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Kimi Raikkonen will start the Chinese Grand
Prix from the fourth row of the grid, in eighth place, while
Scuderia Ferrari team-mate, Felipe Massa will watch
the lights go out tomorrow afternoon from thirteenth spot on
row seven.
It’s a sign of the times, that no one is too
surprised at what would have been considered a poor showing
last year, or indeed for several years before that. However,
the team knew the Prancing Horse would be struggling to
gallop at the same pace as the front runners and
effectively, tomorrow’s race and the one in Bahrain just
seven days later will be a case of making the most of what
the F60 can offer in its current configuration.
Even putting to one side the recent
controversy over some teams’ interpretations of the rules
regarding aero components on the car, the radical changes to
the technical regulations introduced for this season,
continue to throw up surprises. Red Bull Racing recorded its
first ever pole position in its five year history, courtesy
of Sebastian Vettel, who adds this first place start to the
one he secured last year in Monza. For a while it looked as
though Red Bull would monopolise the front row, but in the
end, Mark Webber had to settle for third place, with
Fernando Alonso securing the second spot on the front row in
his Renault. The championship leading team, Brawn GP, got
its cars into fourth and fifth places with Rubens
Barrichello and Jenson Button respectively, while Jarno
Trulli completes the top six for Toyota.
Nico Rosberg is seventh for Williams on the
inside of Kimi. The Finn did a fine job to outpace two cars
in the top ten shoot-out, given that he did his run on worn
tyres, having used the new ones to avoid any mishaps in
getting through to the final section of this afternoon’s
qualifying. As for Felipe, traffic on his lap out of the
pits for his final run in Q2 meant his tyres were not at
optimum temperature as he embarked on his flying lap and
this contributed to a small mistake that saw him miss the
cut by fractions of a second, in what is a very close grid.
In terms of fuel strategy, the Ferrari duo
are looking quite sensible for tomorrow, therefore hoping
for a points finish is not out of the question, as long as
they see the chequered flag of course. It’s unlikely that
any unusual weather can be counted on to shake up the order,
as although rain is forecast for the Shanghai area for
Sunday, it is not due to arrive until after the race.
One car in the top ten, another on row
seven: that was the outcome of qualifying for the Chinese
Grand Prix for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro. Kimi Raikkonen was
eighth fastest in Q3, while Felipe was eliminated when in
thirteenth place at the end of Q2. “A team like Ferrari
cannot claim to be happy with getting one car through to the
final part of qualifying, but given our current technical
situation, that’s what we could aim for today,” commented
Stefano Domenicali. “It was a shame for Felipe who could
also have got through to Q3. We knew this would be a
difficult weekend, fought out on the back foot and that is
proving to be the case. Now we have a race to run, in which
there will be many unknown factors to contend with.
Reliability will be crucial: we will try and get the most
out of the potential at our disposal, to bring home the best
possible result.”
Felipe Massa: “The first run in Q2
was pretty good, but on the second, I made a mistake going
into Turn 9 which kept me out of Q3. I had a bit of traffic
on my out lap which meant I didn’t get the tyres up to the
right temperature. We must try and get through these two
difficult races, bringing home a few points, working in the
meantime on the development of the car. Not having the KERS
is definitely a handicap in my case, especially in
qualifying. This is another area where we must work, to go
back to using it as soon as possible.”
Kimi Raikkonen: “Of course I’m not
happy with eighth place but, given our current potential, we
have to settle for this. We got everything out of the car
but we had no more new tyres for Q3 and therefore, it’s
already something to have put quite a few of our competitors
behind us. The problem is still the same, we are just not
quick enough. The car’s handling isn’t bad, but as I’ve said
before, we are giving away a second to the best. I hope we
get some developments quickly but, in the meantime, we try
to do the best with what we’ve got. I hope we have a good
race and pick up a few points. I don’t know where we might
have been if we had the KERS: at some points it gives you an
advantage, but in others it can be a disadvantage. It would
have been useful to run it on at least one car to understand
the situation better.”
Chris Dyer: “After the disappointment of
Malaysia, this qualifying had some light and shade. Kimi
secured a good position, managing to make it through to the
top ten, while unfortunately, Felipe was out of the final
part of the session because of a mistake that prevented him
from improving on his second run in Q2, just missing out by
less than a tenth. In Q3, on worn tyres, Kimi did a great
job, managing to put two cars behind him. We have a good
strategy and hope to pick up a few points in tomorrow’s
race.”
Qualifying
Details:
F. Massa: 13th 1.36.033, 5 laps
K. Raikkonen: 8th 1.38.089, 6 laps
Chassis: F. Massa 275, K. Raikkonen 276; Weather: air temperature 23 °C, track
temperature 40/41 °C, sunny.
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