Alonso disappointed, Piquet reaches his goal
Today’s Germany Grand Prix qualifying session saw Renault F1 Team drivers Nelson Piquet and Fernando Alonso qualify in 10th and 12th places respectively for tomorrow’s German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring.
Free practice 3
Fernando Alonso: 18 laps, P2, 1:31.340 on lap 17
Run 1: 7 laps, new hard tyres
Run 2: 6 laps, new soft tyres, rear downforce change and change to anti-roll bars
Run 3: 4 laps, news soft tyres
Nelson Piquet: 15 laps, P15, 1:32.223 on lap 14
Run 1: 3 laps, new hard tyres
Run 2: 7 laps, new hard tyres
Run 3: 4 laps, new soft tyres, change to front and rear ride heights
Qualifying
Fernando Alonso, R2904, P12, 1:42.318
Fernando: “At the start of qualifying we were quite optimistic. We were competitive in Q1 but after that Q2 became difficult for everybody as the conditions were constantly changing. Unfortunately we missed the opportunity to be in Q3, but hopefully tomorrow we can make up some positions and if it does rain that could work to our advantage. I’m quite confident for the race tomorrow.”
Nelson Piquet, R2903, P10, 1:34.803
Q1: 3 runs on new soft tyres
Q2: 1 run on used soft tyres, 1 run on intermediates, 1 run on news soft tyres
Q3: 1 run on used soft tyres
Nelson: “The conditions were difficult today, but I managed to deal with them well and had the right tyres at the right moments. It’s a shame that I couldn’t get any more out of Q3, but it’s good to be in the top ten and hopefully we will be in a position to score points tomorrow.”
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering: “There is no doubt the updates on the car have improved our position this weekend. It was a very exciting qualifying session; Fernando looked extremely competitive but unfortunately spun at a critical moment and failed to make Q3. Nelson had a steady session and thoroughly deserves his position on the grid.”
