Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello on failing to make it through the first bout for Honda; Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica on a gloomy day for BMW Sauber; and McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton on what he needs to do on Sunday if he is to salvage some points from the French race. All 20 drivers report back on the action… I have chosen the most informative quotes. (For the rest and full story you have to follow the reference situated in the end of story.)
Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari (1st, Q1 - 1m 16.499s):
Felipe Massa, Ferrari (2nd, Q1 - 1m 16.490s):
Lewis Hamilton, McLaren (3rd, Q1 - 1m 16.693s):
Fernando Alonso, Renault (4th, Q1 - 1m 16.840s):
“The times were very tight today, in both Q1 and Q2, but I made it through to Q3 and was able to set a good time. The car has really improved and so for the first time this season we have the real chance to fight for the podium. The Ferraris are certainly a step ahead, but we will give our maximum to get a good result tomorrow.”
Jarno Trulli, Toyota (5th, Q1 - 1m 16.920s):
Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren (6th, Q1 - 1m 16.944s):
Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber (7th, Q1 - 1m 17.037s):
"It looks like we are having a difficult weekend. After yesterday's free practice sessions I was expecting us to struggle. The balance of the car is not how I want it to be and my car has a poor overall grip. The gap to the top teams seems to have stayed the same, and at the same time the other teams obviously have made a big step forward. My goal now is to score as many points as possible in tomorrow's race, which certainly will not be easy."
Mark Webber, Red Bull (8th, Q1 - 1m 17.233s):
David Coulthard, Red Bull (9th, Q1 - 1m 17.426):
Timo Glock, Toyota (10th, Q1 - 1m 17.596s):
Nelson Piquet, Renault (11th, Q2 - 1m 15.770s):
Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber (12th, Q2 - 1m 15.786s):
"The circuit here in Magny-Cours is completely different to the one in Montreal, and right from the beginning of the weekend here we were not as good as we have been recently. But still we were hoping for a better qualifying. I'm 12th and Robert just made it into the top ten of qualifying - this is, of course, not what we at the BMW Sauber F1 Team expect from ourselves.
Sebastian Vettel, Toro Rosso (13th, Q2 - 1m 15.816s):
“That was very close and I think we can be happy to have both cars in Q2. I came very near to making Q3 and although I can’t say I’m angry, when you get so close it is disappointing not to have done it. My laps were not perfect but they were pretty good. We struggled mainly in the second sector and were unable to improve on that. Overall, we can be happy with the way the car has run with its new package for the first time and I was quite surprised with its pace since the start of the weekend.”
Sebastien Bourdais, Toro Rosso (14th, Q2 - 1m 16.045s):
Nico Rosberg, Williams (15th, Q2 - 1m 16.235s):
"I knew it was going to be slightly hard for us here, but to be so far off the pace is quite surprising. If everything had gone perfectly, I may have been in P14, but that’s not good enough. We had to compromise our pace this afternoon because of the grid penalty, but that should only have cost us a tenth, not this much. We’ve had a good car in the last two races, and have been running in the top six, but there are some tracks, such as Magny-Cours, that don’t seem to suit our car very well. We started to address this problem at the last test, but it’s going to take some time to resolve it. Getting a decent result from P15 would be difficult enough but, with the ten-place penalty, it’s going to be even harder. That’s just how it is, though, and we need to work out how we’re going to play it."
Kazuki Nakajima, Williams (16th, Q3 - 1m 16.243s):
Jenson Button, Honda (17th, Q3 - 1m 16.306s):
"A very disappointing qualifying session today. The car was well balanced and we are pretty much getting the maximum performance from it, however unfortunately our pace reflects where we are at this track. My last run was slow as I was called into the weighbridge and then had to wait in the pit box as there was not enough time to go back into the garage before my final run. That meant that my tyres had cooled down which compromised my lap, although I don't think we could have improved enough to go through to Q2 anyway. Hopefully we can be more competitive in race trim but it's disappointing and unexpected as we thought that the car would perform better around this circuit."
Rubens Barrichello, Honda (18th, Q3 - 1m 16.330s):
"A pure lack of performance from the car today. The lap times have been very close all weekend but unfortunately we are at the lower end of the grid. We are really pushing the limit of the car to try and achieve more pace but it is evident from how close Jenson and I have been all weekend that there is no more to come from the car. Having achieved a good balance after practice, it's hard to accept the lack of pace, but we just have to try and do our best from here and see what the race will bring."
Giancarlo Fisichella, Force India (19th, Q3 - 1m 16.971s):
Adrian Sutil, Force India (20th, Q3 - 1m 17.053s):
Source: Formula1.com




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