(Mercedes AMG F1 Team)
Mercedes AMG F1 Team's Nico Rosberg took pole position for tomorrow's Belgian Grand Prix at the Spa Francorchamps circuit setting a fastest time of 2m 05.591s finishing the session just ahead of team mate Lewis Hamilton by just 0.228s in what was an extremely wet start to the qualifying session. Speaking after taking his fourth pole position in a row Nico Rosberg stated:
'It’s fantastic to start from pole here at Spa. It’s never easy here in these conditions, which make the track even more challenging. But today was very stable with intermediate conditions throughout, so not as tough as in previous years. It was a great qualifying performance today and I have to thank the team for their great work. My engineers helped me to find the right setup with all the opportunities to change something during a session. The car went better and better at the end, so I’m very happy and also a bit surprised that the gap was so big to the other teams. Having said that, I hope to have a good start and a clear race tomorrow because, like we have seen in Budapest, Sunday is the day that counts. But I’m quite confident as we have a fantastic car. I’m looking forward to the race.'
Lewis Hamilton who will start from the front row for the first time since the Canadian Grand Prix commented:
'I was a bit nervous going into qualifying – wondering if everything would come together after the troubles I’ve had during recent weekends. But it’s great to see that all the hard work the team has put in is paying off. This circuit is a big challenge in the wet. It’s probably more fun in the dry, when you’re right on the edge of performance, but the conditions were pretty stable so it wasn’t too bad. This is a circuit where you need confidence on the brakes but unfortunately, on my Q3 run, I had a glazed front left brake which made the car pull to the side. When it does that, it’s really hard to recover and get the temperature into the brake, so it meant I kept losing a bit of braking power on my final laps. I’m not too disappointed, though. Last year I was on pole, then Seb came flying past me down the Kemmel Straight, so I think P2 could be the best place to be. It may just be a blessing in disguise with the grid slot.'
'It’s fantastic to start from pole here at Spa. It’s never easy here in these conditions, which make the track even more challenging. But today was very stable with intermediate conditions throughout, so not as tough as in previous years. It was a great qualifying performance today and I have to thank the team for their great work. My engineers helped me to find the right setup with all the opportunities to change something during a session. The car went better and better at the end, so I’m very happy and also a bit surprised that the gap was so big to the other teams. Having said that, I hope to have a good start and a clear race tomorrow because, like we have seen in Budapest, Sunday is the day that counts. But I’m quite confident as we have a fantastic car. I’m looking forward to the race.'
Lewis Hamilton who will start from the front row for the first time since the Canadian Grand Prix commented:
'I was a bit nervous going into qualifying – wondering if everything would come together after the troubles I’ve had during recent weekends. But it’s great to see that all the hard work the team has put in is paying off. This circuit is a big challenge in the wet. It’s probably more fun in the dry, when you’re right on the edge of performance, but the conditions were pretty stable so it wasn’t too bad. This is a circuit where you need confidence on the brakes but unfortunately, on my Q3 run, I had a glazed front left brake which made the car pull to the side. When it does that, it’s really hard to recover and get the temperature into the brake, so it meant I kept losing a bit of braking power on my final laps. I’m not too disappointed, though. Last year I was on pole, then Seb came flying past me down the Kemmel Straight, so I think P2 could be the best place to be. It may just be a blessing in disguise with the grid slot.'
Mercedes Executive Director (Business) Toto Wolff was very happy with the team performance in qualifying saying:
'Sometimes in these wet conditions, you just hit the sweet spot with both the car set-up and the tyres – and that’s definitely what happened for us today, with a car that was the class of the field on the intermediates. But you then need two fantastic drivers to deliver and it’s very encouraging to see both cars on the front row for the first time since Canada. However, the performance gaps we saw today were not normal and we are taking nothing for granted. Our rivals will be dangerous in the race if it’s dry, and we will be working hard tonight to make sure we find the right strategy for both drivers to fight for the win tomorrow.'
Mercedes Executive Director (Technical) Paddy Lowe commented:
'We never like to see rain ahead of qualifying because it always means lots of stress – and this was our fifth wet qualifying session in 12 races so far this year! But on the other hand the conditions were pretty kind, as it was consistent intermediate tyre weather throughout which saved us any difficult decisions on which tyres to use. We are also pleased to see that the car enjoyed a significant pace advantage in the conditions, which made life easier – and set things up for a fantastic competition for pole between our two drivers, who had a great battle today. The only issue we saw was brake glazing – in particular on Lewis’ car. But overall, we are most happy to have both cars at the front and to have enjoyed a clean qualifying session – which we have not seen for a number of races. Well done to everybody in the team.'
Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel will start the race from third place managing to out-qualify team mate Daniel Ricciardo. The Infiniti Red Bull Racing driver finished the session 2.126s behind Nico Rosberg. Speaking following the session Vettel said:
'Yesterday was a different story to today. Today we did a lot more laps and I think the rain helped us, in dry conditions we couldn’t have qualified so high up. So, it was a good day for us and a good result and we should be a little bit more competitive compared to Mercedes in the race tomorrow, so let’s see.'
'Yesterday was a different story to today. Today we did a lot more laps and I think the rain helped us, in dry conditions we couldn’t have qualified so high up. So, it was a good day for us and a good result and we should be a little bit more competitive compared to Mercedes in the race tomorrow, so let’s see.'
Fernando Alonso did a great job for Ferrari and will start the race from 4th place on grid just ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in the second Red Bull. Following qualifying the Australian commented:
'I had a moment on Blanchimont; that corner is tricky in the wet. It’s never full, it’s always a lift or a dab of the brakes and knowing that the chequered flag was just there at the end of the session, then I just pushed it a bit too much. I guess in hindsight it cost a bit of time, but you never get the perfect lap in these conditions. Spa is unique, as the track is so long and some parts of the circuits are drier than others, so nearly every lap you’re driving blind. It’s great to drive here though.'
Infiniti Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner was happy with Vettel's recovery following a difficult day for the German on Friday. Horner siad:
'A great recovery by Seb after a difficult Friday and very little mileage to get third on the gird and with Daniel, despite running wide on his final flying lap, he managed to qualify fifth in a very low down force configuration in very tricky conditions. So, a tremendous job by both drivers and good grid positions for tomorrow’s race. Hopefully we’ll have a more competitive race car than qualifying car.'
'I had a moment on Blanchimont; that corner is tricky in the wet. It’s never full, it’s always a lift or a dab of the brakes and knowing that the chequered flag was just there at the end of the session, then I just pushed it a bit too much. I guess in hindsight it cost a bit of time, but you never get the perfect lap in these conditions. Spa is unique, as the track is so long and some parts of the circuits are drier than others, so nearly every lap you’re driving blind. It’s great to drive here though.'
Infiniti Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner was happy with Vettel's recovery following a difficult day for the German on Friday. Horner siad:
'A great recovery by Seb after a difficult Friday and very little mileage to get third on the gird and with Daniel, despite running wide on his final flying lap, he managed to qualify fifth in a very low down force configuration in very tricky conditions. So, a tremendous job by both drivers and good grid positions for tomorrow’s race. Hopefully we’ll have a more competitive race car than qualifying car.'
It was a disappointing session for the Williams Martini Racing Team as Valtteri Bottas who topped the time's this morning will start tomorrow's race from 6th place when the team are aiming to overtake Ferrari in the Constructors championship as they are just seven points behind the Italian team.
Kevin Magnussen did a good job for McLaren to out-qualify team mate Jenson Button as the Dane will start the race from 7th on the grid. Kimi Raikkonen's difficult weekend continued as the Finn who suffered a number of issues with his car yesterday will start the race from 8th place on the grid just ahead of Williams Martini Racing's Felipe Massa with Jenson Button rounding out the top ten.
Daniil Kcyat once again showed his pace again Jean Eric Vergne and will start the race just ahead of his team mate in eleventh place while Vergne will start the race in 12th place.
It was a disappointing day for the Sahara Force India Formula One Team as Sergio Perez will start the race from 13th place just ahead of the Sauber F1 Team's Adrian Sutil. Commenting following the session Perez said:
'It was not the easiest day for us. I was struggling in the wet conditions and that was the main issue today. I wanted to be further up but we did not maximise everything. I’m feeling more optimistic for tomorrow and we should have strong race pace. P13 is not a bad place to start the race and I’m sure we can move forward and make up some positions.'
Sahara Force India deputy team principal Robert Fernley believes that the team need to be ready to take advantage of every opportunity that comes there way tomorrow as they aim to extend the gap of McLaren in the Constructors championship:
'It was a wet qualifying session and I think we ended up well short of the positions our pace should have warranted. Conditions were very difficult for everyone and we were unlucky to lose Nico so early. Checo did a good job to reach Q2, but as the track became more and more slippery at the end of the session he was unable to improve his time enough to make it into the top ten. We will have a big job on our hands to get both cars in the points tomorrow, but the indications we have seen yesterday show we have a good race pace. The weather can once again play a big role so we will need to be ready to maximise every opportunity we may get.'
'It was not the easiest day for us. I was struggling in the wet conditions and that was the main issue today. I wanted to be further up but we did not maximise everything. I’m feeling more optimistic for tomorrow and we should have strong race pace. P13 is not a bad place to start the race and I’m sure we can move forward and make up some positions.'
Sahara Force India deputy team principal Robert Fernley believes that the team need to be ready to take advantage of every opportunity that comes there way tomorrow as they aim to extend the gap of McLaren in the Constructors championship:
'It was a wet qualifying session and I think we ended up well short of the positions our pace should have warranted. Conditions were very difficult for everyone and we were unlucky to lose Nico so early. Checo did a good job to reach Q2, but as the track became more and more slippery at the end of the session he was unable to improve his time enough to make it into the top ten. We will have a big job on our hands to get both cars in the points tomorrow, but the indications we have seen yesterday show we have a good race pace. The weather can once again play a big role so we will need to be ready to maximise every opportunity we may get.'
Romain Grosjean will start the Belgian Grand Prix from 15th place with the Frenchman finishing the session just ahead of the Marussia of Jules Bianchi who managed to get his car into the second part of qualifying for the Banbury based outfit. Speaking after Qualifying Grosjean said:
'Spa is a circuit where you have to be quite brave even in the dry, so in the wet it’s pretty good fun! P15 is quite disappointing. We got through to Q2 but then we were one of the slower of the cars in that session. We knew that the Q1 conditions would suit us a bit better than in Q2 due to the amount of rain on track. We look to the race now and as it’s Spa, you never know what can happen. We’re on the grid and we’ll push as hard as we can for the best result possible.'
'Spa is a circuit where you have to be quite brave even in the dry, so in the wet it’s pretty good fun! P15 is quite disappointing. We got through to Q2 but then we were one of the slower of the cars in that session. We knew that the Q1 conditions would suit us a bit better than in Q2 due to the amount of rain on track. We look to the race now and as it’s Spa, you never know what can happen. We’re on the grid and we’ll push as hard as we can for the best result possible.'
Pastor Maldonado will start the race from 17th place on the grid in the second Lotus. Speaking following the session the Venezuelan said:
'It was pretty tough at the beginning of the session, but then the track was improving all the time in Q1. We changed for a second set of intermediate tyres and were pushing hard – even with a bit of a spin on one of my laps - but we couldn’t get the improvement in lap time that we wanted. It’s going to be a tough race tomorrow and we don’t know what the weather will bring so our fingers are crossed; we’ll do our best.'
'It was pretty tough at the beginning of the session, but then the track was improving all the time in Q1. We changed for a second set of intermediate tyres and were pushing hard – even with a bit of a spin on one of my laps - but we couldn’t get the improvement in lap time that we wanted. It’s going to be a tough race tomorrow and we don’t know what the weather will bring so our fingers are crossed; we’ll do our best.'
It was a disappointing session for Nico Hulkenberg in the second Sahara Force India as the German will start the race from 18th place just ahead of Marussia's Max Chilton while Esteban Gutierrez was 20th for the Sauber F1 Team. Speaking following the session Nico Hulkenberg commented:
'It was a difficult session in tricky conditions. Initially it was looking good; I was on the pace and we chose to stay out on one set of intermediates for the whole session. Maybe that was a factor in missing out on Q2 because my tyres were quite old and worn by the end of the session. Q2 should still have been possible, but I made mistakes on my last two laps and out-braked myself going into the final corner, went wide and lost time. For the race tomorrow I believe we can recover because we’ve got a solid car and the long run pace in the dry yesterday looked promising.'
'It was a difficult session in tricky conditions. Initially it was looking good; I was on the pace and we chose to stay out on one set of intermediates for the whole session. Maybe that was a factor in missing out on Q2 because my tyres were quite old and worn by the end of the session. Q2 should still have been possible, but I made mistakes on my last two laps and out-braked myself going into the final corner, went wide and lost time. For the race tomorrow I believe we can recover because we’ve got a solid car and the long run pace in the dry yesterday looked promising.'
It was a great session for the Caterham F1 Team's new driver Andre Lotterer who managed to out-qualify team mate Marcus Ericsson which was a great result for the German who is set to race just one Grand Prix for the Leafield based outfit this season.
© Ben Johnston 2014
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