Vitaly Petrov says his qualifying performance in Abu Dhabi on Satrday evening was somewhat expected, explaining that Renault ‘couldn’t have expected any miracles’ after a troubled start to the weekend. The Russian will start Sunday afternoon’s race from 12th on the grid, two places ahead of team-mate Bruno Senna.
"We had a difficult start to the weekend, with a few mechanical problems yesterday (steering rack then an electrical component)," Petrov commented after qualifying. "From there on we were up against it, especially at a track where we are not expected to be high flyers.
"To be frank, today we took the absolute maximum from our car. We couldn’t have expected any miracles, and I am generally happy with P12 on the grid because I know that both I and the team did all that we could do; setting a competitive lap time at this circuit is tough.
"Tomorrow will be a demanding day for us; people have said that the tyre degradation will be lower than at many tracks but I’m not so sure, I think it will play a significant role. The race will be long, and we will have to select the right tactics to ensure we come away from this weekend with something positive.
Senna added his thoughts: "I’m disappointed because I made a mistake on my last lap and lost a lot of time. It was a gamble to go for one flying lap, and unfortunately I could not get into the position I wanted to be; I really feel I could have made P11.
"At least the sets of tyres have only done one lap each, which should be a good thing for the race tomorrow. Let’s hope my below par qualifying position doesn’t harm me too much tomorrow. I’m looking forward to the race, it’s an exciting place to race and I will be giving it my best shot."
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| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  S. Vettel | Red Bull | 01:38.481 | 16 |
| 2. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | 01:38.622 | 15 |
| 3. | J. Button | McLaren | 01:38.631 | 14 |
| 4. | M. Webber | Red Bull | 01:38.858 | 19 |
| 5. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 01:39.058 | 16 |
| 6. | F. Massa | Ferrari | 01:39.695 | 20 |
| 7. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 01:39.773 | 17 |
| 8. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | 01:40.662 | 18 |
| 9. | A. Sutil | Force India | 01:40.768 | 17 |
| 10. | P. di Resta | Force India | no time | 15 |
| Full results | ||||
| Bruno Senna | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| More Bruno Senna photos | |||
| Vitaly Petrov | |||
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| More Vitaly Petrov photos | |||
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