|
Felipe Massa
will start the eleventh round of the Formula 1 World
Championship from the inside of the second row, having
qualified third fastest, while his Scuderia Ferrari
Marlboro team mate, Kimi Raikkonen is on the outside of
the third row, having set the sixth fastest time in the
third part of this afternoon's closely contested
qualifying session.
Lewis Hamilton took his second consecutive pole position
in the McLaren-Mercedes, his fourth this season and
indeed the Anglo-German team has locked out the front
row as Heikki Kovalainen was second quickest. Sharing
the second row with the Brazilian Ferrari driver is
Robert Kubica in the BMW, while Kimi has the Toyota of
Timo Glock alongside him, the German recording his best
ever F1 qualifying result. Not only has Felipe got the
better position out of the two Prancing Horse drivers,
he also starts from the clean side of the track, whereas
Kimi is on the dirty side, which is a bigger
disadvantage at this circuit than at most others. The
earlier part of qualifying had looked promising for the
Scuderia with Felipe setting the fastest time of the day
in Q2 when the cars run with the bare minimum weight of
fuel to cover the flying lap. However, a little bit of
traffic in Q3 cost just the fraction of a second that
made the difference between the first and second rows,
after it had looked like being a pole shoot-out between
him and the English McLaren driver.
Although the Hungarian Grand Prix has a reputation for
being dull and processional, in fact it can produce some
unusual results and situations. From a driving point of
view, it is tough as, despite the fact they increased
the length of the pit straight a few years back, the
track is essentially a non-stop series of corners with
very few opportunities to catch one's breath. The
weather has steadily been getting hotter over the
weekend and that will also play a part tomorrow in a
race that usually lasts more than an hour and a half.
The starting grid for the Hungarian Grand Prix will see
the two Ferraris line up on the second and third rows,
with respectively Massa in third place and Raikkonen
sixth. Having set the fastest time of the day in Q2,
Felipe could not do better than third in Q3, in part
because of a bit of traffic on his second timed run. A
mistake at Turn 4 cost Kimi precious time on his final
quick lap, dropping him to sixth. "Obviously, we cannot
be happy with this result, especially when our main
opponents have the front row to themselves," commented
the Team Principal of the Gestione Sportiva, Stefano
Domenicali. "Our main aim this weekend was and still is
to get the most out of our car-tyre-team package and
today we failed to do that, especially in the final part
of qualifying. Now we have to try and do it in
tomorrow's race: it will be tough because our grid
positions are not the best and we are up against very
strong opposition, but it is not an impossible task. We
have strong potential which we saw today: it will be a
case of getting all the elements to come together as
well as possible."
Felipe Massa: "It's a shame I didn't manage to
get the best out of the car in Q3, mainly because of
traffic, especially on my second run. In the first two
parts of qualifying the car felt good, as can be seen
from my times, but then I never managed to prepare the
tyres in the best way. Clearly, overtaking isn't easy
but we have a good pace and I will try and exploit that
in fighting with the two drivers ahead of me on the
grid."
Kimi Raikkonen: "I made a mistake on my final
flying lap which cost me precious time, and that
followed on from not having got a great lap on my
previous attempt, which explains why I'm sixth. Of
course I am not happy and, starting from the third row,
my race will be an uphill struggle. I will try and make
the most of this situation, given that the car today was
not that bad. We are going through a bit of a difficult
time but we mustn't give up: all we need to do is put
together all the pieces of the jigsaw and then the
results will come to us again."
Luca Baldisserri: "Having our main rival's two
cars on the front row is definitely not the most
promising start for the race, but it in no way means the
race is already lost for us. Tomorrow it will be
important to make a good start, trying in Felipe's case,
to take advantage of starting on the more rubbered-in
side of the track, and to manage tyre performance as
well as possible, given that we can expect very high
temperatures. On top of that come the usual parameters -
strategy, reliability, team work - that have to operate
at their best in order to get a good result. We have to
try our hardest to bring home as many points as possible
and only at the end of the race will we see if we have
done enough or not."
Qualifying session
F. Massa: 3° 1.21.191 6 laps chassis 269
K. Raikkonen: 6° 1.21.516 6 laps chassis 270
Weather: air temperature 31 °C, track temperature 41/39
°C, clear skies.
|
