20/06/2009
NEWS STORY
Today's qualifying session saw Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet qualify in 10th and 14th places respectively for tomorrow's British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
Fernando Alonso: "Today we were carrying quite a bit of fuel as we decided it was better to do this than start light and lose track position by having to pit early. I think points could be possible in the race, but we have to hope that the strategy will come to us around the time of the pit-stops. I think the most important factor tomorrow will be managing the tyres because Silverstone is very demanding on them. So we need to look after them, especially the softer compound, on the long stints."
Nelson Piquet: "The car felt good at the start of the session and we had improved it since free practice, but something didn't feel right at the rear of the car at the end of Q2 and so I had to abort the lap. I would have liked to have been a bit higher up, but we needed a couple of extra tenths to make it into Q3. Tomorrow will be a tough race as it's difficult to overtake here, but with a good start and strategy we could challenge for some points."
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering: "The car looked very good this morning on fuel loads similar to those run in third qualifying, but unfortunately this afternoon we haven't met our expectations. Something broke at the back of Nelson's car towards the end of Q2 which we are still investigating."