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Qualifying under the lights at the Singapore
Grand Prix saw traffic play a big part in Q1,
which ended with Lotus Racing drivers Heikki
Kovalainen in 19th and Jarno Trulli 21st.
Heikki Kovalainen (Chassis T127-01) FP3: 15 laps,
best time 1.53.146, 20th / QUALIFYING: 19th,
1.50.915, 9 laps “Qualifying today was quite
difficult to be honest. The traffic made it
really tricky as there were cars on slow laps
when I was on a quick one, and I think I missed
my best opportunity on the second set of tyres
which were brand new. I gave it my best shot,
and I think the last lap was about as good as I
could have done today, so at least I split the
Virgins and got pretty close to Timo. It’s still
game on for tomorrow, and I think we’re in good
shape for the race, so we’ll see what happens.”
Jarno Trulli (Chassis T127-04) FP3: 17 laps,
best time 1.53.681, 22nd / QUALIFYING: 21st,
1.51.641, 10 laps “I’m pretty disappointed with
how it went tonight. This morning’s practice was
pretty good but on the first run in qualifying
on the options I couldn’t find any real grip so
I switched to the primes. I think I got the most
out of the car I could by the end of Q1 -
braking obviously plays a big role here, and
I’ve been struggling with the rear end locking
all weekend, so I hope it improves tomorrow.”
Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: “A
pretty disappointing qualifying session today.
Jarno has not been happy with the balance on the
tyres all weekend and that carried through to
qualifying. Heikki was generally happier on the
option tyre but unfortunately he was held up on
what would have been his quickest lap. Despite
that I think the race pace of the car is strong
and we look forward to a better performance in
the race tomorrow.”
Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: “I don’t think
we got the best out the car today, but it is
what it is. Honestly, I’m reasonably happy, as I
thought we might not have been quite as close to
Timo as we ended up – he goes very well here and
I think that if the traffic hadn’t played its
part Heikki might have been able to get past him.
As development on this year’s car stopped back
in July and we put our resources into the 2011
car, we always knew the competition would become
closer as the season drew to an end, with our
closest rivals continuing to bring upgrades to
each race. With that in mind, the fact that
Heikki is as close as he is to Timo means we can
not be too disappointed. Jarno also did a good
job today, after a tricky weekend for him on a
track he does not favour, and they are both
pumped up to fight tomorrow, so there’s all to
play for in the race.” |
