Renault duo Nick Heidfeld, Vitaly Petrov happy to make it to Q3 in Sepang – Formula 1 news
Renault drivers were able to be somewhat competitive in the 2011 Formula 1 season as they ended in the top ten in the Qualifiers of the Malaysian Grand Prix.
Both Nick Heidfeld and Vitaly Petrov finished in sixth and eighth positions respectively and will start the race with their noses in front.
Renault faced a problem in the first Free practice session on Friday when both drivers faced separate crashes and damaged their cars. Petrov damaged the front wing and Heidfeld damaged his car’s suspension system. Team Principal Eric Boullier told that the
problem was caused by the new part which was installed in both R31s to improve performance.
Renault removed the defected parts and drove the same car from the Australian Grand Prix which showed results. Although Heidfeld and Petrov are more than a second adrift from Sebastian Vettel, yet they seemed happy about the day’s prospects.
“I'm very satisfied as I think it's the maximum we could have achieved, especially looking back at Friday where we didn't do many laps at all and didn't have a lot of time to set up the car,” said Heidfeld who replaced injured Robert Kubica in the Renault
team.
Petrov, who was the podium finisher in the Australian Grand Prix, finished eighth in the qualifiers.
Petrov was also happy about his performance as he commented, “To get in the top 10 today is a good result considering the track time we lost yesterday. We worked hard on improving the set-up in final practice and in the end I had quite a good feeling with
the car.”
Both the Renault drivers broke the monopoly of the top five teams at the starting grid. The Renault duo will have an advantage going into the Malaysian Grand Prix as they will be right on the tails of some of the big Formula 1 contenders for podium.
The race will take place on Sunday and rain is forecasted which will make the prospects of the game more interesting as Red Bull will have much less advantage of their speed due to the fact that the Sepang track will test the strategies more than speed.
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