Lotus Renault GP driver Nick Heidfeld believes he extracted the most out of his R31 in Montreal on Saturday afternoon, securing ninth place on the grid for tomorrow’s race. The German will line up just ahead of team-mate Vitaly Petrov, only the second time he has out-qualified the 26-year-old throughout the course of the 2011 season so far.
"I am extremely happy because I think I achieved the maximum I could have done today," Heidfeld explained. "We actually drove with more downforce than normal, as we were gambling a bit and hoping for wet conditions tomorrow.
"We made some minor adjustments with the car today and certainly got what we could have done from it. I’m also happier with how I’m driving on the Super Soft tyres; yesterday I was not satisfied but today I really got used to them, and I think that showed through my lap times.
"Obviously you always want to be higher up than P9 but being in the top ten is satisfying and we will try to improve on this tomorrow by securing a good pace and gaining some places."
Petrov, who trailed his team-mate by 23 thousandths of a second, added: "The track temperatures were much lower than yesterday and it was very difficult to warm-up the tyres properly throughout qualifying. As a result, I was lacking grip out there and I lost a bit of time during my quickest lap. This said, Nick and I got to Q3 and this is a good thing considering the problems we had in Monaco.
"Looking ahead to tomorrow, it is really difficult to make any prediction. Montreal is almost always a crazy race and the safety car is often a part of it. Also, the weather forecast is looking unsettled so we can expect anything. As a result, tomorrow will be a case of adapting ourselves to the conditions and taking every single opportunity."
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Vitaly Petrov
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| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  S. Vettel | Red Bull | 01:13.014 | 17 |
| 2. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 01:13.199 | 19 |
| 3. | F. Massa | Ferrari | 01:13.217 | 20 |
| 4. | M. Webber | Red Bull | 01:13.429 | 22 |
| 5. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | 01:13.565 | 18 |
| 6. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 01:13.814 | 14 |
| 7. | J. Button | McLaren | 01:13.838 | 20 |
| 8. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | 01:13.864 | 14 |
| 9. | N. Heidfeld | Lotus Renault | 01:14.062 | 27 |
| 10. | V. Petrov | Lotus Renault | 01:14.085 | 25 |
| Full results | ||||
| Nick Heidfeld | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| More Nick Heidfeld photos | |||
| Vitaly Petrov | |||
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| More Vitaly Petrov photos | |||
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