Close To The Front - Hungarian Gp, Saturday 28 July

Romain Grosjean secured a best-ever front row starting spot with the second fastest time in qualifying for tomorrow’s Hungarian Grand Prix, whilst Kimi Räikkönen will start from fifth position after a searing hot session at the Hungaroring.

Kimi Räikkönen, E20-05. Q : P5, 1:21.730. FP3 : P6, 1:21.953

“Not a bad qualifying performance for sure, but it’s a bit disappointing I didn’t go faster when it mattered. The car feels good, but I didn’t get the crucial lap together at the right time. Let’s see what happens tomorrow.”

Romain Grosjean, E20-04. Q : P2, 1.21.366 FP3 : P7 1:22.110

“Qualifying was very tight and it was difficult to see where we would end up so on the front row is fantastic. We came here after a difficult weekend at Hockenheim and to be honest I didn’t get off to the best start yesterday. We worked hard to improve things overnight and the car felt much better in practice this morning. I’m very happy and just a little bit surprised to be P2 on the grid. Today’s job is done, let’s see what we can do tomorrow.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director :

“It’s great to be on the front row.”

How do you assess today’s qualifying performance ?

“It’s been a good day. It’s great to be on the front row with Romain. We’d like to have seen Kimi a little further up the order – especially as his Q2 time was better than he achieved in Q3 – but overall it’s been an excellent weekend so far ; let’s hope that continues tomorrow. Our target has been to improve our qualifying performance ; we’ve clearly demonstrated that today.”

What can be achieved in the race ?

“We’re starting from the front row so there is good potential. It’s a difficult circuit to overtake – one of the hardest next to Monaco and Singapore. A good start will clearly be very important. After the start, even with the DRS, the straight is not long enough to mount an overtaking bid unless a car ahead is suffering from tyre degradation or something else to slow them down.”

How do both tyre compounds perform here ?

“Both the medium and soft compounds have exhibited pretty low degradation so we have no worries or concerns about durability, even with high temperatures.”

Does the weather forecast throw any curve balls ?

“Conditions similar to those we’ve seen over the last couple of days have been forecast. There is potential for some rain, but it’s so hot here there could be thunder showers like we saw on Friday. We’re ready for whatever the weather throws at us.”