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A Ferrari
engine powers the car that will start Sunday's Italian
Grand Prix from pole position, but it's not driven by
Felipe Massa or Kimi Raikkonen. Scuderia Ferrari
Marlboro's Brazilian driver will start from the third
row in sixth place, while the Finn is down on the
seventh row in fourteenth place.
Once again today, rain was the main player during the
three stages of qualifying and while, struggling with an
F2008 that was not at its best in these conditions,
Felipe managed to get through to the final top ten
shoot-out stage, Kimi went off the track at the Ascari
chicane and that was his day over. One small consolation
is that the Ferrari drivers' closest opposition in the
championship, Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren-Mercedes,
also had a bad day and starts fifteenth.
As for pole, that honour went to the Ferrari powered
Scuderia Toro Rosso car of Sebastian Vettel. The German
driver, at the age of twenty one, thus becomes the
youngest ever driver to start a Formula 1 Grand Prix
from the number one position. Alongside him is the other
McLaren-Mercedes of Heikki Kovalainen while row 2
features the Red Bull -Renault of Mark Webber in third,
with the second Toro Rosso-Ferrari of Sebastien Bourdais
next to him in fourth. Felipe as Nico Rosberg inside him
in fifth slot in the Williams-Toyota.
Whatever the outcome of tomorrow's Italian Grand Prix,
some Scuderia members have already won trophies this
weekend. On Friday afternoon, in a ceremony at the
circuit, the Confartigianato Motori, an Italian motor
industry association handed out prizes to a variety of
F1 people throughout the paddock. Winners included
Felipe Massa, Team Principal of the Gestione Sportiva,
Stefano Domenicali and Technical Director, Aldo Costa.
The current forecast is for a dry race, which might suit
the F2008 better than today, as it has looked very
competitive here in those periods without rain. Whatever
the outcome of the fourteenth round of the world
championship, the Prancing Horse duo will have plenty of
support from around 1500 Ferrari employees and their
families who, as is now traditional, will be occupying
their own special grandstand at the Ascari chicane.
"Of course we're not happy," said Stefano Domenicali.
"It was a frenetic qualifying, in which random factors
in the shape of the rain and traffic, played a key role.
However, that was the case for everyone. On the wet we
are not competitive at the highest level. Having said
that, we must look at this result in the light of the
championship and, we can take some consolation from the
fact that our main rival is behind us. I wish to
congratulate Scuderia Toro Rosso and Sebastian Vettel
who produced an amazing result, which included putting a
Ferrari engine on pole in Monza."
Felipe Massa: "A very difficult qualifying but,
overall, I am reasonably happy. It's true it could have
been better, but it could also have been much worse. I
am ahead of my main rivals in the fight for the
championship and I still have a good grid position
therefore. Today, especially in Q2, conditions were very
critical with aquaplaning at various points and
visibility was also poor, especially in traffic and the
situation got worse and worse. I still managed to
improve my time and make it through to Q3, which was
important. Tomorrow I must try and finish as high up the
order as possible and get some points. It will be a very
tough race, but we can rely on a very competitive car."
Kimi Raikkonen: "There's little to say and I am
definitely not happy with this result. I was unable to
do a time in Q2 when the conditions would still have
made it possible and then it was impossible to catch up.
On that lap, I went off at Ascari where there was a lot
of water on the track, which meant I didn't make it
through to the next session. Now we must try and make
the best of this situation which is definitely not
ideal. Starting from the seventh row of the grid could
be a bit tricky at the start, because the entry to the
first chicane is very tight and it is easy to touch
other cars. In the dry, the car is working very well but
obviously, if it were to rain, it could give some
chances to those who are starting further back like me."
Luca Baldisserri: "Rain and traffic weighed
heavily against us in this session. We struggled,
especially in terms of getting the brakes to the correct
working temperature. We made choices in terms of set-up
aimed at the race and probably today, these worked
against us. Therefore, before evaluating this result, we
should wait until tomorrow afternoon."
Qualifying session
F. Massa: 6th 1.38.894 7 laps chassis 269
K. Raikkonen: 14th 1.37.522 8 laps chassis 271
Weather: air temperature 21 °C, track temperature 21 °C,
rain.
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