• European Grand Prix - Qualifying

Kubica says sixth on the grid a true reflection of pace

Robert Kubica on his way to setting the sixth quickest time © Getty Images

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• News:
• Kubica to decide on future soon
  
• Report:
• Vettel takes pole in Valencia
  

• Race:
• European Grand Prix

• Championship:
• FIA Formula One World Championship

• Drivers:
• Robert Kubica
• |
• Vitaly Petrov

• Teams:
• Renault

Robert Kubica said that his sixth place on the grid for Sunday's European Grand Prix is a true reflection of the pace of the Renault car.

Both Kubica and team-mate Vitaly Petrov made it into the Q3 shoot-out and the Pole said that the new upgrades in place for Valencia had benefitted the team.

"It has been a pretty good qualifying and the car was especially strong on the prime tyre," said Kubica. "On the options I had a lot more movement so the car felt quite different and we didn't really gain the lap time, but we made a decision that it would be better to start the race on the options.

"Although I finished higher in the first two parts of qualifying, I think the end result reflects our true position. The new updates on the car this weekend are bringing us some gains, but we still need to work to get 100% from them, which I hope we can do in the coming races."

Petrov, who will start from tenth on the grid, said he would have been even higher had he not made mistakes on his best lap.

"It's fantastic to get into Q3 because the times were very close today," said Petrov. "Unfortunately I made some mistakes on my fastest lap in Q3 so I could maybe have been even higher on the grid.

"In the race anything can happen so I will try and look after my tyres and make up some positions. There are a lot of new parts on the car this weekend and I have had to adapt my driving style, but I can feel a big improvement with the car."

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