Malaysian Grand Prix – Sepang, 7th April 2007
Qualifying session Session
Driver Pos. Time Laps Driver Pos. Time Laps
Q1
RAI 3rd 1.35.138 3
MAS 5th 1.35.340 3
Q2
MAS 2nd 1.34.454 3
RAI 4th 1.34.687 3
Q3
MAS 1st 1.35.043 10
RAI 3rd 1.35.479 10
Chassis: F. Massa 260, K. Raikkonen 261 Weather: air temperature
34 °C, track temperature 49/45 °C, dry track, partially
cloudy, a few drops of rain in the final minutes.
Second race of the season and second pole position for Scuderia
Ferrari Marlboro, this time courtesy of Felipe Massa. It is
the sixth time that a Ferrari driver will start the Malaysian
Grand Prix from pole, the 188th in the history of the Prancing
Horse in Formula 1. It was Felipe’s fourth career pole.
Jean Todt: “Today’s qualifying
was very exciting, with the fight going down to the wire between
us and those who seem to be our closest rivals. The changing
weather, with the threat of imminent rain, rather mixed up
the programme. Felipe put in an extraordinary lap and I am
particularly happy for him after his troubles in Melbourne
qualifying. Kimi did a great job to take third spot. We have
taken an important step towards our targets for this weekend,
but the key part comes tomorrow. The race here will be particularly
tough on both the cars and drivers because of the high temperatures.
As usual, reliability, strategy, team work and the performance
of the drivers will be the factors that decide the final result.”
Felipe Massa: “I am very happy with
this pole. On my second run I had a bit of traffic but on
the last one, I got a really clean lap and I got a hundred
percent out of the car. At turn 7 and in the final sector
there were a few drops of rain, but luckily it did not get
worse and I was able to finish my run without any bother.
Obviously, tomorrow I want to finish the race in the same
position in which I start it. We know we are up against some
very strong opponents and that this is always a hard race,
both from the physical point of view and in terms of the stresses
on the car. In these very high temperatures, it is like racing
in a sauna, and the track became very slippery, but I was
able to put together my best lap right at the last minute.”
Kimi Raikkonen: “All in all, today’s
result is what we could have expected. The balance of my car
was better than in yesterday’s free practice, but still
not perfect for a single timed lap. But it is very good over
a long run and so I think I can be a frontrunner in tomorrow’s
race. The battle was very close but we saw already in Melbourne
that the McLaren is competitive in qualifying. The heat? It’s
the same for everyone so it should not be a decisive factor
tomorrow.”
Luca Baldisserri: “A very exciting
qualifying, closely fought to the very last moment! We are
happy with the overall result, with Felipe on pole and Kimi
starting right behind him. Qualifying was affected by the
weather forecast and the risk of rain meant we had to change
our plans slightly, especially in terms of how we used the
tyres. The F2007 showed it has great potential and we are
sure we can get the most out of them tomorrow, while well
aware that it will be very difficult as we are up against
very competitive adversaries.”
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