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Qualifying
yesterday for Scuderia Ferrari’s home race ended
with one F60 on the second
row of the grid, through
Kimi Raikkonen’s third place
and the other car, with Giancarlo Fisichella at
the controls, on the seventh row in fourteenth
place, as the new driver failed to make it
through to the final top ten shoot-out. Having
spent Friday’s free practice acclimatising to
the unfamiliar surroundings of the Ferrari
cockpit and experiencing the effects of KERS for
the first time, yesterday the Roman was prepared to
up the pace. Unfortunately, in free practice, he
lost control of the car, damaging it quite badly
when he ended up in the crash barriers. There
are only two hours between the end of Saturday’s
free practice and the start of qualifying, but
the well-drilled Ferrari mechanics got the car
ready in time for Fisichella to go out in search
of a grid position. Life was a bit smoother on
the other side of the garage and Raikkonen again
produced a very strong
performance in all three
sections of qualifying,
especially the final one on
race fuel.
Lewis
Hamilton took pole for
McLaren-Mercedes and,
amazingly, for the second
race in succession – after
Fisichella took pole for
them in Spa – a Force India
is on the front row of the
grid, this time courtesy of
Adrian Sutil; yet another
surprising scenario in a
season that has been full of
them. The second row for
today's race is an all-Finnish affair, as Raikkonen
has the other McLaren of Heikki Kovalainen alongside
him, while Row 3 is occupied
by the championship leading
Brawns, with Rubens
Barrichello fifth and Jenson
Button sixth.
Today’s
53 lap race is the shortest
on the F1 calendar, in terms
of time, so the start might
be even more crucial than
usual in determining the
final outcome. The biggest
unknown factor could be the
weather, as Friday night saw
the Monza area hit by heavy
rain, while yesterday afternoon,
the 4pm start of the GP2
race had to be delayed as
thunder and lightning left
the track covered in
standing water. Monza might
be one of the world’s most
iconic, interesting and
legendary circuits, but
driving in zero visibility
at these high speeds is not
a prospect the drivers will
relish.
“Given how the day started, we can be
reasonably happy with how things turned
out,” said Stefano Domenicali. “I am
very happy for Kimi, who produced an
amazing performance. Giancarlo did the
best he could given the circumstances:
he was unable to prepare for qualifying
as well as possible during FP3, which
was a significant handicap on his
Ferrari debut. Tomorrow’s race will be
tough and difficult, fighting against
very strong opposition, which now
includes Force India, hardly a surprise
any more. The choice of strategies could
be different from one driver to the
next, so it will be vital to fully
exploit every opportunity. Our aim is to
pick up as many points as possible to
consolidate our third place in the
Constructors’ classification, but it
would be very nice to produce a crowd
pleasing result in front of all our fans
at this our home race.”
Giancarlo Fisichella:
“Overall, I am reasonably happy, even if
I’m aware that a fourteenth place on the
grid is not up to the Ferrari standard.
Yesterday, I drove the F60 for the first
time and this morning, because of a
mistake by me, I lost valuable time to
prepare for qualifying, as I crashed
into the barriers. I want to thank all
the mechanics who did a fantastic job of
rebuilding the car for qualifying. I was
a bit tense before the session, as I
knew I didn’t yet have enough confidence
in the car. Unfortunately, in Q2, I
never managed to put together a perfect
lap and so I couldn’t make it through to
Q3. It’s a shame, as the potential was
there, but tomorrow there is still time
to have a good race nevertheless. Maybe,
I can try and immediately make up some
places at the start thanks to the KERS.”
Kimi Raikkonen:
“That was one of my best qualifying
sessions of the year and we hope that
tomorrow things can go even better. I am
pleased with this result, for the team
and for our fans. The car is not yet
perfect, but it’s good all the same. We
knew the hardest task would come in Q2
as after that, the car is always very
competitive with a race fuel load on
board: all the same, it was a pleasant
surprise to see how it handled in the
final part. I am confident for tomorrow:
at the start it won’t be as easy to make
up a lot of places as it was at Spa,
because there are other cars fitted with
KERS near me, but if everything goes
well, we can fight for a place on the
podium.”
Chris Dyer:
“First of all, I want to compliment
Giancarlo. After this morning’s
accident, the task facing him in
qualifying was not an easy one and
managing to take fourteenth place
despite this is a good way to start his
career with Ferrari. Compliments also go
to all the mechanics who did a great job
of repairing the car in a very short
space of time. Kimi had a great
qualifying, especially in Q3. Possibly,
other drivers behind him have more fuel
and that means we will try and make the
most of the first stages of the race to
make up ground. Yesterday, we saw that
we have a good race pace and I think we
can fight for a place on the podium.”
Race details:
Kimi Raikkonen: 3rd 1.24.523 8 Laps
Giancarlo Fisichella: 14th 1.23.901 9
Laps
Chassis: G. Fisichella 280, K.
Raikkonen 279
Weather: air temperature 27 °C, track
temperature 38 °C, partially cloudy.
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