Japanese GP: Red Bull qualifying report

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT MOUNT FUJI - Eight trillion tonnes of papier mache involved in building it, construction took 67 years and each year six million tonnes used in repairing sections damaged by rain - Every year 3,000 workers of Hai de Hai ...

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT MOUNT FUJI

- Eight trillion tonnes of papier mache involved in building it, construction took 67 years and each year six million tonnes used in repairing sections damaged by rain

- Every year 3,000 workers of Hai de Hai Decorators (Shizuoku Branch) are employed to paint snow on top of the mountain for Christmas cards.

- The caravan park inside the crater is currently closed for refurbishment.

- It is a little known fact, keep secret by the clever Japanese, that on the less touristed western side of the mountain there is an escalator to the top. It takes four hours and 7minutes to ascend to the summit, with a toilet break and a sandwich shop at the half way point.

- The escalator is currently out of order, but if you were to climb it, you would walk up 76,876 steps and it would take a day and a half.

Car 9 DAVID COULTHARD, Position 11th

"It was very close today. That was one of my better qualifying sessions, each of my laps were very tidy. On the last lap I was quicker going into the final corner, but I seemed to drag more speed going into the apex, which made me very slow down to the start/finish straight. I would love to have got through to Q3, as it would have meant more driving in the car on low fuel, but I don't think there was much more I could have got out of the car with the balance I had."

Car 10 MARK WEBBER, Position 13th

"I wasn't quick enough today and when you don't get the times you don't go through. I didn't get it together in Q2 and you pay the price. There was more to get from the car, but I over drove on the last sector. It was a shame as I had had a good feeling for the car both yesterday and this morning, but qualifying didn't seem to work out for us today. It will be difficult from there tomorrow."

CHRISTIAN HORNER: "While it's disappointing not to make it into Q3, David drove well in both sessions and was unlucky to miss the final cut by just 0.08secs, but 11th obviously leaves him free to pick his strategy for tomorrow. Mark didn't manage to string his best three sectors together, which leaves a lot of work for him from 13th on the grid tomorrow."

FABRICE LOM, Renault, Principal Engineer, Track Support: "That was disappointing not to get into Q3. DC had a good session and was very, very close to getting through to Q3, I think he was just 0.08secs off. At least this is a track where you should be able to overtake and gain positions in the dry, so we'll have to make sure we're ready to make the most of anything that might happen ahead of us tomorrow."