Once again, it was Heikki Kovalainen who flew the flag for Formula 1's three new teams by leading the way in Silverstone qualifying on Saturday. Despite being two seconds off the pace of eighteenth-placed Jaime Alguersuari's Toro Rosso, the Finn managed a best effort of 1:34.405 – two and a half tenths up on Virgin Racing's Timo Glock.
With Jarno Trulli's progress having been slowed by a hydraulics problem in final practice, Lotus was not able to place both cars ahead of Virgin and Kovalainen admitted that he had hoped for more.
“I’m pleased because I’m in the position I targeted for qualifying but, even though we’re the fastest of the new teams, that wasn’t my best qualifying session this year,” he said. “It was pretty tricky out there today – it was windier than in FP3 and I found the balance wasn’t quite where it had been this morning.
'Nevertheless, we’re in a good position and good shape for tomorrow. The car feels good on the heavier fuel load, so I think we’ll be okay.
"I also want to say that Jarno did a great job out there – to be within half a second after the bad luck he’s had all weekend is great and I hope we can get both cars home tomorrow - that’s the main goal, so let’s see what happens.”
Should both Lotus cars be classified in Sunday's race, the Hingham outfit would achieve a statistic not recorded since the first race of the year in Bahrain just under four months ago.
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