09/05/2015
NEWS STORY
Romain Grosjean placed eleventh and Pastor Maldonado twelfth in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix, meaning for the first time this year the team failed to break into the top ten on the grid. Both cars progressed strongly through Q1 and will head the field of those cars with free starting tyre choice for tomorrow's 66 lap race of the 4.7 km Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Romain Grosjean: "We can be happy with where we are following qualifying. After this morning we didn't think that we'd make it into Q2 but we made good progress since FP3. P11 is quite a good position to be in, on a clean side of the grid and we'll have plenty of new tyres for tomorrow's race. Of course I'm a racer and I always want more, which sometimes can cost me a little bit but it's been good to be able to fight this afternoon after a complicated start to the weekend. We are hoping for points tomorrow like we scored at the last two races. There could be some nice overtaking manoeuvres opportunities on Sunday even though it can be tricky here in Barcelona."
Pastor Maldonado: "Qualifying was actually not too bad when you consider where we were yesterday and this morning as we've been working very hard to find some balance with the car. We ran a different strategy for qualifying as we saw that the single lap pace potential wasn't all there, so we've looked to the race and our strategy there to make up positions, especially with an extra set of new tyres relative to our rivals."
How was qualifying for the team?
Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: Obviously it would have been nice to have made the top ten but we didn't quite have the pace to do that. However with P11 and P12 we are well placed to make inroads into the top ten during the race and our race pace and consistency should reward us here.
What are the considerations for tomorrow's race?
AP: From our perspective we are free with our choice for the starting tyres with both cars and we have two sets of new medium compound tyres which should prove to be an advantage in the race. We've seen the weather has been pretty constant this weekend and don't expect any surprises in that regard. Positions will be hard won over the 66 laps, but we're in with a fighting chance of making good progress.
Check out our Saturday gallery, here.