Bahrain GP: Qualifying press conference
Bahrain GP: Qualifying press conference

DRIVERS TV UNILATERAL Congratulations Nico, you're first ever top four start in Bahrain and you did it in style. Were you as surprised as some people that pole was yours today? We'll talk more about the race in a couple of moments. Sebastian, you're qualifying today: was that the pace of the Red Bull or was it a lap that could have been better? Are you disappointed with second place? Today, Fernando, was all about the dash for pole, though, and it was a lap, your second lap, that contained a couple of errors right at the end and you came back into the pits. Was that trying too hard because Nico's lap was too fast or were you just not happy with the balance of the car or what? Nico, both Sebastian and Fernando have hinted at tyre degradation sorting out tomorrow's race. It's something that Mercedes have suffered from in the past, so is today your day for celebration and is tomorrow just a day to limit your losses?
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR Q: (Frederic Ferret - L'Equipe) Question to all three drivers: are you surprised by the time of the two Lotus? SV: Did they run in Q3 or not? [Räikkönen qualified and ran] Yeah. Same as Nico, it's a big surprise. I don't know, that's why I was asking. I don't know what's their plan for tomorrow but yeah, they were quite quick this morning, for sure. It didn't matter the compound, they were quite quick all weekend so something must have gone wrong. Fernando? Q: (Livio Oricchio - O Estado de Sao Paulo) Nico, the race simulation you did in free practice, you have indication that you have a good pace for the race or maybe it will be like in the last races where you were very fast in qualifying, not so much in race? NR: I think it's not going to be... we're not going to be as quick as we were in qualifying compared to everybody else. I think it's much closer tomorrow on race fuel but you just have to wait. There's so many factors that influence that, you just have to wait and see. For sure it will be much more difficult, yeah. Q: (Andrea Cremonesi - La Gazzetta dello Sport) Nico, when we met yesterday, we were joking a little bit with bad words in Italian about your situation. Q: (Andrea Cremonesi - La Gazzetta dello Sport) We were joking with a bad word... Q: (Andrea Cremonesi - La Gazzetta dello Sport) Yes, I know, my apologies. How did you improve the car? Q: (Andrea Cremonesi - La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, can you explain to us why you saved all three sets of the harder tyres? Do believe that there will be four pit stops tomorrow? Q: (Carlos Miguel - La Gaceta) Fernando, are you afraid of Massa starting on hard tyres in fourth position? And after your 1m 32.8s on hard, could it have been better to qualify on hard tyres? |

Bahrain GP: final starting grid
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