Renault loses performance in colder Australian conditions
The Renault Formula One Team's Australian qualifying session didn't go as expected after a promising practice yesterday. Robert Kubica will start tomorrow's race from 9th place on the grid, team mate Vitaly Petrov from 18th.
Robert Kubica, R30-03, P9, 1:25.372
”I think I got the maximum that was possible from qualifying today. I had to push hard because the car was not easy to drive and I think we lost some performance in the colder conditions. For the race tomorrow the weather could play a big role, but I don’t care if it’s wet or dry. Hopefully we can fight for some good points.”
Vitaly Petrov, R30-02, P18, 1:26.471
“I’m disappointed not to make it out of Q1 because the car has been competitive all weekend. Qualifying is a new experience for me and I’m still learning: it’s very busy out on track, it was difficult to get a clear lap and I didn’t put my three best sectors together when it counted on my final run. The times show I had the pace to be in Q2, so of course I’m disappointed not to have reached my potential. The car didn’t not feel as well balanced today, either, in the different track conditions. It will be a tough race starting so far down the field and the track is narrow so it’s difficult to overtake, but I will try my best to get a good result tomorrow.”
Eric Boullier, Team Principal: “After a promising practice yesterday, today did not go as we expected, which is partly down to the cooler conditions. It’s disappointing for Vitaly who is still learning about F1 even though he has shown that he has the speed. He was on a different tyre choice to Robert in Q1 and had good pace, but at the end of the lap he was losing grip and made a mistake. Robert’s car was not as competitive as yesterday, but he got the most from it to make it into the top ten, which is a good result. We hope there will be a lot of action in the race and we know that our car can be competitive in the damp. So anything can happen.”
Alan Permane, Chief Race Engineer: “Robert’s ninth place was as good as we could hope for from today’s qualifying session after a difficult practice session this morning. We seem to have lost some of our competitiveness overnight with both drivers feeling the cars had less grip and more oversteer than yesterday. Robert did a credible job to qualify ninth and had a fairly straightforward session. Vitaly made a small mistake on his second run in Q1 and unfortunately didn’t make it through to Q2.”
