German Grand Prix – 19th July 2008
Qualifying session
Session Driver Pos. Time Laps Driver Pos. Time Laps
Q1 MAS 1st 1.14.921 7 RAI 2° 1.15.201 10
Q2 MAS 2nd 1.14.747 3 RAI 5° 1.14.949 3
Q3 MAS 2nd 1.15.859 6 RAI 6° 1.16.389 6
Chassis: F. Massa 269, K. Raikkonen 270
Weather: air temperature 24 °C, track temperature 27/29
°C, partially cloudy.
Qualifying for the German Grand Prix brought mixed fortunes
for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: Felipe Massa set the second
quickest time in the third and decisive session, while Kimi
Raikkonen, took sixth place. “On the one hand, we are
satisfied with Felipe’s position as he produced a good
qualifying performance, while we cannot feel the same about
Kimi, who never managed to find the right balance on his car,”
commented Team Principal of the Gestione Sportiva, Stefano
Domenicali. “It’s true that to analyse this afternoon’s
result objectively one would need to know how much fuel the
others have on board, but clearly, starting from the third
row won’t make life easy for Kimi. We can count on having
a good race pace with both types of tyre and will have to
work with scrupulous attention over the next few hours to
prepare for a race that looks like being a very tough one.
I am sure both our drivers will give it their best shot and
have a great race”
Felipe Massa: “I am pleased with
this result. Of course you’d always prefer to be on
pole position, but all weekend long we have been trading fastest
times during the sessions and, in the end, our main rivals
managed to find a little extra, even if the fuel load is an
unknown quantity. It will be a very difficult race: our aim
is still to win, but it will be important anyway to pick up
many points. We must try to get a good start and make the
most of what we have.”
Kimi Raikkonen: “All weekend long,
we have been struggling a bit to find a good set-up for the
car. At the end of yesterday, it seemed we were on the right
road and this morning we tried to improve still further down
this path, but it was not the right one. Then, in qualifying,
we went reasonably well with low fuel, but in the final session,
the car was not as good. Clearly sixth place is not satisfying
and tomorrow we won’t be in for an easy time, but it’s
definitely not the end of the world. It will be a long race
tomorrow and that’s when the points are allocated. For
our part, we will do all we can to get a good finish position.”
Luca Baldisserri: “Felipe produced
a fine qualifying performance and is in a good position for
the race. A shame for Kimi, who didn’t manage to find
the best set-up for his car and will have to start from the
third row: we will have to investigate what happened. To get
a complete picture of this afternoon, in terms of tomorrow’s
race, one has to take into account the usual parameters and
the fact that this track allows for more strategic flexibility
than usual. The F2008 has a good pace over a long run and
we will try and make the most of that to come home with a
good result.”
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