2007 Australian GP, Saturday - 17 MAR 2007
The ING Renault F1 Team achieved mixed results in this opening
qualifying session of the 2007 Formula 1 season.
Giancarlo Fisichella, R27-02 - Heikki Kovalainen,
R27-03
Q1
1:27.270 (Hard) - 1:27.529 (Hard)
Q2
1:25.944 (Soft) - 1:26.964 (Soft)
Q3
1:27.634 (Soft) - n/a
In sunny conditions at Melbourne's Albert Park circuit,
Giancarlo Fisichella finished sixth while team-mate Heikki
Kovalainen finished 13th as he got his first taste of the
high-pressure knockout qualifying format. The team had expected
a challenging hour, as the first lap pace of the R27 during
the weekend has failed to match the speed the car has demonstrated
in race conditions. This proved to be the case, with Giancarlo
ultimately slowed by traffic on his fastest lap, while Heikki
failed to get through the second part of the session. However,
the encouraging race pace shown during the weekend means the
team is hopeful of being in contention for a podium finish
tomorrow afternoon.
Giancarlo Fisichella, P6
As always, it was a tough qualifying session, but I feel we
didn't achieve the maximum this afternoon. My position is
pretty much as expected, behind McLaren and Ferrari, but I
think I could have gained a place or two without traffic on
my final timed lap, which slowed me down in the last three
corners in particular. We had expected qualifying to be tough
because we know the car's speed on a single lap is not as
competitive as the long runs at the moment. Now, we need to
wait and see what the race pace is like. We were competitive
this morning and yesterday afternoon, so hopefully I can make
up some ground at the start – and then fight for the
podium.
Heikki Kovalainen, P13
The car was fine and the balance was good, but I just wasn't
able to get the maximum from it on a single lap. I lost track
time yesterday and this morning, and my times were a little
bit off in every sector. Obviously, this performance is not
good enough, but there is no point dwelling on it now. Starting
from P13 is not ideal for my first Grand Prix, and I will
need to race aggressively to get a points finish. That will
be my target for tomorrow.
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering
Giancarlo's qualifying position more or less reflects our
competitiveness over a single lap at this early stage of the
season. Having said that, there is no doubt that he could
have gone quicker had he not encountered traffic on his fastest
lap. Although he was definitely impeded and it cost him time,
it was certainly not deliberate. As for Heikki, he experienced
the full fury of an F1 qualifying session for the first time.
He lost track time yesterday and this morning with minor technical
problems, and I am sure that without them, he would have achieved
a much stronger result – something we are confident
he will do next time out in Malaysia. However, our focus now
is on the race. We are certainly more confident in our race
pace than we were before qualifying, and look forward to a
much improved showing tomorrow afternoon.
Denis Chevrier, Head of Engine Track Operations
We had our first insight into the relative, pure performance
of the teams this afternoon and, much as expected, it confirmed
our position as outsiders rather than favourites. We were
pleased to see no repeat of the fuel pressure problems encountered
yesterday, and our top speeds suggest that the RS27 V8 engine
is performing well. We have prepared thoroughly for the race
in spite of the problems encountered this weekend, and we
hope to see our relative performance improve tomorrow afternoon.
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