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Mark Webber, Red Bull (1st, Q3 - 1m 49.327s)
“It was tricky today. When you look at the amount of standing water there was in places during Q1 and Q2, trying to get everything right and a clear lap was difficult, especially as there is a fair difference in pace between some of the cars. My Q2 lap on intermediate tyres was a bit of a three point turn round Pedro (de la Rosa) and that was my quickest, so you knew you had to keep pushing; the conditions were changing so quickly. A few big names went out in the first session, which was a surprise, but it just goes to show how sensitive everything is to timing. The pole goes to Ciaron, my engineer, as he made the call for inters in Q3. I said ‘have a look at the track, what do you think?’ and he said ‘yeah let’s go for it’. It was tricky in places, in the last corner there was a bit of aquaplaning, but I kept it on the black stuff and got the job done.”
Nico Rosberg, Mercedes GP (2nd, Q3 - 1m 50.673s)
“I’m really pleased with my first front row start and it’s great for me, the whole team and Petronas to have such a good qualifying result in Sepang for one of our home races. It was very difficult out there today and hard to keep it on the road at times. My run in Q3 was definitely my best of the day and I put in a good time on the first quick lap. By the second lap, the tyres started to degrade so it just wasn’t possible to go any quicker from there. As soon as we went out, I thought intermediates were the way to go and maybe I should have come in but in the end it worked out well for us. I’m confident that we can have a strong race from here tomorrow, if it is wet or dry, and I’m looking forward to it.”
Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull (3rd, Q3 - 1m 50.789s)
“Good job to Mark today. It was very tricky at the start of Q3, there was a lot of water and it was the right thing to call the red flag - it was just impossible. I think there was too much water - the cars are quite low, so you end up swimming more than driving. In Q3 I think we did the right thing putting on extremes. The water disappeared quicker than the majority of people thought and Mark was on the better tyre in the end, but I think third is a good result for the team. It was a tricky session – it was important to get into the next round and then qualify as high up as we could, which we did. It’s a shame as I had some moments on my fastest lap - I was close to Nico (Rosberg), only about one tenth off I think, but if you look back there wasn’t that much margin. I think we can be very pleased with third today and everything is possible tomorrow.”
Adrian Sutil, Force India (4th, Q3 - 1m 50.914s)
“It was a great qualifying again for us. As I expected it rained at 4pm, I said that yesterday I think! It was challenging and the conditions changed a lot over the sessions. Sometimes it was a lot of rain, sometimes half wet, half dry so it was very important to choose the right tyres. I think we did a great job in those conditions and every session we did the optimum. I am so happy to be in this position now. It’s a great achievement and my team really deserved it. They did a fantastic job: being there on the right time on the right tyre was very important. My time in the end was good for P4: a great job all round.”
Nico Hulkenberg, Williams (5th, Q3 - 1m 51.001s)
“Finally we had a bit of a breakthrough today. It was very tight out there and my lap wasn’t perfect so I could have done a little better, but I’m happy where I am and I’m happy for the team as well. The car has proved to be good in wet conditions and I like driving in the wet, so I’m looking forward to the race. A lot will depend on what the weather will do tomorrow though.”
Robert Kubica, Renault (6th, Q3 - 1m 51.051s)
“Today’s weather made for quite a challenging qualifying session, but the car felt good in the wet and I made it easily through Q1 and Q2. For the final part of qualifying we thought the rain would get heavier so I pushed really hard on my first timed lap in Q3, which destroyed the tyres and made it difficult to improve as the track continued to dry. However, sixth place is a good place to start and I’m looking forward to the race tomorrow. I think the weather could play a big role, and if it’s like today the race could become a lottery.”
Rubens Barrichello, Williams (7th, Q3 - 1m 51.511s)
“There are two ways to look at qualifying. The positive is that we are happy as a team, but I don’t think we would have achieved P5 and P7 in a dry session. In hindsight, I should have chosen intermediates for my last run, which would have given me a better lap time. I’m still pleased as we are better prepared for tomorrow.”
Michael Schumacher, Mercedes GP (8th, Q3 - 1m 51.717s)
“I am obviously a little disappointed with my result today as it was evident from the earlier qualifying sessions that we looked pretty good and I clearly could have achieved more. On my last run in Q3, I wanted to secure a lap time and then go for the second lap but after I finished my first quick lap, the tyres were already gone so I could not go for it anymore. Though it is good to know the limits of the wet tyres for tomorrow, now I have to concentrate fully on the race. Congratulations to Nico today for scoring our first front row qualifying result.”
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