Daniel Ricciardo - Photo Credit: HRT
Daniel Ricciardo failed to set a lap time during qualifying for the Korean Grand Prix today after his HRT developed a water pressure problem that forced him to return to his garage.
The young Australian, who will start from the back of the grid in tomorrow’s race, only completed eleven laps during the free practice session this morning because of a water leak in the cooling system of his F111.
“This morning we had some problems which the guys tried to fix and we made it out on to the track before the end of the session,” he recalls. “But in the afternoon, already on the first timed lap, my race engineer came on the radio and told me to box because they saw another issue coming up on the data. I'm sure it will be solved and we will try and have a good race tomorrow. Looking at today, as long as we get some miles done then that will be better than nothing”.
Vitantonio Liuzzi was within three tenths of out-qualifying Virgin Racing driver Jerome D’Ambrosio, but will start on the back row of the grid, just ahead of his HRT team-mate.
“Overall I was quite happy with the balance and the car was reacting quite well,” said the Italian. “We've had a good Saturday. In qualifying we were a few tenths behind one of the Virgins and a bit more off the other one, so we need to understand the reason behind this gap.
“We lost a lot in the third sector because of graining and this will be key tomorrow because the race will be really hard. There will be a lot of problems with the tyres, especially the supersofts, and we will face a lot of pit stops. We just have to be in the right place at the right time to try and beat our closest competitors”.
