Grand Prix – Melbourne, 15th March 2008
Qualifying session
Session Driver Pos. Time Laps Driver Pos. Time Laps
Q1 MAS 3rd 1.25.994 3 RAI 5th 1.26.140 3
Q2 MAS 5th 1.25.691 4 RAI 16th - -
Q3 MAS 4th 1.27.178 5 - - - -
Chassis: F. Massa 267, K. Raikkonen 268
Weather: air temperature 24/23 °C, track temperature 32/30
°C, sunny
One driver on the second row and the other on the eighth:
these are the positions the two Ferraris will occupy on the
grid for tomorrow’s Australian Grand Prix. Felipe Massa
finished qualifying in fourth spot, while Kimi Raikkonen,
sixth in Q1, was unable to return to the pits at the end of
his timed run because of a problem with the electronic fuel
pump, which forced him to stop a few metres from the start
of pit lane. “This is definitely not the result we were
expecting,” commented Stefano Domenicali. “We
have to work out exactly what caused Kimi’s car to stop
and tomorrow he will have a hard fight all through the race
to move up the order. Starting from the second row, Felipe
will be able to show what he can do in a race in which reliability
and strategy will as usual play a key role.”
Felipe Massa: “I failed to get the
most out of my final set of tyres for the day, because I had
traffic on my out-lap and this meant I was unable to get the
tyres up to temperature. I am happy with the handling of the
car, which is well balanced and we know we can run at a good
race pace. It will be a very tough race, especially as we
can expect high temperatures. Anything can happen and I think
I can fight for the very top places.”
Kimi Raikkonen: “Clearly I am disappointed.
A few corners from the end of my in-lap, I had a problem with
the electronic fuel pump which forced me to stop near the
pit lane and so it was impossible for me to get back to the
garage to try and fix the problem. These things happen, but
it’s definitely not the best way to start the season.
Now we must try to do our best to pick up some points tomorrow,
because it is important to score something in every race.”
Luca Baldisserri: “I got the impression
I was watching a replay of last year’s qualifying, but
an even worse version. We have a car on the second row and
one which did not manage to take part in the second session
because of an electrical fuel pump problem. We have to look
at the data and the components to find out exactly what happened.
As for the way the final session went, we knew from this winter
that we would struggle a bit to do quick times over a single
lap and that difficulty cropped up this afternoon. However,
we are competitive in terms of race pace and so we can be
reasonably confident about tomorrow, even if Kimi clearly
faces an uphill struggle, given his grid position.
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