Williams Martini Racing F1 Chinese GP qualifying review 16.04.2016: Chinese GP Qualifying Shanghai International Circuit Saturday, April 16th 2016 Qualifying Notes

Chinese GP Qualifying
Shanghai International Circuit
Saturday, April 16th 2016



 
Qualifying Notes


•    Valtteri Bottas qualified fifth and Felipe Massa 11th for the Chinese Grand Prix

•    Felipe missed out on making it through to Q3 after a red flag brought Q2 to a premature end

•    Valtteri set his fastest time of the weekend so far on his final run in Q3.



Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering: If we start with the positives, and I think there were plenty of them, It was a really great lap from Valtteri.


He dragged the most out of the car and I’m very happy with that, as was he when he crossed the line. So that’s absolutely fantastic.


We’ve actually moved up a bit, in respect to the frontrunners, as we’ve made up a bit of time through some good car changes here.


They’re starting to pay dividends and help us learn more about the car. On the other hand, Felipe was desperately unlucky but we have a free tyre choice starting from 11th tomorrow.
 




Valtteri Bottas: It was a good qualifying for me, and as a team I think fifth was the maximum position. It felt great to do the lap on my second run in Q3, it was clearly my best lap of the weekend, so that was a good feeling.


It’s always nice to finish qualifying knowing you’ve made the most out of it and as a team I think we are in a good position for tomorrow.
 



Felipe Massa: That’s not the position I wanted to have. I was a little bit unlucky with the red flag, but tomorrow in the race you never know.


We have to try and do the best we can. I hope choosing the right tyres will have a positive effect, we will see tomorrow, but I’m not really happy with my position.
 
 


Track    Shanghai International Circuit      Weather    Overcast, drying track

Lap Length    5.451kms / 3.387 miles    Temperature    Air:22-23°C Track:23-25°C
Pos    Driver    Team    Q1    Q2    Q3


1.    N. Rosberg    Mercedes    1:37.669    1:36.240    1:35.402
2.    D. Ricciardo    Mercedes    1:37.672    1:36.815    1:35.917
3.    K. Raikkonen    Ferrari    1:37.347    1:36.118    1:35.972

5.    V. Bottas    WILLIAMS MARTINI RACING    1:37.537 (3rd)    1:36.831 (5th)    1:36.296
11.    F. Massa    WILLIAMS MARTINI RACING    1:38.016 (9th)    1:37.347    -
                                         
 
 
 
- Sophie Ogg, photos Williams