Pole for Alonso, Nelsinho 15th
Today’s qualifying session saw Renault Formula One Team driver Fernando Alonso take pole position for tomorrow’s Hungarian Grand Prix in the capital city Budapest. Teammate Nelson Piquet will start from 15th.
Free Practice 3
Fernando Alonso: 19 laps, P16, 1:22.274
Run 1: 8 laps, new hard tyres
Run 2: 5 laps, new soft tyres
Run 3: 5 laps, same set of soft tyres, weight distribution change
Nelson Piquet: 17 laps, P14, 1:22.210
Run 1: 6 laps, new hard tyres
Run 2: 5 laps, new hard tyres
Run 3: 5 laps, new soft tyres
Qualifying
Fernando Alonso, R2904, P1, 1:21.569
Q1: 1 run on new hard tyres, 2 runs on new soft tyres
Q2: 1 run on new soft tyres
Q3: 2 runs on new soft tyres
Fernando: “The result this afternoon is fantastic. We knew after Germany that we were more competitive and that the car has really improved with our latest updates, so we decided to take an aggressive strategy this weekend. Tomorrow, our aim is to finish on the podium and starting from pole position gives us a good chance of doing that. Also, with three Renault engines filling the first three places on the grid, it’s another demonstration of the superb work done by the whole team.”
Nelson Piquet, R2903, P15, 1:21.389
Q1: 1 run on new hard tyres, 2 runs on new soft tyres
Q2: 2 runs on new soft tyres
Nelson: “I knew that qualifying was going to be difficult. I managed to get a good lap in Q1, but in Q2 there was a lot of traffic and I couldn’t repeat the lap time, so unfortunately I missed out on Q3. Tomorrow it’s vital that we make a good start and I will do my best to have a strong race.”
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering “I think after Germany we regained a lot of confidence in the car and the developments we had made to it. We therefore came here intending to go racing aggressively and by taking pole position we have accomplished the first part of our task. We now need to translate that into a good, solid finish tomorrow, hopefully on the podium.”
