(Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 Team)
Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 Team's Nico Rosberg secured a crucial pole position ahead of tomorrow's Formula One season finale at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as the German finished the session with a time of 1m 40.480s to beat championship leader and main rival Lewis Hamilton by 0.386s.
Speaking following after taking his eleventh pole position of the season Nico Rosberg stated:
'Thanks to the engineers, the setup of my car was very much to my liking at the end. We did an amazing job together. I had two great laps in Q3 – but qualifying is only one step to having a good weekend. I hope that I can continue my form from the last race and win but, as we all know, I need some help to take the title.
It will be tough but these things happen a lot in sport. I will push flat out and keep the pressure high on Lewis to try to force him into a mistake like in Brazil and also hope that the Williams have a chance to be in between us.
I already offered to pay for Valtteri to have a great wellness programme tonight so that he is fully relaxed and will put on a great performance tomorrow… let’s see what happens! I’m highly motivated and very happy about how today went for me. Finally I want to say thank you for all the support I’ve received out there. That’s new to me and a great feeling as I’ve never been in the situation of a Championship fight before.'
Lewis Hamilton stated:
'I didn´t have the best of laps today. Q1 and Q2 were very good and I didn’t make any mistakes in Q3, it just wasn’t a good lap. I really enjoyed it though and the car was fantastic. Tomorrow is when it counts; my approach will be the same as always. I had very good pace throughout practice, particularly on the long runs which gives me confidence for tomorrow. It’s not my style to settle for second place but we’ll need to decide how to play it.'
Mercedes Executive Director (Business) Toto Wolff commented saying:
'This evening, we achieved the first part of our mission this weekend with another front row lockout for the team. Nico did a fantastic job, like we have come to expect from him in qualifying this season. It has been a great run for him to get 11 poles this year and become the ‘pole champion’. Lewis didn’t put the perfect lap together but second place is still very much okay as a starting position for him. He’s totally professional and knows that tomorrow is what counts.
A lot of people have been asking what we will be saying to the drivers before tomorrow’s race and the answer is: nothing, it’s too late. They are in the zone now and we will leave them in peace to prepare for tomorrow evening. I know they will put on a great race for us and all the Formula One fans around the world.'
Mercedes Executive Director (Technical) Paddy Lowe stated:
'What a great final qualifying session of 2014! Congratulations to the team and the drivers on the overall performance this year: it is an incredible achievement to deliver a car that can score 12 front rows and 18 out of 19 pole positions. Looking specifically at this evening, we were very happy to secure the front row after an exciting session. It generally ran trouble-free: Lewis didn’t get the best out of the car on each of his Q3 runs but that shouldn’t take anything away from the amazing laps Nico put together – effectively taking pole twice in the final session. Overall, the stage is perfectly set for a fantastic Championship showdown tomorrow.'
Speaking following after taking his eleventh pole position of the season Nico Rosberg stated:
'Thanks to the engineers, the setup of my car was very much to my liking at the end. We did an amazing job together. I had two great laps in Q3 – but qualifying is only one step to having a good weekend. I hope that I can continue my form from the last race and win but, as we all know, I need some help to take the title.
It will be tough but these things happen a lot in sport. I will push flat out and keep the pressure high on Lewis to try to force him into a mistake like in Brazil and also hope that the Williams have a chance to be in between us.
I already offered to pay for Valtteri to have a great wellness programme tonight so that he is fully relaxed and will put on a great performance tomorrow… let’s see what happens! I’m highly motivated and very happy about how today went for me. Finally I want to say thank you for all the support I’ve received out there. That’s new to me and a great feeling as I’ve never been in the situation of a Championship fight before.'
Lewis Hamilton stated:
'I didn´t have the best of laps today. Q1 and Q2 were very good and I didn’t make any mistakes in Q3, it just wasn’t a good lap. I really enjoyed it though and the car was fantastic. Tomorrow is when it counts; my approach will be the same as always. I had very good pace throughout practice, particularly on the long runs which gives me confidence for tomorrow. It’s not my style to settle for second place but we’ll need to decide how to play it.'
Mercedes Executive Director (Business) Toto Wolff commented saying:
'This evening, we achieved the first part of our mission this weekend with another front row lockout for the team. Nico did a fantastic job, like we have come to expect from him in qualifying this season. It has been a great run for him to get 11 poles this year and become the ‘pole champion’. Lewis didn’t put the perfect lap together but second place is still very much okay as a starting position for him. He’s totally professional and knows that tomorrow is what counts.
A lot of people have been asking what we will be saying to the drivers before tomorrow’s race and the answer is: nothing, it’s too late. They are in the zone now and we will leave them in peace to prepare for tomorrow evening. I know they will put on a great race for us and all the Formula One fans around the world.'
Mercedes Executive Director (Technical) Paddy Lowe stated:
'What a great final qualifying session of 2014! Congratulations to the team and the drivers on the overall performance this year: it is an incredible achievement to deliver a car that can score 12 front rows and 18 out of 19 pole positions. Looking specifically at this evening, we were very happy to secure the front row after an exciting session. It generally ran trouble-free: Lewis didn’t get the best out of the car on each of his Q3 runs but that shouldn’t take anything away from the amazing laps Nico put together – effectively taking pole twice in the final session. Overall, the stage is perfectly set for a fantastic Championship showdown tomorrow.'
It was a fantastic session for the Williams Martini Racing team as Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa finished the session in third and fourth place respectively which bounds well for the race on Sunday where they will hope to extend their lead over Ferrari in the championship. Speaking following the session Valtteri Bottas stated:
'It is important for the team to get third in the championship and we have set ourselves up well to achieve that. I also have a good chance to regain fourth in the Drivers’ Championship and so will be focusing on that as well. That was one of the best laps I have done in qualifying all season, throughout the session I worked the times down and got it all together when it mattered. I will be ready to fight for any opportunity to move forward in the race tomorrow.'
'It is important for the team to get third in the championship and we have set ourselves up well to achieve that. I also have a good chance to regain fourth in the Drivers’ Championship and so will be focusing on that as well. That was one of the best laps I have done in qualifying all season, throughout the session I worked the times down and got it all together when it mattered. I will be ready to fight for any opportunity to move forward in the race tomorrow.'
Felipe Massa commented on his day saying:
'We are starting in the best positions we could tomorrow. I potentially had the pace to be in front of Valtteri but I didn’t put together my final lap after I locked up. The car is showing good performance for tomorrow and another second row lockout is encouraging. The tyre degradation will be vital tomorrow, so this will be important for the strategy. A podium is possible so I will fight hard for that as it would be a great end to the season.'
Williams Martini Racing Team's Head of Performance Engineering Rob Smedley stated:
'The team has done a really good job today; we have qualified where we should have done and got everything right. We have done our homework so we start the race in a good position tomorrow. We are now looking at getting the strategy right and making sure we have all the bases covered to make sure we are prepared for the final race of the season tomorrow. .'
Infiniti Red Bull Racing's Daniel Ricciardo out-qualified reigning world champion and team mate Sebastian Vettel as the Australian finished the session in fifth place while Sebastian Vettel in his final qualifying session for Red Bull will start the race in sixth place.
Speaking following the session, Daniel Ricciardo stated:
'I’m really happy with quali; we knew after FP3 we had a bit of work to do, but we knew when the sun went down the temperature would drop so we stayed optimistic that our set up would work better in the evening and we made some good changes for that. I was the happiest I have been all weekend during quali. We are fairly close to the Williams and not too far off at least one of the Mercs, so not a bad session.'
Speaking following the session, Daniel Ricciardo stated:
'I’m really happy with quali; we knew after FP3 we had a bit of work to do, but we knew when the sun went down the temperature would drop so we stayed optimistic that our set up would work better in the evening and we made some good changes for that. I was the happiest I have been all weekend during quali. We are fairly close to the Williams and not too far off at least one of the Mercs, so not a bad session.'
Following his final qualifying session for Infiniti Red Bull Racing, Sebastian Vettel stated:
'I’m not too happy with that. Practice went well, but then I realised immediately in qualifying that we wouldn’t really get the grip out of the super soft tyre which we were able to do this morning and yesterday. We tried to change the car between sessions.
When we went out on the used tyres in Q3 it looked as though we had found something, but it wasn’t to be. I’m not entirely happy as I would have loved, in my last qualifying for the team, to show a little bit more. I’m sure tomorrow will be an emotional day, it was already quite emotional getting into the car today.'
Infiniti Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner commented by saying:
'It was a very close qualifying, with the teams lining up in the end two by two. Daniel got pretty close to the Williams, but at this circuit one lap pace was never going to be our strength but he and Sebastian are on the third row for tomorrow’s race and hopefully we can move forwards from there. A great job by Daniil Kvyat as well, to have three Red Bull cars fifth, sixth and seventh.'
Damiil Kvyat will start the race from seventh place for the Toro Rosso team just ahead of McLaren Meredes Jenson Button.
Kimi Raikkonen out-qualified Ferrari team mate Fernando Alonso as the Finn will start the race from ninth place with Alonso starting the race from 10th place.
Kevin Magnussen was left disappointed to be out-qualified by McLaren team mate Jenson Button as the Dane will start the race from eleventh place on the grid just ahead of Toro Rosso's Jean Eric Vergne.
The Sahara Force India F1 Team duo of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg will start Sunday's race from 13th and 14th place respectively. Speaking following the session Sergio Perez stated:
'Today wasn't an especially difficult day, but we simply didn't have the pace to extract a better position from qualifying. We expected this, which is why our set-up is more geared towards the race. The way the tyres are behaving here is quite different from the past in Abu Dhabi so we had to amend our set-up accordingly: we hope this will give us some advantage tomorrow.
In any case, the strategy choices are quite limited on this track so I don't expect any adventurous choices from anyone on the grid. We have made some big changes compared to yesterday; hopefully they will pay off when it matters and we can close our season with another points finish.'
Nico Hulkenberg commented on his day saying:
'Going into qualifying we knew we that our pace over one lap was not the best and that it would be difficult to make the top ten. With the set-up we chose it has been quite tricky to find a good harmony over one lap on this track.
The good news is that our race pace looks stronger and I hope we can perform better tomorrow. Also, there are double points on offer, so everything counts twice. It’s also the last race of the year so we should try and take some chances to finish the year in a good way.'
'Today wasn't an especially difficult day, but we simply didn't have the pace to extract a better position from qualifying. We expected this, which is why our set-up is more geared towards the race. The way the tyres are behaving here is quite different from the past in Abu Dhabi so we had to amend our set-up accordingly: we hope this will give us some advantage tomorrow.
In any case, the strategy choices are quite limited on this track so I don't expect any adventurous choices from anyone on the grid. We have made some big changes compared to yesterday; hopefully they will pay off when it matters and we can close our season with another points finish.'
Nico Hulkenberg commented on his day saying:
'Going into qualifying we knew we that our pace over one lap was not the best and that it would be difficult to make the top ten. With the set-up we chose it has been quite tricky to find a good harmony over one lap on this track.
The good news is that our race pace looks stronger and I hope we can perform better tomorrow. Also, there are double points on offer, so everything counts twice. It’s also the last race of the year so we should try and take some chances to finish the year in a good way.'
Sahara Force India team principal Dr Vijay Mallya stated:
'We enter the final race of the season with nothing to lose and an outside chance of claiming fifth place – so we will need to give it our all tomorrow. Our one lap pace today was not that strong, but we are hopeful of a more competitive showing in the race.
Unfortunately this is one of those circuits that always proves difficult for overtaking so our best chance is to try and do something with the strategy to bring our cars into play. Whatever happens tomorrow we look forward to a spectacular finale to the season and I look forward to the championship showdown between Lewis and Nico.
The Sauber F1 Team's Adrian Sutil made it into Q2 and will start the race from 15th place on the grid. Speaking after qualifying the German said:
'That was a solid qualifying. We continuously made progress during the whole weekend, although it was not easy as I missed the first free practice session, and, therefore, did not run many laps on this circuit. Session by session the feeling in the car got better after testing different set-ups.
The car had a good balance during the first qualifying session, so my crucial lap went well. After that the track temperatures went down and the driveability of the car was different in Q2. It was difficult to have the ideal conditions. In general I am satisfied with qualifying. The team did a good job, and we hope for a positive race tomorrow.'
'That was a solid qualifying. We continuously made progress during the whole weekend, although it was not easy as I missed the first free practice session, and, therefore, did not run many laps on this circuit. Session by session the feeling in the car got better after testing different set-ups.
The car had a good balance during the first qualifying session, so my crucial lap went well. After that the track temperatures went down and the driveability of the car was different in Q2. It was difficult to have the ideal conditions. In general I am satisfied with qualifying. The team did a good job, and we hope for a positive race tomorrow.'
It was a disappointing session for Romain Grosjean as the Frenchman has been handed a 20 place grid penalty and will likely start the race from the pit-lane despite qualifying for the race in 16th place.
Esteban Gutierrez will start the race from 16th place in the second Sauber C33 as the Swiss based outfit face the possibility not scoring a point in Formula One in their history. Speaking following the session Gutierrez stated:
'It was pretty tight. I tried my best to get the maximum out of the car. My last lap was a good one, but I missed half a tenth that would let me reach Q2. It is not very satisfying, but at the same time we need to focus on tomorrow’s race and try to get the best out of it.'
Sauber F1 Team principal Monisha Keltenborn stated:
'Even before the event it was clear that this race weekend would not be an easy one for us. This track clearly shows the deficiencies of our overall package. However, this doesn’t mean that we are giving up for the race. Some of our competitors are within reach, so our goal must be to deliver the best possible result.'
The Swiss based outfits Head of Track Engineering Giampaolo Dall'Ara commented saying:
'Technically it was a trouble free day. However, on the performance side we were expecting to have a tough weekend. In the end nothing went really wrong in qualifying, but we just got the result we could expect on a track like this. The race will not be easy, but we will do everything to get the maximum out of the car.'
'It was pretty tight. I tried my best to get the maximum out of the car. My last lap was a good one, but I missed half a tenth that would let me reach Q2. It is not very satisfying, but at the same time we need to focus on tomorrow’s race and try to get the best out of it.'
Sauber F1 Team principal Monisha Keltenborn stated:
'Even before the event it was clear that this race weekend would not be an easy one for us. This track clearly shows the deficiencies of our overall package. However, this doesn’t mean that we are giving up for the race. Some of our competitors are within reach, so our goal must be to deliver the best possible result.'
The Swiss based outfits Head of Track Engineering Giampaolo Dall'Ara commented saying:
'Technically it was a trouble free day. However, on the performance side we were expecting to have a tough weekend. In the end nothing went really wrong in qualifying, but we just got the result we could expect on a track like this. The race will not be easy, but we will do everything to get the maximum out of the car.'
The Lotus F1 Team's Pastor Maldonado will start the race from 17th place on grid. Kamui Kobayashi will start the race from 18th place while Will Stevens will start the race from 18th place on his debut for the Caterham F1 Team. Speaking following the session Maldonado stated:
'It was difficult to get temperature into the front tyres which meant they started locking up easily on braking, which obviously penalises you for lap time. We didn’t expected to be very competitive this weekend as Yas Marina is a very particular track with slow speed corners and long straights, neither of which favours our car. We did the best we could but in the end it wasn’t enough.
Nonetheless, we hope to be more competitive tomorrow as we should be better than our rivals in terms of tyre degradation. A good strategy will be key, as it is a long race and we should recover a decent amount of places.'
'It was difficult to get temperature into the front tyres which meant they started locking up easily on braking, which obviously penalises you for lap time. We didn’t expected to be very competitive this weekend as Yas Marina is a very particular track with slow speed corners and long straights, neither of which favours our car. We did the best we could but in the end it wasn’t enough.
Nonetheless, we hope to be more competitive tomorrow as we should be better than our rivals in terms of tyre degradation. A good strategy will be key, as it is a long race and we should recover a decent amount of places.'
Should Grosjean not start the race from the pit-lane he will start the race from 20th place and will have race penalty to make up for 20 place grid penalty. Speaking following the session Grosjean stated:
'It’s not going to be an easy race with starting from the back and having a drive-through penalty, but that’s what we started with at the beginning of the year in Melbourne so there’s some kind of cruel symmetry there! We will try our best in the race; you never know what can happen. It’s a long Grand Prix and you never know how the season finale can play out. Let’s hope we achieve the best result possible'.
'It’s not going to be an easy race with starting from the back and having a drive-through penalty, but that’s what we started with at the beginning of the year in Melbourne so there’s some kind of cruel symmetry there! We will try our best in the race; you never know what can happen. It’s a long Grand Prix and you never know how the season finale can play out. Let’s hope we achieve the best result possible'.
© Ben Johnston 2014
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