Renault pleased to be fourth best team on the grid
Once again Robert Kubica outqqualifies his teammate as he places his Renault in 7th place, while Vitaly Petrov will start from 13th. Besides hitting traffic Kubica and the team were pleased with their afternoon, while Petrov had difficulty getting the best out of the car and tyres at the Hockenheimring.
Robert Kubica: R30-03
P7, 1:15.079
"I am reasonably happy to be seventh on the grid and I think that, for now, we have to realise that we could not have qualified any higher than this. My lap could have been better, because I was held up by a Red Bull in the final sector, but I don’t think it would have changed my position. We have had a couple of issues with the car here and in Silverstone, and I have not felt as confident with it, so we know that it’s important to keep working to improve the feeling because that will give us more consistency. As for tomorrow’s race, we saw in Silverstone that anything is possible but we need a good start and a good first lap. We hope that our race pace will be strong, too, but we saw today that the gap to the teams in front is pretty big so I’m expecting a tough afternoon."
Vitaly Petrov: R30-04
P13, 1:15.307
"It was another tough qualifying session for me. The lap times around the top ten were very close and I was still learning how to get the most from the car and the tyres at this track, then trying to put it all together in a single lap. In the end, getting it right is a question of experience, and I know that better results will come when I can bring the pieces together – even though I wasn’t far from the top ten today."
Eric Boullier, Team Principal
"I am pretty pleased with our qualifying performance today, considering that all of the teams ahead of us – and some behind – are running with the F-duct. It’s good to be the leading team without that system, and particularly nice to have Robert ahead of the two Mercedes – although he could have gone quicker had he not hit traffic on his fastest lap. Of course, our ambitions are greater than P7, but this was a good result today. On the other side of the garage, Vitaly didn’t quite make the cut for Q3 – but in his defence, the times were very close today and he was just a few tenths away."
Alan Permane, Chief Race Engineer
"At the moment, we know that we are a step away from the three teams ahead of us on the grid, so it’s pleasing to see Robert qualify ahead of both Williams and both Mercedes. It was a shame that Vitaly wasn’t able to get closer to the top ten, but he did a good job after two disjointed days of practice. It hasn’t been the easiest of weekends for us overall, and it’s fair to say we struggled with the car yesterday, but we got on top of the situation this morning and during qualifying. Looking to Sunday, the changeable weather conditions have been a feature of the weekend so far, but we are not currently expecting any rain for the race."
