Bahrain Grand Prix – Sakhir Qualifying session
Session Driver Pos. Time Laps Driver Pos. Time Laps
Q1 MAS 1st 1.32.443 3 RAI 4th 1.33.161 3
Q2 MAS 1st 1.31.359 3 RAI 3rd 1.31.812 3
Q3 MAS 1st 1.32.652 10 RAI 3rd 1.33.131 10
Chassis: F. Massa 260, K. Raikkonen 261
Weather: air temperature 32/33 °C, track temperature 44
°C, hazy.
Third race of the season and third pole position for Scuderia
Ferrari Marlboro, the second for Felipe Massa. It is the third
time that a Ferrari driver will start the Bahrain Grand Prix
from pole, the 189th in the history of the Prancing Horse
in Formula 1. It was Felipe’s fifth career pole.
Jean Todt: “We are on pole for the
third time in three qualifying sessions so far this season,
the second consecutive first place for Felipe, while Kimi
will be right behind him on the grid. We are pleased with
the overall result, but the memory of Sepang is still fresh
in the mind and so we will be tackling tomorrow’s race
with even more humility and determination, if that’s
possible. We have made a significant step forward this weekend,
but the key one is due for tomorrow as we know from recent
history and we can learn from history.
On this magnificent circuit, with very high temperatures,
as usual, the start, overall reliability and strategy will
all be important. We will do all we can to reach our objectives.
For a moment however, we can enjoy today’s qualifying
result on a day that is important for our company, because
here today at Sakhir we have signed an agreement for the construction
of a Ferrari theme park on the island of Yas in Abu Dhabi.”
Felipe Massa: “I am very happy to
be on pole once again for the second time in a row and of
course I am hoping for a very different race result to the
one I obtained last Sunday. I did two good laps and I want
to thank the team for the fantastic work they have done and
for giving me a really competitive car. I hope that tomorrow’s
race goes the same way as qualifying. The first two races
have not gone the way I expected and I really hope that this
one will reverse the trend. We have a very competitive car,
both over a single lap and over a distance: now we just have
to do our best to get the most out of the potential at our
disposal.”
Kimi Raikkonen: “Third place is a
good result and puts us in a reasonable position for tomorrow’s
race. Of course I would rather always be in front of everyone,
but I know we still have to improve to get all the performance
out of the car over a single lap. Then, I also had a bit of
traffic today on both my runs in Q3. Track conditions are
better than yesterday and are closer to those we had here
in testing a few weeks back.”
Luca Baldisserri: “This session was
very pleasing with Felipe putting in an extraordinary performance
all day long. It was a shame that traffic slightly hampered
Kimi on his two quick laps in the final part of qualifying,
which meant he did not get the most out of his F2007. The
cars ran trouble free and proved to have a good balance. I
am confident we can get a good result. We know it will be
tough because we are up against strong opposition, but we
are cautiously optimistic.”
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