• Spanish Grand Prix - Qualifying

Renault rues Heidfeld fire

Nick Heidfeld's car was too badly damaged by its morning fire © Sutton Images

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• Report:
• Webber grabs pole for dominant Red Bull
  

• Race:
• Spanish Grand Prix

• Championship:
• FIA Formula One World Championship

• Drivers:
• Nick Heidfeld
• |
• Vitaly Petrov

• Teams:
• Renault

Renault's chief race engineer Alan Permane admitted it had been a "mixed day" for the team after Vitaly Petrov qualified sixth for the Spanish Grand Prix but Nick Heidfeld missed the session after a fire.

Petrov's pace was impressive as he beat both Mercedes and Felipe Massa's Ferrari on the way to equalling his best qualifying result of the season. Heidfeld was unable to participate, however, as a hole in an exhaust caused the car to catch fire mid-way through final practice, and the team was unable to repair his car in time. Permane admitted it had been an eventful Saturday, but preferred to highlight the potential shown by Petrov's result.

"It's been a mixed day for us, that much is certain," Permane said. "It was a great day for Vitaly with P6 on the grid for tomorrow's race, but there was potential in the lap for an even better time. There was an issue in the second sector, but Vitaly's first sector was great, and his final sector was fantastic. This was satisfying after having a KERS problem with his car yesterday, which we have fixed and there were no issues from it today."

Permane said the severity of Heidfeld's fire was due to the exhaust igniting the car's bodywork.

"It was a failure from the right hand exhaust which caught fire. The bodywork around it then caught fire too and made quite a mess. Nick was able to park the car and get out without any harm to him, but there was a lot of work required in a short period to fix the car ready for qualifying. We tried hard, but unfortunately we were not able to get the car ready for the session. We fitted a different engine and essentially replaced the entire rear end of the car, including gearbox, suspension, radiators and wiring looms."

Permane talked up Petrov's chances and also said that the plus side was the amount of tyres Heidfeld had saved, with Renault able to choose from a number of strategies.

"There's definitely scope for a strong race from Vitaly, especially if he drives like he did today. He has good pace and the car seems to be working well. It's going to be interesting with the tyres, as there is a big difference between the two compounds. The hard is a lot slower so the soft will be preferred, but its high degradation makes things difficult. We will have to see how the strategy evolves. With Nick, we face a big challenge because we start from the back of the field but we have more strategy options than with Vitaly."

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