Williams were denied two cars through to Q3 in Korea by what they termed a “momentary lack of rear end stability” on Nico Hulkenberg‘s final flying lap in Q2.
The German will start tomorrow’s inaugural Korean Grand Prix from eleventh place, just behind teammate Rubens Barrichello.
“That was a great qualifying in that the spirit was very high,” said the Brazilian. “I went into Q3 knowing that we had four tenths to make up; I did a good lap and made up the difference so I'm delighted. We are still at the tail end of the top ten, and we don't seem to be as competitive as we expected we would be, but that's where we are. The track is quite slippery so I'm predicting a lot will happen in the race and I'm hoping we will get some points out of it.”
Hulkenberg admitted to the mistake which cost him a top-ten grid position but, like his teammate, is expecting to make up positions in the race. “It was as tight as we thought it was going to be out there today,” he said. “It's always disappointing not to get into Q3. The lap I was on would have pushed me into the top ten, but I lost the rear in turn 12 and was forced to abort the lap. P11 is still a good position to start from. We have the flexibility to choose our tyres so we will give that thought overnight and come up with a good strategy. There are overtaking opportunities here so there's still a chance to score points tomorrow.”
Patrick Head said that weather may play a part in the race result tomorrow but concedes that the FW32 isn’t as strong at this circuit as it has been at other venues this season. “Of course it's disappointing not to get two cars into the top ten, but I don't think we're as strong here as we have been at other tracks,” said the Williams Director of Engineering. “It's going to be a very interesting race as we understand there's some rain coming. That will make tyre strategy interesting, so we're looking forward to it.”
