Canadian Grand Prix – Montreal,
Kimi Raikkonen: 5th + 13.007 70 laps chassis 262 Felipe Massa:
DSQ lap 52 51 laps chassis 260 Weather: air temperature 25/28
°C, track temperature 39/41 °C, sunny.
Jean Todt: “We expected a tough race,
but given the outcome, that was just a euphemism. The only
really positive news of the day is that Kubica, who had a
really serious looking accident, is reasonably alright, given
the impact he sustained. In a race that was confusing and
chaotic thanks to the numerous safety cars periods, we come
away with just four points for Kimi, whose car was damaged
in a collision at the first corner after the start and then
after Kubica’s accident. As for Felipe, he was disqualified
for driving out of pit lane when the light was still red.
Of course this is not a happy moment for us. Now we have to
study everything about this weekend, to understand how to
move on. It is not the first time we have been in a situation
like this and we have always shown that we can extricate ourselves
from these difficulties.”
Kimi Raikkonen: “It was a very difficult
race for me, right from the beginning. I did not have much
grip at the start, being on the dirty side of the track and
immediately after, I hit Felipe’s car with my front
wing. Then, there were so many safety car periods that it
caused chaos. On top of that, after Kubica’s accident,
a piece of debris got stuck in my front wing and I had so
much understeer and some difficulties with the brakes. All
these problems put together made this a really complicated
race. At the end of the day, I picked up some points: it could
have been better but it could also have been worse.”
Felipe Massa: “What happened at the
pit stop is a real shame. Even if the safety car didn’t
help me I was having a good race and I could have brought
home some important points for the championship. Unfortunately,
when I left the pits, I did not even look at the lights, partly
because there were so many cars in pit lane behind me. It’s
true that today the McLaren was very strong, but this was
not the result we should have had, we should have been able
to finish on the podium. The season is long and still very
open. We must work to improve our performance. I am happy
that Kubica, who is a friend of mine, was not seriously injured
in his accident: it is almost a miracle.”
Luca Baldisserri: “You could say this
was a pretty chaotic race, featuring lots of safety car periods.
Kimi damaged his front wing right at the start and the car
lost its aerodynamic balance when some debris off Kubica’s
car got stuck in the wing, making the car especially difficult
to drive. Felipe was going very well and could have secured
a good result. The roulette of the safety car certainly didn’t
help and we committed an unfortunate mistake which led to
the Brazilian being disqualified. From what we could see,
our race pace was competitive.”
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