Doornbos Laments Wrong Tyre Choice

Robert Doornbos believes his Minardi team were unlucky in today's qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix

Both the Dutchman and teammate Christijan Albers chose full wet weather tyres to complete their flying laps when the track was still not at its worst.

The tyre choice proved to be wrong, as the track was not sufficiently wet.

Despite that, the team enjoyed a good day, with Doornbos finishing in 15th and Albers in 13th.

"I think we were a little unlucky with the tyre choice, as it was just on the borderline between extreme wets and intermediates at the start of qualifying," lamented Doornbos.

"What do you do? In the end, we elected to go with the wets, which probably weren't ideal for the conditions, but with the rain falling heavily again at the end of the session, and several drivers therefore not able to better my time, we will start the race in a reasonable position."

Albers added: "We had a really good car set-up for the wet, and our times were very competitive this morning," Albers said. "In qualifying, however, the track conditions had changed considerably, and on intermediate tyres, I just wasn't able to set the sort of time we were looking for.

"Even though I wasn't particularly happy with our qualifying performance, the weather conditions caused other drivers problems as well, and as a result, we have a decent grid position. We also have a sensible fuel strategy for tomorrow, and I'm therefore looking forward to a good race."