DRS issue explains Trulli's gap to Kovalainen
All in all, there were many smiling faces at Team Lotus after today's qualifying session. The team confirmed to move closer towards the front and now counts on its even better race pace to make up some places. Although satisfied, Jarno Trulli could have done even better had he not been hampered by a failing DRS device.
Heikki Kovalainen, Car 20, T128-04:
"I'm happy with that. We only have to find a little bit more to join the fight in Q2 but today we had a good strategy and got everything that we could from the tyres. I'm pleased with my own performance - the quick lap was right on the money with no mistakes so it's a good feeling to keep edging closer. We're all looking forward to the Barcelona upgrade package where hopefully that will deliver a greater performance gain compared to what the opposition will bring but we're nearly there so for now it's just about keeping up the effort and putting in another strong performance tomorrow."
Jarno Trulli, Car 21, T128-03:
"I'm pretty much satisfied with my run today. Unfortunately I had a DRS issue which obviously costs a lot of time on a circuit like this but I think that all round we did as good a job as we could today. Our race pace definitely gives us a chance to fight with the cars ahead so hopefully we can sort out the DRS issue and replicate what we did in the race in China."
Thierry Salvi, Renault Sport F1 Support Leader:
"It was quite a good day when you look at the result, especially for the engine because the weather yesterday had limited our running. This morning we worked on the driveability characteristics of the engine and have had some very good feedback from the drivers on that, so that's another step forward. Cooling-wise, the car was okay because it was colder today than the usual ambient conditions in Turkey, so the engines ran well in the qualifying session."
Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer:
"I think we can be reasonably happy with qualifying and both drivers got the most they could out of the car. Unfortunately we went into qualifying knowing that we had a problem with the DRS on Jarno’s car and that costs quite a lot of time around Istanbul Park which explains his final position. However, we know that we are kinder on the tyres in the race than the cars in front of us so I think we can have a very competitive Sunday and take the fight to the cars in front."
Riad Asmat, Chief Executive Officer:
“We keep edging ever closer. Half a second now from Q2 is another improvement and I think it’s a measure of our ongoing development that we keep pushing the teams ahead. We’re still 18 months old and the fact we have, relatively, made the biggest performance gains of any of the teams this season is a sign of the fact we are now an established team ourselves and will keep progressing to make good on that title as the season progresses.”
