Robert Kubica reacted quickly when the safety car was deployed to get into the pits immediately.
Unfortunately his team were waiting with the wrong tyres when he got there.
The delay cost him his chance of finishing on the podium.
| Robert Kubica | Vitaly Petrov | |
| Qualifying position | 6 | 10 |
| Qualifying time comparison (Q3) | 1’38.137 (-0.386) | 1’38.523 |
| Race position | 5 | 14 |
| Average race lap | 1’46.258 (-0.371) | 1’46.629 |
| Laps | 57/57 | 57/57 |
| Pit stops | 1 | 1 |
Open lap times interactive chart in new window
Robert Kubica
Looked on course for a good qualifying position after being second in final practice. Took sixth ahead of Jenson Button and moved up a place at the expense of Mark Webber at the start.
Kubica was the first driver to make it into the pits when the safety car came out. But the team were waiting with Petrov’s tyres, having been expecting to bring him in on that lap instead, and the delay switching them around cost Kubica places to Button and Rubens Barrichello. He wasn’t able to get them back afterwards:
We got lucky when the Safety Car came out: I was already braking for the last corner when the message came on the steering wheel, so I decided to head straight to the pits.
Unfortunately, though, we didn’t manage to take maximum advantage of the opportunity: I was the first car into the pits but the third car to leave. If everything had gone smoothly, we could have finished on the podium this afternoon, but unfortunately we didn’t manage to do so.
Robert Kubica
Compare Robert Kubica’s form against his team mate in 2010
Vitaly Petrov
Was closer to Kubica in qualifying then he’d been at any other race in 2010. But he made a poor start from tenth, getting too much wheel spin and falling to 15th.
Petrov, like his team mate, got a five second penalty for going to quickly when the safety car came out. That dropped him from 11th to 14th.
Compare Vitaly Petrov’s form against his team mate in 2010
2010 European Grand Prix
Ben Curly
28th June 2010, 19:25
I’m surprised Renault decided to run Q3 on super softs, as Kubica had much better pace on the prime tyre.
Other than that, I think when we mention “top four teams” we should forget Mercedes and talk about Renault instead. If they had two competitive drivers, they would be fighting Ferrari for third place in the standings.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not dissing Petrov. Actually he isn’t that bad for a rookie, and I hope that next season we will see what he’s really made of.
Sandman
29th June 2010, 10:21
Supersofts are, still even with problems, a bit faster. Montreal proved it.
As of “the big four” – the term ceased to exist after first 3 races, at least in my evaluation of things. There is, actually, “the big three”, with 2 teams being runner-ups, clearly ahead of the midfield but as clearly lacking pace to frontrunners.
Funny thing with Ferrari is, they had the pace, hardly capitalised on it due to either machinery failures or own mistakes (Alonso’s Monaco crash and engine blowing race before). Now, when they are back in form, they cant benefit on it either. Im puzzled about it, to be honest.