Qualifying Results

By Andrew Cutler
August 4 2007

Sebastian Vettel has qualified for his first GP as a Scuderia Toro Rosso driver. While the team bosses had said earlier this week that he was under 'no pressure' in terms of expected results, he nonetheless wasn't about to give it less than his absolute best effort today.

In fact, he may have tried a bit to hard. After his run, Vettel blamed himself for making a mistake that may have cost him a shot at making the Q2 cut-off. he will start tomrrow's race in 20th spot.

For his part, Vitantonio Liuzzi did get into the Q2 session, but was unable to advance beyond the 16th spot. 

Here are their post-session comments:

Vitantonio Liuzzi, Toro Rosso (16th, 1m 21.993s):

“I think that in common with a lot of other people, we are finding that the soft tyres are struggling a lot to finish more than half the lap in good condition. So it is always a gamble to get to the end of the lap in good shape. I made it to the last place in Q2 and that was pretty much the maximum target I could have, as there was a big gap to the car in front. I am still remaining optimistic for the race. It will be a tough race, especially from a tyre point of view and so I am expecting an interesting race.”

Sebastian Vettel, Toro Rosso (20th, 1m 22.177s):

“I suppose it might not have been realistic to expect much more as the time I have had to get used to the car and the team has been quite short. Taking that into consideration, I think we have done quite a good job so far. The car was in good shape and we made a step forward with it since this morning. But I am not satisfied with this afternoon, as I made a mistake in the final sector on a quick lap. It was completely my mistake and I think my car was good enough to make it through to Q2. I hope I have a better afternoon tomorrow.”

Giorgio Ascenelli, technical director:

"So far this weekend everything has run reliably. But for Sebastian's little indiscretion, we could have had both cars in Q2. Looking at his first two days with the team, I think has has done a very good job, as has Tonio."