British GP: Teams Pre Race Quotes
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Jul 05, 2008
BMW Motorsport
McLaren
Heikki Kovalainen, 1m 21.049s, P1
Lewis Hamilton, 1m 21.835, P4
McLaren had the pace to get both cars on to the front row, but first and fourth places still make them statistically the team that starts with the strongest chances. Kovalainen reported his MP4-23 to be all over the place on his first run in Q3 thanks to the crosswind, but put a sweet lap together on his second run to take the first pole of his F1 career. Hamilton went off the road at Priory on his first run, and admitted that he was more cautious through there on his second try. Some of the gap between them may be explained by respective fuel loads, but the truth is that the Finn has been very hooked up all weekend. Will this be his big breakthrough?
Red Bull
Mark Webber, 1m 21.554s, P2
David Coulthard, 1m 20.174s, P11
Everybody was surprised to see Webber plant his Red Bull RB4 second on the grid, even the Australian himself. This is almost certainly the car in the top four with the lightest fuel load, but it was still a good performance that bodes well for a strong race from this emergent team. Coulthard was disappointed with 11th, and blamed the engine oil leak that lost him valuable track time to finish setting up the car in the morning.
Ferrari
Kimi Raikkonen, 1m 21.706s, P3
Felipe Massa, 1m 23.305s, P9
Raikkonen was much happier with his Ferrari than he was on Friday, but still felt that it was not as good as it had been in the previous week’s test due to changes in the track conditions. He is one driver for sure desperate to know the fuel loads of his immediate rivals. Massa looked good all through practice, but suffered a problem with the right rear wheel nut on his Ferrari during his final tyre change, and never made it out for his second run.
BMW Sauber
Nick Heidfeld, 1m 21.873s, P5
Robert Kubica, No time, P10
BMW Sauber were another team damned by ill fortune towards the end of Q3, when Kubica’s car suffered a mechanical problem at the rear which kept him in the pits when everyone else was doing their second runs. Heidfeld, however, was back to his old self with a strong run to fifth place, having run Kubica very close in Q2 when the F1.08s picked up a serious amount of pace.
