Germany: The Qualifications Seen from the Stands

Ferrari

Fernando Alonso – Pole position

Felipe Massa – 13th [on the grid]

Stefano Domenicali, Team Director: Once again, Fernando demonstrated all his talent: those were some qualifying laps from him! Here, as at Silverstone, the rain played its role, and it wasn’t easy to keep up with the changing track conditions. We are very disappointed for Felipe, who found no grip in what turned out to be the only lap, the first in Q2, where he could have set a time to advance to the next session: it’s a shame because he could have been competitive in Q3, as he was two weeks ago. It’s difficult to make predictions for tomorrow because there are a number of uncertainties regarding the tire behavior over a long run. We will try to make the most of our potential, knowing that our opponents are very strong. Reliability is, as always, the priority, which we never forget…

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Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel – 2nd

**Mark Webber** – 8th [**after penalty**](https://example.com/f1/actualite/13664-F1-5-places-de-penalite-pour-Mark-Webber-a-Hockenheim.html)

Christian Horner, Team Principal: We faced really difficult conditions today and being second and third is a very positive result, even though Mark received a 5-place grid penalty, putting him in 8th position. Nevertheless, for Sebastian to start from the front row for his home Grand Prix and for Mark to be 8th on a track where overtaking is possible, it promises an exciting race.

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Mercedes

Michael Schumacher – 3rd [on the grid]

Nico Rosberg – 21st [after penalty]

Ross Brawn, Team Principal: It was a qualifying session full of twists and turns today, but the positive thing is that our car was fast in dry conditions, on a half-wet track, and in the rain. Nico was the second fastest on Mediums in Q1, but then with the rain, he struggled to get his intermediate tires up to temperature properly. In these conditions, as soon as you lose temperature you can’t come back, so he missed the right window. Michael did an excellent job between Q2 and Q3; he was the 4th fastest and will start 3rd and could potentially have been a bit better placed. But we can be satisfied with a spot on the second row given the tricky conditions encountered.

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Force India

Nico Hülkenberg – 4th [on the grid]

Paul di Resta – 9th

Dr Vijay Mallya, Team Principal: « I think we had the trickiest conditions today and we can be satisfied having both our cars in the top 10. Nico will start on the second row given that Mark Webber will receive a 5-place penalty (for gearbox change) and this puts us in a good position to race at the front. Paul also showed his skills on a wet track and he will be competitive tomorrow. We have demonstrated, once again, that we have a competitive car in any conditions and with dry weather forecasted for tomorrow, I think we will have an exciting race. »

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Williams

Pastor Maldonado – 5th [on the grid]

Bruno Senna – 14th [on the grid]

Mark Gillan – Chief Engineer: « Our two drivers had a solid Free Practice 3 session this morning, but qualifying was dominated by changing conditions with Q1 dry, Q2 starting on intermediates and finishing on wet tyres, and Q3 also run on extreme wets. Pastor was consistent in each session, struggling a bit with the car’s balance in the rain but ultimately finishing in a solid 6th place (5th on the grid after Webber’s penalty, ed.). Bruno got through to Q2 easily but found the car more challenging to drive on intermediates as well as wets, finishing 16th (14th after penalties for Grosjean and Pérez, ed.). The forecast predicts a dry race, and we will work hard to get both cars into the points. »

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McLaren

Jenson Button – 6th [on the grid]

Lewis Hamilton – 7th [on the grid]

Martin Whitmarsh, Team Director:

The bad news is that we weren’t fast enough in the rain during Q3; but the good news is that our car’s pace on the dry seems to be very good. The weather should be dry tomorrow, it’s going to be a long race and we have two very good drivers, so I expect to achieve a good result. Jenson and Lewis struggled in the rain, while they were very fast on the dry. Naturally, I would have preferred to see them start higher on the grid, but as we’ve often seen this year, you can win starting from even further back. Fortunately, with our car appearing more competitive on the dry, I am confident that our two drivers can do well tomorrow.

From a broader perspective, I am sure that the rapid change in weather conditions between parts of the qualification proved to be a thrilling moment for everyone following the session. To its great benefit, Formula 1 is a sport that competes in all conditions, and all the drivers displayed true gladiatorial courage on the track today. It’s clearly not a sport for the faint of heart!

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Lotus

Kimi Räikkönen – 10th

Romain Grosjean – 19th [after penalty]

Alan Permane, Director of Track Operations: Qualifications were frustrating. In the dry, we seemed to have one of the fastest cars, but as soon as it rained, we struggled with both. Obviously, we will look into why we couldn’t be on pace at crucial times today.

The forecasts indicate a dry race, and we are confident in our pace in these conditions, especially over the race distance. Kimi can still have a good race from 10th place on the grid, and we are reviewing his strategic options. Romain has more work to do from 20th position, but it’s a circuit where overtaking is relatively easy with DRS, so we can still achieve a good result.

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Toro Rosso

Daniel Ricciardo – 11th

Jean-Eric Vergne – 15th [on the grid]

Laurent Mekies, Chief Engineer: It was a very entertaining qualifying session and a great show for everyone. In these conditions, it is always very tight and Jean-Eric missed Q2 by only 0.06s and then we missed Q3 by 0.06s with Daniel. So it was a mixed afternoon because that 11th place is a good result for Daniel, but at the same time, it’s a shame that JEV missed the chance to run on the wet in Q2. Tomorrow, the race should take place on dry ground and it will be interesting to see the fight in the pack, as we have one car in front of this group and one behind. This weekend seems like a perfect copy of Silverstone, with a rainy Friday, a dry Saturday morning followed by a rainy qualifying, and then a race that should unfold on the dry. We are going to do our best and points must be our target, at least with Daniel.

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Sauber

Sergio Pérez – 17th [after penalty]

Kamui Kobayashi – 12th [on the grid]

Giampaolo Dall’Ara, Head of Track Engineers: The result is not really what we were hoping for, as we wanted much more for today. It was very chaotic at the beginning of Q2 when it started to rain, and we had to put intermediates on both our cars. Both our drivers were very fast in Q1, but they had more difficulty in the rain. We knew that qualifying could take place on a wet track, while the race should be dry. So we decided to find a compromise in terms of settings.

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Caterham

Heikki Kovalainen – 16th [on the grid]

Translate: Vitaly Petrov – 18th [on the grid]

Mark Smith, Technical Director: « I am reasonably satisfied with our performance today. I think it’s clear that we can do better with our cars and, given the circumstances of the day, Heikki did all he could. Vitaly had some issues with traffic which cost him time, but above all, the goal is to ensure that both drivers have settings that allow them to extract every milli-second of performance from the work done at the factory and in the wind tunnel. »

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Marussia

Charles Pic – 20th [on the grid]

Timo Glock – 22nd

John Booth, Team Director: Things haven’t gone very well for Timo at home so far and we’ve spent a lot of time – and will continue to – trying to understand the problems he’s facing with his car. It’s frustrating for him because it’s clear there’s more performance to be had from this new package. Despite a heavily affected track time during free practice for Charles, when he’s in the car, he manages to make it work well. The most encouraging thing is to see that there’s still more to come. A very good job from Charles today and all credit goes to his mechanics, who gave their all to change the engine and allow him to have time to run at the end of Free Practice 3. Those few laps played an important role in his qualifying performance. We’re going to study things in detail for our two cars tonight and see what we can do to be at our best for tomorrow’s race. The weather should be easier to manage, which should bring a welcome balance.

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HRT

Pedro De La Rosa – 23rd

Narain Karthikeyan – 24th

Toni Cuquerella, Technical Director: The dry track this morning allowed us to complete our program, and we managed to find a good balance on both of our cars, which allowed us to approach qualifying with confidence, regardless of the conditions. In the end, it was dry (in Q1, editor’s note) but the threat of rain made everyone go out immediately, resulting in a lot of traffic. Our laps weren’t perfect. We had better potential, but our options remain open for tomorrow’s race, which will surely be held on a dry track. Tire degradation isn’t very high, so we may adopt a one or two-stop strategy.

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