Mark Webber (1st, Q3 - 1m 19.995s)
“It’s always tight between Seb (Vettel) and I, it’s a good battle. Seb’s had a solid run recently, but today was my turn. The car is performing really well, but we’re taking nothing for granted. We know McLaren and Ferrari are strong opponents and will continue to be until the end of the season. It’s still early days in the championship, but a lot can happen over the next two back to back races. I am pleased that we’ve laid the foundations to make good all the hard work that has gone on at the factory over the last three weeks. This pole is for the team - there was a massive effort from the guys before the race and then at the track this weekend. They have worked so hard, you really can’t believe how much work can go into two cars! It’s a great effort and I’m looking forward to the race tomorrow.”
Sebastian Vettel (2nd, Q3 - 1m 20.101s)
“Congratulations to Mark, he was unbeatable today. It was close. I had good laps throughout qualifying, especially at the end, but it was not enough. A tenth is not that much, but unfortunately it was too much for me today. Still, it was a good qualifying session from us and I think starting on the first row is a good result. We know there are no points from today, that all comes tomorrow. At the moment it looks comfortable, but we know how quickly things can change, so we have to stay focused. There might be some rain. The team has made such a huge effort to bring the updates here - the factory has been flat out over the last few weeks, so congratulations to them.”
Lewis Hamilton (3rd, Q3 - 1m 20.829s)
“We’ve been very competitive this weekend, and we’ve brought a strong package out here with us; but, clearly, Red Bull has made a very good step forward too, and it looks like their car is slightly more aerodynamically efficient than ours is. I’m still very motivated for tomorrow though. As ever, Sunday is a different story, and we generally enjoy better pace in the race than we do in qualifying. And let’s hope our reliability can top theirs tomorrow, too. Anyway, third on the grid is almost as good as pole position here, if not a little bit better: it’s a long way down to the first corner, and you can get a good draft and pass people. So I’m hoping to get a decent start, make good progress early on, and then drive a strong but straightforward race in which I’m able to do something good and get up near the front. Looking further ahead, we’ve got a fantastic team behind us, and we know that the car has a great deal of potential. We just need to try and close that gap as quickly as possible.”
Fernando Alonso (4th, Q3 - 1m 20.937s)
“I am pleased with this result. We knew the Red Bulls would be untouchable, so to be fourth is more or less what we expected. As usual, tomorrow’s race will be long and we must try and get the most out of what we have to work with. Something unexpected can always happen, as was the case for me this morning when I got a puncture coming out of the garage for my first run. I don’t think we lost any valuable time, concentrating on the development of the blown rear wing: here and in China, we had so many other new components that we have been able to gain a few tenths in performance terms, without which we would be much further back on the grid, because the others are also working very hard. We are moving in the right direction and we have to continue like this. Tomorrow, it will be very important to get a good start: recently they have not gone so well for me and so this would be just the right moment to get one!”
Jenson Button (5th, Q3 - 1m 20.991s)
“We struggled a bit this morning, and yesterday we didn’t think we’d be where we are right now, so, all in all, this afternoon wasn’t too bad. On my final lap in Q3, I ran over one of the green sections of Astroturf; there wasn’t much grip there, so I got wheelspin and hit the rev limiter, which lost me a bit of time. Even so, I’m fifth and I’m satisfied with that. Okay, I’d rather be a bit further up, and I think I probably could have been, but it’s not a bad place to start. I still I think the Red Bulls are going to be pretty tough to beat tomorrow, though. We came here hoping to close the gap, but instead it’s gone slightly in the other direction, which is surprising. So we’ve still got a lot of work to do, but I know that everyone in the team will be digging as deep as they possibly can to make that extra effort, and that we’ll get there. For tomorrow, if we’re good off the line, we might be able to pass some cars into Turn One. It’s a bit more difficult for me, but there’s definitely a possibility for Lewis. And our race pace is usually better than our qualifying speed, so I’m still extremely hopeful for another good showing tomorrow. If all goes well, I hope to be able to maintain my position at the head of the drivers’ world championship points standings – and hopefully Lewis and I will score heavily enough to keep Vodafone McLaren Mercedes at the top of the constructors’ world championship table, too.”
Michael Schumacher (6th, Q3 - 1m 21.294s)
“Today’s qualifying was straightforward in my view. We had a good car yesterday meaning that conditions were quite ideal for us in terms of balance and so on. Today admittedly, the car was not as perfect. It is little things that can trigger that change one way or the other, and whatever happened today just triggered us to fall over the edge towards the downside a little. Nevertheless, I feel a lot more comfortable driving the car that I have in my hands now. But there is a maximum that you can get out of it and that is what we have achieved today.”
Robert Kubica (7th, Q3 - 1m 21.353s)
“Overall it was a good qualifying session for me. Seventh is a strong place to start and I think I got the maximum from the car. We don’t have a big package of updates for this race so it’s encouraging to be ahead of one Ferrari and one Mercedes, which is not what I was expecting. I know that it will be a tough race tomorrow and it will be interesting to see how the soft tyres cope with the heavy fuel load in the opening laps. I think our race pace will be similar to our qualifying pace so I’m hopeful of a strong race and scoring some good points tomorrow.”
Nico Rosberg (8th, Q3 - 1m 21.408s)
“It’s been a difficult weekend for me and we need to look into the reasons for this and understand why. The changes that we have made with the car are obviously good and we have made a step forward but I haven’t really been able to use the improvements so far. Considering that I have found the car difficult to drive and haven’t had the best of set-ups, our performance today was acceptable but it’s not where I wanted to be fighting this weekend.”
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