2007 Italian Grand Prix,
The ING Renault F1 Team enjoyed mixed fortunes this afternoon
during qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
Giancarlo Fisichella, R27-02
Heikki Kovalainen, R27-03
Q1
1:23.559, P10
1:23.505, P9
Q2
1:23.325, P15
1:23.134, P10
Q3
n/a
1:24.102, P7
Heikki Kovalainen qualified in a strong seventh position,
reflecting the team's current competitiveness relative to
its rivals. As was shown on the world broadcast, however,
the Finn was lucky to make it through the second knockout
round of qualifying when, between the two Lesmo curves on
Heikki's timed lap, Rubens Barrichello's Honda was pulling
back onto the circuit in front of him following an off-track
excursion. This meant Heikki was unable to improve his time
on his second lap, but he still qualified in P10 by just a
few hundredths of a second. Running behind his team-mate,
Giancarlo Fisichella suffered even more from the Brazilian's
actions, as the slow-moving car was on the racing line when
Fisico approached the corner and forced him to take evasive
action that compromised his lap. As a result, the Italian
qualified only 15th. This will leave him with a mountain to
climb during his home Grand Prix tomorrow afternoon on a circuit
where overtaking is notoriously difficult.
Heikki Kovalainen, P7
This was another good qualifying effort from the whole team.
The session went smoothly from my point of view, without any
real problems. I was a bit lucky to make it through second
qualifying by just a few hundredths of a second after I lost
time when Barrichello went off track, but what goes around
comes around and we have missed out by very small margins
sometimes this year too. For the final laps, the set-up was
working well and I was feeling confident with the car. I did
a good first lap, and then went for broke on the second one
and took a few risks. It didn't pay off, but I think Kubica
was a bit too far in front today anyway, so I didn't lose
any positions. We saw in Turkey that the picture can change
between qualifying and the race, and hopefully we will see
the same trend tomorrow. I will set my sights on trying to
race with BMW.
Giancarlo Fisichella, P15
My qualifying session was ruined by Barrichello. He went off
the track, and then pulled back onto the racing line as I
was braking for the second Lesmo. I lost 0.27s there, and
then more later on as I tried to make up the time. If you
go off track, you cannot just pull back on at any point of
the circuit without using your mirrors and ruin other people's
laps. I am just so disappointed because the car was working
well, and nobody wants to start their home Grand Prix from
so far back. It is going to be tough but I won't give up,
and hopefully we can use our pace to make up positions.
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering
Heikki's qualifying position reflects precisely where we felt
we were in terms of our relative performance. His car is quite
nicely balanced, and using its tyres well, so we can expect
a strong race from him. Giancarlo has been quick all weekend,
and it was very unfortunate that he did not make it into the
final part of qualifying through no fault of his own. One
hopes that Barrichello's deliberate decision to pull back
onto the racing line is recognised but even if it is, that
is scant recompense for the victim.
Denis Chevrier, Head of Engine Track Operations
Heikki's position on the grid is a fair reflection of our
potential today. The times from practice this morning made
it clear that the battle for places in the top ten would be
very close, and that we would need everything to go perfectly
to make it through with both cars. Unfortunately, that didn't
happen today. We had hoped for better than seventh and fifteenth
positions, but our challenge is now to make the most of them.
The engines are performing well, and both cars are competitive
in terms of top speed. Giancarlo will be hoping for some incidents
ahead of him to make up positions, while Heikki will try and
race aggressively against the cars in front.
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