JAPANESE GRAND PRIX - QUALIFYING
In low visibility, wet conditions, Nico Rosberg recorded
the sixth fastest lap time in the Qualifying session for tomorrow’s
Japanese Grand Prix at the Fuji Speedway. With poor morning
weather conditions all but terminating third practice, the
qualifying session required on-track speed as well as a well
organised team plan and a carefully executed tyre selection
for the track conditions. In the adverse circumstances, Alex
Wurz suffered and will start tomorrow’s from the ninth
row of the grid, while team-mate Rosberg, despite performing
strongly, will collect a ten place penalty in addition to
his qualifying position given his unscheduled engine change*.
In spite of this, the team intends to capitalise on a good
pace and the changeable conditions likely to continue into
tomorrow.
Nico Rosberg:
It was quite a difficult qualifying today, especially because
there was almost no free practice this morning and we could
have used this time to get the car right for the wet conditions.
In the first two qualifying sessions this afternoon, my visor
was misted up, so I could barely see where I was going. By
the time I got to Q3, everything was sorted and it all went
pretty well in the end. I am happy with the result but it’s
very disappointing because without an engine change, I would
have been starting the race in a fantastic sixth place. I
think I am going to do a rain dance in my hotel room tonight
as I think a lot of rain tomorrow would help me from my starting
position further back.
Alex Wurz:
It was a really disappointing session for me as normally
these kind of weather conditions really suit me. However,
everything happened at the wrong time, I was called onto the
weighbridge by the FIA, I had bad traffic and I didn’t
manage to run my full programme. Of course you get quicker
with every lap, so with these problems, it just didn’t
work out today.
Sam Michael, Technical Director:
It was a really good qualifying session from Nico who once
again delivered when it mattered, continuing his consistency
in qualifying. Alex missed out after the first session -it’s
always difficult in changeable conditions. It looks like these
conditions will continue tomorrow, so with Nico’s fuel
fixed and Alex’s free, we’ll get our heads down
tonight to see what we can do to get in the points tomorrow.
We had no reliability issues today.
* Pending final FIA grid classification
FUJI SPEEDWAY, JAPAN
4.563 KMS / 2.835 MILES
Rain and low cloud
AIR 14-150C, TRACK 20-210C
QUAL DRIVER TEAM Q1 Q2 Q3
1 L HAMILTON McLAREN - - 1:25.368
2 F ALONSO McLAREN - - 1:25.438
3 K RAIKKONEN FERRARI - - 1:25.516
*6 (+10) N Rosberg FW29-05 H193 AT&T WILLIAMS 1:26.579
(11th) 1:25.816 (9th) 1:26.728
18 A Wurz FW29-03 H185 AT&T WILLIAMS 1:27.454 - -
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