2007 Brazilian Grand Prix,
The ING Renault F1 Team endured a disappointing qualifying
session this afternoon at Interlagos.
Giancarlo Fisichella, R27-02
Heikki Kovalainen, R27-03
Q1
1'13.482, P10
1'14.078, P17
Q2
1'12.968, P12
n/a
Q3
n/a
n/a
In stark contrast to yesterday's rain and overcast conditions,
Saturday has seen a hot sun beating down on the freshly-laid
track surface. Track temperatures this afternoon were 25°C
higher than on Friday, and the circuit temperature climbed
10°C between this morning's final practice session and
qualifying. The R27 failed to perform well in these hot conditions,
with both drivers reporting poor overall grip during qualifying.
The low-grip conditions meant the car balance was more inconsistent
than it had been during final practice, and both drivers were
penalised by this. Heikki made a mistake in the final corner
of his timed lap in Q1 that cost him over half a second, and
meant he failed to make it into the top 16. Giancarlo got
the most out of the car this afternoon, and in a tightly-fought
second qualifying round (at a circuit where the lap-times
are notoriously close), he missed out on a top ten position
by just 0.08s. While both drivers face an uphill task tomorrow,
it became clear during today's practice session that managing
the super-soft tyre compound will be one of the keys to the
race. If teams experience similar levels of graining and blistering
with this tyre tomorrow, as were seen today, there may still
be some surprises in store.
Giancarlo Fisichella, P12
I was right on the limit this afternoon, and I think this
was our maximum today. It was hard to do a perfect lap in
the slippery, low-grip conditions and it is a shame to miss
out on Q3 by such a small margin. I think we will see an interesting
race tomorrow, especially when it comes to the tyre behaviour,
and hopefully we can find a good strategy to take advantage
of this.
Heikki Kovalainen, P17
I was very disappointed not to make it out of Q1. It was simply
my mistake: I went too deep into turn 12, locked the front
tyres, got a poor exit and it cost me over six tenths of a
second. The grip level was poor compared to this morning,
but everybody had to deal with the same conditions. We have
been in this position before this year, though, and the results
afterwards showed us how important it is to never give up.
We won't, and we will be pushing hard for everything we can
get tomorrow, but it's going to be a tough race.
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering
We seem to have lost a disproportionate amount of grip this
afternoon as the circuit temperatures climbed. A small mistake
from Heikki was enough to relegate him to the bottom third
of the grid on a circuit where the qualifying gaps are always
very close. Giancarlo got the maximum from the car, but the
car's maximum simply wasn't sufficient today.
Denis Chevrier, Head of Engine Track Operations
We said yesterday that it would be important to get every
detail right in order to qualify strongly at this circuit,
and we didn't achieve that today. The times are very close,
and that meant Giancarlo missed out on Q3 by 0.08s, while
Heikki paid a heavy price for a small mistake in Q1. However,
we saw today that tyre management will be critical tomorrow
afternoon, especially if the conditions stay as hot as they
were today, and we will try to take advantage of any opportunities
that come our way.
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