Qualifying report

Vettel and Webber lock up Australian Grand Prix front row

They had to wait until Sunday morning to nail down the front row for the Formula One season opener in Melbourne.

Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: XPB Images

Car 1 SEBASTIAN VETTEL, Position: POLE POSITION! (3rd Practice – P12, 1:29.808) “Obviously I was very happy with the result, but with the adjusted schedule we can’t be too euphoric right now – in a few hours the race is coming up, so it’s head down again to get on with that. Obviously it’s a very good result for myself and the team and with Mark in second we have a front row – it’s a surprise after not knowing where we were in winter testing.”

Car 2 MARK WEBBER, Position: 2nd, (3rd Practice – P13, 1:30.073) “I think with such intense conditions like yesterday and today, it’s always easy to make a meal of it, but we didn’t. It was slippery yesterday and we came back again today for a very short explosive session; it’s all over in a flash. We needed to get things right, I would have liked two laps but we finished up the grid at the right end. The weather can change very quickly here, so it’s always hard to make a call.”

CHRISTIAN HORNER: “A fantastic way to start the season with a front row lock out. Both drivers delivered fantastic laps on their one and only lap on slick tyres. It’s the best possible starting place with Sebastian on pole and Mark alongside him for the first race of the season. We’ve only got a few hours until the start of the race, so it’s going to be a very busy afternoon for the mechanics.”

(Renault) THIERRY SALVI: “It was quite a tough qualifying session for the first race of the year with the time change. Regarding engine usage we are of course okay with it being the first event. There were no particular issues, Seb and Mark were happy with the engine behaviour and we don’t have any issues with temperatures. You can see with the weather that we have to work a lot on the drivability to make sure the drivers are happy.”