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Scuderia
Ferrari was pleased with this afternoon’s performance
which saw Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa lock out the
second row in third and fourth places respectively. If
being satisfied with anything less than the front row
sounds defeatist, then one has to consider that today,
the Red Bull duo were simply untouchable, on a different
planet, with Sebastian Vettel taking pole from team-mate
Mark Webber. Fernando’s time was a massive 1.2 seconds
slower than the pole sitter, which is all the more
surprising on such a short, slow and twisty track,
conditions which usually make for close lap times.
Therefore, Ferrari can claim to be the best of the rest
and more importantly, Drivers’ classification leader,
Lewis Hamilton is fifth, while his team-mate Jenson
Button in the other McLaren, the team currently leading
the series, is down in eleventh spot. Nico Rosberg
completes the top six for Mercedes.
Usually, the Scuderia can count on a strong race pace to
put it back on equal terms on Sunday afternoons with
those on the front row, but realistically, this might
not be the case over the 70 laps of tomorrow’s race.
That means the start is even more important than usual,
as it always present the best opportunity to get the
jump on cars ahead. Because of the dirty nature of this
track, the classic clean side advantage is more
pronounced than usual, so Fernando will be hoping this
could see him move ahead of second placed Webber when
the red lights go out tomorrow at 2pm. Felipe will have
a tougher time, as he is on the dirty side. After
qualifying, the F1 drivers often rush to watch the start
of Saturday afternoon’s GP2 race to look for some
pointers as to how the start of their own race might pan
out, depending on which side of the track one starts:
that was not possible today, as the GP2 event had two
aborted starts when first the second placed man on the
grid stalled and then the pole man copied him next time
round, so that the start was actually taken behind the
Safety Car.
Seventy laps of the Hungaroring is always a tough
prospect and with more typical Budapest weather
replacing the cool conditions earlier in the week, it
will be equally tough on man and machinery.
“First of all, we wish to offer our respects, along with
all Italian sport, for the recent death of two Italian
soldiers in Afghanistan, where they were part of a
peace-keeping mission, representing our country abroad
with honour. We are pleased with this result because it
is the most we could reasonably have expected from this
qualifying session,” commented Stefano
Domenicali. “Certainly the gap to the top is
very significant and it’s incredible to see how the
picture can change in the space of one week: from a gap
of two thousandths, we have gone to 1”2 seconds on the
same tyres and with almost identical cars to those raced
in Germany. Probably, we were not that close in
Hockenheim and we are not that far off here: as they
said in Ancient Rome, ‘in medio stat virtus.’ I wish to
congratulate both our drivers who got the very most out
of the car’s potential. Now we must concentrate on the
race which will be very long and tough, both in terms of
reliability and for the drivers: here the slightest
mistake carries a high price. Our aim is to try and make
up as much ground as possible in both championships.”
Fernando Alonso: “I am pleased with my
qualifying lap and with the performance of our car, as I
don’t think I could have done better today. The Red
Bulls proved to be very strong and the gap to them is
certainly a surprise. Having said that, we have to
remain focussed on our work and try to do the maximum,
aiming at getting on the podium. We must bear in mind
that the leaders in both championships are behind us on
the grid and our aim is to make up ground on their
points total. The start will be very important. Usually
at this track, starting on the clean side brings a clear
advantage, but this year we have seen good starts from
the dirty side and bad ones from the clean: it will be
vital to do everything as well as possible and then we
will see where we are at the end of the first lap. At
that point we can also decide whether to have an
attacking race or to manage the situation. The circuit
is very demanding for cars and drivers and you must not
lose concentration for a moment.”
Felipe Massa: “When you are gapped by
over a second in qualifying, there is always something
to think about: the way in which they make their tyres
work on the first lap is especially incredible and their
aerodynamics help them so much in some corners,
especially in changes of direction. In the race, the
situation can be different, but clearly we cannot claim
that we will be quicker on track. However, overall, we
have to be pleased with this result because, all the
same, we are ahead of everyone else. I did not produce a
perfect lap: with these tyres you have to drive
extremely precisely because you can easily run the risk
of going off the ideal line. The start will be very
important and, unfortunately, I am on the dirty side of
the grid: let’s see what we can do. The race will be
very long and as always, anything can happen. What did I
feel today, thinking of events one year ago? During
qualifying, I did not think about it for a moment, as I
had too much to do in the car, but now, I can tell you
it’s a nice feeling being here having completed
qualifying! Today, Professor Robert Veres was in our
garage, one of the doctors who looked after me when I
was in the AEK hospital and I was very pleased to have
him here with me.”
Chris Dyer: “A good job from both our
drivers who today were able to extract all the potential
available to them from the car. Honestly, I do not think
we could have aspired to a better result: we definitely
did not have the speed to fight for the front row,
however, we managed reasonably comfortably to lock out
the second one. Given the situation on the grid, I am
almost very slightly disappointed that one of our rivals
did not manage to go quicker than Felipe, so that he
could start from the clean side! We will try and get a
good start and to get amongst the cars starting ahead of
us: if we manage it, the race could turn out to be
interesting.”
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