Gearbox problem for Coulthard as Webber qualifies 8th
Mark was too busy securing eighth place on the grid to write one of his riddles today, so here's one we prepared ourselves. A Scotsman and an Australian both drive identical cars at approximately the same speed on the same road. If the Australian drives for 60 minutes, but the Scotsman only drives for 15 minutes, how come that at the end of an hour, they end up having lunch together.*
David Coulthard, Position 21st
"The car seemed to lose seventh gear at the end of my first qualifying run, at Turn 12. We thought it was a sensor failure so the team changed something and I went back out. However, it appeared that the car had lost fifth, sixth and seventh gear, which is not ideal when you're trying to qualify!"
Mark Webber, Position 8th
"I'd have liked to have done a little bit better at the end of the third qualifying session, but that's where we are. We'll see if we can get a point or two tomorrow in the race."
Christian Horner "This is the third race and the third time Mark's made it into the top ten. He drove very well throughout qualifying, building up his pace and I think he extracted the maximum out of the car today. He's continued to impress us with his application and hopefully he can have a strong race tomorrow. David had appalling luck when his car suffered a gear failure on his first run, meaning he was unable to take any further part in qualifying. But, he's shown strong pace during the weekend so far, so hopefully we can help him with a good race strategy tomorrow."
Fabrice Lom, Renault, Principal Engineer, Track Support "Analyzing our results today is trying to decide if the glass is half full or half empty. Once again Mark did an amazing job through Q1 and Q2 and secured his position in the Top 10. Unfortunately David had some problems which prevented him from qualifying well. The engine worked perfectly which is really satisfying but we are expecting a tough race tomorrow. Although we are confident in the engine's ability to complete the race in such conditions, we are also aware that reliability can never be taken for granted. We hope to make a strong start tomorrow and that the engine will allow the drivers to race aggressively and hopefully score some points!"
* Answer: Because this is F1 and you always end up back where you started even if your gearbox breaks.
