Saturday: A victory in itself for Senna and LRGP

Bruno Senna – 17th and 9th:

« I am very happy. This is not what I expected at the beginning of the weekend, but it is pleasant news. We knew the car had good potential here, but we weren’t sure about the level of that potential. And the R31 performed well today!

In Q2, the team prepared the car well, and we did an excellent job. It’s a shame that we only had scrubbed tires in Q3 because we could have achieved an even better result. That said, finding ourselves in Q3 was already a victory in itself.

Vitaly Petrov – 11th and 15th:

« Naturally, I am disappointed because we had gradually improved the car over the weekend, and we thought the best was yet to come. We adjusted the car’s settings to adapt to the temperature change between the third practice session and qualifying. As for the qualifying itself, I don’t feel like I made many mistakes. I did a fast lap at the end of Q1, but then I lost grip in my lap during Q2, which relegated me to where I am. »

Alan Permane, Director of Track Operations:

We are thrilled for Bruno. He delivered a superb performance for this race in front of his home crowd. He made some good laps when it counted, and he deserves this position. Vitaly was unlucky. He didn’t complete his good lap at the crucial moment, but overall, we are happy with the team’s performance and look forward to the race tomorrow.

We have made small changes to Bruno’s car, particularly on the front wing and camber. He obviously felt better at the wheel during the qualifying than in the morning session.

The weather forecasts suggest that thundery showers are likely and this will give us something to think about. It could make for an interesting race for the season finale.

[From the official Lotus Renault GP press release]