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Felipe Massa
started sixth and finished sixth in the Italian Grand
Prix, while Kimi Raikkonen ended his day just outside
the points in ninth place. The explanation of this less
than satisfactory result is that, in certain track
conditions and temperatures, the F2008 was simply not
quick enough. Some consolation can be taken from the
fact that a Ferrari engine powered the winner- Sebastian
Vettel for Scuderia Toro Rosso, who led from pole and
never relinquished the lead apart from during the run of
pit stops.
Felipe's main rival for the championship,
Lewis Hamilton, crossed the line in his McLaren-Mercedes
one place behind the Brazilian Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
driver, so one other positive for the Prancing Horse
team, is that the Massa only trails the Englishman by a
single point in the championship battle. However, with Heikki Kovalainen finishing second in the other McLaren,
the Scuderia's lead in the Constructors' classification,
with four races remaining has gone down to five points.
The final member of the podium party was the BMW-Sauber
driver, Robert Kubica.
The promise of dry weather proved false and as the cars
lined up on the grid, with Felipe Massa and Kimi
Raikkonen in an unfamiliar sixth and fourteenth on the
grid, the rain continued to fall. Nakajima and Button
started from the pit lane and the race was started
behind the Safety Car, with the use of extreme weather
tyres declared compulsory. Fourth placed Bourdais's Toro
Rosso did not get off the grid and joined last, already
one lap down.
As the Safety Car pulled in after one lap, pole man
Vettel lead from Kovalainen, Webber, Rosberg and Felipe.
Kimi was thirteenth. On lap 4, Alonso passed Glock to go
seventh behind Trulli and Kimi moved up one more place
to twelfth, sitting right behind Fisichella. As the only
man with clear visibility, Vettel was lapping quicker
than anyone, leading Kovalainen by 5.8s. Felipe, still
fifth, was 13.4 behind the leader.
Kimi was fighting to get past Fisichella, but this had
allowed Hamilton to close right up to the Ferrari man,
so that the battle for eleventh was providing all the
excitement in the early stages. Lap 9 saw the Finn
finally win that particular battle to go eleventh. In
fifth spot, Felipe was 0.6 behind Rosberg.
On lap 11 of 53, Hamilton managed to get past Kimi so
the order was now Vettel, Kovalainen, Webber, Rosberg,
Massa, Trulli, Alonso, Kubica, Glock, Heidfeld,
Hamilton, Raikkonen, Fisichella, Coulthard, Barrichello,
Piquet, Nakajima, Button, Sutil and Bourdais. Felipe was
closing on Rosberg and was now just 0.3 behind. The
Ferrari and the Williams had a fantastic duel for
several corners, with Felipe getting the advantage to
move up to fourth. However, in case he had been deemed
to cut the chicane in passing Rosberg, Felipe dropped
back and passed him again. Fisichella tapped the back of
Coulthard, the front nose of the Force India went under
the car and he went straight on into the barriers to
retire.
Hamilton was moving up the order, passing Glock and
chasing eighth placed Kubica, passing the BMW driver on
lap 17. Leading Kovalainen by 11 seconds, race leader
Vettel pitted on lap 18 for 8.4 seconds, fitting more
extreme rain tyres, coming out of the pits just behind
Felipe, who was now third. Kimi was still in twelfth,
seemingly unable to move further up the order.
Kovalainen pitted from the lead on lap 22, followed by
second placed Webber and Felipe, so that Vettel was now
back in the lead. Behind him and yet to stop were
Rosberg, Hamilton Trulli and Glock. Kimi was having a
wheel to wheel dice with Heidfeld for tenth place, while
Felipe was 1.4 behind his team-mate in twelfth after his
stop. Kimi pitted on lap 26 for a 5.9 stop and Hamilton
came in from second on lap 27. With the half distance
completed, the race would now pan out between those
running a two stop strategy and the later refuellers who
were now going all the way to the flag.
On lap 31, Kimi passed Trulli to make it into the top
ten and two laps later, Felipe made his second stop,
fitting intermediate tyres as the track condition had
improved. On lap 34, Kovalainen also fitted
intermediates as he made his final stop, followed by
Kimi, one lap later. Race leader Vettel made his final
stop on lap 36 as did second placed Hamilton. Felipe was
now sixth, right behind the slower Alonso and Heidfeld,
but finding a way past was proving difficult. The
Brazilian did get ahead of Heidfeld but then let him
past as he had cut the chicane. Once again Felipe had to
contend with having Hamilton right up his gearbox.
The track was drying out in the final stages and Kimi
set a fastest race lap on lap 47, now running ninth.
Webber and Hamilton, racing for seventh collided on lap
48, but both men managed to continue. Out in front,
Vettel led Kovalainen by 14 seconds, with Kubica
trailing in third by a further 8.4. Felipe, still sixth
had dropped off the back of Heidfeld and had Hamilton
1.2 behind him. From then on positions remained
unchanged to the flag.
Three points for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro in the
Italian Grand Prix, thanks to a sixth place finish for
Felipe Massa; Kimi Raikkonen finished ninth. After 14
races, Felipe has reduced the gap to the leader of the
Drivers' classification to a single point, while the
Scuderia has a five point lead in the Constructors'.
Next week the team will be on track in Mugello for three
days testing: Wednesday with Luca Badoer, Thursday with
Kimi Raikkonen and Friday with Felipe Massa.
Stefano Domenicali: "We're definitely not
satisfied with this result, but considering the
circumstances in which the race was run, it could have
actually been much worse. Once again today, we had
confirmation that, in certain track conditions and
temperature range, our car is not quick enough. Then, it
only needs a slight change for the performance to return
to being very competitive. Clearly we must take
countermeasures as quickly as possible because similar
conditions could occur in the remaining four races.
Having said that, we must not forget that we have taken
a small step forward in the Drivers' classification
although our lead in the Constructors' has reduced
substantially. There are four races to go and everything
is still possible. Finally I would like to congratulate
Scuderia Toro Rosso, which uses our engines and
Sebastian Vettel on their first Formula 1 win: they did
a perfect job all weekend and they deserve this moment
of great joy."
Felipe Massa: "It was a tough race: I had hoped
to do better but I'm also aware it could have been
worse. In fact, I've managed to make up a point on my
nearest rival so this is absolutely not a negative
result. In normal conditions, in other words in the dry,
I think I could have made it to the podium. In the first
part, I was struggling because there was not much grip.
In the incident when I overtook Rosberg, I lost a few
seconds when the team told me I had to give back the
position: that was probably the decisive moment because
after the first pit stop, I found myself in traffic. On
top of that, when it was time to switch from the extreme
rain tyres to the standard ones, those who had opted to
do just one stop definitely had the advantage. In the
second part, I knew Hamilton was closing on me fast, but
I could not see him in my mirrors because they were too
dirty. Luckily, Rob helped me, talking me through the
situation in real time. Then he dropped back a bit. I
tried to attack Heidfeld but then I thought it wasn't
worth taking too many risks and I chose to just bring
the car home."
Kimi Raikkonen: "This was a very difficult race
for us. In the conditions at the start, as we have seen
before in the past, we could not keep our tyres up to
temperature and we totally lacked grip. I could do
nothing but try to stay on the track hoping the
conditions would change. When they did, unfortunately it
was too late to aim for a points finish. The car worked
well but without grip, you're not going anywhere. The
situation in the Drivers' championship is now even more
difficult, but I will continue to give it my best shot
as usual."
Luca Baldisserri: "Our race was conditioned in a
very obvious way by the performance of the tyres. At the
start, when it was still raining, we could not get them
to the right operating temperature and we were too slow
compared to our rivals. Then, all it took was for the
track to dry a bit for the car to be pretty much
transformed, as can be seen from Kimi's lap times in the
final stages of the race. We must put some more effort
into understanding how to improve our performance in
these conditions, which could reoccur in the final stage
of the championship. Felipe drove a good race and was
slowed by traffic at a few key moments, otherwise he
could have finished further up the order. Kimi suffered
even more than his team-mate with the deficiency in tyre
performance, especially in the early stages and then,
when he did have the possibility, he showed the
potential at his disposal."
Italian Grand Prix
F. Massa : 6th 1:27.16.310 + 28.816 53 laps chassis 269
K. Raikkonen: 9th 1:27.26.962 + 39.468 53 laps chassis
271
Weather: air temperature 15/16°C, track temperature
17°C, overcast, rain in the first part.
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