Having been upbeat about the performance of the RA107 after yesterday’s two practice sessions, Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button endured a frustrating qualifying session at the Nürburgring. Neither driver could translate yesterday’s pace into one-lap performance this afternoon.

As was the case at Silverstone a fortnight ago, only one of the team’s RA107s made it into Q2. Rubens Barrichello finished up in 14th place, while Jenson Button – who was 12th in this morning’s final practice session – had to settle for 17th place after struggling with the balance of his car.

Both drivers completed two runs in Q1. While Rubens set his fastest time, 1m32.674s, on his first lap, Jenson was 0.4s slower than his team-mate. Jenson improved his time on his second run, but it wasn’t enough to get him into Q2.

Rubens went on to complete two more runs in Q2 and, again, he set his quickest time on his first run. His time of 1:32.221s placed him 14th on the grid, just 0.4s shy of a place in Q3.

Looking ahead to tomorrow’s 60-lap European Grand Prix, both drivers are confident that the long-run pace of the RA107 will allow them to move up the order. There are two recognised overtaking places on the 13-corner circuit, into the chicane and into Turn 1, so there is still plenty to fight for.

JENSON BUTTON
“I’m massively disappointed. I thought we would qualify a lot higher but I didn’t have the grip and balance that I’ve had on new tyres all weekend. We had reasonable pace on Friday with race fuel but with this many cars in front it is always going to be a struggle to get near the points.”

RUBENS BARRICHELLO
“Today’s qualifying was tough. We needed around three or four tenths more to make the difference and it wasn’t possible to get any more out of the car today. I was generally pretty happy with my runs but my quick lap at the end of Q2 wasn’t so good because it was difficult to a good out-lap due to traffic.”

JACKY EECKELAERT
Engineering Director
“I’m disappointed with our grid positions today. We know that the race pace of our car is strong enough to fight for a top ten position in the race; however we still struggle to lay the foundations for that in terms of our qualifying performance. Rubens’ car was quite well-balanced after some set-up changes we made yesterday. Jenson didn’t have good grip or balance in qualifying which is surprising as he had been happy with the car on new tyres in free practice.”