Senna and Petrov satisfied with their qualifying

September 10th, 2011 (F1plus Team).- Renault has good reasons to be happy about Saturday, since both drivers made it to Q3 and Vitaly Petrov will even start from the seventh position on the grid.

Bruno Senna is highly motivated to achieve a maiden Formula 1 points finish in Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix, having picked up a second consecutive top ten qualifying position.

At Monza, the Brazilian elected for no running in Q3 in a bid to save tyres. For this reason he will start from tenth, but still it represents a good achievement.

“I am satisfied with my performance because this was only my second qualifying session this year, and it was definitely a close shave getting into Q3. I was glad to have Vitaly as my reference today because I was struggling to find the right braking points in Q1 and Q2. I put a very respectable lap together at the end of Q2, and I was pleased that I was able to handle the pressure and slot into 10th position. If I had ran in Q3, I would have needed to use two sets of tyres, so I’m glad I was able to save them and hopefully that decision will stand me in good stead come tomorrow’s race. I would also like to thank the team for providing such a competitive car this weekend.”

On the other hand, Petrov surprised a bit by making into the seventh for tomorrow start. The Russian has been improving lately and along with the combination with Senna performance, it seems like Renault is pushing up.

“I am extremely pleased to qualify in P7. It was a tough start to the practice session this morning, as we had a few aero issues to cope with. The team then came into the qualifying session having prepared a very good car for me, and they made the right decisions. It looks like we have brought the right downforce package to this race, although we will have to wait until the race tomorrow before we see full evidence of that. We are very, very happy to be lining up on the grid with both cars right up where they should be, and I’m optimistic of having a good race tomorrow.”

Senna and Petrov recorded the second and third-highest speeds during today’s qualifying session; Bruno reached 347.2kph and Vitaly 344.8kph. In a circuit as fast as Monza, it is an important value to take into account.