After demonstrating a promisingly brisk car in dry conditions, Kimi Rikknen claimed tenth position during a rain afflicted qualifying session for tomorrows German Grand Prix, while Romain Grosjean was fifteenth fastest but will start in twentieth position due to a penalty for a gearbox change.
Kimi Rikknen, E20-05. Q : P10, 1:45.811. FP3 : P4, 1:16.238 We werent fast in the wet today for some reason and we need to look at why that was. I wasnt able to get any grip from the tyres, even when we tried a fresh set of wets half way through the final qualifying session. In the dry the car is very good and in the races our car usually has strong pace. Lets hope for some dry weather tomorrow and see what happens.
Romain Grosjean, E20-04. Q : P15, 1.40.574 FP3 : P11 1:16.962 The rain seemed to come at the wrong time for me ; it always was at its heaviest when I was trying to go for a quick lap. It was certainly difficult out there to find enough grip and not to get held up by other cars. Its difficult to understand why I was so far behind Kimi in qualifying when Ive been very close to him during the rest of the weekend. Ive got it all to do tomorrow and Ill be working hard with my engineers to ensure weve got the quickest car and the best strategy to go for some points.
Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director : A frustrating session.
How do you assess todays qualifying performance ? Qualifying was a frustrating session. In the dry we looked to be comfortably one of the quickest cars out there, but as soon as it rained we really struggled with both. We will obviously investigate why we werent able to extract any pace at the crucial time today.
What can be done in the race ? The forecast is for a dry race and we are confident in our pace in those conditions, particularly over a race distance. Kimi can still have a good race from P10 on the grid and were looking at the strategy options for him. Romain has more work to do from P20, but its a relatively easy track in terms of overtaking with DRS so we can still achieve a good result.
What can be achieved by Romain from the back of the grid ? Romain has his work cut out, but in dry conditions hes likely to have one of the fastest cars on the track. Well be doing everything we can to give him the best strategy to move up the order and thats certainly his objective for the race.
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