• Belgian Grand Prix - Qualifying

Kubica praises F-duct after qualifying third at Spa

Robert Kubica enjoyed another strong qualifying performance © Getty Images

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• News:
• Renault likely to ditch F-duct for Monza and Singapore
  
• Report:
• Webber secures pole at Spa
  

• Race:
• Belgian Grand Prix

• Championship:
• FIA Formula One World Championship

• Drivers:
• Robert Kubica
• |
• Vitaly Petrov

• Teams:
• Renault

Robert Kubica revealed that he had been hoping to qualify third for the Belgian Grand Prix after the Renault proved strong in all conditions on Friday.

Kubica had not been out of the top five all weekend leading up to qualifying and with the new F-duct working to good effect, the in-form Pole dialled in a lap good enough for P3 on his opening effort of the final session.

"We have been in the top five in every session, in all conditions, this weekend, and going into qualifying we were hoping that it might be possible to get third place," said Kubica. "This is the first race at which we have used our F-duct and I must say congratulations to everybody at the factory because it has worked perfectly from the first lap in practice. In fact, I was in second position at the end of my first run in Q3 but I wasn't able to use my second set of option tyres."

Although Kubica did not have time for another run, his strong grid position means he is in with another good chance of points on Sunday.

"The car cut out just before the pit lane on my in-lap, and after the mechanics had pushed me back to the garage, we didn't have time to do another run. At the end of the session, I was standing in the pits, watching the other cars and praying for rain when a few drops started to fall - and only Lewis was able to improve his time. It meant I lost a place on the front row, but I am still in a strong position for tomorrow, and now we need to wait and see what happens - with the race and with the weather."

In stark contrast, team-mate Vitaly Petrov made an elementary error to spin off in the dry at the start of Q1, ruling him out for the rest of the session

"It was a very disappointing session for me today," said Petrov. "On my out-lap on slick tyres, I went on the kerb at the exit of Turn 9 and lost control of the car because of the standing water. I wasn't able to get started again, so that was the end of my session. It was a big shame because the car has been very good this weekend, and I was aiming for a place in the top 10. But now this has happened, all I can do is focus on tomorrow and stay positive."

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