03/08/2007
NEWS STORY
Timo Glock (iSport International) Pole - We had a pretty difficult time in free practice this morning when we weren't 100% comfortable with the car, especially with Giorgio's time we thought it would be pretty difficult in qualifying, but we made the right change in set up and the car was just perfect. I couldn't quite get it together, and I made a mistake with the first set on the last corner, or else we would already be on a 27.5 with the first set, and then on the second set I had the problem of Andy Soucek slowing down the car in the last sector so I couldn't get the temperature in the tyres, especially the fronts, so the first sector was not perfect: the following lap was a bit quicker but I had to stop it because of yellow flags. But at the end it was OK and we got the pole, and the 2 points, so I'm happy with it.
Andi Zuber (iSport International) 2nd - It's a pity because I had a little gearbox problem the whole of qualifying, and it cost me just a little bit of concentration and I made some little mistakes, but in total it's a great result for us, the first two again, and tomorrow we fight for the race.
Lucas di Grassi (ART Grand Prix) 3rd - The team did a very good job, and I'm happy again to be top three. It's very, very difficult not to have some trouble in Hungary because somebody is slowing down, going off the track or doing something in front of you. I think being in the top three is a very good place to be, and depending on the weather we should be able to fight for the win: that's what I'm here for.
Pastor Maldonado (Trident Racing) 5th - Today's result actually has two faces. After the first practice I thought I could really have a shot to front row, and finding myself in 5th place wasn't really what I hoped for. On the other hand, this is a good starting point for this weekend's two races, that I hope to end with two podium finishes. Today's best news came from the car's performance, that proved to be fantastic also on a tough track like the Hungaroring. The teamwork was almost perfect, and this fact surely helps me in finding a good feeling. I'm very upbeat looking at tomorrow; a good start and an aggressive strategy will be the key for a great result.
Adam Carroll (FMS International) 6th - Well, obviously the end result wasn't half bad! Sixth is at the strong end of the grid so we can have a race from there. Hopefully we can have a good race and get some points in the bag. It was a very frustrating session because of traffic. Traffic is always hard round here, but today it was ridiculous - I had traffic on every single lap, except the very last one. I'd already done six laps on the tyres before I put that time in, so to get a
sixth place is good.
Luca Filippi (Super Nova International) 7th - I think our biggest problem was traffic & the yellow flags at the end of the session. I think our potential was better than what we've done before but just wasn't able to get a clear lap. However I am confident for tomorrows race, we have a very good system set up.
Kazuki Nakajima (DAMS) 8th - The practice session of this morning was very good but I can't confirm my position during qualifying session. The track was better but I couldn't take advantage of that!
Nicolas Lapierre (DAMS) 9th - This qualifying session is really disappointing for me. We have improved the time of the practice session of this morning and I know that I could have obtained a better result. Unfortunately, I never found a clear lap.
Javier Villa (Trident Racing) 12th - Qualifying went better than the other times this season, we are closer and closer to the top positions even on a track as difficult as this one to keep up a good pace throughout the lap. Furthermore, the track is very bumpy so we are working on slightly modifying the setup to have a more stable car for the race.
Mike Conway (Super Nova International) 18th - We struggled with the car in practice, and then I missed the flag, past it twice and got a penalty for tomorrows race, so we're starting towards the back. The set up in qualifying for the first lot of tyres was the same as practice, so we made a few small changes for the second set. It was better, but I still couldn't put in a lap, for the yellow flags. However even though we lost time, we did go quicker, and although it's difficult to overtake here, I'm sure we can get something tomorrow.
Kohei Hirate (Trident Racing) 20th - I really can't be satisfied with the final position after qualifying, especially after the great weekend we had at the Nurburgring. In practice I had some trouble in finding a good way through the last part of the racetrack, and I tried to improve. Unfortunately I committed many mistakes in qualifying, culminated with an off-track in the final stages. I'm disappointed with my effort today, but I feel I'm not done yet. I'll have to focus, together with the team, on a very aggressive strategy, in order to make up positions for Sunday's Race 2.
Jason Tahinci (FMS International) 23rd - Qualifying could have been a lot better but unfortunately I didn't manage to get my sectors together. We are still struggling with the car in general and have been struggling with one problem in particular since Nurburgring, which is a problem we need to fix as soon as possible. The car is not easy to drive right now and the circuit is not easy to drive on, but the race is long so hopefully we can put together a good strategy and improve things to have a good race tomorrow.
Bruno Senna (Arden International) 24th - I've never been to this circuit, but that is not an excuse for the qualifying. I really, really don't know what to say and we are scratching our heads here. I can't see how to make up 2.7 seconds. I've looked at my corners and it's really baffling. Maybe we are struggling a bit with the bumps, like we did in Monaco, it's something we need to look at on the data. The worst thing is that the car actually feels okay. I have a little bit of oversteer, a little bit of understeer but it's not a lot, and I don't have a lack of grip or anything. That's all I can say.
To check out our Hungaroring qualifying gallery, click here