News
19th April 2014, 11:10
Toro Rosso
Jean-Eric Vergne (9th, Q3 - 1:56.773)
"I'm really pleased with my qualifying, it's been a great lap. I'm happy with myself as all my qualifying laps this year so far have been good laps, without mistakes. This car is pretty difficult to drive in wet conditions, so to make it into Q3 even today is a big satisfaction for me and the team. You really have to make your perfect lap and I think I did. As for tomorrow, the weather forecast says it's going to be dry, which is a much more suitable condition for our car, so we can expect a good race. In the long runs our pace looks competitive, so I will do my best to make a good start and from the ninth position on the grid, if everything comes together, we can definitely aim for some more points."
Daniil Kvyat (13th, Q2 - 1:57.289)
"This was a very tricky qualifying session today and even though I gave it my all, I was not able to go any faster than this. It seems that I have lost a lot of grip between this morning's FP3 and qualifying, so I'm eager to have a look at the data later on. Overall I'm disappointed with how things went today, but I'm confident we can still have a good race tomorrow, especially if it is going to be dry."
James Key, Toro Rosso technical director
"The conditions for today's qualifying were clear but totally unpredictable. There seemed to be a micro climate around the circuit so it was difficult to tell what was going on where. We had a plan but remained flexible and in the end this helped us cope well with the tricky conditions and the guys on the pit wall did a very good job. Q1 turned out as we had hoped for, even though we took a bit of a gamble, as we started on used intermediates. Jev did a great job getting through to Q3, as it was a tight battle in difficult conditions. Sadly, Daniil didn't make it through to Q3, which is disappointing as he showed good pace so far today. We will have a look at the reasons for this, but still, P13 is more than adequate to start the race from. Assuming the weather will stay dry tomorrow, we should be able to have a strong race as we are more competitive in the dry than in the wet."
Caterham
Kamui Kobayashi (18th, Q1 - 1:59.260)
"As FP3 was wet and the grip levels were low everyone was being cautious but we managed to complete 12 laps, all on the inters apart from the installation. The car was okay, a bit too much oversteer but we did make some gains in braking over the two runs and finished the session without any issues.
"It was raining before the start of qualifying but the track conditions were right on the edge of choosing between inters and full wets so we went for the inters as that could have given us the best chance of springing a surprise in Q1. It was certainly pretty tricky on inters but the times were just about there with the wets on the first run so we stuck with them for the second run and went out to run to the flag. For the second stint the conditions were improving slightly, but still not enough for us to have a clear advantage on the intermediates, so ending up ahead of Bianchi in 18th and only three tenths from Gutierrez is probably about as good as we could have done today."
Marcus Ericsson (20th, Q1 - 2:00.646)
"FP3 was my second wet session of the season and we started with the installation lap on full wets before switching to inters for the first run. That went ok but when I boxed we found a couple of issues with the power unit and an overheating front right brake that meant we could only complete six laps in the session.
"Quali was tough, especially considering I only had six laps this morning, but I'm relatively happy with how it ended up, especially as that was only my third ever session in the wet in F1! We went for the same strategy as Kamui and the car was a real handful on the first stint
More... (http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2014/4/15746.html)
Jean-Eric Vergne (9th, Q3 - 1:56.773)
"I'm really pleased with my qualifying, it's been a great lap. I'm happy with myself as all my qualifying laps this year so far have been good laps, without mistakes. This car is pretty difficult to drive in wet conditions, so to make it into Q3 even today is a big satisfaction for me and the team. You really have to make your perfect lap and I think I did. As for tomorrow, the weather forecast says it's going to be dry, which is a much more suitable condition for our car, so we can expect a good race. In the long runs our pace looks competitive, so I will do my best to make a good start and from the ninth position on the grid, if everything comes together, we can definitely aim for some more points."
Daniil Kvyat (13th, Q2 - 1:57.289)
"This was a very tricky qualifying session today and even though I gave it my all, I was not able to go any faster than this. It seems that I have lost a lot of grip between this morning's FP3 and qualifying, so I'm eager to have a look at the data later on. Overall I'm disappointed with how things went today, but I'm confident we can still have a good race tomorrow, especially if it is going to be dry."
James Key, Toro Rosso technical director
"The conditions for today's qualifying were clear but totally unpredictable. There seemed to be a micro climate around the circuit so it was difficult to tell what was going on where. We had a plan but remained flexible and in the end this helped us cope well with the tricky conditions and the guys on the pit wall did a very good job. Q1 turned out as we had hoped for, even though we took a bit of a gamble, as we started on used intermediates. Jev did a great job getting through to Q3, as it was a tight battle in difficult conditions. Sadly, Daniil didn't make it through to Q3, which is disappointing as he showed good pace so far today. We will have a look at the reasons for this, but still, P13 is more than adequate to start the race from. Assuming the weather will stay dry tomorrow, we should be able to have a strong race as we are more competitive in the dry than in the wet."
Caterham
Kamui Kobayashi (18th, Q1 - 1:59.260)
"As FP3 was wet and the grip levels were low everyone was being cautious but we managed to complete 12 laps, all on the inters apart from the installation. The car was okay, a bit too much oversteer but we did make some gains in braking over the two runs and finished the session without any issues.
"It was raining before the start of qualifying but the track conditions were right on the edge of choosing between inters and full wets so we went for the inters as that could have given us the best chance of springing a surprise in Q1. It was certainly pretty tricky on inters but the times were just about there with the wets on the first run so we stuck with them for the second run and went out to run to the flag. For the second stint the conditions were improving slightly, but still not enough for us to have a clear advantage on the intermediates, so ending up ahead of Bianchi in 18th and only three tenths from Gutierrez is probably about as good as we could have done today."
Marcus Ericsson (20th, Q1 - 2:00.646)
"FP3 was my second wet session of the season and we started with the installation lap on full wets before switching to inters for the first run. That went ok but when I boxed we found a couple of issues with the power unit and an overheating front right brake that meant we could only complete six laps in the session.
"Quali was tough, especially considering I only had six laps this morning, but I'm relatively happy with how it ended up, especially as that was only my third ever session in the wet in F1! We went for the same strategy as Kamui and the car was a real handful on the first stint
More... (http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2014/4/15746.html)