2008 Bahrain Grand Prix, Saturday - 4 APR 2008
The ING Renault F1 Team experienced a tough afternoon as
Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet qualified in 10th and 14th
places for tomorrow's Bahrain Grand Prix.
Fernando Alonso, R28-03
Nelson Piquet, R28-01
Q1
1:32.947, P10
1:32.975, P11
Q2
1:32.345, P9
1:32.790, P14
Q3
1:35.115, P10
N/A
As was the case for the first two races of the season, the
team found itself battling with Williams, Toyota and Honda
to reach Q3, with the times being very close. In the end Fernando
squeezed into the top ten for the third consecutive race,
while Nelson missed out
by a few tenths and will start the race from the seventh row
of the grid.
For the final part of qualifying the team elected to run
Fernando on the harder option Bridgestone tyres, but a mistake
on his final run meant he had to abandon the lap and could
not improve upon tenth position. The team will try to bring
both drivers into contention tomorrow and aim for a third
consecutive points finish of the season.
Fernando Alonso P10
"I am satisfied to have reached Q3 because I had some
doubts that we would this morning. But we made several changes
before qualifying and we felt they were an improvement after
Q1, and that gave us the confidence to be more aggressive
in Q2. Once we had qualified for Q3, we knew that it would
be difficult to match the pace of the leading cars because
we had already been pushing to the limit, so we took the decision
to prepare for the race tomorrow. We will now see if we can
get some points this weekend."
Nelson Piquet P14
"I am a bit disappointed because I had hoped to reach
the final qualifying session today, even though I knew that
it was going to be difficult. I did not do a perfect lap on
my final run in Q2, but I hope that I will be able to reverse
this tomorrow and that I can fight through the field. The
race will be very competitive and we will have to fight hard,
but I am determined to attack and to continue learning."
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering
"As we expected, the journey to Q3 was a difficult one
and Nelson missed out. However, this is a circuit where the
times are very close and his weekend has been positive up
to this point. With Fernando we got through to Q3 and elected
to use two sets of the harder tyres for the final runs, but
unfortunately a mistake on the final run meant that he abandoned
the lap and he therefore starts in tenth place."
Denis Chevrier, Head of Engine Track Operations
"That was a difficult qualifying session, as we thought
it would be. One of our drivers made it, while the other missed
out, which is probably a result of his lack of experience.
For Nelson, he will need to fight hard in the race, especially
in the first corner where he will be surrounded by several
other rookies. Fernando tried his best this afternoon with
the package he had available. Once he had made it through
to the Q3, we took the decision to concentrate on the race,
which will be very competitive tomorrow, but we hope we will
be able to adapt our strategy to any incidents in the race
and make the most of any opportunities."
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