Lewis Hamilton Grid 1
“Qualifying is an intense experience and, as drivers, we all put a huge amount of pressure on ourselves, but it’s probably the part of the race weekend I most enjoy. On my quickest lap in Q3, I lost a little time in the final corner– maybe a tenth and a half - so it’s massively encouraging to still be in the position I’m in. It’s great for the team to have another one-two, too: that’s a huge achievement from everybody, but we just need to make sure we keep pushing because the guys behind us won’t give up. Tomorrow, there’s a long haul down to Turn One, but I’ll be making sure to get a good launch and stay ahead cleanly. Anyway, the key will be to look after your tyres in the race - they’ll have a tough time, especially on 150kg of fuel. But we’ve hopefully got a car that has better race pace than it does qualifying pace. It’s been a good weekend for the team so far, but we’ll keep pushing massively for another strong result tomorrow.”
Jenson Button Grid 2
“Qualifying has been pretty good to me in the last two races. We’ve worked well as a team, and it’s always nice when your engineer cues up on the radio at the end of Q3 and you can hear all the mechanics in the background cheering. I was pretty happy with my quick lap but it’ll be a long, hot afternoon tomorrow so I’ll be working hard to ensure I’m properly prepared and hydrated for the race. This place is so physically tough - not just on the cars and drivers, but it’s tough on the mechanics too - they’re wearing fireproof race suits during the pit stops, which people often forget, so hopefully they’re fit and ready for some strong pit stops tomorrow. For the strategists too, the heat and humidity are so high that you really don’t know how the tyres will work and what strategies will best play out in the race. We’ve really got to be on your toes. Anyway, the most important thing is that we’re on the front row. It’s a long race tomorrow = I think anybody in the top four has a chance of winning this race, but our long-run pace in practice was reasonably consistent and I think we’ve got a lot of confidence as a team in what we’re doing.”
Martin Whitmarsh, McLaren team principal“Today was very close and very tough. Lewis did a fantastic first lap in Q3 and Jenson pulled it out of the bag at the very end of the session - both drivers did a fantastic job under huge pressure. Lewis could probably have found another tenth on his fastest run, but he wasn’t going to take any risks at the end. Jenson and Lewis are free to race into the first corner. After last weekend, I’m sure that Lewis will want to come out of the first corner in the lead, but it’s a long and difficult race ahead of both of them tomorrow. I’m proud of every person in the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team - the front row is a good place to be, but the odds are very finely stacked: we’ll have a fight on our hands tomorrow, that’s for sure.”
1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m36.219s 2. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m36.368s + 0.149 3. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m36.391s + 0.172 4. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m36.461s + 0.242 5. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m36.461s + 0.242 6. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m36.634s + 0.415 7. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m36.658s + 0.439 8. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m36.664s + 0.445 9. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m37.566s + 1.34710 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m37.698s + 1.47911 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m37.589s + 0.87412 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m37.731s + 1.01613 Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m37.841s + 1.12614 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m37.877s + 1.16215 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m37.883s + 1.16816 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m37.890s + 1.17517 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m38.069s + 1.354
18 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m39.077s + 1.90519 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m39.306s + 2.13420 Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m39.567s + 2.39521 Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m40.903s + 3.73122 Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m41.250s + 4.07823 Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m42.914s + 5.74224 Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m43.655s + 6.483
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