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1. Sebastian VETTEL (Red
Bull), 1m30.785s
2. Mark WEBBER (Red Bull), 1m30.853s
3. Lewis HAMILTON (McLaren), 1m31.169s
Q: Sebastian, a great lap and after seeing a Ferrari on pole for the last
two races I guess this must feel pretty good.
Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, it is good to change the colours again. The last two
races were a little bit difficult for us but all in all I think we could
improve the performance of the car. We came here with quite some confidence.
Obviously this track is kind of made for us, especially the first sector.
Not too many straights which we do like, so all in all after the confusion
yesterday with the weather and the horrible conditions it is good that the
sun came out and obviously a great start to the day but the most important
bit is yet to come.
Q: Mark, it is the seventh front row lock-out of the season for Red Bull
Racing and it is your best Suzuka qualifying performance. Just 0.068 of
pole. Again, a great job.
Mark WEBBER: Thanks. No, it was a good tussle with Seb. The boys did a good
job getting the cars ready after a lot of standing around yesterday. A
changed programme today with a busy day for everyone but off to a good start
with starting on the front row and ready to go from there.
Q: Top three for every Japanese Grand Prix you have ever contested but a
five place grid penalty means you will start the race from eighth. A lot of
work overnight by the team changing the rear wing on the car. Is this the
best position you could have hoped for?
Lewis HAMILTON: I think so, considering the speed of the Red Bulls. We knew
this weekend that they would be very competitive. It has not been the best
of weekends for us. I must say that the guys back at the factory have been
working so hard to bring updates this weekend. Unfortunately one of them we
weren’t able to use today which would have given us a little bit more time
but I think fantastic job either way just to get the updates here. Again
unfortunately the gearbox we had to change after the last race with the
collision I had with Mark. Damaged the drive-shaft of the diff.
Unfortunately we hadn’t noticed that and it caused us to have a gearbox
change. But nonetheless the guys did a fantastic job last night, stayed up
as late as they could to make sure the car was good. It was difficult for me
to come here today. Obviously only having like five or six laps on the track
through Friday and Saturday. I feel very happy to come this far. I am
starting eighth but from there hopefully we can have a good race.
Q: Sebastian, last year you started from pole and won the race. In just a
few hours time the race will start. This weekend just gets crazier and
crazier, doesn’t it?
SV: Yeah, indeed. Obviously it is a new situation for most of us to do both
qualifying and the race in one day, so it is a tough day. But I think I had
a good sleep last night and hoping for the same result as last year. As I
said the car is really fantastic around here. The running on Friday was very
useful. I had quite a good long run, so I am confident for the race. The
start should be fine, starting from the clean side, so we will see. |
