Saturday: Team Lotus confident for the race

Heikki Kovalainen – 19th and 19th

«For me, that was probably my best qualifying lap of the season. It was close to Hungary, I think I managed to get the most out of the car and each sector, so it’s a good feeling to know you’ve really given it your all for one lap. We worked very hard last night and today to find a good balance that would suit the dry conditions for today and tomorrow, and I think we succeeded, so I’m quite confident for the race. It will be interesting to see how the strategy unfolds with the tires, and if we manage to be on the same pace as in Suzuka, we shouldn’t be too far off.»

Jarno Trulli – 20th and 20th

«I think we were good today, but there was clearly a bit more potential in the car. This morning, I had very good settings and a lot of grip, but this afternoon it wasn’t the same, so I couldn’t extract as much from the car. But I’m still happy with our position – we are well ahead of the cars behind and close enough in race pace to the cars in front, so with a good start tomorrow, we should be well placed. »

Mike Gascoyne – Technical Director

«Today it was a relatively good qualifying session for us. Jarno had grip issues this afternoon, but I think he extracted the maximum from the car, and Heikki put in several good laps in his two stints to finish ahead in the end. Tomorrow’s race will be determined by tire degradation, and in similar situations this year, our race pace has given us a chance to race with the cars ahead of us, so I think we should be able to fight in the race tomorrow and repeat our Suzuka performance.»