Sauber James Key rued the variable grip levels around the Valencia Street Circuit, as both of the team’s drivers failed to make it into Q3.
Pedro de la Rosa managed to qualify in sixteenth, ultimately two places ahead of his team-mate Kamui Kobayashi – who once again struggled in qualifying in 2010.
As a result the team are now hoping to greatly improve with Key, the team’s technical director, hoping for more consistency from each tyre compound.
Pedro de la Rosa – 16th: “Sixteenth doesn’t look great, but I must say I am quite happy with what we did in qualifying. In Q1 especially our performance was really good. We improved the car after free practice and the changes paid off. We pushed hard and I think we got the best out of the package. There are limits. I think the track conditions favoured the harder tyre compound. The prime tyres were really good. With the softer option tyres I had a lack of grip and was sliding too much.”
Kamui Kobayashi – 18th: “I am very disappointed after having been out so early in qualifying. My first run on the prime tyres was okay, and when we changed to the option tyres I was expecting a lot more from them for the second run, but there was no extra grip. Anyway I didn’t exploit the potential because on my first flying lap with the softer tyres I locked the front wheels, which resulted in them being flat spotted. That’s why I felt vibrations in the car and this ruined my second flying lap. It is a shame.”
James Key, Technical Director:“It was a disappointing qualifying, but incredibly close. The grip level seemed to be quite inconsistent, and unfortunately it wasn’t possible for Kamui to get through to the second part of qualifying. He flat spotted the front tyres and was therefore not able to put the best sector times together, which seemed to be tricky today on the option tyres. th Pedro did quite a good job in Q1 where he was 13 . He then began Q2 on the prime tyres and switched to the option tyres for the second run, but again a lack of grip and a balance difference between the two compounds seemed to be the problem. Unfortunately he couldn’t improve his lap time, and again the sectors tell a slightly different story. But that’s where we are this weekend, so we have to improve.”
