Japan: The Qualifications Seen from the Stands

Red Bull

Mark Webber – Pole position

Sebastian Vettel – 2nd

Christian Horner, Team Principal: It’s good to have monopolized the front row for tomorrow’s race. It was a very strong performance from Mark today to secure his first pole of the year, and Sebastian, despite a KERS issue on his car, put in a very good lap to place himself on the front row for tomorrow’s race. We need to understand the problem with his car, as this is the second session where we’ve had a KERS issue. Hopefully, we can convert these good grid positions into big points tomorrow.

– Lire les déclarations des pilotes

Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton – 3rd

Nico Rosberg – 6th

Ross Brawn, Team Principal: « It was a rather uneven qualifying session for us during which it was difficult to put a good lap together in the windy conditions, so I think we can be pleased with 3rd and 6th places on the grid. Both of our drivers did a very good job in these circumstances to maximize the car they had. Looking at the lap times, it’s interesting to see such small gaps at such a technically complex circuit, with hundredths of a second covering several positions. Tomorrow’s race will largely be dictated by the way the cars and drivers can manage the tires, and I think we can look forward to a very interesting afternoon. »

– Lire les déclarations des pilotes

Lotus

Romain Grosjean – 4th

Kimi Räikkönen – 9th

Alan Permane, Track Operations Director: « We are now very satisfied with both types of tires. Today, things went as we hoped with both drivers qualifying in the top 10 for tomorrow’s race. Romain continues his strong streak in qualifying and 4th on the starting grid is a good result, especially being so close to 3rd once again. It was a very competitive session, so seeing Kimi 9th is not a big problem, especially knowing how well he can perform in the race.

As we were not able to complete all the long runs planned on Friday, we spent more time on race preparation during the third free practice session and managed to find more performance in the car, particularly on mediums. We are now very satisfied with both types of tires. Yes, we were not as good yesterday with the hards, but we made significant changes to the setup, which have paid off. Both drivers are now happy with their car.

The weather forecasts are good [for the race] with wind, which is often an important factor here, expected to come from the same direction as today but a bit weaker. Considering this, added to our pace with both types of tires, we are confident. We will be able to adopt a good strategy to achieve good results.

– Lire les déclarations des pilotes

Ferrari

Felipe Massa – 5th

Fernando Alonso – 8th

Pat Fry, Technical Director: It was a very tight qualifying. The car’s performance has improved since yesterday, partly due to our work on the setup, partly due to the track and wind conditions, which were particularly strong in the first sector. Our positions more or less reflect our expectations, even though the gap with the leaders is smaller, which is an encouraging sign for us. Unfortunately, we continue to suffer from a lack of aerodynamic downforce. Thus, it’s difficult for us to fight for the top positions. Today, we worked hard to find the right setup for the car, and both our drivers did their best. It’s never easy to gain places starting from these positions, but at Suzuka, we know anything can happen. We must now focus on preparing for the race to be ready to seize any opportunity that arises, trying to make no mistakes. Our pace on the long runs, as we saw yesterday, gives us confidence for tomorrow, even though we’ll have to consider a number of variables, such as the weather and track conditions, which have partly affected the performance of all the cars.

– Lire les déclarations des pilotes

Sauber

Nico Hülkenberg – 7th

Esteban Gutiérrez – 14th

Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal: « We are happy with this qualification because we knew it would be extremely tight. Nico, once again, did a fantastic job and is in a good position to score points tomorrow. Esteban also did a great job on a circuit that was new to him, and it’s impressive to see how much he has improved this weekend while learning such a difficult track. The difference with the 11th place for him was not even a tenth. So it was an exceptional qualifying session, and we hope for points tomorrow. »

– Lire les déclarations des pilotes

McLaren

Jenson Button – 10th

Sergio Pérez – 11th

Martin Whitmarsh, Team Principal: « Our two drivers had a solid and professional qualifying today. Checo was unlucky to miss Q3 by the smallest of margins. As a result, he will start tomorrow’s Grand Prix from 11th place.

Jenson made it to Q3 relatively comfortably, which explains, especially given how tight and competitive the upper part of the midfield is these days, why he tried to run in Q3 to improve his grid position for the race. In the end, he didn’t succeed, but we believe it was the right decision to try, even though, in hindsight, the tenth place he had already secured was the best we could achieve today. That being said, Jenson loves Suzuka, won brilliantly here two years ago, and always delivers great races here. No one expects him to win again tomorrow, but you can be sure he’s going to deliver another impressive performance to climb up the ranks during the 53-lap race.

Checo will also try to score as many points as possible tomorrow, and he is in a good position to do so.

– Lire les déclarations des pilotes

Force India

Paul di Resta – 12th

Adrian Sutil – 17th [22nd on the grid]

Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal: Suzuka was a challenge for us this year, but the changes made overnight went in the right direction and improved the car’s handling. Adrian’s accident in free practice 3 was unfortunate, and although the mechanics did a great job repairing his car, he was on the defensive during qualifying. On the other side of the garage, Paul was in better shape and showed very good pace in Q1 and Q2. He was ultimately unlucky to miss Q3 by one position, but he did enough to be able to fight for points tomorrow. We are optimistic about our race pace and tire management. If we choose the right strategy, we can fight with those ahead of us.

– Lire les déclarations des pilotes

Williams

Valtteri Bottas – 13th

Translate: Pastor Maldonado – 15th

Xevi Pujolar, Chief Race Engineer: « After this morning’s final practice session, we were struggling to find grip. We were therefore expecting a difficult qualifying session. However, we knew that if we could put together a good lap on mediums, we had a chance to get closer to our rivals compared to recent races. The wind was also very strong and added another challenge, but both our drivers managed to put in a very good lap when needed to qualify 13th and 15th. Even though the grid positions show only a small improvement, we are closer in performance terms because just a tenth could have moved us much higher in the Q2 standings. The track will be tough on tires for everyone tomorrow, so with the right strategy we will have the opportunity to fight for some points in the race. »

– Lire les déclarations des pilotes

Toro Rosso

Daniel Ricciardo – 16th

Jean-Eric Vergne – 18th [17th on the grid]

James Key, Technical Director: Yesterday, we were happy with the car’s balance. Today, the wind direction changed completely, affecting the balance, especially in the first sector, although in Daniel’s case, we were still pleased with the rest of the lap. JEV found some performance today and was increasingly pleased with his car in free practice 3. For qualifying, we made some changes to try to improve balance in the first sector, but we couldn’t make our car work as well as in the rest of the lap. Unfortunately, just when JEV was hoping to gain time with the mediums, his car had an issue with the rear brake circuit, which caused a fire. However, his car will be repairable for tomorrow’s race.

– Lire les déclarations des pilotes

Marussia

Translate: Max Chilton – 19th [18th on the grid]

Jules Bianchi – 22nd [21st on the grid]

John Booth, team director: « We were very busy last night both in the engineers’ office and in the garage, but I am delighted to say that the work done paid off this morning and Jules’ chassis was ready in time for him to drive. We didn’t have the best balance with both drivers yesterday and after analyzing the data, the engineers came up with revised settings this morning, which paid off on both cars.

With Jules, our main objective for the weekend has always been focused on the race, considering his penalty, so during free practice 3, he ran with fuel on both types of tires. This obviously means we were asking a lot from him for qualifying as we planned to use only one set of mediums, once again aiming for the race. Unfortunately, his bad luck continued with the deployment of the red flag on his only run. We had already decided to save the tires for the race, so we weren’t going to use another set for qualifying, but in fact, he showed a very good pace on worn tires in his last run.

Max experienced improved balance this morning and delivered a very good first stint in qualifying, even though he was unlucky with traffic on his first lap. He completed a fantastic last stint and overall we are delighted with our positions. With Max’s place on the grid, and a large number of tires available for Jules, I am confident that both our drivers can have a good race.

– Lire les déclarations des pilotes

Caterham

Charles Pic – 20th [20th on the grid]

Giedo Van der Garde – 21st [19th on the grid]

Caterham has not published statements from the team’s representatives.

– Lire les déclarations des pilotes