Australian Grand Prix – Melbourne, 16th March 2008
Driver Position Time Gap Laps Chassis
Kimi Raikkonen 8th 1.27.55.340 DNF 53 268
Felipe Massa R 47.12.136 DNF 29 267
Neither Ferrari saw the chequered flag in the Australian
Grand Prix, the first race of the season. Felipe Massa retired
on lap 29, when lying seventh, while Kimi Raikkonen had to
stop on lap 43 and in both cases the retirements were due
to engine problems.
Stefano Domenicali: “This has definitely
been a very difficult start to the season and we have got
off on the wrong foot. However, we should not react in an
over emotional way to this. We weren’t a phenomenon
before and we’re not carthorses now. We have to work
out exactly what happened to the engines on both F2008s and
they are being sent immediately to Maranello for analysis.
As for the performance, we saw that when we were not running
in traffic, we could run a very competitive pace. This shows
that the potential is there, but we have to be in a position
to exploit it, which means starting from the front. The whole
team has not performed to our usual standard. We have to roll
our sleeves up and react, as we know we can.”
Kimi Raikkonen: “It’s really
disappointing not to finish the race, but at least the point
is better than nothing. I had an engine problem, the reason
for which now needs to be analysed. The car was good and I
had a good pace when I found a free track ahead of me. I spun
a couple of times trying to pass those ahead of me, but the
first time, with Glock, I put a wheel on the grass and the
second time, with Kovalainen, I was a bit too optimistic.
This result is obviously not the best start to the season
but it is a very long one and we are well aware that we are
capable of recovering from far worse situations than this.
We have to put everything in place and then we will be really
competitive.”
Felipe Massa: “A horrible start to
the season. We had engine problems which is unusual for a
team like ours. We have to understand what happened and react
immediately. I was fighting my way up the order all race long.
At the first corner I lost control of the car while battling
with Kovalainen and ended up off the track. Then I moved up
the order and could have finished in the points. The incident
with Coulthard? I was on the inside and he closed the door
on me, probably because he hadn’t seen me. Our championship
will have to start again in Malaysia. We know we have a good
car we have to work to be able to use it as intended.”
Luca Baldisserri: “There’s
not much to say about a disastrous start to the season. We
did not work well on any level and this is the consequence
of that. We know how important is reliability and we were
severely lacking on this front. It is absolutely ages since
we have seen two engine failures in a race. We have to look
at every detail of this weekend to understand what went wrong
and how we can improve. We have seen the technical potential
is there and we have to do everything to use it to its maximum,
starting in qualifying.”
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