Red Bull happy despite missing out on pole
Sebastian Vetel and Mark Webber will start the German GP from 2nd and 3rd on the grid. It's a good result for Red Bull Racing as the team have found it is now closer in qualifying to Mercedes that it was before.
Sebastian Vettel, 2nd: “Congratulations to Lewis on pole. It was very tight today, I tried everything. The car felt fine; I was struggling a little bit this afternoon in the first sector, I was losing time there and then trying to catch up. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough, but it looks like we are a bit closer to the Mercedes here than we were in Silverstone, so I think we made some progress and can have confidence for tomorrow. We had a good run yesterday looking at the race, so I think we have done our homework. We have put the car on the first row; it wasn’t quite enough for pole position, but we should have a good race from there tomorrow.”
Mark Webber, 3rd: “I was actually happy with third position today, as it was very sensitive out there. We lost a little bit in the first sector and struggled to find the rhythm that we had had there in P3, but we know there was a shift in track temp and it pulled everyone together a bit, at least for the short runs. With the long runs, we’re happy with the car, so we’re in a good position to put pressure on for the race victory tomorrow.”
Christian Horner, Team principal: “To start second and third on the grid for the German GP is obviously a very strong team performance. It was very tight for the pole position and in the end Lewis managed to produce a lap one tenth quicker than we could manage, but nonetheless it was a solid team effort today and Sebastian did his best in front of his home crowd with Mark just behind in third. Tomorrow’s race will be very interesting with some different strategies going on and our focus will be to try and capitalise on our grid positions”
Thierry Salvi, Renault engine support: “We’ve improved the car solidly over the weekend, working on balance and engine response out of the slower corners, while looking at the top speed for the four straights. It’s gone according to plan and we feel like we’ve got a very good handle on all areas of engine performance round the Nürburgring. With that in mind, we thought we could edge out the Mercedes for pole, but second and third still puts us in a good position for the race so motivation and confidence remains high.”
