The Williams team was happy to have secured top ten positions for both drivers in qualifying for this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix. With unusual names towards the back of the field, Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima made the most of the FW31's pace to seize positions six and ten and a real possibility of a points finish on Sunday.
Fastest in second practice on Thursday and in the top three for much of the final phase of qualifying, Nico Rosberg was eventually demoted to sixth position on the Monte-Carlo grid behind Brawn, Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel. "The first two sessions went fine today but I was not happy with the final conclusion in Q3," admitted Nico, who grew up and still lives in the principality.
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| Kazuki Nakajima made the top ten shootout for the first time in his F1 career on Saturday |
"P6 was not where I wanted to be and it should have been better; I had some balance problems in the last run and some traffic, particularly with Barrichello on my fastest lap, so I didn't manage to make the best of the circumstances. Anyway, that's the way it has played out and we just need to make the best of it. - there is still the opportunity to have a good race tomorrow from a reasonable starting position, so I am still of the view that anything is possible."
Nakajima, the only Japanese driver in Formula One, was satisfied to have successfully qualified for the top ten shootout. "It was a good session for me," he said afterwards. "It is of course the first time I have made it into Q3 this season so I do want to say thanks to the team for preparing a good car. I am confident that I can have a good race tomorrow and our start position will certainly give me the chance to improve on our recent results." Having scored five points after as many races in 2008, Kazuki is yet to finish in the top eight in 2009.
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