2007 Chinese Grand Prix,
The ING Renault F1 Team endured a challenging afternoon
today during qualifying for tomorrow's Chinese Grand Prix.
Giancarlo Fisichella, R27-02
Heikki Kovalainen, R27-03
Q1
1:37.251, P18
1:37.225, P16
Q2
n/a
1:36.991, P14
Q3
n/a
n/a
Although conditions today at the Shanghai International Circuit
were hot and humid, heavy rain is expected tomorrow afternoon
for the race. The parc fermé rules mean no set-up changes
are possible between qualifying and the race, and each team
therefore had to decide this lunchtime on the best set-up
compromise between today's dry conditions and tomorrow's expected
wet weather, according to their level of confidence in their
weather forecasts. Furthermore, the qualifying session was
one of the closest of the year, with just three tenths of
a second covering seventh to eighteenth positions in first
qualifying, and this severely penalised the team for its relative
lack of competitiveness this weekend. Giancarlo Fisichella
failed to make it out of the first session after a small mistake
in the final corner left him 0.02s shy of the cut-off, while
Heikki Kovalainen missed out by just over 0.2s in second qualifying
after also running wide in the final corner, while pushing
to the limit to make it into the top ten. While these grid
positions are clearly a big disappointment, last week's race
in Fuji was a timely reminder of how wet conditions can throw
up unexpected results. Starting P14 and P18 will give both
Renault drivers a mountain to climb, but if the conditions
turn to their advantage, anything can still happen…
Heikki Kovalainen, P14
Clearly my final timed lap could have been better: I made
a mistake by running wide in turn 13 before the long back
straight, so I then had only one real opportunity to make
the time back up, which was in turn 16. I tried to carry too
much speed, and it went wrong: the car ran over the rumble
strip, and the lap was gone. It was touch and go whether I
could have got into the top ten, but I had to be right on
the limit all the way round the lap to make it, and unfortunately
a little mistake cost me. The times were very close today,
and I would imagine there have been some different approaches
in terms of set-up, although the top speeds are all quite
close so perhaps the variation is not that big. But the car
has a pretty neutral balance, it's just that the speed wasn't
there today. Now, we need to see wait and see what happens
tomorrow.
Giancarlo Fisichella, P18
This was a really disappointing and frustrating session. I
have been struggling with the car since Friday morning, and
we only started to find the right direction with the set-up
on the final run in third practice this morning. That meant
I went into qualifying quite under-prepared. After that, we
ran the soft tyre for the second run, and I had some graining
at the end of the lap. I made a mistake in the last corner
which cost me two tenths – and that meant I didn't make
it. All we can do now is wait for the conditions tomorrow,
and try to take advantage.
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering
Giancarlo has been chasing a problem with the car all weekend,
and we only got fully to the bottom of it by qualifying. That
meant we lost a lot of set-up time in practice and at a circuit
where the R27 is not as competitive as we would like, that
has cost us dearly. We could see in the first qualifying round
that Heikki would be right on the cusp of the top ten, and
in attempting to make it through he had to take some unusual
risks with the car. Unfortunately, it didn't come off, and
it meant neither car is in the top ten. All the local forecasts
are predicting heavy rain tomorrow, and that is always an
equalizer in terms of performance. Regardless, though, these
are not good positions to be starting from.
Denis Chevrier, Head of Engine Track Operations
To qualify fourteenth and eighteenth is clearly a big disappointment
that we must attribute primarily to a poor level of competitiveness
today. While morning practice had suggested that Heikki might
be a top-ten contender, the level playing field in qualifying
proved this was not the case today. Of course, we are aware
that conditions tomorrow afternoon are predicted to be wet,
and we need to see what the race brings. But we have not made
our job any easier with today's performance.
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