Sebastian Vettel – Red Bull (1st, Q3 – 1m 28.316s):
“We have a good car here and a good chance for the race. I expected to face more difficulties in qualifying today, I mean it wasn t easy, but we made it to pole. We now have the best position to start from and it s definitely an advantage to be on the clean side of the track in terms of grip level. This is just the half-way point though, the main task comes tomorrow. It s a long race here, very tough and very hot so it won t be easy for the cars or the drivers – but it should be exciting. I m looking forward to it.â€
Jenson Button – Brawn GP (2nd, Q3 – 1m 28.421s):
“With the changes to the set-up that we made overnight, the car felt much better today and we were really able to get to grips with improving the pace. It’s great to be starting on the front row, although of course I would prefer to be on pole, but Sebastian did a great job. It was quite difficult to choose between the tyres today as their performance was quite similar. The prime was a little too twitchy for my liking so I continued to run the option tyre for Q3 which had a more gradual and rolling feel. It should be a good race tomorrow as I really enjoy this circuit and you can overtake here so there will hopefully be some good battles out on the track. We will be trying very hard to change the statistic that everyone who has started from pole here has won the race!”
Rubens Barrichello – Brawn GP (3rd, Q3 – 1m 28.579s):
“The team has done a great job since the practice sessions yesterday to make improvements and the car felt immediately better this morning. Qualifying went really well although I did have a worrying moment in Q2 when traffic affected my second run and the times were so close between the top eleven drivers. The main question in qualifying today was trying to understand which tyre performed better. I had a better feeling through the high-speed corners with the prime tyre and it was the best choice for me so I went for just the one run on the primes in Q3. I lost my first two flying laps to traffic but the third lap was really good. I have the advantage of starting from the clean side tomorrow so will be aiming for a good start and take it from there.”
Mark Webber – Red Bull (4th, Q3 – 1m 28.613s):
“That was a good qualifying session for us, I m happy with how Q3 went and it s put us in a reasonable position for the start of the race. We re also on the right-hand side of the grid, which is good. I don t think I could have finished much further up. I m happy with the performance of the car, it worked well today and I m aiming for a podium tomorrow. The team did a good job today.â€
Jarno Trulli – Toyota (5th, Q3 – 1m 28.666s):
“I am happy with this good result, especially after the difficult time we had during the last race weekend. We have made big improvements and it is nice to be back at the front where we belong. The tyre situation was a little tricky today because I was very quick on the hard tyre while I didn’t feel I got the most out of the soft option. We need to analyse that to give us the best possible chance tomorrow I’m fired up and looking forward to the race. We were not far off pole position which is very encouraging and gives us high expectations for the race tomorrow. Obviously it is a long race and it’s difficult to predict what will happen, but I will be fighting to finish on the podium.”
Kimi Raikkonen – Ferrari (6th, Q3 – 1m 28.815s):
“In qualifying the car was better balanced than in free practice but, even on a light fuel load, today we were a bit slower than the best. All weekend we have struggled a bit to get the tyres working at their best on the first lap. For sure, starting from the dirty side of the grid won t be easy, especially on a track like this, which is hardly ever used for racing, which means the track surface offers little grip off the racing line. We have made progress recently, but the others have also done the same, which is what always happens.â€
Felipe Massa – Ferrari (7th, Q3 – 1m 28.858s)::
“On low fuel, the car was well balanced and had good grip, while once we had the race fuel on board, the situation got worse and we suffered oversteer, mainly on the softer tyre. Honestly, I d expected to start higher up the grid, especially as we were pretty competitive in Q1 and Q2. Starting from seventh, it becomes tough to aim for the top, so we have to be realistic. However, we mustn t forget this will be a long race and anything can happen. As usual, I will give it my best shot.â€
Fernando Alonso – Renault (8th, Q3 – 1m 29.075s):
“I have mixed feelings from this qualifying session. Q2 was really difficult and we only just made it through to Q3 in tenth position, but our level of performance and lack of pace meant we could only manage eighth on the grid, which is a bit disappointing. Unfortunately I will start from the dirty side of the track, which will make the start of the race difficult, but I still hope that I can challenge for some good points in the race.”
Nico Rosberg – Williams (9th, Q3 – 1m 29.191s):
“It really wasn t easy to choose between the soft and the hard compound to do your fastest lap on today, or to keep a balanced car while changing between the two. I ended up with some understeer and maybe a lost a position because of that, but I m on the clean side of the grid tomorrow, which will help us to get a good start and maybe gain some positions. Since we also have a good race car, we will be targeting points, which is important for us as a team.â€
Robert Kubica – BMW Sauber (10th, Q3 – 1m 29.357s):
“Starting from P10 is definitely better than starting from P18 the way I did in Monaco. However, we still lack a bit of pace compared to the top cars. The track clearly suits our car better than the Monaco track did. However, we really have to fight tomorrow. Although the gap to the lead cars is quite close, there are a lot of cars between us and the front row. It will be difficult.â€
