Formula 1India In F1
Force India’s Paul, Adrian to start on P5, P6 respectively
Bahrain, 20 April 2013: Sahara Force India carried its strong form into Saturday’s qualifying session for the Bahrain Grand Prix with Paul Di Resta setting the seventh fastest time ahead of teammate Adrian Sutil in eighth. They are expected to start fifth and sixth following grid penalties for Hamilton and Webber.
Nico Rosberg took the second pole position of his career in Bahrain today with Lewis Hamilton qualifying in fourth place. (Rosberg quotes are given at the end)
P7* Paul Di Resta VJM06-04
Q1: 1:33.762
Q2: 1:33.335
Q3: 1:33.235
Paul: “We knew we were in good shape to challenge for Q3 today and we looked strong throughout all the sessions. As the tracked gripped up we didn’t quite have the speed we expected, but I’m still pretty happy with what we’ve achieved, especially as I will move up to fifth with the grid penalties. We’re in a great position for tomorrow; the car is strong and our long run performance yesterday gives us every reason to be hopeful of challenging for some good points.”
P8* Adrian Sutil VJM06-03
Q1: 1:34.048
Q2: 1:33.378
Q3: 1:33.246
Adrian: “The car was quite tricky to drive today and the grip level of the track made it difficult to complete the perfect lap. My final lap in Q3 could have been better, but I’m pretty happy with the outcome, especially if I move up to sixth. The track suits us, we like the warm weather and things look promising for tomorrow. It’s a good starting position to have both cars on the third row and we will be looking to move forward in the race.”
Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal
“An excellent team effort today brings us our best qualifying performance of the year. We knew we had the pace to get both cars into Q3 and in the end there was very little to choose between Paul and Adrian with just a hundredth of a second separating them. We expect to move up a couple of positions with both cars when the grid penalties are handed out, which puts us in a very strong position for the race. We have no concern with the tyres so the key tomorrow is to hold track position and find some clean air with the strategy so that we can make the most of our strong race pace.”
AMG Mercedes Petronas team release adds:
- The result gave the team its first consecutive pole positions since the return of Mercedes-Benz as a works team in 2010
- Lewis was forced to take a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change following the third practice session
- A piece of debris on the circuit caused a left rear tyre failure which led to suspension and gearbox damage
- He qualified in fourth place in spite of these setbacks and will start tomorrow’s race from ninth position
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Drivers
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No.
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Chassis No.
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Qualifying 1
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Qualifying 2
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Qualifying 3
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Nico Rosberg
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9
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F1 W04 / 03
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1:33.364
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P3
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1:32.867
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P2
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1:32.330
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P1
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Lewis Hamilton
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10
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F1 W04 / 04
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1:33.498
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P5
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1:33.346
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P7
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1:32.762
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P4
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Weather
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Hot and sunny
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Temperatures
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Air: 33°C
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Track: 41-43°C
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Nico Rosberg
For the first time this season everything went perfectly today and that’s a great feeling. Pole position feels like a kick start for me and it’s a great achievement from everyone in the team. We still had some work to do after the practice sessions yesterday and the team had a busy night to turn it around. Thanks to them for the quickest car out there today. The race tomorrow is a different story and we’re very aware of that. It will be difficult, especially with the rear tyres, and we know that other teams were stronger than us on the long runs on Friday. It will be a big challenge to stay ahead but starting from the front helps.Lewis Hamilton
It wasn’t the best of days for me but big congratulations to Nico. Back to back pole positions for the team is great and Nico did a really good job out there. I couldn’t quite find the pace today and with losing five places from changing the gearbox, we’ve got a tough challenge ahead starting from ninth place. These things happen and I’ll do my best tomorrow. The best chance to gain some positions will come at the start and then we’ll see how it goes. Tyre degradation will be a huge factor so it’s going to be a very interesting race.Ross Brawn
As a team, we recovered well from two difficult practice sessions yesterday. Neither driver was happy and, together with their engineers, they did a great job to put us in a much stronger position today. Nico produced a great lap to take pole. I said earlier in the season that I think we have the best driver pairing in Formula One and they are proving it with their performances. Lewis had some problems this morning but he coped with them well and recovered strongly to qualify fourth fastest. He will drop five places on the grid tomorrow but we can still expect him to deliver a strong race. We know tomorrow’s race could be very different and perhaps today’s slightly cooler conditions favoured us, so let’s see what it brings.Toto Wolff
First and fourth places were a strong result this afternoon and we have to be very happy with Nico’s pole position. He did a great job and both of his timed laps in Q3 would have put him on pole position. Lewis has had a more difficult and disrupted weekend so far so qualifying was all about damage limitation for him, which he managed to do extremely well. However, we should be under no illusions about tomorrow. It will be a very tough race and it will be important for us to race hard in order to get both cars to the finish in strong positions.
For the first time this season everything went perfectly today and that’s a great feeling. Pole position feels like a kick start for me and it’s a great achievement from everyone in the team. We still had some work to do after the practice sessions yesterday and the team had a busy night to turn it around. Thanks to them for the quickest car out there today. The race tomorrow is a different story and we’re very aware of that. It will be difficult, especially with the rear tyres, and we know that other teams were stronger than us on the long runs on Friday. It will be a big challenge to stay ahead but starting from the front helps.Lewis Hamilton
It wasn’t the best of days for me but big congratulations to Nico. Back to back pole positions for the team is great and Nico did a really good job out there. I couldn’t quite find the pace today and with losing five places from changing the gearbox, we’ve got a tough challenge ahead starting from ninth place. These things happen and I’ll do my best tomorrow. The best chance to gain some positions will come at the start and then we’ll see how it goes. Tyre degradation will be a huge factor so it’s going to be a very interesting race.Ross Brawn
As a team, we recovered well from two difficult practice sessions yesterday. Neither driver was happy and, together with their engineers, they did a great job to put us in a much stronger position today. Nico produced a great lap to take pole. I said earlier in the season that I think we have the best driver pairing in Formula One and they are proving it with their performances. Lewis had some problems this morning but he coped with them well and recovered strongly to qualify fourth fastest. He will drop five places on the grid tomorrow but we can still expect him to deliver a strong race. We know tomorrow’s race could be very different and perhaps today’s slightly cooler conditions favoured us, so let’s see what it brings.Toto Wolff
First and fourth places were a strong result this afternoon and we have to be very happy with Nico’s pole position. He did a great job and both of his timed laps in Q3 would have put him on pole position. Lewis has had a more difficult and disrupted weekend so far so qualifying was all about damage limitation for him, which he managed to do extremely well. However, we should be under no illusions about tomorrow. It will be a very tough race and it will be important for us to race hard in order to get both cars to the finish in strong positions.
ends
