Formula 1

Red Bull F1 British GP - Silverstone Qualifying Report

Silverstone Circuit

Published: Jul 9, 2011, 3:16 PM

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Car 2 MARK WEBBER, Position: POLE POSITION (3rd Practice – P3, 1:31.829)

“I’ve always enjoyed driving here, but you still have to put it all together. You don’t get these results without applying yourself. It was a very mixed session for all of us, even in the build up with yesterday’s rain.

Polesitter Mark Webber, Red Bull Racing, Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull Racing, Fernando Alonso, Scuderia Ferrari

Polesitter Mark Webber, Red Bull Racing, Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull Racing, Fernando Alonso, Scuderia Ferrari

Photo by: xpb.cc

It was important to make sure every lap counted, as you never knew if it was going to be the one that counted for your main grid position, so even in Q2 you had to make sure you weren’t caught out. In the end I’m happy with the job we did; it’s easy to slip up in conditions like that from a logistical point of view and also from the driver’s perspective, so it was a good job by the team and we’re in a good position for tomorrow’s race.”

Car 1 SEBASTIAN VETTEL, Position: 2nd (3rd Practice – P1, 1:31.401)

“I think it was a difficult session with the changing conditions. I think when it starts to rain here it can be on different parts of the circuit, so it’s quite difficult to see where it’s wet and where it’s fine, so you rely on the out lap or the previous lap. If you go flat out and hit a damp area, it’s very easy to go off track.

Custom_Caption

Custom_Caption

Photo by: xpb.cc

So, I think it wasn’t easy today, but in the end it was mostly dry. It’s a shame we couldn’t get the second run in Q3, I would have loved to have challenged Mark again, but he got a good lap. It was a very good result for us, especially with all the talk that was going on into this race, so it’s good to see that we’re still on top of our game and can produce quick lap times. Anything can happen tomorrow, I think this circuit is tough on tyres, so we will see what we get tomorrow.”

CHRISTIAN HORNER:

“After so much off circuit focus, it was a relief to finally get into the grand prix weekend in very difficult conditions. Both drivers did a great job to navigate though Q1 and Q2 and the first run proved to be the crucial in Q3; it was nip and tuck between the drivers and Mark produced an excellent lap to claim his second pole and the team’s ninth of the season. We can see that Ferrari is pretty close, but today was a huge performance for the team.”

Mark produced an excellent lap to claim his second pole

Author

CYRIL DUMONT (Renault):

“So, first of all I’m really pleased for everyone in the factory for this result – it’s very good for Red Bull and for Renault. I think the session was quite difficult with all the climatic changes, so it’s great to be one and two again. I think engine-wise it was a difficult weekend also with all the changing technical directives that were issued. Even with the final rule clarification, we got this good result, so let’s see tomorrow when we will aim to convert these positions into points.”

Adrian Newey has taken on the challenge of Silverstone many times in his career, but what was it like for our Chief Technical Officer the first time he ran a race car around here….

THE FIRST TIME I… RACED AT SILVERSTONE (ADRIAN NEWEY)

My first race as an engineer at Silverstone was in 1982, a year and a half after I’d left university. I’d moved on from my first job at Fittipaldis to March, where basically I wore two hats, one as a junior draftsman in the drawing office during the week and the other as a race engineer on the March Engineering Formula 2 team. We hadn’t actually done any pre-season testing – well we had, but I hadn’t been there – so the first time I ever put on a set of headphones was for that Silverstone race.

My first race as an engineer at Silverstone was in 1982

Adrian Newey

I was engineering Christian Danner. It was a very wet weekend and I had never been on that side of the pit lane before, let alone worn a set of headphones, so I was completely out of my depth. I didn’t really know what I was doing. In the race, Christian ran out of fuel. Initially, I think he thought I hadn’t put enough fuel in the car when in fact the problem was actually a fuel leak, I’m glad to say. Anyway, in the immediate aftermath, the outcome was that I was fired and Christian asked if he could have a different engineer. So that was my first experience at Silverstone!

As a driver the experience was a little more positive. My first race as a hobby driver was in my Ford GT40 in a one-hour race. You could either do it as two-driver or one-driver and I did it as a one-driver event, with a compulsory pit stop in the middle. It was the first year of Silverstone Classic and it was the main GT race for pre-‘65 cars – and I won it! So, as a driver, my debut was a bit more successful than as an engineer.

By: Red Bull

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