Felipe Massa put his Ferrari on the front row at Hockenheim today ahead of tomorrow's tenth round of the F1 World Championship, the German Grand Prix, while the other F2008 of Kimi Raikkonen is two rows further back in sixth place.

There are four drivers fighting within two points of one another for the Championship and this afternoon, two of them had an excellent day, claiming places on the front row, while the other two were less successful and find themselves in close company in sixth and seventh places. Felipe Massa is the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro man on the front row, in second place for tomorrow's tenth round of the World Championship, the German Grand Prix, while the other F2008 of Kimi Raikkonen is two rows further back in sixth place, just ahead of the BMW-Sauber of Robert Kubica.

The Finn has struggled all weekend to get his car balanced to his liking, as track conditions have been significantly different to those experienced when he drove here in last week's test. For the third time this season, Lewis Hamilton will start from pole position in his McLaren-Mercedes. His team-mate, Heikki Kovalainen starts behind him in third, with the Toyota of Jarno Trulli alongside him. Fernando Alonso in the Renault is fifth.

This afternoon's story pretty much reflects the state of play since Friday morning practice, in that there has been very little to choose between the Prancing Horse and the Silver Arrows and, at least in Felipe's case, that is likely to be the story in the race until the first run of pit stops when the usual question about how much fuel each driver is running, will finally be answered. The fuel effect - how much the weight of fuel affects lap times - is in the order of 0.35 seconds per lap at the Hockenheimring. The track layout is also quite tough on brakes and of course, these have a harder time with a heavier fuel load, so the strategy choices are finely balanced. In other words, it should be an exciting battle over 67 laps of the 4.574 kilometre track, assuming the main protagonists all escape unscathed the opening lap, which has a history of being chaotic at times here. Starting from the third row, Kimi will be hoping that any unusual events will play into his hands, but in any case, the F2008 usually comes into its own over a long distance. Although the weather is far from summery this weekend, at least the forecast, which has been reasonably accurate over the past two days, suggests the race should be run entirely in dry conditions.

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."

Qualifying session

F. Massa: 2nd 1.15.859 6 laps chassis 269
K. Raikkonen: 6° 1.16.389 6laps chassis 270
Weather: air temperature 24 °C, track temperature 27/29 °C, partially cloudy.