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Even
if rain is hardly a surprise at this circuit,
set high in the Eifel mountains, with its own
unique micro-climate, when the rain did come it
managed to turn this afternoon’s qualifying
session into something of a lottery. At the end
of the day, both Ferrari
drivers got through to final Top Ten
shoot-out, with Felipe Massa securing a
starting position on the outside of Row
4 in eighth place. Kimi Raikkonen starts
one place behind in ninth spot. Light
rain arrived as predicted in the middle
of Q1 and then got heavier in Q2, before
the track dried out again enough to use
slicks for Q3. By this stage, both F60s
had used up their full allocation of new
softer tyres, which meant that running
on the harder rubber, both Ferrari men
were at a slight disadvantage, but
whether or not they would have been
higher up the grid is debatable. The
team strategists obviously took the tyre
situation into account, opting to run
the cars with a comparatively high fuel
load, which should bring two advantages
in tomorrow’s 60 lap German Grand Prix:
firstly it will see Felipe and Kimi
hopefully gain an advantage in terms of
track position by running a longer first
stint and secondly, a bigger fuel load
leaves a driver in a more flexible
position in the event of rain and/or a
Safety Car period.
Mark Webber took the
first ever pole position of his F1
career for Red Bull Renault, which
probably did not please the local crowd,
who saw the Australian’s team mate,
Germany’s Sebastian Vettel claim fourth
spot on the grid. This was the first
time an Australian has taken pole since
Alan Jones in 1980, also at the German
GP, held that year at Hockenheim.
Splitting the two of them are the Brawn
Mercedes’ of Rubens Barrichello and
Jenson Button. Although only Lewis
Hamilton’s car is fitted with major
updates that have seen a considerable
improvement for McLaren, both he and his
team-mate share Row 3 with the
Englishman ahead of Heikki Kovalainen.
Felipe shares Row 4 with another
surprising name, that of Germany ’s
Adrian Sutil who is in seventh place for
Force India . Kimi has Nelson Piquet’s
Renault outside him on Row 5.
“All in
all, especially in light of the changing
weather conditions, this is a reasonable
result,” commented Stefano Domenicali.
“Getting both cars into Q3 was our
primary objective. It was not at all
easy, because apart from the two teams
fighting for the title, all the others
are very evenly matched, with some teams
seeming to have made a significant and
surprising step forward. Tomorrow’s race
could be rendered even more uncertain by
the weather: realistically, we would
like to get both our drivers home in the
points and we will have to exploit every
eventual opportunity that might present
itself.”
Felipe Massa:
“This qualifying was a bit of a lottery:
first dry, then rain then dry again. It
could have gone better, but it could
also have gone much worse. I’m not
jumping for joy over eighth place, but
it’s not so bad. We have a good strategy
aimed at getting us into the points,
although a podium seems hard to reach to
be honest.”
Kimi Raikkonen:
“It was a pretty complicated session,
with track conditions changing all the
time. Therefore, it’s difficult to say
if this result reflects the real
standings down the order. Clearly, we
were penalized by not having a single
set of new tyres for Q3. I believe that
in normal conditions we could have got a
better grid position. Having said that,
we are not in bad shape for the race: we
have a good strategy and we will try and
make the most of it.”
Chris Dyer: “This
morning, we were fairly satisfied with
the performance of the car in the dry.
Then, in qualifying, we found ourselves
up against rapidly changing conditions
and it was therefore a good result to
get both cars into Q3. At that point
however, we no longer had any more new
soft tyres available and that cost us
very dear. We therefore opted to start
with a good amount of fuel on board to
try and make up ground in tomorrow’s
race, when I think we will nevertheless
be competitive, whatever the weather. We
also hope to make the most of the KERS
at the start, given that the main
straight is very long.”
Qualifying session
F. Massa: 8th 1.34.574, 6 Laps
K. Raikkonen: 9th 1.34.710, 6 Laps
Chassis: F. Massa 277, K. Raikkonen
279
Weather: air temperature 17 °C, track
temperature 19/18 °C, overcast, occasional rain
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