“We switched to the option for my first run in Q2 as everyone seemed to be going quicker on that tyre, but for some reason the option didn't work for me and I had no grip. We went back to the prime which should be about three tenths slower around here, so 13th is not too bad. It's annoying that we can't get the option to work but our prime tyre pace is very good, particularly over longer runs.
“It's a long way forward to get points from here, but this is a tough circuit on engines so we'll see what happens. I've always had fun racing here as it's a great place to overtake, so I'm looking forward to the race.”
The Brackley-based concern's head of race and test engineering Steve Clark echoed his two drivers' sentiments, remaining confident of a challenge for points again come race day.
“The issues we had were with the tyres and trying to get grip from the prime or a balance on the option tyre,” he explained. “We saw this morning that the two tyres behaved differently, and the two drivers split their strategy in Q1 because of this.
“In the second session neither car had the pace to get into the top ten. We had no problems aside from being able to get the most out of the tyres, so obviously this is a disappointment as we felt we had made a little more progress here.
“The race may be very interesting tomorrow. This is a very difficult track and many drivers have been running off the circuit so far in the event. With heavy fuel loads and worn tyres I expect to see quite a few mistakes and incidents.
“Both Jenson and Rubens are happier with their cars in race trim, and neither has had an off-track excursion so far. If we can have a tidy race with a consistent pace then we may still make it into the points. That is certainly the outcome we will be striving for.”
