Williams got one car into Q3 during qualifying today as Rubens Barrichello secured P9 and Nico Hulkenberg P11 on the Monaco grid.
This is Barrichello’s third foray into Q3 this season, and the Brazilian was happy with his ninth place: “I enjoyed myself out there today and I'm happy with ninth. I took everything out of the car that I could and I don't think we could have done much better. We all thought traffic was going to be an issue this afternoon, but really it was fine. Monaco is a good track for our car so hopefully we will do well tomorrow.”
This weekend is Nico Hulkenberg’s first F1 outing around Monaco but, despite his credible grid position, was still disappointed to be behind his teammate. “The car felt pretty competitive,” said the German, “but my lap wasn't perfect and I'm disappointed to have missed out on Q3 by a fraction.
“Eleventh is not bad, but when your team mate is ahead of you it's never very pleasant. It's still possible to have a good race from 11th though and I'm hoping for a decent result in my first Monaco Grand Prix.”
Williams technical director Sam Michael had praise for both his drivers at the end of qualifying and is hoping both will get off the line well in tomorrow’s race: “It was a good effort to get one car into the top ten, but we were not quite fast enough to get both through.
“Rubens extracted everything he could from the car and Nico performed well considering it’s his first time in a Formula One car around Monaco. The development parts worked well here and we have more coming to the next three races. We’ll now focus our attention on getting good starts in the race.”
It was a good effort to get one car into the top ten, but we were not quite fast enough to get boththrough. Rubens extracted everything he could from the car and Nico performed well considering it’shis first time in a Formula One car around Monaco. The development parts worked well here and wehave more coming to the next three races. We’ll now focus our attention on getting good starts in therace.
