The
second shortest race track on the Formula 1 calendar,
Interlagos always produces plenty of excitement. Throw a
wet, but drying track into the mix and you get some real
crowd-pleasing action. That was certainly the case in
the penultimate qualifying session of the season, but
unfortunately the outcome was not too favourable for
Scuderia Ferrari.
Championship leader Fernando Alonso finished fifth
fastest in the third and final part of the session,
behind the three other remaining pretenders to the 2010
F1 crown. However, the biggest surprise of all was not
produced by one of the “Big Guns” but by a young driver
in his very first season of Formula 1, Nico Hulkenberg,
who claimed his first ever F1 pole position. The
Williams man was effectively the only driver to put
together a clean lap, right at the end of the session
which had seen the field switch from extreme wets to
intermediate rain tyres, before the final top ten
shoot-out ended with everyone on slicks. Fernando looked
set for a front row place, until a mistake from the
Spaniard on his last lap, at Turn 10 cost him too much
time. As for his team-mate, Felipe Massa never made the
most of the dry weather tyres, struggling to get the
maximum amount of grip out of them and he will start
from ninth on the grid. For the Brazilian, his
disappointment is twofold, because not only will he not
be best placed to take away significant points from
Alonso’s rivals in the title fight, but also he was
particularly keen to put on a great show in front of his
home crowd.
The surprising Hulkenberg shares the front row with the
Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel. The second row features
the German’s team-mate Mark Webber, last year’s winner
here, in third place with the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton
alongside him, while Fernando shares row three with
sixth placed Rubens Barrichello, thus making it a great
day for the Williams team. While the Scuderia was hoping
that the predicted rain in qualifying would allow it to
get closer to the Red Bulls, who are almost invincible
in dry conditions over a single lap, the Ferrari
engineers will now turn their attention to dealing with
the prospect of a dry race tomorrow. 71 laps of
Interlagos is always a challenge and with the F10
showing a good pace over a long distance in free
practice, there is no reason why Fernando Alonso cannot
leave Brazil, still in a strong position in the
championship, before heading off to Abu Dhabi for the
final round in one week’s time.
“We knew that with the
forecast weather conditions for today, this would be an
especially complicated qualifying session and that was
indeed the case,” commented Stefano Domenicali.
“A shame, as this result does not reflect our
aspirations or our potentialBut putting this
disappointment to one side, we have to keep in mind that
the points are given out on Sunday, which is something
we have said after a good qualifying and which bears
repeating today. Our closest rivals are there ahead of
us and we will stick to them. We will have to try and
run a judicious race and pick up as many points as
possible, banking on a race pace which, from what we saw
yesterday, is competitive with the best. So many times
this year the outcome of qualifying has been turned on
its head in the race which is often played out to a
different tune. We have to concentrate: reliability,
strategy, the work in the garage and on track will, as
always, hold the key. Finally, I want to congratulate
Nico Hulkenberg, a youngster who has just taken the
first pole of his Formula 1 career and his Williams
team.”
Felipe Massa: “Conditions today were
certainly not easy and the track was changing all the
time. In the wet, with intermediates, I was able to do
reasonably good times, but when we fitted the soft
slicks and the track was still damp, I immediately felt
a lack of grip which in the end affected my performance.
In fact, all season I have struggled to get my tyres up
to temperature and the damp track definitely did not
help. A shame, as I was unable to fight for the top
places as I had hoped in order to give the Brazilian
fans a good result. It is always exciting racing here in
front of this fantastic crowd. The race should be run in
the dry, which means with very different track
conditions to this afternoon. Yesterday, Fernando was
very quick over a long run and I think we will be able
to make up some places. Congratulations to Nico on his
first pole: I can well believe he is in seventh heaven.”
Fernando Alonso: “Fifth place is not
the end of the world. Many times this year, the two Red
Bulls have been out in front and Hamilton’s McLaren has
been in the fight with us for third place. Today, the
surprise came from Hulkenberg, the only one to do a
clean lap in Q3: everyone else, myself included, was not
as clever, also because the dry line was really narrow
and you only needed to get the tyres ten centimetres
outside it and you lost a lot of time. There’s a lot to
lose in these conditions and little to gain: it would
have just needed one wrong choice to already be out of
it before the final part of qualifying. Tomorrow in the
race, we will have to try and make the most of our
strong points, especially our race pace. If we can do a
good job of managing the tyres maybe towards the end we
can have the edge. The start will also be important: we
will try and make up some places, while keeping an eye
on what our rivals are doing, because it will be a
crucial moment for them too. From a strategic point of
view, clearly the presence of Hulkenberg on pole
introduces an unexpected variation. The main aim this
weekend is to increase my lead over Webber to arrive in
Abu Dhabi in as calm a frame of mind as possible. If
that’s not possible, then it will be a case of damage
limitation.”
Chris Dyer: “This result leaves a
slightly bitter taste in the mouth because we had the
potential to do better, but we knew that in these
conditions anything could happen. We had been expecting
it since yesterday: the wet track should have been an
opportunity to close the gap to the Red Bulls who, on a
first flying lap in the dry seemed quicker. But it could
also have been a risk because there was always the
chance of finishing much further back on the grid. At
the end, everyone fitted slicks and it was very
difficult to put together the perfect lap: only
Hulkenberg managed it. Tomorrow, the race should be run
in the dry and yesterday, we saw that our pace over a
long run is not bad. Our main rivals are all ahead of us
on the grid and we will try and make up some places,
both with Felipe and Fernando, although without taking
any excessive risks.”
|
|
|
