Lotus Renault Abu Dhabi GP qualifying report

Lotus Renault press release

Vitaly Petrov, R31-06
Q1: P6, 1.40.955, 10 laps
Q2: P12, 1.40.919, 8 laps

Bruno Senna, R31-04
Q1: P12, 1.41.391, 9 laps
Q2: P14, 1.41.079, 6 laps

Lotus Renault GP will have a lot of work to do during tomorrow’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after a difficult qualifying session at the Yas Marina Circuit. Despite the session taking place in the early evening, it was still hot as air temperatures reached 26°C.

Bruno Senna, Renault F1 Team

Photo by: xpb.cc

Both Bruno Senna and Vitaly Petrov went out early in Q1, putting in a five-lap run on the Pirelli medium tyres before switching to the softs for the final seven-minute push for Bruno and six-minute push for Vitaly.

Vitaly had just enough time to put in another flying lap. He duly nailed a time of 1min 40.955secs to seal 6th place and make it into Q2. Bruno’s 1min 41.391secs was good enough to break into the top 12.

In Q2 Vitaly and Bruno were heading out again on soft tyres – when the session was red-flagged for Felipe Massa knocking over a bollard. That meant Bruno and Vitaly only had nine minutes left to set a lap when the session resumed for the final run. Vitaly set a time of 1min 40.919secs to take 12th on the grid and Bruno put in a lap of 1min 41.079 to go 14th.

In the final Q3 shoot-out, Sebastian Vettel took pole position for Red Bull with a lap of 1min 38.481secs ahead of the McLarens Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.