most of this situation. The race will be very tough and we
have to think carefully about the strategic decisions we have
to make before and during the race.”
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