2007 Hungarian GP,
After promising practices yesterday and this morning, the
ING Renault F1 Team had a mixed qualifying session this afternoon
for tomorrow's Hungarian Grand Prix on the Budapest Hongaroring.
Giancarlo Fisichella, R27-05
Heikki Kovalainen, R27-03
Q1
1'21.645, P15
1'20.285, P2
Q2
1'20.590, P9
1'20.779, P12
Q3
1'21.079, P8
n/a
The team was hoping for better things but finally had to
come to terms with the fact that only one of its cars made
it into the top 10 in qualifying. Giancarlo Fisichella's practice
got off to a difficult start as he was caught up in traffic
but the Italian managed to fight his way up into eighth place.
His young team-mate, Heikki Kovalainen, looked like he was
going to qualify well after being second quickest in Q 1,
but did not make into Q 3 and ended the session in twelfth
place. The team will make every effort to find out what happened
and get things right between now and tomorrow afternoon. It
is still determined to put on a good show in the eleventh
round of the 2007 world championship.
Giancarlo Fisichella, 8th
I was caught up in traffic and that made things really difficult.
I lost a lot of time and I just managed to squeeze though
into Q 2. Things then improved and I had a good lap setting
a competitive time to make it into Q 3. The car handled well
throughout the session and I think we've got every reason
to be optimistic for tomorrow's race. It won't be easy so
we're going to have to have an aggressive strategy.
Heikki Kovalainen, 12th
It was a very disappointing qualifying session. I still don't
really understand what happened. Everything went fine in Q
1 and then we put on the super soft compound for Q2 before
going back to hard tyres on which I'd felt more comfortable
at the start of the session. It seemed a logical decision.
But unfortunately, I couldn't find the same feeling: the car
wasn't the same and now we have to work to find out why so
we can defend our chances tomorrow.
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering
Today's qualifying was very difficult. The wind combined with
the tyres' characteristics meant that we did not get the best
out of the session. Heikki was very quick in Q1 with a time
that would have given him sixth place in Q 2. However, the
last set of tyres used in Q 2 seemed to provide much less
grip and this led to his elimination. It was exactly the opposite
situation for Giancarlo whose qualifying got off to a difficult
start, and then good performances in Q 2 and Q 3 gave him
eighth place on the grid with a reasonable fuel load. Tyre
management in the race tomorrow will not be easy, and I think
we'll see some very different strategic choices."
Denis Chevrier, Head of engine trackside operations
Today we've seen just how close the field is with four teams
and eight drivers vying for the last four places in Q 3, so
it was normal that some drivers did not make it into the final
phase of this new style qualifying format. Today, unfortunately,
it was Heikki who paid the price despite his good performance
in Q 1. Now we've got to concentrate on tomorrow's race, especially
the start where a good getaway can make a huge difference
for the drivers provided we give them enough information.
We'll be working hard from now on to prepare for that main
straight, and to have a good race despite today's circumstances,
as it'll be crucial for tomorrow.
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