Malaysian Grand Prix – Sepang,
Qualifying session
Session Driver Pos. Time Laps Driver Pos. Time Laps
Q1 MAS 3rd 1.35.347 5 RAI 6th 1.35.645 4
Q2 RAI 1st 1.34.188 3 MAS 2nd 1.34.412 6
Q3 MAS 1st 1.35.748 6 RAI 2nd 1.36.230 6
Chassis: F. Massa 267, K. Raikkonen 268
Weather: air temperature 30/29 °C, track temperature 34
°C, cloudy with a threat of rain.
Both Ferraris will start the Malaysian Grand Prix from the
front row: Felipe Massa set the best time in Q3 and alongside
him on the grid will be Kimi Raikkonen. This is the seventh
pole from ten starts at this circuit for Scuderia Ferrari
Marlboro and it brings the Scuderia’s overall total
to 196. Felipe took the tenth pole of his career, the second
one in a row at this circuit. “Today we worked well
and up to our usual standards and the results prove it,”
commented Stefano Domenicali. “We have now made just
a small step in terms of the Grand Prix with the longer one
still needing to be accomplished in tomorrow’s race.
If all elements – team, drivers, cars – work at
their best, then we can aspire to a good result. Congratulations
to Felipe, who really produced an exceptional qualifying lap.”
Felipe Massa: “I am very happy! In
the final part of qualifying, I managed to put together two
really good laps after struggling a bit in Q2. Right at the
end there were a few drops of rain, but it had no effect whatsoever
on the performance. It is very important to start from the
front and I hope I can have a good race. We know our car is
very competitive over a long run, but it is also clear we
face a long tough race. All the same, we can only be confident
about tomorrow.”
Kimi Raikkonen: “Of course, I would
prefer to have taken pole, but second place is definitely
not bad and I am happy that the team got the best result possible.
In Q3, I was not able to get the tyres to work as well as
possible, especially on my second run, after having had a
good lap in Q2. The track seemed to be a bit more slippery
and I was not able to get everything out of the car. Tomorrow’s
race will be very tough: I made a good start in Melbourne
and I hope I can do the same tomorrow.”
Luca Baldisserri: “Finally, a trouble-free
day. Car performance was good and it worked well as can be
seen from the result. There are a few unknowns regarding the
various sets of tyres, which seem to be a bit up and down
and we will have to study that carefully. The threat of rain
meant we operated differently to usual, going out on track
at the start of all the sessions. We expect a very difficult
race tomorrow because of the weather which will be tough on
cars and drivers. Clearly our aim is to do the maximum, which
is to say to repeat this afternoon’s result.”
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