Saturday: HRT is content with having beaten a Marussia
Qualified 22nd and 23rd, the HRTs both lead ahead of Charles Pic's Marussia, which is a reason for satisfaction. The Spanish team hopes that the conditions will be difficult again tomorrow to have a chance to achieve a result otherwise unattainable.
Pedro De La Rosa – 24th and 22nd [21st on the grid]:
« It was probably the toughest qualifying session because you didn’t know what you were going to find. Towards the end of the session [Q1], I was asked on the radio if I wanted to switch to dry tires and I looked up at the sky not knowing what to choose because some parts of the track were dry, and others were wet… so we continued on Intermediates, and the strategy was to push every lap as if it were the last. As for tomorrow’s race, there aren’t many options because it’s a circuit that demands a lot of downforce, whether in dry or wet conditions. We’ve used settings with medium suspension, not too hard, because I doubt it will be a completely wet or dry race, so we need to be flexible. »
Narain Karthikeyan – 23rd and 23rd [22nd on the grid]:
« The qualifications were a big lottery because at certain moments, it was raining heavily on one part of the circuit and not on another. The car was really good in the dry this morning, but the English weather is very unpredictable and it turned things around. We beat a Marussia, which is good, but we always want to do better. These conditions are a gamble, and for us, it’s better to race in wet conditions because anything can happen. You just need to stay calm and seize the opportunities that come your way. »
