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Two
cars in the top ten:
that’s the outcome
of qualifying this
afternoon for
the Bahrain Grand
Prix, for Scuderia
Ferrari,
with Felipe Massa in
eighth place and
Kimi Raikkonen
tenth. The two
Ferrari men got
through Q1, with the
sixth and ninth
fastest times and
Q2, fourth and
ninth; in both cases
with Kimi ahead of
Felipe. In the final
part of qualifying,
Felipe was able to
get the most out of
his last remaining
set of the softer
tyres, while Kimi
used two worn sets,
also the softer
ones.
The fact that
getting both F60s
into the top ten on
the grid is
considered a decent
result for Scuderia
Ferrari Marlboro,
clearly shows the
state of play at the
moment. With
one car already in a
points position and
the other not far
off, the Scuderia
tackles tomorrow’s
fourth round of the
world championship
in the hope of
finally bringing
home its first
points of the
season.
It
was even hotter
today than
yesterday, although
a drop of around 5
degrees is currently
predicted for race
day. Even so, racing
in the mid-thirties
means that all
elements of the
package, car,
engine, tyres and
drivers will suffer
in the heat and
reliability will be
put to the severest
of tests. Both
Felipe and Kimi went
back to using KERS,
following an
assessment of the
“with and without”
comparison test
yesterday, having
removed it from the
cars a week ago in
China.
In a
season that
continues to throw
up surprises, which
is good for the race
fans at least, this
time it was Toyota’s
turn to secure pole,
it’s third, and
indeed make it an
all red and white
front row: Italy’s
Jarno Trulli secured
pole position for
the fourth time in
his career, with his
German team-mate
Timo Glock in second
place. The
second row sees
China winner,
Sebastian Vettel in
third place for Red
Bull-Renault, with
series leader Jenson
Button alongside him
in the Brawn. The
third row features
reigning world
champion Lewis
Hamilton fifth for
McLaren-Mercedes,
with the other Brawn
of Rubens
Barrichello next to
him. The
session was pretty
much trouble free,
but Force India’s
Adrian Sutil has
been penalised three
places (to 19th
spot) on the grid
for impeding Mark
Webber in Q1.
Massa, the winner
here for the past
two years and
Raikkonen both feel
they have a good
strategy for
tomorrow afternoon’s
test of endurance.
However, the first
three races have all
seen strategies for
the majority of
competitors
disrupted by rain or
other unforeseen
circumstances.
Hopefully, the
Bahrain Grand Prix
might see a return
to a straightforward
but exciting
contest. Although
inevitably, as has
been the case ever
since Formula 1
first came to the
desert in 2004,
there are rumours
that a sandstorm
could be heading for
Sakhir tomorrow
afternoon!
“We were aware of the
current situation in terms of the
pecking order and how difficult it would
be to get into Q3. You only had to look
at the times in the second part of the
session, with five cars all within half
a tenth,” commented Stefano Domenicali.
“The slightest thing and you wouldn’t
make it. Cleary this is not a
Ferrari-style result, but we have to
make a virtue out of necessity.
Tomorrow, it will be vital to ensure
that first and foremost, we make it to
the chequered flag. With these high
temperatures, car reliability faces a
stiff test. Our aim is simple, to wipe
the zero off our score card in the
championship.”
Felipe Massa: “It
seems we have made a small step forward,
but we know we still have a long way to
go. Personally, I’m happy to be back in
the top ten in qualifying and I hope I
can have a good race and make it into
the top eight. This morning, the car was
handling very well, but in the afternoon
it lost a little bit of performance
because of oversteer, probably down to
the track conditions. Tomorrow it will
be very hot and that will have a
considerable effect on reliability and
tyre performance. We must try and make
it to the finish and bring home some
points, maybe making the most of the
KERS, especially at the start.”
Kimi Raikkonen:
“It would have been difficult to do
better than tenth. In the first two
parts of qualifying, the car handled
better than we had expected, but in Q3 I
no longer had any new soft tyres, having
already used all four sets. The car’s
performance has improved with KERS.
Tomorrow, the race will be very tough
because of the high temperatures. Let’s
see what we manage to do. The aim is to
finish in the points.”
Chris Dyer: “We
can’t claim to be happy in absolute
terms with our performance, but at least
for the second time this season, we
managed to get both cars into Q3. In the
final part of qualifying, Kimi struggled
a bit more than his team-mate, as he had
no more new soft tyres, but all things
considered, that’s the best we could
have expected today. We have a good
strategy and hope to bring home both
cars in the points tomorrow. Yesterday
afternoon we decided to fit the KERS to
both cars. We studied carefully the data
from free practice and that led us to go
for this solution.”
Qualifying session
K. Raikkonen: 10°
1.35.380, 6 Laps
F. Massa: 8° 1.34.818, 6
Laps
Chassis: F. Massa 275,
K. Raikkonen 276
Weather: air temperature
40 °C, track temperature 53/51 °C,
sunny.
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