Zoom Webber caught out by the Montreal circuit

Both Red Bull Renault drivers made it into the second round of qualifying with David Coulthard going on to place his RB4 13th on the grid. Mark Webber had just posted a top five time when he spun exiting turn seven and hit the concrete retaining wall.

Webber's RB4 sustained front right suspension damage and he was unable to take part in the final phase of qualifying and therefore lines up in tenth position.

Mark Webber
"I was going okay, but the track was breaking up and there were marbles on the racing line. Unfortunately, on the way back to the pits at the end of the second session, I was slightly off line, got onto the marbles and couldn’t bring it back. I’m not sure how they’re going to manage with the track tomorrow, but everyone’s in the same boat. I think we’ll need to use motocross bikes, as it’s not realistic in a Formula One car, you’ll need to drive on the grass or on the inside of the hairpin.”

David Coulthard
“The track is breaking up, as it did two years ago, and it was incredibly difficult to drive at turn seven and at the hairpin. The track was swept between the first and second session, but it was breaking up so quickly that it was like trying to drive on train tracks. When you’ve got that amount of horsepower on a car that’s slipping and sliding, it’s incredibly difficult. I think we had the pace to run inside the top ten today, but I had traffic on the last runs of both sessions. On the first I was behind Bourdais, and on the second behind Piquet. It’s unfortunate to have a continued series of problems, but we’re 13th tomorrow, and hopefully we can have a strong race from there.”

Christian Horner, Team Principal
“After a really promising Q1 and first run in Q2, it’s frustrating for Mark to get caught out by the difficult track conditions today. Unfortunately, unlike others that got away with an off-track excursion, he damaged the front of the car sufficiently enough not to take part in Q3. After not being happy with balance of his car this morning, David made good progress in the first session, but unfortunately wasn’t quite quick enough to make it into Q3 today. We feel with tenth and 13th that we’ve underperformed.”

Fabrice Lom, Renault
“It’s a bit disappointing. We were very quick with Mark, but were not able to continue due to Mark’s accident at the end of the second session. We were eligible for Q3, but not able to participate, so we finished 10th and 13th. Apart from that, the car and engine behaved well and it will be an interesting race tomorrow. Last year there were a lot of accidents, a lot of things can happen.”

E.A. © CAPSIS International