Pay close attention to the super softs - Permane

The ING Renault F1 Team’s race chief engineer, Alan Parmane, talks about qualifying and explains why strategy will be so important tomorrow. Giancarlo Fisichella will start today's race from 12th position as Heikki Kovalainen will start from a disappointing 17th place at Interlagos.

"Difficult is the best way to describe it. We were surprised by the difference in grip provided by the track between this morning’s session and the afternoon’s qualifying. There was much less grip and we were not expecting it. Heikki made two big mistakes on his final flying lap and he paid the price. He could easily have got into Q2 and perhaps Q3. Giancarlo did a good job and just failed to make it into Q3."

"The super soft compound had a tendency to blister this morning. Like in Canada we’ll have to pay particular attention as to how we use this type of tyre. If things go badly it’s possible to lose three to four seconds at the end of a run. This means we’ll have to put a lot of thought into the strategy we choose: when to put on the super soft compound; for how many laps etc. That’s what we’re going to decide this evening. The R27 is usually very easy on its tyres, but we haven’t done all that much running in the dry because of yesterday’s showers. We lack some data on this subject."

"Yes, they will. I don’t think it’s going to be an easy race so some surprises, even at the front, are on the cards!"