Lotus-Renault GP F1 Team News & Updates: Who said what after qualifying in Monaco

Ferrari

To follow...

Force India

Paul Di Resta - 14th "Once again I think that P14 is a fair reflection of our pace this weekend. Everybody knows that qualifying is very important here and so I pushed hard to get as high up the grip as possible, but the race is long and anything can happen tomorrow afternoon. So I'll just try my best to stay out of trouble and try to make some progress with the strategy. It's my first weekend racing a Formula One car at Monaco so I've lots to learn but I'm really looking forward to the race tomorrow."

Adrian Sutil - 15th "It's disappointing that we couldn't fight for Q3, but the pace was not there today. I was bit unlucky on my last run in Q2 when Petrov wasn't watching his mirrors and I had to abort one of my flying laps. I did another lap, but my tyres were going off by then and so I probably could have been a little bit higher up. For the race tomorrow we know that overtaking is difficult and making the strategy work won't be easy, but we will be ready for any opportunities that come our way."

Robert Fernley, deputy team principal "The qualifying session at Monaco is arguably the most important of the year because we know how hard it is to overtake around here. So we went all out today to get both cars as high up the grid as possible and hoping we might squeeze through to Q3. In the end we just missed out, but all the times were incredibly close with just a few tenths making the difference. For the race tomorrow we will try and make the strategy work to bring Paul and Adrian into contention. Historically this race has seen quite a high attrition rate and so we need to capitalise on any incidents in the race to move forward and hopefully challenge for points."

HRT

To follow...

Lotus

Heikki Kovalainen - 18th "Before I talk about the sessions today I want to say that it's good to hear that Sergio is conscious and talking. I've had a big accident myself and know what it's like for the team, friends and family as you wait for news, so I hope he's back on track soon.

"In quali it was quite a tricky session for me today, but I'm reasonably pleased with where I ended up. My first run didn't really go to plan - I definitely didn't get the best out of the tyres so I had to really go for it with the second set and that was definitely better, but not quite enough to get into Q2. But the gap to the cars ahead is pretty close and I think we'll be ok tomorrow."

Jarno Trulli - 19th "That was a bit unlucky for us. The car's not been responding as I'd like all day and the tyres were behaving strangely - the first set was mega and the second set were really poor, so I'm not too sure where we're going wrong. I know I could have gone much quicker on the second run with more rubber on the track but for some reason I was only marginally faster which is why we ended up where we did. Tomorrow in the race we'll keep our heads down, run to our plan and see what happens around us. I'm sure there will be places to pick up so let's wait and see. I also want to say that I hope Sergio is ok. That was a massive shunt and I hope we have more good news about him soon."

Mike Gascoyne, chief technical officer "Firstly we obviously hope that Sergio Perez is in good shape following his accident. Our best wishes are with him and the whole Sauber team. For us that was a reasonably good qualifyign session. Jarno was reporting more grip than in the morning but he couldn't get the most out of his second set of tyres, but overall we are close to the group in front and we look forward to a strong race tomorrow."

Riad Asmat, chief executive officer "To begin with I want to say that I hope Sergio Perez recovers quickly. He had a big accident and the early news is that he's taken a knock but is ok so that's encouraging.

"On track I think we knew we would probably struggle to get into Q2 here as the performance difference between the tyre compounds doesn't give us the same chance we had in Spain to play with the strategies. Despite that we have had a good, reliable weekend so far and the aim is definitely to have both cars cross the finish line tomorrow. We have obviously had a couple of pieces of good news so far this weekend so perhaps tomorrow will bring us something else to cheer."

McLaren

To follow...

Mercedes

Michael Schumacher - 5th "First of all, I am happy to hear that Sergio seems to be well, which is obviously the most important news. The incident reminded me a lot of what happened to Karl Wendlinger in 1994 and it shows the quality of the safety improvements the FIA have implemented since then, especially the side impact tests. As for my starting position, I benefited a little from the circumstances and probably P7 on the grid would have been more realistic. Having said that, our car looks better in race trim this weekend, so with another good start, I will try to make the most out of it. Overtaking is known to be more difficult here than at most other circuits, so it will come down to having the right strategy, especially because the tyres should last longer than in recent races and we can expect fewer stops. I think it will be an exciting race."

Nico Rosberg - 8th "I have to say a special thank you to the team and the attitude everybody had today after my accident. This morning, I made a little mistake and lost control of the car but nobody was angry about that when I came back to the garage: the guys simply came up to me and said, let's go for it in qualifying! The circumstances in Q3 were a bit tricky because the red flag came at the worst moment for me. When we went back out, it was not possible to do a fast lap because the tyres weren't working properly, but I am still happy to have made it to Q3 after such a tough day. I also want to send my best wishes to Sergio and we are all pleased to hear that he is ok after such a big accident."

Ross Brawn, team principal "We have achieved a reasonable result with all things taken into account today. The crash that Nico had this morning took a huge amount of effort from the boys to repair and I must pay tribute to the team for the fantastic job to get his car ready for qualifying. Nico's programme understandably didn't run very smoothly in qualifying and he suffered with the timing of the red flag. Michael had a much smoother day and did a good job of putting the car in fifth place which is an excellent result. I think we can look forward to a reasonable race tomorrow. We were all horrified to see the severity of Sergio Perez's accident, particularly as it was so similar in nature to Nico's crash this morning. It is a credit to the FIA and all of the teams that such progress has been made in terms of safety. It's one of those moments that really help us realise what a challenging sport this can be and how important it is to keeping improving our safety standards. We are all really pleased that Sergio seems to be ok."

Norbert Haug, motorsport director "The most important result from today is that Sergio Perez is ok after his crash and we wish him a speedy recovery. Our entire team did a fantastic job to put Nico's car back together in less than two hours after his crash in the morning session. It was not a foregone conclusion that he would be able to compete in qualifying, but our great guys managed it. Michael did a good job to put his car in fifth position on the third row. Nico did not set a competitive time on new tyres before the interruption to Q3; after the restart, the track conditions had changed and he was lacking grip. We hope for a good race tomorrow after our cars showed respectable speed in all the sessions."

Red Bull

To follow...

Renault

Vitaly Petrov - 11th "We should be comfortably in the top 10, so naturally starting 11th on the grid is not particularly satisfying. We have found the super soft tyres challenging this weekend and I only managed to take off a few tenths when I used them, so we need to look at why this has happened. We should really be a second quicker than we are, so we will look at the data this evening and see what needs to be improved to ensure we are performing better tomorrow - we are going to have to be very much on our game strategically come race time. On another note, Sergio's crash was a tough one. He seems to have lost control exactly where I had a problem on Thursday. We were teammates in GP2 so I hope he's OK and I wish him all the best."

Nick Heidfeld - 16th "There were no problems with the car and I did have clear laps but obviously we weren't as fast as we want to be. After Thursday's running we knew we still had work to do, but I thought we would be able to make it into the top ten. Unlike in Barcelona, there won't be much overtaking here because of the nature of the track but we will be pushing hard. Maybe if we use KERS in an unconventional way, where the driver in front has not expected it, there will be an opportunity, but it certainly won't be like the last race. Of course, anything can happen with safety cars and other cars not finishing so it's important that we finish and push as hard as we possibly can."

Sauber

To follow...

Toro Rosso

To follow...

Virgin

Timo Glock - 21st "That was pretty much the perfect Saturday for me. Free Practice went well this morning and that was one of the best qualifying laps I've ever driven here at Monaco. I put everything into it. A couple of times I just brushed the wall and had a couple of slides close to the barriers and in the end I just got a massive lap out of it. Just before the crucial lap I said to my engineers "This is all or nothing", and it turned out to be four tenths quicker than the lap before! Big thanks to the team - they did a good job and I took my chance to make a bit of a difference. In the end we are only a tenth away from one of the Toro Rossos and right with Lotus, so I'm quite happy with my job today."

Jérôme D'Ambrosio - 22nd "Not a great Qualifying session for me. I think we went a bit backwards compared to this morning and Thursday, so we really need to understand why we didn't continue to make progress. We just need to focus on that and understand and then see how we get on in the race."

John Booth, team principal "First of all, that was a very big crash for Perez today and we wait for positive news regarding his condition. For our team, after a day spent looking through all the data, we applied most of the setup changes that we had done on Friday to both cars this morning. Whilst initially both drivers reported a loss of track grip, both were reasonably happy with the setup of the cars. The red flags interrupted our programme slightly but we still came out of the session reasonably happy. In a place where mechanical setup makes a huge difference, the engineers have done a good job to optimise both cars. Timo's lap in qualifying was perhaps one of the best we have seen from him and it's good to see him enjoying himself around a circuit where the driver can make the most difference. On Jérôme's car a small setup change was made before qualifying, going back to a setting that he had run on Thursday and, at the time, he was happier with. Unfortunately this was perhaps not the way to go today, however overall we are pleased with his progress over the weekend so far. Looking ahead to tomorrow, we will be looking for a solid race from both cars. There's been a lot of action on the track so far and we'll be staying sharp to maximise any opportunity that comes our way."