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2007 French GP
Team Quotes - Saturday 30 June
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton will start tomorrow’s French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours from second on the grid. Fernando Alonso pitted after his first lap in the final part of qualifying with a gearbox problem resulting in the Spaniard having to start from 10th position. In Saturday’s qualifying, Lewis set a time of 1m15.104 and missed his third pole position in a row by only seven hundredths of a second.
Ron Dennis: So far this year we have not suffered from any major technical problems during race weekends and it’s disappointing that the first one ruined Fernando’s qualifying session today. He had the speed to qualify on the front row. However with a good strategy he should be able to make up some positions in tomorrow’s race, and with the suspected rain adding some unpredictability we may be able to turn this to our advantage. Lewis had a trouble-free qualifying, and his front row position should give him every opportunity for a strong podium finish.
Norbert Haug: We have had the best possible level of reliability throughout the season so far, but today Fernando had to stop with a gearbox problem. Sorry for Fernando, everybody in the team will give it everything to fix today’s problem. With his speed, Fernando will still have a chance for a good result tomorrow. Lewis again showed a great and consistent performance, and he will line up on the front row of the grid for the fourth consecutive time which is a great achievement.
The ING Renault F1 Team scored its best qualifying result of the 2007 season so far this afternoon at Magny-Cours. In warm, sunny conditions, the team scored an all-Renault third row, with Giancarlo Fisichella ahead of team-mate Heikki Kovalainen. The result confirmed the team's confidence following yesterday's practice sessions, and the tightly-matched performances of the two drivers were an additional source of satisfaction. With the team's direct championship rivals BMW sandwiching the two R27s, tomorrow's race promises to be an intense, direct battle between the two teams.
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering: Once again, our qualifying result reflects the steady progress that the team is making. There is still some way to the front of the field, but at the moment, it's all positive news for us. Giancarlo had a generally good session, although some brake locking disturbed his runs. Unfortunately, Heikki had to contend with a more severe power steering problem, which certainly cost him some time. In spite of all that, though, this was our best qualifying result of the season and I am sure our strategies are sensible. We are hoping for a dry race tomorrow, and a straight fight out on track.
Denis Chevrier, Head of Engine Track Operations: Our best qualifying result of the season, in the right place. Not particularly because this is our home Grand Prix, but because it's race number eight, and the steady improvement in performance follows on logically from race seven in Indianapolis, where we also got both cars into the top ten in qualifying. We are clearly still a step behind the top two teams, but the car is now quick enough to fight for the leading positions behind them – and small strategic details can make a big difference. The R27 has been easy to drive throughout the weekend, and the drivers' performances very equal. The top speeds are good, and both engines are performing well. It's a promising starting point for the tomorrow's race.
Fifth pole for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro from eight qualifying sessions run so far this season, set for the fourth time by Felipe Massa. This is the sixteenth time that a Ferrari driver will start the French Grand Prix from pole position, the 191st in the history of the Prancing Horse in Formula 1. For Felipe it was his seventh career pole.
Jean Todt: This was a very close qualifying session, which ended with our two cars securing first and third places, with Felipe and Kimi respectively. Our cars have shown themselves to be competitive right from the start of this Magny-Cours weekend and this was confirmed for the first time today. However, we are well aware that while this year, the qualifying result seems to be even more important than usual in determining the final result, today's achievement is only the first step. The longer and more important one comes tomorrow afternoon. It will be a closely contested race, given how well matched are the teams. As usual in the race, the key factors will be strategy, reliability, as well as the work of the team and the drivers.
Luca Baldisserri: It was a very exciting hour of qualifying, with a fine duel between ourselves and our main rivals. We are back to having a car on pole position after a period in which we experienced some difficulties in this part of the Grand Prix weekend. It is the result of all the work done these past weeks, both in the factory in developing the cars and on the track in testing. We know however that the race is the most important part of the weekend. The two F2007 are well balanced and everything is in place for us to do well. It is an important race because we have to reverse the trend in both classifications if we want to keep our hopes alive.
The Honda Racing F1 Team's Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello will line up for tomorrow's French Grand Prix from the sixth and seventh rows of the grid after taking 12th and 13th positions in this afternoon's qualifying session.
Jenson and Rubens made it through the first of the two knock-out rounds, but in a close-fought Q2, with the top 13 positions covered by less than a second, they narrowly missed out on a place in Q3, despite Jenson being just 0.2 sec shy of P10.
Jacky Eeckelaert, Engineering Director: Today's qualifying was very close, as is typical here in Magny-Cours and we missed out on a place in the top ten by only two tenths of a second. The latest developments brought the car closer to our direct competitors, so we are pleased to see that our progress at the test last week has translated well to the race track. Our race pace on high fuel loads is now more consistent which is promising for the race tomorrow.
The BMW Sauber F1 Team had a trouble free Saturday at the French Grand Prix and were rewarded by Robert Kubica qualifying fourth and Nick Heidfeld seventh. This was Robert's best qualifying result in Formula One.
Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director): On his return Robert had a great qualifying. Fourth on the grid gives him a very good starting point for the race. Nick also made it to the final qualifying session, but his final fast lap wasn't perfect. Even more important than his grid position is the fact Nick didn't have any back pain. Seventh means he is starting from the clean side of the grid, so this is also a good starting point for him. We didn't have any technical problems during the entire qualifying.
Willy Rampf (Technical Director): In the eighth qualifying session of the season we made it in the top ten with both cars for the eighth time – so we are very satisfied with the result. We had a trouble free qualifying, and it demonstrated that we improved the set-up of the cars after Friday's free practices. Robert is back as strong as ever and has a good starting position for the race. Unfortunately Nick didn't manage a perfect lap, but he has good chances as well.
Panasonic Toyota Racing enjoyed an encouraging qualifying for the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours this afternoon with both Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli qualifying in the top half of the grid. In Q1, both drivers bided their time before hitting the track with Jarno leaving the pits with 12 minutes remaining followed by Ralf two minutes later. In perfect conditions, with track temperature at 43°C after a chilly start to the weekend yesterday, both Toyotas progressed to the next session, with Ralf setting an impressive seventh fastest time. In Q2 as the time ticked away, positions changed rapidly but Jarno progressed to the top-10 shoot-out. However, Ralf, on his 32nd birthday, was unlucky to miss out in the last seconds by a tiny margin and he will start 11th. Jarno kept up his good work in Q3 and his last flying lap was enough to claim eighth place and the team now expects to score more points in tomorrow's race.
Pascal Vasselon – Senior General Manager Chassis: That was quite a good session for us. The first thing you have to say about today's qualifying was just how close the times were – only a tenth of a second or so difference could put you towards the front of the grid or quite a bit further down. You could also see a clear difference between the two tyres, with the soft tyre performing better today, although that is of course not necessarily going to be the case tomorrow. Both our drivers did a good job. Ralf performed well, particularly setting the seventh fastest time in Q1, but despite another good lap in Q2 he was unlucky to miss out by a narrow margin. Jarno again qualified well, despite a bit of an issue in Q1 when he thought the red flags were out and backed off, causing him to drop to 15th. But he had clean laps in the next two sessions, setting good times, and his final position is encouraging. Starting from eighth and 11th we are optimistic and our target is to get both cars into the points tomorrow.
Christian Horner: Unfortunately, it was a very disappointing qualifying session for both drivers. David's looked competitive all weekend and it was unfortunate for him to have a suspected oil pressure related issue. For Mark, it didn't come together for him today, we need to work hard tonight and make sure we have a competitive race tomorrow.
Fabrice Lom, Renault Principal Engineer, Track Support: We are slightly disappointed today after qualifying. We have made it into Q3 in the last few races but we endured a more difficult session this afternoon. David had a mechanical problem that prevented him from entering into Q3 and Mark unfortunately was not able to make it either. We need to remain positive for tomorrow, it's the French Grand Prix, we will be racing in front of lots of our Viry colleagues, and we are determined to do a strong race ... but it will be difficult.
Qualifying for the French Grand Prix delivered another split result for the team as Nico Rosberg enjoyed a competitive afternoon while team mate, Alex Wurz, was left frustrated. A confident performance enabled Nico to cruise into Q3 and secure 9th position on the starting grid for tomorrow's race, despite an electronics problem. Meanwhile, another hotly contested session meant Alex narrowly missed out on round two by the smallest of margins and will start from P18.
Sam Michael, Technical Director: Disappointing session for Alex not to get through from Q1. It looked like he had the speed but he didn't manage to hook up the sectors. Nico was going well and should have been good for a higher grid position. Unfortunately, he had a problem with the electronics on his timed lap going into turn 15 and lost a lot of time. We'll look into that now and find out what the problem was.
Giorgio Ascanelli: The cars ran okay today and were well balanced but with twelve cars within three tenths of a second, it does not take much to make the difference between the top of that group and the bottom of it. However, maybe there are signs of some progress since North America.
Spyker's fortunes were little improved in the second day of the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours, with Christijan Albers and Adrian Sutil qualifying in 21st and 22nd positions respectively.
In much sunnier weather conditions than yesterday, Christijan completed two runs on the Bridgestone Potenza soft tyre, recording a 1:17.826 lap on his first run of the session. Adrian had completed one run, but on starting his second, his F8-VII developed a clutch problem that saw him eventually pull off the track. Unable to improve his time, Adrian will start tomorrow's race from the final spot on the grid.
Mike Gascoyne, chief technical officer: A fairly disappointing Qualifying session, with neither driver able to improve on the second run. Adrian stopped with a clutch problem, but in a session that looked to be faster than the morning's, we weren't able to match these times in the afternoon. Although it certainly would not have changed our Qualifying position, it is frustrating not to be able to improve. With rain forecast for tomorrow though, the order could be mixed up so we now have to look to get the strategy right and put on a much better showing.
Sunshine and warmer temperatures welcomed the Formula One teams as they arrived at the Circuit de Magny-Cours this morning. Following an issue-free third practice session, Super Aguri drivers Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson both fell victim to the track's narrow pitlane and subsequent traffic accumulation at the end of Q1 and will start tomorrow's 2007 French Grand Prix in 19th and 20th positions respectively.
Graham Taylor, Sporting Director: Tough day. We knew that the closeness of the pack and the layout of this circuit would not do us many favours and it didn't. It was tight all of the way through; a couple of tenths here and there and we would have got through to Q2, but that would have been fortuitous I think. It was a shame for Anthony to miss out on his second run by just one second. Everyone came out of the pitlane together and he just couldn't get his nose in which meant that he got shuffled down to the back of the pack. It's going to be a tough day tomorrow.
Ferrari's Felipe Massa scored his fourth pole position of the season by maximising the performance of Bridgestone's soft compound Potenza at a tricky Magny Cours circuit this afternoon.
Both the soft and medium compound Bridgestone Potenzas offered strong performance at the venue for tomorrow's Grand Prix de France with the soft offering a faster lap time but the medium a more consistent lap time meaning better suitability for the longer runs of tomorrow's 70 lap race.
Track temperatures were hotter than yesterday and the lap times continued to fall with Lewis Hamilton setting the day's fastest lap, his 1min 14.795secs half a second faster than yesterday's 2006 pole beating time.
Hamilton was fastest in all but the final qualifying session and will start on the front row alongside Massa, meaning an interesting first turn of the race is likely. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) will start from third with Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) showing no slowing of his pace from his Montreal accident by qualifying in fourth place.
Fernando Alonso (McLaren Mercedes) will start from tenth place after a technical problem in qualifying. This leaves the reigning world champion with a long evening ahead to work with his engineers to maximise the opportunities presented by both Potenza compounds and pit stop strategy to work his way through the field tomorrow.
Kees van de Grint, Bridgestone Motorsport Head of Track Engineering Operations: Today the excitement was in the battle for pole and all drivers qualifying times were set on the soft compound Bridgestone Potenza. Tyre performance was similar to Friday with the medium offering excellent consistency and the soft offering a higher grip and faster initial lap time. The choice for tyre strategy for the front runners should not be too difficult, but for drivers who have not qualified near their usual position different strategies could come into play. If the weather forecast of wet weather become reality strategy will become very interesting, especially as we have no data of this new surface in the wet.
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