Bird, Leimer and Palmer talk about their session
GP2 Series: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the press conference for today’s qualifying session here in Monza: joining us from pole position is Sam Bird from RUSSIAN TIME, in second place we have Fabio Leimer from Racing Engineering, and in third we have Jolyon Palmer from Carlin. Sam, congratulations on two pole positions on the trot: it seems like you’ve worked out this qualifying pretty well…Sam Bird: I think we’ve been quick all year in qualifying, if you look at our average it’s still pretty strong: there’s been a couple of penalties, but without them our average has been in the top four for most of the year. In fact I think myself and Fabio are probably on par with two of the best qualifiers of the year now! It’s been there all along, but the last two times we’ve managed to get the top spot, which is great.
GP2 Series: It’s a tricky place here, and it’s always such fine margins: how do you approach a session like this one?Sam: It was mega tough out there, mega close, and I think 20 or so, 22 cars within a second, which proves how close it can be around here: there have been some tracks where somebody has been on pole by a second, naming nobody here [laughs] Mr Leimer, so it just proves that this has been an extremely tough, exciting, challenging session for everybody concerned.
GP2 Series: You’ve got a big job tomorrow: obviously you’re a little closer in the championship today, but I guess the focus is on the win tomorrow?Sam: Yeah, that means nothing right now: my focus is on tomorrow, getting as many points as I can. We’ve got four so far this weekend, which is four more than anyone else, but the aim tomorrow is to score 25 points and try and again climb up the championship order a little bit more. The aim is to score as many points as possible, I’ve got 2 very quick guys sitting next to me who will be trying to take that away from me, and when I leave here I’ll be working on what we can do to achieve those points.
GP2 Series: Great job today. Fabio, congratulations on P2 today, although it was so, so close: I know that when you get out of the car you start looking back at the lap to see what you could have done differently to change that small gap, but what do you think while you’re actually driving a lap like that?Fabio Leimer: I think we can be happy: okay, in end it’s just three hundredths, just a little bit quicker and would be P1 and get 4 points, but in the end I think can be happy because if we were just a few tenths slower we would be P7 or 8 or something! Tomorrow I’m starting from the front row, so everything is possible: I think we are a little bit stronger here in the race than in Spa, so I hope I can take the win and take as many points as possible.
GP2 Series: You’ve done a good job on the points front in the second half of the championship: do you feel the momentum is coming back to you now?Fabio: Yeah. For me it was really important to pick up some points after losing some in Barcelona and Monaco, and now we’re really close and I really want to win, I’m really focused on the win, and I don’t care about third, fourth, fifth because of the last few races where I always finished third or fourth or fifth. I really want to win, so I will be really focused on going for the win.
GP2 Series: You’re in the second best place to go for that: what’s going to happen tomorrow?Fabio: It's hard to say, because in the end the most important thing is the start. We’ll see in the race, but you never know because if you’re already first at the first corner it’s much easier: when you’re second it’s much trickier because you’ve got to see where he is, can you overtake him or whatever, so we’ll see.
GP2 Series: Great job today. Jolyon, congratulations on P3 today: fastest this morning, setting the pace at the start of qualifying, and so close at the end. I guess you’re going to feel a little disappointed about the result, but how do you feel about the session itself?Jolyon Palmer: Overall it’s disappointing given the margin, and that we were quick this morning and quick for all the session really: unfortunately the times are so close, and I didn’t have the perfect lap, so we’re only third. Still, it’s the best qualifying we’ve done all year, so I’m pretty happy: normally we’re already struggling ahead of the races, so I’m pretty confident for tomorrow, actually.
GP2 Series: There’s less than a tenth between you guys, and a second covering 22 drivers: how much of an effect do the tyres make on a session like that?Jolyon: To be honest, the tyres seem to be lasting longer than Spa, where it was really a one lap shootout, so that’s why the times are close, I think, because people get more than one bite to do a lap. I sat in P1 with the red flag and I knew I’d have to improve, because everyone’s so close: I did, but not by enough. But I’m still happy.
GP2 Series: And you did come back right at the end of the session: does this just back up your point?Jolyon: Yeah, and I think it makes for a more interesting session because there’s more options: you can make a mistake and have a go at it, so it gives people more chances. I did quite a few laps which were really close, but none of them quite good enough.
GP2 Series: You’ve got plenty of opportunity to redeem yourself tomorrow, and you don’t have to think about the championship like these two guys…Jolyon: I’m fully aware that they have to think about the championship! [laughs] I’ll definitely be going all out for the win!
