Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
"I managed to do a fantastic lap in Q3, the most important one. I was really pleased with that. In Q2 I didn't have very good laps - I was struggling with the grip on the tyres, but I put everything together in Q3. Our championship starts now. What happened in the last race was incredible - we didn't expect that - and hopefully now we can have a good, consistent championship."
Kimi Raikkonen(Ferrari)
"I wasn't too happy with Q3, but I couldn't get any grip really and get the best out of it. It's going to be a long, hard race tomorrow and we don't know about the weather yet. The car has been quick here all week. Our car should be fast everywhere but when you start behind it is difficult to use your speed. Tomorrow should be different [to the Australian GP]. We'll see how well we start."
Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)
"There wasn't much grip in Q3 and I struggled to find it. We are quite a long way off the Ferraris - it will be interesting to see what the strategy is for tomorrow. It is not what I wanted. We changed some things today, I'm not sure if it was the right way to go, but we'll see tomorrow. I didn't do my job well. I wouldn't say we are on the back foot, but they've got a quick car. We took them on the first corner last year so we've got to remain positive. We've got to get good points and I think we can still do that."
Heikki Kovalainen(McLaren)
"Of course we were hoping to do a couple of places better. Both Ferraris have been pretty fast all weekend and we had nothing more to give today, third place was the maximum we could achieve. I am happy with that. It was a clean lap with no mistakes and like I said in Melbourne we go step-by-step as I get used to the team and the car. Our balance is very similar to what it was in Melbourne and we didn't see the pace of Ferrari there. We are still in a good position and the game is not over by any means."
Robert kubica (BMW)
"I'm quite happy with today's performance, although just a little something was missing for me to be on the second row of the grid. The unpredictable weather brought an additional thrill to the qualifying. With the set-up I chose, I knew that qualifying would not be easy for me, but over the weekend we have put a lot of effort into the race preparation so I'm optimistic for tomorrow."
Nick Heidfeld(BMW)
"I'm very disappointed about the outcome of Q3. The first corners of my last lap went smoothly, but then there were several cars driving very slowly on their in-laps. Apparently they had no information that the qualifying was still going on. Before turn four I lost a lot of time because both McLarens were cruising on the racing line. I think this has cost me about two tenths of a second, which would have meant being third instead of seventh. I just couldn't drive on the line I wanted and, even more importantly, could not brake where I wanted. However, I was very happy with my car in qualifying."
Jarno Trulli (Toyota)
"This has been a satisfying weekend so far. We have run without problems and the car has performed well and looked competitive. Today's lap time just shows that it's a big improvement compared to last year's car. So we are all very pleased with this result and it is definitely looking good for tomorrow's race. I've always performed well at this track. We just have to make sure that we finish the race without trouble because I believe we can score good points."
Timo Glock(Toyota)
"I'm happy to have made Q3 but that was a difficult qualifying for me. In free practice this morning I had a better feeling for the option tyres in a qualifying set-up but this afternoon I struggled to get the most out of them again. It was difficult to find the right set-up for it. In the end I was happy that I had a really good lap and a really good last sector to get into the top ten. Now we have to see how the weather goes but if it's dry it will be hard for me to get the most out of the tyres. This is a really wide circuit and that means there are more possibilities to overtake. Hopefully we can finish in the top ten or break into the points. That would be a good result."
Fernando Alonso (Renault)
"We achieved our first objective today, which was to get into Q3. We can now concentrate on our second objective which is to improve our pace in the race and to finish in the points. I could have done better in Q3 this afternoon as I was with Heidfeld on a fast lap while the others were going slowly, and that affected me a bit, which is a shame. I am sure that the race tomorrow will be interesting and I hope we can find our way into the points, just like in Melbourne. We must now concentrate on our preparation for the race tomorrow."
Nelson Piquet Jr (Renault)
"I am relatively satisfied with my qualifying this afternoon. I made good progress in the last free practice session this morning and my qualifying went without too many problems. Of course I must still improve, but I am not too far away from my team-mate and I cannot wait to see how the race goes tomorrow. My objective will be to do better than Melbourne and to reach the end of my second grand prix, and if possible to score some points."
Jensen Button (Honda)
"It was a good session and I'm very happy with the way it went. Position 11 through sheer speed is not too bad. I was the only driver out there on prime tyres I think, we weren't sure about our options [tyres] but they served other teams well."
Ruben Barrichello (Honda)
"It was unfortunate that we had a problem this morning with the gear selection. That limited my running and therefore when we went into qualifying we were playing catch-up all the time. However it was a good effort this afternoon and I'm happy with how our session developed to eventually finish in 14th position. It would have been nice to have more time this morning to set the car up a little better but we made the best of a difficult situation. If the changeable weather continues into tomorrow then being outside of the top ten provides more of an option to fine tune the strategy. Considering my lack of practice this morning, I'm pleased with my qualifying and 14th is a good position from which to attack the points tomorrow."
Mark Webber (Red Bull)
"Today went better than expected to be honest. We worked hard on the car yesterday and the guys did a great job to make the improvements that they did, so we've laid the foundations ahead of tomorrow's race. Q3 was quite tricky for a lot of people, as the grip level was lower than in Q2, but we're in a sensible position for the start of the race. If it's half as wild as Melbourne it will be interesting to see."
David Coulthard (Red Bull)
"I was a bit surprised as in qualifying I was slower in the first sector than I had been in the morning practice. I'd lost some mechanical grip, which made it difficult to nail the middle sector. What's happened this weekend doesn't concern me, as a racing driver you never think you're going to have a car failure, so you don't think about it, and I have complete faith in the team too."
Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India)
"I was just five hundredths away from Q2 - it was very close. I am a little disappointed with not getting there, but I did my best and did a fantastic lap. It's very promising for the future that I was just under a second from the quickest lap time of that session. The team has done a fantastic job so far. Of course we have a lot of work to do but looking forward we are going in the right direction, which is just great."
Adrian Sutil (Force India)
"It was not a good qualifying, but to be honest I was expecting this as we had not had a great practice in the morning. We had problems again trying to get the soft tyres to work: my car is just not behaving how it should be with them and I even tried a hard set. The car felt much better, but with them I can't race the other cars. In the race and over longer runs I think we are better. In Melbourne it was okay and I have a good feeling there is more in the car."
"I can't believe how it went today. I came here from a podium finish a few days ago and now I qualify in 16th - although I felt my last flying lap was pretty good. Our car doesn't seem to like the new asphalt they laid on this track at all. It's just too smooth and it doesn't make our tyres work properly, so I am just sliding everywhere. It will be tough tomorrow starting from this position, but our car should be better in racing conditions. And maybe some rain might help us."
Kazuki Nakajima (Williams)
"It was a difficult qualifying and because it was tight on lap times, when I made one mistake it stopped me progressing into Q2. I have a grid penalty for tomorrow in any case, so I want to have a consistent race and make sure I finish. As far as performance is concerned, we will look at a strategy plan to see what we can do, but it will be a tough race."
"Q3 was definitely out of our reach. Unlike Melbourne, this is a circuit where you have a lot of fast corners and so it did not suit us as well. All the same, I think we did pretty much the best we could. Unfortunately, on my last flying lap I made a mistake at turn 14. Of course I was pushing hard to get as close as possible to Q3, higher up the grid at least and it cost me about two tenths. But we can be reasonably satisfied. I think we have a good set-up for race conditions."
Sebastien Bourdais (Toro Rosso)
"I was in P15 on my second run and the car felt good so we should have had a shot at Q2, but then I had a brake problem at the second corner, I pumped the brake pedal but when I got to turn 4, the pedal went to the floor again and there was nothing I could do. It's been a tough weekend so far. The stars do not seem to be aligning in our favour. Hopefully I will have better luck tomorrow - maybe if the weather turns crazy."
Anthony Davidson (Super Aguri)
"It was another difficult qualifying session today for us. I think that we have improved slightly since the last race. My middle run this afternoon was good, but I struggled to find the right balance in the car for the last run."
Takuma Sato (Super Aguri)
"I think that the team did a great job again under the circumstances. We showed good speed in the morning as I did the qualifying simulation and I was happy with the balance. During my first run in qualifying the grip level was quite low and I had traffic, but then on the last run I hooked up everything I needed and I enjoyed the lap. I will certainly try to make a good race tomorrow."
Eurosport
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