24-08-2013.- Mexican driver Esteban Gutiérrez finished P21 in qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix, and will start Sunday's race from that place on the grid.

 

Gutiérrez set a lap time of 2:04.324 that kept him among the top 10 until the last minute of Q1.

 

Sauber's driver has explained what happened and what caused the team to not make it past the first qualifying session.

 

“It was a decision that effectively made the difference, the tire choice was not correct, we used intermediates too early and with the track conditions they only lasted one lap.

 

“For obvious reasons, the next two laps I was not able to improve my time. Under such conditions intermediates degrade too fast and yes, I think we should have gone with the slicks, it was a decision we made as a team and we have to live with that, we can't change it”, said the Mexican.

 

Esteban is optimistic about tomorrow's race as he thinks the car will be in good shape for the fight on the track of Spa-Francorchamps.

 

“We have a good car for the race, we hope we can move up the grid or better said to be where we should be, where our overall performance is.

 

“We have to keep working, the weekend is not over, this is obviously not the better situation because we did everything right in qualifying, everything was perfect, we did not make any mistakes, but the tyre choice affected our entire result”, he remarked.

 

Pole position went to Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, who was followed by Red Bull Racing-Renault drivers Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.