British Grand Prix – 5th July 2008
Qualifying session Session
Driver Pos. Time Laps Driver Pos. Time Laps
Q1 RAI 4th 1.20.370 6 MAS 7th 1.20.676 6
Q2 RAI 6th 1.19.791 6 MAS 8th 1.20.086 6
Q3 RAI 3rd 1.21.706 6 MAS 9th 1.23.305 4
Chassis: F. Massa 267, K. Raikkonen 270
Weather: air temperature 24/23 °C, track temperature 29/31
°C, cloudy.
The result of qualifying for the British Grand Prix did not
match the expectations of Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro. While
Kimi Raikkonen managed to secure a good third spot on the
starting grid, Felipe Massa is only ninth. The current series
leader was unable to make his second timed run because of
a problem changing the right rear wheel, which meant he was
unable to cross the line before the chequered flag came out.
“This is definitely not the result we expected nor the
one we wanted,” commented Team Principal of the Gestione
Sportiva, Stefano Domenicali. “Problems such as the
one that befell Felipe are serious and I am very sorry for
him as we prevented him from giving it his best shot. On top
of that, we need to understand why our performance, even taking
into account all the unknowns regarding the various strategy
choices, was not up to our usual standard. Nevertheless, this
is only Saturday afternoon and we still have the race ahead
of us. We are up against very strong opponents, but we will
also be doing our utmost to bring home a good result.”
Kimi Raikkonen: “Third is not the
result we were hoping for, but it’s not to be sneezed
at, as we always have to take into consideration that the
final score only comes tomorrow, when we have worked out what
fuel loads the other drivers have. Compared to yesterday,
the situation is definitely better. We worked a lot on the
car set-up and, especially in Q3 the balance wasn’t
bad. There was a lot of wind, which made it hard to fully
understand the track because the conditions were changing
all the time. In race trim, we have a good car and I think
tomorrow I can get a good result. The rain? We saw this morning
that we are also competitive in the wet, so we are ready for
any eventuality. Well done to Heikki for his first pole position.”
Felipe Massa: “It’s a real
shame ending up ninth on the grid because of a problem with
my pit stop. I lost so much time as the mechanics had trouble
changing the right rear wheel and I was unable to start my
second run. I think I could have done a good time, maybe not
enough to take pole but at least good enough for a place on
the front two rows. There was a lot of wind today and the
balance of the car was not as good as yesterday and we were
not as quick as at last week’s test. Tomorrow I can
definitely expect to be fighting all race long to move up
the order and I will do all I can to bring home a good result:
but it won’t be easy.”
Luca Baldisserri: “This is definitely
not a pleasing result, both in terms of performance and of
the work of the team. What happened at Felipe’s pit
stop, which incidentally has nothing in common with what happened
on the grid at the Monaco Grand Prix, will have to be investigated
thoroughly as we cannot let it happen again. Compared with
last week’s test it seems we have taken a step backwards
and this is another thing we will have to look at and try
to understand. Having said that, in evaluating this result
we have to keep in mind that this is one of the circuits where
the weight of fuel has a greater influence on lap times and
therefore, we will only see tomorrow how things really stand.
Anything can happen at this track in the race, even more so
if it should rain. We will try and make the best out of our
situation.”
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