Posted: Sun Oct 22, 2006 1:48 pm
Selected quotes following Qualifying
Drivers
Felipe Massa - Pole
Ferrari - Jean Todt
Red Bull - Christian Horner
Drivers
Felipe Massa - Pole
Kimi Raikkonen - 2ndIt?s a dream for me to be on pole here at Interlagos, wearing the colours of my country while sitting in a Ferrari. I will never forget this day! I am very happy and I want to thank the team for having provided me with a perfect car. Tomorrow, I will do my utmost to win. I know it will be a tough race but everything is in place for me to achieve that goal. I am sorry for Michael who was really unlucky, just like in Suzuka. But I still believe we can get both our cars ahead of the others, which is vital if we are to win the Constructors? championship. My last lap? It was fantastic!
Jarno Trulli - 3rdThis is a great result for all of us today. We did not turn the engine up till the final session so we were not sure where we would be, but I really gave it 100% on the final lap. For sure we will be fighting for the win now, it is going to be difficult, but our pace is strong in the long runs. It would be great to finish my last race for Team McLaren Mercedes on a high and we will be doing everything we can to achieve this.
Fernando Alonso - 4thIt is obviously great to be up so high and it has been a good weekend so far for us. We have been pushing hard all season to improve the car and you can see from today that we have definitely made a good step forward. So far this weekend we have looked pretty strong so I am confident because the car is performing well and we have everything we need to have a good race tomorrow. Our Bridgestone tyres are looking very competitive so I am looking forward to tomorrow when I hope I can challenge for the podium. This year I have been close to the podium a few times and it has slipped away with a few laps remaining so it would be great to end the season with a top-three finish. However, our first target for tomorrow will be to take fifth in the Constructors' Championship and for that we will try to score as many points as possible.
Rubens Barrichello - 5thThe target this afternoon was to be in the top five, so I am very happy with this position. Starting from the second row is perfect for our approach this weekend, and so far everything is going to plan. Obviously, the problem for Michael is another bit of help for us, not just for me but for the team as well in the constructors' championship, and we will take anything we can get. So things are looking better for us, for sure, but we cannot write him off and it doesn't change my approach. Tomorrow, my aim will be to get a good start and fight at the front. We know that the R26 has the pace to do it.
Giancarlo Fisichella - 6thI'm very happy - it's been a good day. The team has done a great job to get the car back to where it belongs after the issues that we had during practice yesterday. I was able to extract everything out of the car today and my last lap was really good, so I have to be happy with that. I'm looking forward to the race tomorrow as we have a good strategy, plus we have two Brazilians in the top five which is very good for our home race.
Ralf Schumacher - 7thThe times are really, really close this afternoon, and I am not totally happy to be back in sixth because the target was the second row. Obviously, I am fighting with Massa for third place in the drivers' championship, so it means I have a harder job for the race. Considering what happened in Suzuka, I managed to finish on the podium starting from sixth, so we are confident that the car will have good race pace. It is a long and demanding Grand Prix here and there are usually plenty of incidents, but we cannot count on that. I will need an aggressive race tomorrow to try and beat Felipe.
Nick Heidfeld - 8thThat was a reasonably good qualifying performance for the team. Jarno did a great job to get third place and seventh is a decent result for me too so both of us are in a positive position for tomorrow. From there we should be able score a good result here. Getting the right balance on the car this weekend has been a bit of a challenge but we worked at it this morning and found a reasonable set-up for qualifying. My lap in Q3 wasn't too bad, it was clean and I didn't make any mistakes but I simply was not quite quick enough to qualify any higher today. But I am looking forward to the race and I hope I can score more points to help the team secure fifth place in the Constructors' Championship.
Robert Kubica - 9thI am quite happy because until qualifying the weekend had been quite difficult for me. I had problems with the balance of the car, which has now improved. This was because of set- up changes and that higher temperatures are better for the tyres and my driving style. The fact the Toyotas have been so strong in qualifying is a damper. The fight for fifth place in the constructors? championship will be extremely exciting for us.
Michael Schumacher - 10thIt is good to be in the top ten again, my fifth time in six races that is okay. Unfortunately on one set of tyres I locked the brakes on a bump and I could not use a second set. It will be a bit difficult for tomorrow?s race, but it is still not bad. You have to have good pace here and I think we have a good consistent pace.
TeamsOf course I am disappointed, but these things can happen. At the start of Q3, the car had a fuel pressure problem and all I could do was cruise round slowly back to the pits. Now we have to find out how it happened and try and make the best of this situation. Sure, it?s a big handicap starting from tenth place. The only good part of today is that Felipe is on pole which must be very satisfying for him here at his home race. I hope that tomorrow he can win the race.
Ferrari - Jean Todt
McLaren - Ron DennisThis was a bitter-sweet qualifying session for us. On the one hand we can be delighted with a great pole position for Felipe, which came about due to his talent and the clear superiority of the 248 F1-Bridgestone tyre package. On the other hand there is a great disappointment for Michael who was reduced to the role of spectator, sitting in the cockpit of his car in the garage, for the final part of the session, sidelined with what appears to be a fuel pressure problem. Without wishing to sound presumptuous, there is good reason to think we could have had two cars on the front row of the grid tomorrow. However, we find ourselves with one car on pole and the other relegated to the fifth row. Nevertheless, we know that anything can happen in racing, and one way and another, we experienced that ourselves various times this year. All we can do tomorrow is try and get both our cars out in front of all the others at the finish line.
Toyota - Pascal VasselonA tremendous job by Kimi. Pedro tried a little too hard on his second set of tyres flatspotting one into the first corner. As a consequence he failed to qualify in the top ten. Generally our car worked well and a good result is possible tomorrow.
Renault - Pat SymondsThat was a good qualifying session but I would say it is as expected because yesterday we saw we were competitive here and this morning we were working towards the race so our position in third practice was not representative and we knew that. The cold weather conditions could have made it a little bit tricky as it is colder than usual in Brazil but we were expecting that from our weather forecasts and we were able to take it into account when we chose which two tyre compounds to use this weekend. Choosing which of those two to use was quite a difficult decision to make - but it certainly doesn't look too bad now! We had high expectations so we are quite happy with the outcome of the qualifying. Still it could have been a little bit better for both cars, we could have been even further up the grid but we are not complaining. It looks pretty good for tomorrow and we are pretty confident with the race pace.
Honda - Gil de FerranOur day went reasonably to plan ? the aim was to have the cars around the second row and we are in a good position. I think both cars are on competitive fuel loads relative to those around us, and they demonstrated strong pace in practice. Considering our targets this weekend, it is naturally pleasing to see Fernando starting ahead of his main rival. But we have sympathy for Michael's situation, and plenty of respect for him as well. We know that he can still be a danger to us from tenth position and we are not discounting him at all. Tomorrow's race has all the ingredients to make it a worthy finale to a thrilling championship.
BMW Sauber - Mario TheissenWe are happy on the one hand and disappointed on the other. Rubens had a smooth qualifying session and pulled out all the stops in front of his home crowd, extracting all the speed we had in the car today. Jenson had an electronic issue that was costing him a lot of time and as a result he was unable to make it through to the final shoot-out. Assuming that we are able to fix the problem, the full extent of which has yet to be determined, we should have a strong race tomorrow given that both drivers are very happy with the car handling and have been competitive throughout the weekend so far. It should be an exciting race!
Williams - Partick HeadThat was an average qualifying, but it was not perfect. In the first part Nick had problems getting the tyres up to temperature and, therefore, was lucky to make it into the second and third sessions. Robert was on track to get a good time, but on his last timed lap locked the brakes, which prevented him getting a better position. The positive thing is we made it into the top ten again with both cars.
Toro Rosso - N/AI think that?s about where we are at the moment. As it was, it was very close and a few hundredths of a second more from both cars would have pushed us into the top ten. I think we can race well from where we are, however, and what we want is a good, reliable race and, I hope, two cars finishing. If we get points, all the better.
Red Bull - Christian Horner
Spyker MF1 Racing - Dominic HarlowObviously, it was a disappointing qualifying session for David who hasn't been happy with the balance of his car all day. Robert did a good job. We decided that he'd only do one run in the second qualifying session, due to knowing what our limitations are and the ten-place grid penalty we collected for Robert's engine change. Hopefully, we'll be stronger in the tomorrow's race.
Super Aguri - Aguri SuzukiIt was a disappointing final qualifying session, we needed to be very close but came out at the wrong end of our rival group. Spyker MF1 is a team very much looking to the future at the moment, tomorrow is a long race and anything could happen. Both drivers have worked out a good strategy considering our position in qualifying and we look to see what transpires at the front of the field and with the weather conditions.
Both SAF1 Team drivers did a great job today and their times were very close. I believe that our car is showing more of its true potential, but we still have a little way to go to match our nearest competitors. However, if you compare our times set today with those at the beginning of the season we have done a very good job. I would like to thank our mechanics, everyone at the factory, Honda and Bridgestone for their support this year and I hope that we can finish the season with a good result tomorrow.