2009 Bahrain Grand Prix Saturday

Today's qualifying session saw Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet qualify in 7th and 15th places respectively for tomorrow's Bahrain Grand Prix.

FREE PRACTICE 3

Fernando Alonso: 13 laps, P13, 1:33.482 on lap 11
 Run 1: 4 laps, new hard tyres
 Run 2: 4 laps, same set of hard tyres, change to suspension and front antiroll bar
 Run 3: 4 laps, new soft tyres

Nelson Piquet: 19 laps, P6, 1:33.176 on lap 17
 Run 1: 4 laps, new hard tyres
 Run 2: 5 laps, new hard tyres
 Run 3: 5 laps, new hard tyres
 Run 4: 4 laps, new soft tyres, change to front wing

 QUALIFYING

Fernando Alonso P7, 1:34.578
 Q1: 1 run on new hard tyres, 1 run on new soft tyres
 Q2: 2 runs on new soft tyres, change to front wing
 Q3: 1 run on used soft tyres, 1 run on new soft tyres. Change to fuel level.

Fernando:  “Once again we saw a very close qualifying session. It’s difficult and stressful inside the cockpit, but I guess it’s very interesting for the viewers. We haven’t made many changes to the car since China, but the team has been working late into the night once again to give me a competitive car. Qualifying went more or less as we had expected and starting 7th is about what we imagined was possible. Tomorrow we need to do everything we can to finish in the points, aiming for the top six and maybe even higher.”

Nelson Piquet, P15, 1:33.941
 Q1: 1 run on new hard tyres, 2 runs on new soft tyres
 Q2: 2 runs on new soft tyres

Nelson: “I pushed a bit too much to try to get into Q3. I had four cars around me and I really couldn’t do much so I had to take some risks and pushed hard, but it wasn’t good enough to go through to Q3. Hopefully we will have a strong start to the race and can adopt a good strategy so that I can challenge for the points, which is what we need right now.”

Technical Debrief with Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering

Track conditions: We had very warm conditions today with ambient temperatures reaching 38°C and track temperatures around 50°C. Both cars and tyres where therefore tested severely.

Performance: Our performance today is mixed. Fernando’s position in qualifying again reflects where we think our level of competitiveness is at the moment. But Nelson unfortunately made a mistake during his important lap in Q2 and is probably not showing everything he is capable of.

Race outlook: The race will be difficult tomorrow. The wind has already caused problems today and is forecast to be even stronger tomorrow. Strategically it will be important to look after the tyres, but I’m confident that we can have a strong points-scoring finish.