Planet-F1

Sat: BMW, Red Bull, Toro Rosso

Saturday 19th July 2008

Robert Kubica, together with both Red Bull drivers and Sebastian Vettel qualified in the top ten for the German GP.

BMW
Robert Kubica: The qualifying had some ups and downs. In Q1 one of the Force India cars blocked me on my quick lap. As a result, I only finished the session on position 14 and nearly did not make it to Q2. I was satisfied with Q2 but due to the additional fuel load in Q3 I faced some problems with the balance of the car. Let's hope that good luck returns for tomorrow's race."

Nick Heidfeld: Of course position twelve is disappointing, especially since things were running well up to Q2. On my first run in Q2 I had some trouble in the last sector. It was then that the tyres started graining causing understeering. On my second run I messed it up on my own. I was a little late on the brakes before the hairpin, after the parabolika, the rear wheels locked massively and that was it. Now I will go fight for points in the race, that's the minimum target. As we are out of the top ten we can freely choose the fuel load for the start. We will work on a good strategy. Also overtaking is not impossible in Hockenheim."

Red Bull
Mark Webber: We've got a bit of work to do tomorrow I think. This has been one of the harder circuits for us, in terms of getting the car balance set up correctly. It normally comes together a little easier than it has done this weekend. But, we will defend our position tomorrow, although Q2 showed how tight it now is between the cars."

David Coulthard: I didn't manage to hook it up properly with fuel on board in Q3. I had oversteer on the prime tyres going through Turn one and then understeer on the option, so I ran off the circuit. It was a pretty messy lap and we should have been a little bit higher. However, as the fuel burns off tomorrow, we should pick up the pace."

Toro Rosso
Sebastian Vettel: I had a very good qualifying and the whole weekend so far has been good too, although it's been difficult to find the right balance mainly because of the tricky wind conditions. Q2 was quite tight and I was pleased to make it through to Q3 with my final lap. The fact I know this track so well is helping me a bit, because the characteristics of this circuit are not the most suited to our package. It was nice to see the fans cheering on my out lap and it was only later I realised I was the only German through to Q3. We have a great grid position so now we must see what we can do tomorrow."

Sebastien Bourdais: On my last run, I tried to push harder, knowing I was chasing four tenths of a second to get into Q3 and I wanted to get the most out of the car. Unfortunately, I locked up the right front for no apparent reason. But given where we were yesterday, when I was in the garage for much of the day, only managing twelve laps and not being able to evaluate a qualifying set-up, it's not too bad. Generally, there is quite a bit of overtaking at this race and it can get pretty hot on the opening laps so I hope I can make the most of any opportunities that come my way."