Felipe Massa:
“It’s great to be on pole position, especially after the great disappointment of Budapest, but I’m well aware the race is tomorrow and so there is still a long way to go. My first run in Q3 was very good, and on the second I made a good improvement in the first sector and that’s where pole came from.
“Today, the track was still very slippery, partly because of last night’s rain. After this morning’s free practice, I thought the harder tyres would be the most competitive in qualifying, but at the start of the session I didn’t feel as comfortable anymore and so we went for the softer compound.
“The team did a great job in preparing for this event, and I want to thank them for giving me such a strong car. I hope we can have a good race tomorrow.”
Lewis Hamilton:
“We knew we had a great car, and we didn’t have any problems during qualifying. I felt really comfortable, and I decided to qualify with the option tyre. My first lap wasn’t perfect, and I lost almost one second compared with my second lap, but on my final lap everything went well.
“Second place on the grid is a good basis for tomorrow’s race. However,
Felipe Massa was significantly faster in the first sector, and I hope we’ll be able to improve there tomorrow. Our team did a great job, and I’m confident we’ll be strong.”
Robert Kubica:
“This was a very good qualifying for the team and me. After some unlucky races lately, the pace of the car here in Valencia is not that bad. However, there is still a small gap to
Ferrari and
McLaren.
“Qualifying went pretty smoothly, with only the weather a bit unstable. In the end there were only some rain drops in the second qualifying session, but this did not affect the result. The choice of tyres was pretty clear for me by yesterday – I went on the harder compound in Q1 and on the softer compound in Q2 and Q3.”
Kimi Raikkonen:
“Fourth place is not what I was looking for, but it’s definitely not the end of the world. I could have been higher up the grid, but on my last run in Q3 I locked the wheels at a few points and lost valuable time.
