European Grand Prix: Pre Race Quotes
Show your support.
Buzz this article up.
Aug 23, 2008
Shell
Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari:
“I like driving this track: it is different to other street circuits we have known. Yesterday, when I walked the track, I thought it would be fun and today confirmed that impression. There are some very quick parts and almost everywhere there’s a lot of room, maybe similar to some of the North American circuits used in the past. They have really done a good job. Today, our weekend got off to a good start, but obviously it is far too early to say where we are compared to the opposition. Overtaking? It will be difficult, as always: I hope I don’t need to by getting the best position in qualifying. The set-up we have found today is not bad, but there is still plenty of room for improvement.”
Fernando Alonso, Renault:
“We kept to our programme today, which was to complete maximum mileage and verify our simulations. The circuit is both interesting and challenging, and the final sector is definitely my favourite and quite exciting from the cockpit. The initial results from today are encouraging, but we must now continue working hard to have a solid qualifying session tomorrow and ensure a good level of performance in the race.”
Lewis Hamilton, McLaren:
“Considering the dustiness of the track, we made a very promising start on set-up this morning. We were able to go quicker on each run without changing too much and we took a very good baseline into the afternoon session. In P2, our adjustments were again spot-on but the sheer volume of traffic meant it was difficult to immediately confirm our final set-up changes. Nonetheless, we’re in pretty good shape and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
Timo Glock, Toyota:
“It’s always enjoyable to come to a new venue and I’m impressed. It was pretty hot out there but the track is good fun and the layout is interesting. I like street circuits because I raced on so many of them during my time racing ChampCar in America but apart from the harbour and the buildings this doesn’t really look like a street circuit because it has long straights. We had a good day. The first practice was a bit difficult and the track was very dusty but we expected that. The afternoon was much better and the car got more and more into the set-up window. I hope we can keep going in this direction because it has been a productive day.”
Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber:
“In the first free practice session we concentrated on learning the new circuit. The surface was still very dirty in the morning, so we had to wait until the track picked up some grip. In the Second Free Practice the conditions were better, although it was still quite slippery, and our main focus was on tyre evaluation and basic set-up work. Anyway, the track conditions were changing every thirty minutes. Because of this it is quite tricky to make a prediction for tomorrow. We now have to analyse the data.”
