Virgin Racing – Round 1 – Bahrain Grand Prix - Qualifying

Virgin Racing emerged from their very first qualifying session as the best of the new boys in Bahrain this afternoon. Timo Glock ended the day exactly where he said he wanted to be, as the fastest new team driver of the Q1 session and just 2.7 seconds away from the established teams.

His team-mate Lucas di Grassi also had a solid debut qualifying session, ending Q1 in 22nd position.

After a tough few days of round the clock preparation, today’s result was a much-deserved boost for the race team in Bahrain and the rest of the team back in the UK who have all worked tirelessly to ensure Virgin Racing’s first race gets off to the best possible start tomorrow.

Timo Glock #24
“It’s great to be the best of the new teams here today and I’m very happy with what we have achieved. This is a Team result and a credit to everyone who has worked so hard in really difficult circumstances to get the best out of our first race package. To also be just 2.7 seconds away from teams with many more years of experience is even better. We have a big mountain to climb but we go into our debut race having achieved our first target and I think this will give us the momentum we need to keep on pushing. It just goes to show we are going in the right direction and all we have to do is focus on overcoming the hurdles we were bound to come across along the way. Thanks to everyone at Virgin Racing.”

Lucas di Grassi #25
“First of all I’d like to say a big thanks to the team. They have put in so much effort to make this team and today happen for us. For us to be here with a healthy car is fantastic. For me it was still the very beginning, I only did three laps in the session this morning due to the issues we had. I’m quite happy to have done my first qualifying in F1. I know there are a lot of opportunities for us and plenty of scope for improvement.”

Nick Wirth, Technical Director
“For the first time in a while, Timo managed to complete his full planned programme in Free Practice 3 this morning. We had a problem with one of the wheel guns, which meant the left front and rear wheel nuts were not correctly torqued. Unfortunately Timo lost the front wheel, which thankfully didn’t hit anyone and he managed to get the car round without any further damage. We were pretty confident that the car was capable of a mid to low 1min 58s lap in qualifying, but our early runs and tyre choice was affected by the rubber from the previous race, which changed the track conditions early in the session. Nevertheless, he managed to use the slower prime tyre to secure the top qualifying slot for the new teams, which was our target.

“Lucas did a great job in qualifying today given that we had a sequence of overnight problems on his car which resulted in him losing any meaningful running in – not an ideal way to prepare for your Formula 1 qualifying debut. However, he did a solid and professional job under that extra pressure and we’re so happy to give him his deserved debut as an F1 driver.

“All in all a good day and we hope to carry that momentum through to our first race tomorrow and leave Bahrain with smiles on our faces.”

Sir Richard Branson
“Both the car and the team are in their infancy and like all infants some of our first steps may falter. But unlike other teams when things go wrong we won’t be throwing our toys out of the pram, but we’ll pick ourselves up and get right back into the playground! That’s exactly what the team did here in Bahrain today after the setbacks they experienced over the weekend. Not only did we qualify as the fastest of the new teams, we came so close to the more established teams and on a fraction of their budget. This not only shows the technical brilliance of Nick Wirth and his team but true grit!”

Lotus Racing Bahrain Grand Prix Qualifying Report

Saturday in Bahrain saw Lotus Racing compete for the first time in qualifying with a host of famous faces dropping by and watching the action from the team’s pit and hospitality suite, among them former Lotus stars Emerson Fittipaldi, Mario Andretti and Nigel Mansell. Qualifying itself was much as the team had anticipated, with Jarno Trulli finishing 20^th on 1.59.852 and Heikki Kovalainen 21^st on 2.00.313.

Both drivers gave their thoughts after the session, with Jarno saying: “All in all not too bad considering the amount of running we had this morning. We had some bad luck this weekend but the team has operated very well, in a very professional way, and we just need a bit more time to make the step forward we need in terms of performance. Tomorrow we need to try and finish the race, collect some useful data to find out more about what is right and wrong with the way the car behaves, and make that our main aim – finishing.”

Heikki Kovalainen added “Pretty much what we expected. The car was very reliable, which is good, and the performance was roughly where we knew we’d be. I’m reasonably happy – it probably isn’t the best qualifying lap I’ve ever done, and maybe I didn’t get everything out of it I should have done, but we have a good base to work from tomorrow. In practice yesterday the car felt like it would be good over long runs, and with the good reliability we have had we’ll see what happens tomorrow. The most important thing is to finish the race, and then we’ll see where we are.”

Mike Gascoyne, Lotus Racing Chief Technical Officer commented: “It’s a little bit mixed emotions today – we wanted to be the best of the new teams, and we just missed out on that by a fraction, but as the last of the new teams to have been given an entry, only six months ago, it’s a fantastic effort by the whole team to have finished our first qualifying session. We now look forward to the race and with the strength of our reliability, and two very experienced race drivers, now it’s all about finishing.”

Having arrived yesterday, Team Principal Tony Fernandes was at the track and was very proud to see the incredible efforts of everyone in the team over the last six months finally taking shape, saying “I’m happy, very very happy. It was fantastic to see Lotus back on the grid after a 16 year absence, and with the potential for so many things to have gone wrong, it’s just great to have finished our first qualifying session. Jarno broke the two minute mark and that’s a great achievement in itself.”

Giving his thoughts on the motor racing giants that came by the Lotus Racing garage, he added “It was great to see Emerson, Mario and Nigel today. It shows we have credibility and it’s a great endorsement from these legends that they see what we’re doing and, in whatever way, want to be a part of it. The dream continues and long may it last!”

BMW Sauber – Bahrain GP – Qualifying

Both BMW Sauber F1 Team drivers made it into the second qualifying session, but neither of them moved up into the top ten qualifying. Still struggling with the car on the winding and bumpy new part of the circuit, Pedro de la Rosa qualified 14th for the first race of the season in Bahrain and Kamui Kobayashi qualified 16th.

Weather: Sunny and dry, 31-36°C air, 41-47°C track

Both BMW Sauber F1 Team drivers made it into the second qualifying session, but neither of them moved up into the top ten qualifying. Still struggling with the car on the winding and bumpy new part of the circuit, Pedro de la Rosa qualified 14th for the first race of the season in Bahrain and Kamui Kobayashi qualified 16th.

Pedro de la Rosa:
BMW Sauber C29.03 / Ferrari 056
Qualifying: 14th / 1.56.237 min (in Q2) / 3rd Practice: 13th / 1:56.063 min (14 laps)
“I can’t say I’m satisfied because before we came here we expected to be a bit higher up. But we already knew yesterday this is a bad track for us with the new infield. I have to blame myself for losing a couple of tenths, because I made mistakes on my very last lap when I just pushed too hard because at this time there wasn’t much to lose. So this was not good and it will be a tough race tomorrow for the drivers and teams, especially in terms of tyre management. I’m afraid they will overheat from lap one. Well, despite not being happy with the result, in a way I have to say I still enjoyed my first qualifying after three years.”

Kamui Kobayashi:
BMW Sauber C29.02 / Ferrari 056
Qualifying: 16th / 1.56.270 min (in Q2) / 2nd Practice: 17th / 1:56.530 min (14 laps)
“After winter testing we thought we would be quicker, but we are really struggling with the bumpy new part of the track. Of course the temperatures are much higher here, which is also something new as we now see what the effect is between the car and the tyres. We have to work really hard for improvements. Tomorrow’s race will be hard but I still hope our car will not be hard on the tyres and we can move up a bit. There is always a chance for points.”

Peter Sauber, Team Principal:
“After our promising testing I expected more from the first qualifying of the season. The problems with this track, which we had already seen yesterday, could not be solved for qualifying.”

Willy Rampf, Technical Director:
“Based on the results in winter testing our goal was to get one car into Q3. However, we missed that by a big margin. We will now try to make up positions in the race using the right strategic options which are now allowed by the new rules. Before the next races we have to improve the car significantly.”

HRT F1 Team , “Hispania Racing F1 Team” – Both HRT F1 cars make grade in qualifying debut

Third  Free Practice Session
Karun Chandhok  F110-01 #20
Bruno Senna        F110-02 #21 11 laps – 2.04.001

Qualifying
Bruno Senna 2.03.240 (6 laps)
Karun Chandhok 2.04.904 (7 Laps)

HRT F1 Team (Hispania Racing F1 Team) successfully completed its first laps in qualifying at the Bahrain Grand Prix with six laps for Bruno Senna (2.03.240) and seven for Karun Chandhok (2.04.904).

In the morning during the third first practice session, Bruno Senna had clocked an additional 11 laps to yesterdays 20 as HRT F1 Team  covered its first ever miles with its debut car, compared to its rival teams who had covered over 4,000km of testing in February. Karun Chandhoks car suffered an additional hydraulic system failure and the team chose not to send him out in practice, instead focusing on making sure everything was in order for qualifying, when he successfully covered his first seven laps.

Having never run the car before this weekend, HRT F1 team was pleased to achieve its goal of covering mileage with both cars. The team will again be in action tomorrow for the race and start from the back of the grid as it bids to cover as many miles as possible.

Dr Colin Kolles commented, Our mechanics and engineers worked miracles and were  awake for 38 hours preparing for our first outing. Having never run the car before this weekend we have had the usual new car technical challenges which we would normally have solved during pre-season testing. But we are determined to work through this usual process as quickly as possible, even though it may well be in the public eye. In a way, we are treating this race as a test session and this is a great success for the entire team to even be here with both cars running. On Monday we will go home with lots of important data and valuable information which we will be using for big steps forwards as the season moves on and hope to make consistent improvements. The focus today for the team was to run both cars on track. We are focused on safety, reliability and then performance will come. I would like to thank everyone for their dedication we have taken an historic first step.

Bruno Senna (car nr 21) commented, It was certainly a relief to continue to add laps to this car when others have already completed thousands of miles in testing, we only have 26 laps on board. We have already learned a lot and will continue to do so with every lap we complete. I want to congratulate again my mechanics, engineers and the whole team for their incredible hard work to ensure we are in a position to be racing tomorrow.

Karun Chandhok (car nr 20) commented, , I still cant believe that we will be on the grid tomorrow. It was not looking good in the morning and I was not sure if we would make it to the qualifying session as well. I didnt expect to be driving the car for the first time in qualifying but as I have always said these are the circumstances and we made the best of it. For me it was just a string of installation laps and to finish just a second slower than Bruno is definitely a huge achievement. I think I might be the only driver in the history of F1 to go straight into a qualifying session of a race without even having done a shakedown of the car! Once again I think the team has done a brilliant job so am very grateful to them.

Force India – 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix Qualifying and Final Free Practice Report

Adrian Sutil (car 14, VJM03/03):
FP3: 11th  1:55.521  (13 laps)
Q1: 3rd 1:55.213  (7 laps)
Q2: 8th 1:54.996  (6 laps)
Q3: 10th 1:56.309  (3 laps)

Tonio Liuzzi (car 15, VJM03/01):
FP3: 9th 1:55.432  (11 laps)
Q1: 10th 1:55.628  (7 laps)
Q2: 12th 1:55.653  (6 laps)

The Force India F1 Team will start tomorrow’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix with both cars in the top 12. Tonio Liuzzi will start from 12th position, his best starting slot since the Italian GP 2009, while Adrian Sutil will line up in tenth after entering into Q3. With a view to the race strategy tomorrow, in which drivers starting in the top ten must start the race on the tyres on which they qualified, Adrian made his final run of the last session on the harder tyre compound, the only driver in Q3 to do so.

Adrian Sutil (car 14)
I’m very happy. I think it was a great achievement to go into Q3 at the first race: our best start to the season for a long time. The team should be very proud of it, I am very proud of this, so let’s see how it goes tomorrow. Our goal is now to finish in the points. At the moment I’m in tenth and hopefully we can make one or two positions up as I’m the only car on the hard tyre so it may be an advantage. I’m surprised that the others were on the soft tyres so our decision could pay off tomorrow. We are strong under heavy fuel loads but we were very fast in Q1 and Q2 when everyone was on soft tyres so there are a few more positions we could gain. We worked very hard over the winter and over the last four years and it’s nice to see it giving dividends now.

Tonio Liuzzi (car 15)
I am a bit disappointed as we didn’t know what had happened to the car since free practice. In the morning it seemed to have a pretty good balance and we didn’t change very much but then we went into qualifying and we had a problem with the traction. That was the main reason we couldn’t go through to Q3. Now we have to work on this and understand what happened but we believe in the race that we should be really strong as yesterday we were quick on the longer runs.

Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal
I think the whole team can be very proud of this result; it’s a great start to the season and a mark of how much progress we have made over the winter. Last season we didn’t get through to Q2 in this race and this year we’ve got both cars in the top 12. Of course that’s not a precursor to getting points, which is what really matters, but it does give us a much better chance. Particularly positive is that Adrian is starting the race on the harder tyre, unlike the rest of the top ten, so should be well-placed to capitalise as the softer tyre degrades in the warm conditions. I can’t wait for tomorrow’s race now!

13-Mar-10: Vettel Takes Pole Position in Bahrain

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Today is the 13th March 2010, this is F1 Minute.

Fernando Alonso led the way in free practice 3 this morning, showing some excellent Ferrari pace. He was followed by Rosberg and Webber. Di Grassi had gearbox troubles and didn’t set a time, whilst Chandhok’s car still wasn’t able to leave the garage, meaning he would have to put in his debut lap in F1 during qualifying.

When the three-part session took place, Chandhok did finally make it out on track, and although he was initially 21 seconds off the pace, he closed up considerably and finished last, but only one second off his teammate. All the new teams plus Alguersuari were out in the first session, but it was Glock who led the new team battle, finishing 19th. At the top, Vettel took a storming pole position, with Massa and Alonso lining up behind him. Webber made a mistake on his final flying lap to finish down in 6th. Rosberg was 5th, finishing ahead of Schumacher yet again – the seven times world champion qualified 7th,

That’s all for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.

Mercedes GP – Qualifying in Bahrain

Qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix got underway at 14:00 this afternoon to begin the competitive track action for the nineteen-race 2010 Formula One season.

The MERCEDES GP PETRONAS pairing of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher progressed through the first two sessions of qualifying before taking to the track again for a highly-competitive final session.

Nico and Michael completed just one run in Q3, using the softer compound option tyre, and qualified in fifth and seventh positions respectively for tomorrow’s 49-lap race.

NICO ROSBERG
“To be honest, we were hoping for a bit more today although we were lacking the pace to challenge right at the front so I guess we should not be too disappointed. It was so difficult out there with the tyres overheating. If you made a small mistake and got oversteer, then you lost a lot of grip for the next few corners. It’s going to be very important to look after the tyres tomorrow in the race. Overall it’s a good start for me and with a bit of luck, we should be able to challenge for a podium place tomorrow.”

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER
“I am satisfied with seventh place today having been away from Formula One for such a long time. By coincidence, it’s the same grid position that I had when I started my career at Spa in 1991. It was fun to work with my new team and I appreciate all their efforts to support me as I get back into the swing of things. The boys are really good and I feel that we’ve improved step-by-step over the weekend. I’m looking forward to the race and I expect even more to come.”

ROSS BRAWN
“It was a reasonable qualifying session today although we hoped for more after this morning’s practice. The balance of the car suffered between practice and qualifying, possibly due to the increasing track temperatures, and we lost some pace as a result. Nico drove very well today in all sessions and Michael, taking part in his first qualifying session since 2006, is getting back into the rhythm as he gets more miles in the car.”

NORBERT HAUG
“Not a bad start to the first race weekend for MERCEDES GP PETRONAS in achieving fifth and seventh position in our first qualifying session. I think we looked stronger this morning – and it is our target to be better again during tomorrows race. Nico has done a great job since lap one of the weekend and Michael, who is starting his first Formula One race after three and a half years, is one place ahead of reigning World Champion Jenson Button. The race tomorrow will be extremely tough for the drivers, the cars and their engines and we hope to be well prepared for the battle.”

Renault – 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix Saturday

FREE PRACTICE 3

Robert Kubica, R30-03, P8, 15 laps, 1:55.331

Vitaly Petrov, R30-02, P18, 16 laps, 1:56.811

QUALIFYING

Robert Kubica, R30-03, P9, 1:55.885

Robert: ”The first target for today was to get into Q3, so we can pleased with that part of the qualifying session, but I am actually a bit disappointed to be only ninth on the grid. I did two good laps in Q1 and Q2, but on my lap in the final part of the session I had a big snap oversteer in the hairpin at turn 16 that cost me about four tenths. On the positive side, we have a clearer picture of where we stand now, and it looks pretty positive when you see the cars around us on the grid: the R30 clearly has good potential. It will be a long, tough race tomorrow but our target has to be to move up the field.”

Vitaly Petrov, R30-02, P17, 1:56.619

Vitaly: “For my first ever qualifying session, this is a normal result, but I really enjoyed today. Our first target was to make Q2 so we achieved this, but we were not very lucky in Q2 and could not continue. Tomorrow is race day and it will be very interesting to see how we do – we will certainly try our best.”

Alan Permane, Chief Race Engineer
“Vitaly had a solid qualifying session for his first Grand Prix weekend. He went comfortably through Q1, which was good. In Q2, he went into turn 9 a little bit too quick on his final timed lap, so he will start P17 tomorrow. As for Robert, he had a solid, untroubled Q1 and Q2 and then went comfortably into Q3, which was what we had hoped for. On his Q3 lap he had a bit of oversteer in turn 16, which cost him quite a bit of time. Overall, we are pleased with the performance of the R30 today and we know that the car works well with high fuel loads and has good straight-line speed. We look forward to a strong race tomorrow.”

McLaren – 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix Qualifying

LEWIS HAMILTON, MP4-25A-02, P3 programme, 1m55.860s (+1.761s) 8 laps (12^th)

Qualifying: Q1 1m55.341s (on Primes, 6^th), Q2 1m54.707s (on Options, 6^th), Q3 1m55.217s (on Options, 4^th overall)

“I’m surprised by this afternoon’s result: while we didn’t have the pace of the faster cars, I definitely wasn’t expecting to be fourth quickest.”

“But it’s a good starting point and tomorrow I hope to keep the position or gain at least one more. I don’t think a win is going to be on the cards – but we’ll be giving it the best we can.

We’ve struggled in the middle sector – we’re lacking a bit of downforce – but I know the guys back in the factory will be pushing as hard as they can. And this is a much, much better position to start the season in than the one we found ourselves in last year.

“Managing the tyres tomorrow is going to be very tricky. I don’t think people perhaps understand how tough it is to look after them in these conditions – it’s unbelievable how quickly they drop off. We’ll take the race one step at a time.”

JENSON BUTTON, MP4-25A-03, P3 programme, 1m55.000s (+0.901s) 14 laps (7^th)

Qualifying: Q1 1m55.715s (on Primes, 11^th), Q2 1m55.168s (on Options, 10^th), Q3 1m55.672s (on Options, 8^th overall)

“I really struggled with front locking this afternoon – but we cured that problem throughout the sessions. I was getting happier with the car throughout each stint, but in Q3 something didn’t feel quite right. The engineers are looking at the data to see what it was.

It’s been a surprise to us to see the pace of the quickest cars. Today, we saw which cars are fast over one lap; tomorrow maybe we’ll see a slightly different picture because these cars work very differently on higher fuel-loads. Besides, your strategy isn’t decided on the Saturday any more – we’ll need to see what the others are doing in the race.

“There’ll be a lot of heavy cars going into Turn One tomorrow, but hopefully I’ll pick a nice line and get through cleanly. I’m looking forward to the challenge and it’s going to be a very different one to what everybody has been used to. It’ll be a long race tomorrow.”

MARTIN WHITMARSH

Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

“We had a few issues with grip and ride in qualifying today – especially in the middle sector of the lap over the bumps. That being the case, both our drivers did a fantastic job – and as a result Lewis will start tomorrow’s race from the second row and Jenson from the fourth row. It’ll be a hot and tiring Sunday afternoon for all 24 drivers, but Jenson’s and Lewis’s fitness and determination will benefit them throughout the 49 laps.”

The Back of Beyond

Sebastian Vettel celebrates his pole position in Bahrain, hugging chief mechanic Kenny Handkammer. The Red Bull driver stormed to pole, whilst teammate Webber qualified in 6th, after making a mistake on his final flying lap. Tyre wear was a significant problem in the heat of the desert, but Vettel starts in the best possible position – ahead of Massa and Alonso.

Credit: Getty Images

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