Korean GP: Williams qualifying report

Qualifying for the inaugural Korean Grand Prix yielded another top ten grid slot for Rubens Barrichello today, his tenth of the season, when he closed Q3 with the tenth quickest time of the afternoon. Nico Hulkenberg's final opportunity to post a flying lap in Q2 was compromised in turn 12 by a momentary lack of rear end stability. Consequently, Nico will start tomorrow's race from eleventh on the grid with the benefit of electing his first stint tyre choice.

Rubens Barrichello:
That was a great qualifying in that the spirit was very high. I went into Q3 knowing that we had four tenths to make up; I did a good lap and made up the difference so I'm delighted. We are still at the tail end of the top ten, and we don't seem to be as competitive as we expected we would be, but that's where we are. The track is quite slippery so I'm predicting a lot will happen in the race and I'm hoping we will get some points out of it.

Nico Hulkenberg:
It was as tight as we thought it was going to be out there today. It's always disappointing not to get into Q3. The lap I was on would have pushed me into the top ten, but I lost the rear in turn 12 and was forced to abort the lap. P11 is still a good position to start from. We have the flexibility to choose our tyres so we will give that thought overnight and come up with a good strategy. There are overtaking opportunities here so there's still a chance to score points tomorrow.

Patrick Head, Director of Engineering:
Of course it's disappointing not to get two cars into the top ten, but I don't think we're as strong here as we have been at other tracks. It's going to be a very interesting race as we understand there's some rain coming. That will make tyre strategy interesting, so we're looking forward to it.

-source: williams