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2006 Brazil GP
Team Quotes - Saturday 21 October
The Renault F1 Team negotiated a trouble-free qualifying session this afternoon at Intelagos to place its cars fourth and sixth on the grid for tomorrow's season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix. In the highest track temperatures seen so far this weekend, the Renault drivers showed competitive form throughout the hour-long qualifying session, consistently setting times among the top 6 fastest runners. As ever in Interlagos, the short lap means the gaps are extremely close: for example, the six hundredths of a second separating Fernando and Giancarlo equated to two grid positions this afternoon.
After the session, both drivers said they were pleased with the handling balance of the R26, and the weekend's practice sessions have shown the car is competitive on long runs on used tyres. As ever, the shape of the grid reflects varying fuel loads as well as the pure pace of the different cars, and the team is confident that its solid work throughout the weekend will pay off in tomorrow's race.
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering: Our day went reasonably to plan – the aim was to have the cars around the second row and we are in a good position. I think both cars are on competitive fuel loads relative to those around us, and they demonstrated strong pace in practice. Considering our targets this weekend, it is naturally pleasing to see Fernando starting ahead of his main rival. But we have sympathy for Michael's situation, and plenty of respect for him as well. We know that he can still be a danger to us from tenth position and we are not discounting him at all. Tomorrow's race has all the ingredients to make it a worthy finale to a thrilling championship.
Denis Chevrier, Head of Trackside Engine Operations: This morning's running in practice, coupled with the early stages of the qualifying session, made it clear that we were not able to fight for the front row. Once we had recognised this, the second or third row was our logical objective, unless we were going to seriously compromise our race strategy in a bid for glory. We did not do so, and as usual focused our work on tomorrow's race. We saw that the car was quick in the early stages of qualifying, and the performance was also there in practice, so we can be confident of a strong showing in the Grand Prix. From an engine point of view, the cars demonstrated competitive top speeds and we had no incidents on either V8. But this afternoon's qualifying session gave us another object lesson in how quickly the
balance of power can shift, and there will be no complacency as we work towards our target tomorrow.
Team McLaren Mercedes driver Kimi Raikkonen will start tomorrow's Brazilian Grand Prix from the front row of the grid having qualified second with a lap time of 1:11.299. Pedro de la Rosa will start from 12th place on the grid with his fastest lap in the second session of 1:11.658.
Ron Dennis: "A tremendous job by Kimi. Pedro tried a little too hard on his second set of tyres flatspotting one into the first corner. As a consequence he failed to qualify in the top ten. Generally our car worked well and a good result is possible tomorrow."
Norbert Haug: "A great qualifying by Kimi. With his first row grid position he has got a good basis for the race tomorrow. Pedro missed a top ten position by just one hundredth of a second when the best Michelin runner was half a second quicker than him."
Seventh pole of the 2006 season for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, following on from those in Sakhir, Imola, Indianapolis, Magny-Cours, Istanbul and Suzuka, the third for Felipe Massa. This is pole number 186 in Ferrari's history, the fifth in this Grand Prix.
Jean Todt: This was a bitter-sweet qualifying session for us. On the one hand we can be delighted with a great pole position for Felipe, which came about due to his talent and the clear superiority of the 248 F1- Bridgestone tyre package. On the other hand there is a great disappointment for Michael who was reduced to the role of spectator, sitting in the cockpit of his car in the garage, for the final part of the session, sidelined with what appears to be a fuel pressure problem. Without wishing to sound presumptuous, there is good reason to think we could have had two cars on the front row of the grid tomorrow. However, we find ourselves with one car on pole and the other relegated to the fifth row. Nevertheless, we know that anything can happen in racing, and one way and another, we experienced that ourselves various times this year. All we can do tomorrow is try and get both our cars out in front of all the others at the finish line.
Ross Brawn: A great performance from Felipe. He had a great car and the Bridgestone tyres were performing very well, but he produced a performance over and above expectations and in Q3 he did a handful of really incredible laps. We are very frustrated about the problem that kept Michael in the garage for the final part of qualifying. It seems to be linked to fuel pressure, but now we need to find out exactly what happened. It's a shame as we could have had two Ferraris on the front row. But in my opinion we could still pull off a one- two tomorrow. The cars are performing strongly, the Bridgestone tyres mean we can do consistent lap times and the weather forecast for slightly higher temperatures should all work in our favour. And let's not forget that in the past, Michael has managed to win races starting even further back on the grid.
Panasonic Toyota Racing will start the final race of the 2006 season from a very promising position after Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli both qualified in the top 10 for Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos. After their double points finish on home ground in Japan two weeks ago, Ralf and Jarno kept up that momentum today. On a relatively cold day in Sao Paulo, both drivers were on the pace from the start and easily made it through Q1 and Q2 on a dry track. Jarno will start from the second row of the grid after a superb lap at the end of Q3 earned him third spot for his best qualifying result of the season. Ralf also showed strong pace throughout and set the seventh fastest time to start from row four. The team is still pushing hard for fifth place in the Constructors' Championship and today's performance gives Ralf and Jarno a great chance to end the year with more points and a result to celebrate.
Pascal Vasselon – Senior General Manager Chassis: "That was a good qualifying session but I would say it is as expected because yesterday we saw we were competitive here and this morning we were working towards the race so our position in third practice was not representative and we knew that. The cold weather conditions could have made it a little bit tricky as it is colder than usual in Brazil but we were expecting that from our weather forecasts and we were able to take it into account when we chose which two tyre compounds to use this weekend. Choosing which of those two to use was quite a difficult decision to make - but it certainly doesn't look too bad now! We had high expectations so we are quite happy with the outcome of the qualifying. Still it could have been a little bit better for both cars, we could have been even further up the grid but we are not complaining. It looks pretty good for tomorrow and we are pretty confident with the race pace."
Patrick Head, Director of Engineering, WilliamsF1: "I think that's about where we are at the moment. As it was, it was very close and a few hundredths of a second more from both cars would have pushed us into the top ten. I think we can race well from where we are, however, and what we want is a good, reliable race and, I hope, two cars finishing. If we get points, all the better."
Chris Jilbert, Principal Engineer, F1 Race Engineering, Cosworth: "It was a shame not to get the cars into the final qualifying session today. We enjoyed another trouble free day with the Cosworth CA2006 V8 engines and we will be ensuring that we maximise the available race duty cycle for both drivers for what may well transpire to be our 'grand finale' in Formula One tomorrow."
The Honda Racing F1 Team will start the 2006 season finale from the third and seventh rows of the grid after Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button qualified fifth and 14th for tomorrow's Brazilian Grand Prix in Sao Paulo.
Both drivers made it through the first knock-out round, despite an electronic problem for Jenson at the end of Q1, which seriously affected the traction control.
From there, with a well-balanced car beneath him, local hero Rubens sailed through to the final ten-car shoot-out. Having set the tone for a positive day with a strong showing in free practice this morning, he maintained the momentum to deliver a polished performance and a lap that was good for P5. He will line up on the clean side of the track in the thick of the action for the start of the 71-lap race, in front of his legions of Brazilian fans.
On the opposite side of the garage, the team tried to fix the electronic problem with Jenson's car but it persisted when he returned to the track for Q2. He was unable to achieve a good lap, which brought his session to an early and disappointing conclusion.
Gil de Ferran, Sporting Director: "We are happy on the one hand and disappointed on the other. Rubens had a smooth qualifying session and pulled out all the stops in front of his home crowd, extracting all the speed we had in the car today. Jenson had an electronic issue that was costing him a lot of time and as a result he was unable to make it through to the final shoot-out. Assuming that we are able to fix the problem, the full extent of which has yet to be determined, we should have a strong race tomorrow given that both drivers are very happy with the car handling and have been competitive throughout the weekend so far. It should be an exciting race!"
Christian Horner: Obviously, it was a disappointing qualifying session for David who hasn't been happy with the balance of his car all day. Robert did a good job. We decided that he'd only do one run in the second qualifying session, due to knowing what our limitations are and the ten-place grid penalty we collected for Robert's engine change. Hopefully, we'll be stronger in the tomorrow's race.
In the18th and final qualifying session of the season both BMW Sauber F1.06 made it into the top ten for the seventh time. Nick Heidfeld made it into the top ten for the tenth time in total and the fifth in a row. Robert Kubica has now managed this in five out if his six qualifyings. For the Brazilian Grand Prix Heidfeld qualified eighth and Kubica ninth.
Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director): That was an average qualifying, but it was not perfect. In the first part Nick had problems getting the tyres up to temperature and, therefore, was lucky to make it into the second and third sessions. Robert was on track to get a good time, but on his last timed lap locked the brakes, which prevented him getting a better position. The positive thing is we made it into the top ten again with both cars.
Willy Rampf (Technical Director): It is good we have both drivers in the top ten of qualifying again, but we had hoped for better positions. We are now in a difficult position to defend fifth place in the championship, but we will do our best.
Recent wet and overcast conditions at the Interlagos circuit cleared today for a warm and sunny Saturday track programme. Spyker MF1 Team failed to match the brighter outlook as they experienced a problematic qualifying session.
Having enjoyed some promising performance so far this weekend Tiago Monteiro was expecting a strong grid position. Unfortunately he spun early in qualifying resulting in his car becoming stranded for the remainder of the session. This incident means he will start the Brazilian Grand Prix from 22nd on the grid.
Christijan Albers had more success and was again able to out-qualify one of the Red Bull cars. Although struggling for grip he ended the first session in 18th position. With some recent encouraging race performance the Dutch driver, who will be driving for Spyker F1 in 2007, is looking forward to ending the season on a high.
The Brazilian Grand Prix marks the final race in the team's engine supply partnership with Toyota Motorsport. In what has been an extremely positive partnership for two seasons the team has enjoyed fantastic reliability and a very efficient relationship. 2006 has seen Tiago Monteiro use fewer engines than any other driver in the Formula One World Championship. The Spyker MF1 Team wishes all at Toyota Motorsport the very best of luck for the future.
Colin Kolles, Team Principal: "Today was an interesting day for everybody in the team. Tiago made a very uncharacteristic mistake and Christijan looked like he made the best out of a difficult lap. We will see what happens during the race tomorrow but the world will be watching what looks set to be a thrilling finale to the World Championship, I hope that we can find a positive performance to take us into what will be a busy and important winter break."
Dominic Harlow, Head of Race and Test Engineering: "It was a disappointing final qualifying session, we needed to be very close but came out at the wrong end of our rival group. Spyker MF1 is a team very much looking to the future at the moment, tomorrow is a long race and anything could happen. Both drivers have worked out a good strategy considering our position in qualifying and we look to see what transpires at the front of the field and with the weather conditions."
The final free practice session of the 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix saw Super Aguri's Takuma Sato setting a fastest lap time of 1:13.814 ahead of the Spyker MF1 Team, the Red Bull of David Coulthard and Jarno Trulli's Toyota. Only 2.7 seconds separated the top and bottom of the time sheets at the end of Q1 during the afternoon's qualifying session, with Takuma and Sakon Yamamoto posting respectable times of 1:13.269 and 1:13.357 respectively.
Aguri Suzuki, Team Principal: Both SAF1 Team drivers did a great job today and their times were very close. I believe that our car is showing more of its true potential, but we still have a little way to go to match our nearest competitors. However, if you compare our times set today with those at the beginning of the season we have done a very good job. I would like to thank our mechanics, everyone at the factory, Honda and Bridgestone for their support this year and I hope that we can finish the season with a good result tomorrow.
Storming to a sensational third career pole in his Bridgestone shod Scuderia Ferrari, Felipe Massa sent his home crowd wild this afternoon in the final qualifying session of the 2006 season. The young Brazilian was over half a second faster than second placed Kimi Raikkonen with Panasonic Toyota Racing's Jarno Trulli making it two Bridgestone runners in the top three. However, in yet another cruel blow, Michael Schumacher was robbed of his opportunity to steal the show. A car problem left him with no other alternative than to return to the pits at the start of the final phase of qualifying. Schumacher had earlier set the fastest time of the day with a 1m10.313, indicating that he clearly will be on the pace in tomorrow's 71-lap race. Brother Ralf was seventh fastest today in final qualifying while Mark Webber was 11th fastest on his final weekend for the WilliamsF1 team. His teammate Nico Rosberg was 13th. Spyker MF1 Racing's Christijan Albers was 18th with Super Aguri F1's Takuma Sato and Sakon Yamamoto close behind. Tiago Monteiro was 22nd after spinning off at the beginning of the opening qualifying session.
Hisao Suganuma, Technical Manager - Bridgestone Motorsport: We clearly saw the strong performance of the Bridgestone tyres in this afternoon's qualifying session with Felipe [Massa] taking his second consecutive pole and Jarno finishing in third. Congratulations to them on a job well done. Obviously we are disappointed for Michael as we could well have seen a Ferrari 1-2 today. Nevertheless, he is more than capable of fighting to the front tomorrow so he should not be ruled out. Ralf Schumacher will also be strong tomorrow, having qualified seventh fastest. It was a very close qualifying today but we are very pleased so far with the performance of the Bridgestone tyres and we expect they will be even better in race conditions tomorrow.
Ross Brawn, Technical Director – Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: A great performance by Felipe who did even better than we had anticipated. The car and Bridgestone tyres are very good here but really he saved the day because of the problem we had with Michael's car. It is particularly frustrating as the car and tyres are so good this weekend but, to me, even from his position on the grid, the way Michael is fired up means that there are still possibilities for tomorrow's race. We have the consistency in the tyres and I believe tomorrow's forecast for warm weather will move things in our favour as well.
Pascal Vasselon, General Manager Chassis – Panasonic Toyota Racing: Bridgestone have provided us with a tyre choice a little bit outside the usual window this weekend and we went for it. It seems to provide at the same time a good qualifying performance and, according to what we have seen yesterday and this morning, a very good race pace. Overall we are very, very pleased with this tyre choice this weekend.
Kimi Raikkonen was the fastest Michelin runner during qualifying for tomorrow's season-closing Brazilian Grand Prix. The Finn will start from the front row of the grid after lapping the high-speed, 4.309-kilometre (2.677-mile) Interlagos circuit in 1m 11.299s. World championship leader Fernando Alonso will line up fourth as he pursues a second straight F1 world title. No matter what else happens tomorrow, a top-eight finish will be enough for the Spaniard. His championship rival Michael Schumacher starts 10th after suffering a technical problem. Six Michelin drivers have qualified in the top 10. Raikkonen and Alonso will be joined by Rubens Barrichello, Giancarlo Fisichella, Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica.
Nick Shorrock, Michelin F1 director: "That wasn't one of the easiest sessions we've had this year. Our main rival is clearly very quick over a single lap but from a race perspective we feel very confident about our pace and consistency. Our tyres were not in their ideal operating window in this afternoon's warmer weather, but Kimi Raikkonen did a terrific job and Renault is in a very good situation as it chases another Formula One world title double.
"Between them, our partner teams will be using five Michelin products tomorrow– a blend of five different casings and three different compounds. It has been a long, hard season but I'm sure our tyres will be as effective during the final 71 laps as they have been throughout the campaign."
Martin Whitmarsh, CEO Formula One, Team McLaren Mercedes: "Kimi Raikkonen did an excellent job for the team today and I believe we are set for a very exciting race tomorrow. We worked hard with Michelin to choose appropriate tyres for this race and we're very pleased with the results. We were able to develop strong first-lap pace and the tyres also proved to be very fast and consistent over longer runs. I expect both our cars to be competitive in the race."
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