Q & A with Sebastien Buemi

The Swiss driver, however, was not completely happy with his day after two crashes.

AUTOSPORT heard from Buemi after qualifying.

Q. How do you feel after a mixed qualifying session?

Sebastien Buemi: "As we showed this morning we are really fast on this circuit, especially compared to the other guys, it's a bit of a shame that we couldn't show it in the qualifying with the small issues I had. Even with a broken car I could qualify P5 in Q1 - we had a problem with the diffuser, the rear wing and the crashbox. Even so I was p5 and Q2 7th, I could have done better but I made a mistake in the last lap.

"I tried to make sure I could get to Q3 and I pushed a bit too hard. So I'm quite happy with my performance, the car is a lot quicker and I really want to thank the team as they repaired the car quite well after the crash in Q1. And arriving in Q3 for the second time this year is really good. So I'm really looking forward to the race tomorrow and maybe some guys will get a penalty because of the yellow flag, so we will see what happens..."

Q. And your car looks quick this weekend, with P2 this morning?

SB: "It's a case of having a good car at the right moment and I'm very happy with my car, especially this morning. I didn't know the circuit in dry conditions and had one of the fastest laps. We are pushing as hard as we can and also with the simulator back at base to learn the circuit. All those things together and the hard work of the team means that we have a good car for the last few races and we are pretty confident we can achieve good results."

Q. Why did there seem to be a problem for the Red Bull cars at Degner?

SB: "At that point you've got a kerb on the inside which you can't really see, it's quite high. On the outside is a kerb that is too high and as soon as we touch it the car is flying. I think even Kovalainen had a problem there. It's 250km/h, it's really fast and in the end think the problem for everybody is that you don't want to turn too early, as if you hit the inside kerb you could break the car. And the gravel on the exit means that you can decelerate the car before the tyre wall."

Q. Are this year's cars more difficult for rookies - and with the little running here and this type of track has exacerbated the problem?

SB: "I think the field is so closely matched that if you want to get into Q3 you really need to put yourself on the limit. There is maybe only Vettel today who could take it easy on Q2. Everyone needs to be pushing hard, on low fuel, new tyres if they want to do it. But if you push too hard then it's likely that you are going to crash, because it's over the limit. For sure, for the young drivers that don't know the circuit, in the wet, with little running yesterday - all that together makes it difficult for the qualifying session."

Q. When you went wide at Spoon, did you think you could save the car?

SB: "I didn't know the front wing was off, to be honest, until I got into corner 15, I didn't know that the suspension was destroyed, so I thought that I could come back to the pits, get a new front wing and then continue. I was quite lucky to be honest. The lap before the crash has enough to get into Q3. So it's a bit of a shame, but it happens and you don't know at the time you are P7. So I was pushing hard until the end."

Q. You still have a chance of a good result though tomorrow...

SB: "Yes, with the pace of Brawns, we are close to them, so we'll see what happens in the race. We have quite a good strategy and both compounds worked really well for us, especially the prime. So I'm looking forward to the race."

Q. How big was the pressure on the team after the first accident you had?

SB: "I was quite happy with myself at that point to be honest, we wanted to do two stints but with the traffic it was a bit difficult, so we just did one outing - so just two timed laps, but I lost a bit of confidence in this corner and only had two chances. I think the first time I did p4 or p5 and was really happy, so even crashing did not make me slow. So to see that I could do the lap straight away, with a good car means I can save the tyres. At the end of Q1 I just had one set of option tyres used."