“Compared with last week’s test it seems we have taken a step backwards, and this is another thing we will have to look at and try to understand. Having said that, in evaluating this result we have to keep in mind that this is one of the circuits where the weight of fuel has a greater influence on lap times and, therefore, we will only see tomorrow how things really stand. Anything can happen at this track in the race, even more so if it should rain. We will try and make the best out of our situation.”
Mario Theissen [BMW – motorsport director]:
“Up to the top ten qualifying session everything went according to plan, but then Robert aborted his lap in Q3 because he realised he had a technical problem with the car. Unfortunately time was too short to analyse the problem during the session and get him back out on the track. It is a shame because both drivers were strong, which is proved by Nick’s fifth place. It was a very good performance by him.”
Willy Rampf [BMW-Sauber – technical director]:
“Both our drivers were well on their way in the first two qualifying sessions, and only needed a single lap to easily advance into the final stage of qualifying. However, in Q3 Robert couldn’t complete his fast lap, and over the radio told us about a technical problem with the car.
“Nick’s performance was impressive and put him fifth-fastest. We are all very happy about that. The weather prediction for tomorrow is mixed. We are prepared for anything that might come.”
Pat Symonds [Renault – executive director of engineering]:
“An exciting qualifying session, with one eye on what the cars were doing and one eye on the weather. Overall it was a very satisfying session, with both cars solidly inside the top ten on good fuel loads. Tomorrow is going to be exciting, mainly due to unpredictable weather, but we’ve put ourselves in the best position to exploit anything that may come.”
Denis Chevrier [Renault – head of engine track operations]:
“It was essential to secure ourselves some good grid positions today, especially as we can expect changeable conditions tomorrow and an eventful race. We made it through to Q3 without any problems with both cars, which is satisfying, especially for Nelson who has shown that he is able to manage the demands of a competitive qualifying session. I think that we can have high hopes for the race tomorrow, and hopefully we will be in a position to realise them.”
Giorgio Ascanelli [Scuderia Toro Rosso – technical director]:
“This is a great result – our best qualifying of the year – proving that the team is getting better, and it’s the result of getting to know our car, which performed really well. We are working hard.”
Pascal Vasselon [Toyota – senior general chassis manager]:
“That was clearly not the result we expected after last week’s test here, which was in-line with our performance in Magny-Cours. We had a difficult Friday for various reasons on both cars, but we had every indication that we would recover from that.
