create cars: sat

Saturday, May 21, 2011

F1 Barcelona 2011 - SAT - Qualifying - Lewis Hamilton 3rd, Jenson Button 5th

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

Barcelona, Spain, May 21, 2011

LEWIS HAMILTON
- MP4-26A-03
- P3 programme: 4th, 1m23.068s (+1.361s), 13 laps
- Qualifying:
- Q1: 14th, 1m24.370s (on Primes)
- Q2: 4th, 1m22.148s (on Options)
- Q3: 3rd overall, 1m21.961s (on Options)

“The Red Bulls look very strong, but I’m going to do everything I can to jump at least one – if not both – of them at the start. I hope I can attack tomorrow.

“When you start from the clean side of the grid, you automatically have a much better opportunity of getting a good start – and, this year, I’ve usually been on the dirty side, so tomorrow will be a bit of a bonus for me.

“Third on the grid is actually a perfect position – because, if you get a good start, you can slipstream the guys in front. My aim is to be P1 by Turn One! It doesn’t normally go that way, but as long as I don’t go backwards I’ll be happy.

“When you’re trying to eke every last drop out of the car, you sometimes lock the front wheels – and that’s just what happened on my final lap. While the flat-spot to the front-left doesn’t look perfect, we’ll manage it by re-balancing the wheels, so it’ll be fine.

“We’ve definitely made an improvement this weekend. We’ll keep pushing: we don’t give up, and with the DRS we should see some good racing tomorrow.”

JENSON BUTTON
- MP4-26A-04
- P3 programme: 5th, 1m23.214s (+1.507s), 14 laps
- Qualifying:
- Q1: 15th, 1m24.428s (on Primes)
- Q2: 3rd, 1m22.050s (on Options)
- Q3: 5th overall, 1m21.996s (on Options)

“I feel that I did a good lap, so I’m happy with that; my car got better and better throughout the session – I was only three-hundredths slower than Lewis. I was a bit unlucky not to be third, then Fernando got between us as well, so you can see how close it is out there.

“One major positive is that, like Lewis, I’ll be starting on the clean side of the grid. Another is that, also like Lewis, I’ve got two sets of [Option] tyres that have only done one lap and another set that’s brand new – that’s going to be key tomorrow.

“Having your tyres in good condition makes such a difference – so I think we’re looking in very good shape.

“There’s a big difference between the Option and the Prime here, so there’ll be some different strategies tomorrow. We’ll be looking at the strategy tonight and I’m sure we can make the harder tyre work for us too.”

MARTIN WHITMARSH
Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

“We wanted to come through qualifying having retained one set of Option tyres for both our drivers, as did Red Bull, and it was for that reason that we were determined to tackle Q1 on Prime tyres. There’s a big speed differential between Options and Primes here in Barcelona, so most teams had no choice other than to use Options in Q1, for fear of not making it through to Q2. Fortunately, by contrast, like Red Bull, we were able to conserve our Options.

“The final result at the end of Q3 was P3 for Lewis and P5 for Jenson – in other words good grid slots on the clean side of the track for both our drivers.

“In actual fact they may have been a little quicker had they gone out when it was less breezy, and had we been able to get our KERS Hybrid up to optimal operating temperature; but I don’t think we’d have been quite as quick as the Red Bulls. To be clear, our KERS Hybrid is an excellent system, thanks in large part to the superlative work done by Mercedes-Benz HighPerformanceEngines, but we struggled to get it up to optimal operating temperature today.

“Even so, we’re usually a little closer to the Red Bulls’ pace in race trim than we are in qualifying, and we’ve got two brilliant racers in Lewis and Jenson, and as I say they’ll start from the clean side of the track; so, all in all, let’s just say that we’re looking forward to an exciting race tomorrow.”

F1 Barcelona 2011 - SAT - Qualifying - Nico Rosberg 7th, Michael Schumacher 10th

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

Barcelona, Spain, May 21, 2011

Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher qualified in seventh and tenth positions respectively today for the Spanish Grand Prix.

• With a focus on saving tyres for the race, the team took a measured approach to Q2 & Q3 with one run for each car
• Michael’s car suffered a KERS failure in Q3 and he did not complete a timed lap to save a set of fresh tyres
• Nico will start the race on the soft option tyres whilst Michael is able to choose which tyres he will start on

Nico Rosberg
“With our focus on the race pace this weekend, it was to be expected that we might suffer a little in Qualifying. However I am not too disappointed with seventh place as we should be stronger in the race tomorrow, and I believe we can aim to be better than in Istanbul. I have one set of new tyres left which is good for us, and I hope that we can move up with the right strategy.”

Michael Schumacher
“Unfortunately in Q3, my KERS system did not work but we reacted in the best possible way. We took the decision to go out on prime tyres to be able to react if other cars did the same. As no-one did, we came in without setting a time so we can now choose our strategy for tomorrow. I will certainly try to have another of the good starts that I have made recently, make up some positions right at the beginning, and take it from there. With DRS and KERS, overtaking is possible even in Barcelona, so it is important to use your tyres well, and I still have a set of fresh tyres left. I will definitely try to make the best out of it.”

Ross Brawn
“We had a fairly good qualifying session today whilst being mindful of preparing for the race and being in the best possible position for tomorrow. We clearly couldn’t have challenged the cars right at the front of the grid, however Nico did a very good job, and he is in great shape for tomorrow’s race. Unfortunately with Michael, we incurred a KERS problem of a nature which made it difficult to think that he could achieve a competitive time, and therefore he did not complete a lap. This has the advantage of giving us maximum choice for his tyre strategy for tomorrow.”

Norbert Haug
“Michael’s car suffered a KERS problem before his planned Q3 lap, and therefore we decided not to use another set of fresh tyres. Our strategy in qualifying concentrated from lap one on saving tyres for the race and that is what we have achieved today, albeit probably to the cost of a better place on the grid. Nico got the best possible result under these circumstances. We are sorry for Michael as he definitely would be starting further up the grid without the KERS issue. However tomorrow is the race, and our aim is to repeat what we have achieved in the last two races; to be placed in the top five at the finish line.”