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Scuderia
Ferrari came to Spa knowing that its closest rival would
be extremely competitive and, so far this weekend, that
has proved to be the case. But the mix of silver and red
in the front two rows shows just how close it is, as
Lewis Hamilton is on pole, with Felipe Massa alongside
him, while the second McLaren-Mercedes of Heikki
Kovalainen, who set the fastest lap of the day in Q2 is
third, with the F2008 of Kimi Raikkonen outside him in
fourth spot. While Massa put in a brilliant lap to
ensure his appointment on the front row, Raikkonen
unfortunately ran wide at Turn 7 on his last quick lap,
which may well have cost him one place. Row 3 sees Nick
Heidfeld's BMW-Sauber in fifth spot and Fernando Alonso
in the Renault in sixth.
The thirteenth round of the World Championship promises
to be a fascinating contest with the top four drivers on
the grid all setting their sights on victory, as the
championship reaches its crucial and final phase with
just six races remaining. The nature of this beautiful
road circuit means that overtaking is possible and while
strategies will be mainly based on two stops for the top
runners, when those stops are made could vary more than
at other tracks. And then of course, there's the famous
Spa weather, which can turn itself around in a matter of
minutes.
This afternoon's qualifying session was run in
the dry, however, less than an hour later, for the start
of the GP2 race, a deluge hit the track forcing the race
to be started behind the Safety Car and then, within the
space of half an hour, the rain stopped and the circuit
was bathed in warm sunshine for the first time this
weekend. As Felipe Massa said, "if it rains tomorrow, it
can turn the race into a lottery." At the moment, the
local Weather Internet site says there is a slight
chance of "sprinkles" of rain in the late afternoon.
Naturally, the Ferrari men want to do well in terms of
the championship, but it would also be a great boost for
the Scuderia to arrive in Monza, already next weekend,
for its home race the Italian Grand Prix, on the back of
a Belgian victory.
Two drivers on the front two rows: this is the outcome
of qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix for Scuderia
Ferrari Marlboro, with Felipe Massa setting the second
fastest time and Kimi Raikkonen the fourth. "Overall,
it's a reasonably satisfying result," commented Stefano
Domenicali. "Of course, we always hope to be ahead of
everyone, but it's not always possible, especially as we
are up against some very strong opposition, which we
always knew was the case. When evaluating this session
we also have to take into consideration that the
difference in fuel loads, has a greater effect here than
at other tracks. Tomorrow, apart from the usual factors
(strategy, the work of the team and drivers, tyre
performance over a distance,) the weather could play a
key role. As always, we will be doing our utmost to
bring home the best possible result."
Felipe Massa: "I did a great lap, but it was not
enough to be on pole position. Today, we lacked a bit of
speed compared to our main rivals but the race is very
long and, over a distance, we know we can be very
competitive and therefore we are capable of fighting for
the win. The start? It will be difficult to do a repeat
of Budapest, especially as the start-line straight is
shorter than at the Hungaroring. Then, we will have to
see what the various strategy choices are and obviously,
how the weather evolves. If it was to rain, the race
could be turned into a lottery."
Kimi Raikkonen: On my second run in Q3 I made a
small mistake, running wide at Turn 7. A shame, as it
cost me valuable time which would have seen me move
slightly higher up the order on the starting grid. All
the same, I am reasonably happy with my car, which seems
to be behaving the way I like. Of course, I'm a bit
disappointed, as I would have liked to have done better:
fourth place is far from ideal to go looking for the
win, but it doesn't mean I've given up hope. We know we
have a good potential, especially in race trim. The
weather will however be a key factor and we will have to
try and assess it as well as possible."
Luca Baldisserri: "My compliments to Felipe, who
did a fantastic lap on his second run in Q3. It's a
shame that a mistake at Turn 7 probably cost Kimi at
least one grid position. We knew our main rivals would
be very strong, especially in qualifying, but we are
still convinced that we can be on the pace tomorrow in
the race, which is when the points are given out. It
will be a tough race, in which it will be vital to
manage any situations that might arise as well as
possible. If it is run in the dry, it will be important
to monitor how the tyres perform over a long distance,
given that neither yesterday nor today was it possible
to do a lot of laps consecutively. The F2008 worked well
and also the performance of the tyres over the first
timed lap was up to our expectations."
Qualifying session
F. Massa: 2nd 1.47.678 6 laps chassis 269
K. Raikkonen: 4th 1.47.992 6 laps chassis 271
Weather: air temperature 18/17 °C, track temperature
18/17 °C, covered skies.
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