Japanese Grand Prix – Fuji, 29th September 2007
Qualifying session
Session Driver Pos. Time Laps Driver Pos. Time Laps
Q1
MAS 1st 1.25.359 8
RAI 3rd 1.25.390 10
Q2
RAI 3rd 1.24.988 8
MAS 4th 1.25.049 10
Q3
RAI 3rd 1.25.516 11
MAS 4th 1.25.765 11
Chassis: F. Massa 263, K. Raikkonen 262
Weather: air temperature 14/15 °C, track temperature
16/17 °C, overcast with occasional light rain.
Jean Todt: "A different qualifying
session to usual, given that this morning, because of adverse
weather, the final free practice session hardly took place
at all. Today’s result is further confirmation of just
how close things are between us and our closest rivals, given
that the four cars are all within two tenths, this time with
ours on the second row. We are aware how important is the
final result in terms of the Drivers’ Championship and
we will give it our best shot in the race. Apart from the
usual factors – strategy, reliability and the work of
the team and drivers – it is obvious that the weather
will also play an important role. Today, with both types of
rain tyre being used, we had further confirmation of the great
job that Bridgestone is doing in its role as sole tyre supplier
and I thank them for this.”
Kimi Raikkonen: "Quite a good qualifying
session. I could probably have got a better grid position
but I came up against a bit of traffic and also had a small
problem with the electronic management of the gearbox which
cost me precious time. Of course it was something of a gamble
starting qualifying in the wet without having ever run in
these conditions but it only took a handful of laps to find
the right line. I expect tomorrow’s race will be very
tight. As we could work out from yesterday’s practice,
it is very close between us and our main rivals. Overall,
the car worked well and I think I can be competitive in the
wet or dry.”
Felipe Massa: “Qualifying produced
a very close fight between us and our main rivals. In Q1 and
Q2, I was very pleased with the handling of my car but something
changed in terms of balance on new tyres and less fuel, given
that it gave me a bit too much oversteer. A shame, because
even at the start of Q3 I was going well, but in the end,
with new tyres, I lost time with this oversteer. All the same,
fourth place is not a bad position. There are four of us in
the same two tenths of a second and all sorts of things could
happen tomorrow.”
Luca Baldisserri: “Qualifying was
a lottery in terms of defining car set-up. For sure, the session
did not run as smoothly as oil. Several times, traffic did
not help and we also had an electronic management problem
on Kimi’s gearbox which penalized him a bit in the final
part of Q3. Having said that, we will have to wait until tomorrow
to find out if the choices we have made, both in terms of
strategy and set-up, are the right ones. Whatever happens,
we can expect a very closely contested race.”
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