Q & A with Karun Chandhok

And despite no prior running and managing just seven laps, the Indian put on a solid performance to finish just a second behind his HRT team-mate Bruno senna.

AUTOSPORT talked to Chandhok after qualifying.

Q. So you finally got to do some laps in qualifying...

Karun Chandhok: It was a bit last-minute, but we got everything together and we got out. The floor was being bolted on as the session was starting. It was just a shakedown; the engine was on a safe map and we just wanted to make sure that we were OK for the race tomorrow.

I just made sure that we could go up and down through the gears, that everything worked and that the seat was okay. It's a relief to drive and to see what the new bit of the circuit is like! It's actually narrower and bumpier than you think. I can't remember anyone in F1 who has gone straight into qualifying on their F1 debut in a new team!

Q. What was going through your mind as you went onto track knowing that Sebastian Vettel and co were charging round?

KC: I was quite calm about it. Our objective wasn't to set a laptime. It was just to make sure that there were no leaks and that the engine isn't going to go pop. It was like one of those days on the Silverstone Stowe doing a shakedown, except on a slightly bigger stage! I didn't want to get in anyone's way and got a lot of pickup on the tyres trying to keep out of the way. We're not here to upset anyone, we're just here to be respectable and do the best job that we can.

Q. You went out and did seven consecutive laps whereas normally you'd do one installation lap and then check over the car. How impressive was that?

KC: I said to the team 'what do you want to do' because obviously every lap that I do is one more than I'd done all weekend. They were quite happy that it was safe to do it and if it had gone pop, we'd have stopped and we'd start at the back, which is what we are doing anyway. It was no safety risk. I trust Dallara to build a good car chassis-wise. It was just if the car stopped, it stopped.

Q. Given that you car has only done seven laps ever, do you have any realistic hope of finishing tomorrow's race?

KC: Well, it hasn't broken down! To be honest, once we got on track it does seem to keep going. All of our problems with the hydraulic systems have been leaving the garage in the first place. This morning, an hour before the session it looked OK. Then I got in the car, got strapped in, everything looked OK, we fired the engine up at eleven o'clock on the button ready to go and it wouldn't go into first gear because it lost hydraulic pressure just like that.

Once we get going, it seems reliable enough but the hydraulics seem to be a bit of a problem for us and Virgin. I understand that Lotus have done some modifications and managed to make their system work a bit better than ours in terms of reliability. There's a lot of work to be done to get to any competitive pace.

I'm really pleased for the mechanics on my side of the garage because they've had to fight so long to try and get the car running and it can be disheartening to see the other car going when they are working just as hard with as many sleepless nights. I'm pleased that they got to see the car run and without any unreliability.

Q. Do you feel like a Formula 1 driver?

KC: Well, being 10 seconds off the pace is not that much quicker than what I was driving last year! You feel like an F1 driver when you are on this side of the garage, but once you are in the garage it feels like another race team with a few more people.

Q. How long will it take to get this team to where

KC: The car that we will have in Barcelona is really the car that should have started the season. That's the target to really start chasing performance. I'm not sure exactly how many kilometres teams do on a weekend, but we are five or six thousand kilometres behind the game and for the first four weekends we are going to try and claim back at least the test mileage.

Q. Are you encouraged at how close you are to the Virgin and Lotus cars given how little running you've done?

KC: The downforce figures and the baseline figures look OK. We just haven't had time to exploit it. We have done no setup work; my car has been on the flat patch to make sure that the steering is straight and everything is OK. There's so much work that can be done and that needs to be done. For the medium-to-long term, we have good people involved in the team. The potential is there and the investment is quite stable. It's good to sit in the briefings with people like Geoff Willis and Toni Cuquerella who have worked with teams fighting for wins and championships recent and it does benefit us. But we have to remember that these guys have just started here very recently and it does take time.