It gets complicated for BMW
BMW has had a disappointing qualifying, according to their own expectations. The Bavarian manufacturer was only able to place two cars in the top 10: Augusto Farfus (BMW Team RBM) in sixth position, and António Félix Da Costa (BMW Team MTEK) back in ninth.
BMW had come to Hockenheim with a 21-point advantage over Audi in the Manufacturers’ standings, and with a simple strategy of getting as many cars as possible in the top 10 in order to block point positions and win their third consecutive title.
But things didn’t quite work out that way for them, with Audi topping the qualifying and showing themselves ahead in terms of performance.
Jens Marquardt, BMW Motorsport Director, was stern about today’s results: “That was a disappointing qualifying from a BMW point of view. We witnessed a very good qualifying from Augusto Farfus, and António Félix da Costa also made it into the top ten. Across the board, however, the result is unsatisfactory – especially given that we looked really good after the free practices. We will now have to analyse the reasons and learn from this, in order to achieve a better result tomorrow. Congratulations to Audi on its impressive display.”
Augusto Farfus had a difficult day, being only just able to make it into Q2, and then rising to fourth position, only a tenth and a half adrift from poleman Miguel Molina. The Brazilian felt it was a great result, given the circumstances: “Looking at the performance of Audi I think P4 feels like a pole position. Tomorrow a lot can happen in the race. The team did an awesome job between free practice and qualifying. We made a huge change to the car and I have to thank them because they were brave, but in the end it paid off. I think we could have a great race and be on the podium.”
Antonio Félix Da Costa had a good performance throughout the day, to finish in a strong ninth place: “It feels great to be back towards the front of the field and be battling for a place in Q3. We could have done just that today. However, my flying lap in Q2 was not quite good enough. That was my fault. Despite this, I am still very happy. After a season of highs and lows, it is nice to be able to go on the attack again at the finale.”
2014 Drivers’ champion Marco Wittmann had a difficult day, only being able to qualify in 13th position for tomorrow’s grid, being the first time this season he doesn’t make it into Q3. He blamed another driver for being in his way during his fastest lap, but remained motivated: “I am obviously not happy with qualifying. It did not go to plan for us today. It just wasn’t our day. On top of that, I feel that I was blocked on my flying lap. I will find myself in a new situation in tomorrow’s race. I have usually started from one of the front rows on the grid in 2014. This time I will be starting from the middle of the pack. However, that serves as even greater motivation to attack and progress through the field.”
Should the race finish with the grid positions, Audi would snatch the title from BMW’s hands at the last moment.
