The qualifying session shook out a grid order giving an accurate picture of the current situation down pit lane. Indeed, Alonso realised this, pointing out that fourth place has been his most common grid position this year. It’s not a bad result and certainly good enough to aspire to a podium finish in today’s Italian Grand Prix. In the other 150º Italia, Massa will have a perfect view of his team-mate’s rear wing, as he set the sixth fastest time for a place on the outside of Row 3. On a track that was not expected to play to the Red Bull’s strengths, championship leader Sebastian Vettel still managed to put almost half a second between his pole time and that of second placed Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren. Fernando has the McLaren of Jenson Button on the inside of him on Row 2, while Felipe is alongside fifth placed Mark Webber in the second Red Bull.

The team has worked all weekend, not just to improve the car through the three practice sessions and into qualifying to deliver this very result, but also on so many other fronts, when every aspect of the team’s work comes under scrutiny at its home race and drivers and engineers are called upon to fulfil promotional and media requests as well as concentrating on work in the garage.

Showing his support yesterday in what is always a “pressure cooker” environment at Monza was Luca di Montezemolo. It has become something of a tradition over the years that the Ferrari President always arrives on Saturday, in time to boost morale and follow the session from the pit wall.

Today’s race is difficult to predict, as indeed has been every race this year thanks to the new rules and new tyre supplier. The Italian GP is the shortest on the calendar time wise: last year, Fernando Alonso took just over one hour and sixteen minutes to be first past the chequered flag, so choosing the best moment to pit for new tyres will be one of the keys to the race. For Fernando or Felipe to actually win the Prancing Horse’s home race will be extremely difficult, but the ability of the 150º Italia to look after its tyres might be a big plus over 53 laps, especially if it’s another hot day today.

Stefano Domenicali: “First and foremost, congratulations to Sebastian who produced an incredible pole lap: how lucky this is a track where they were not considered to be the favourites. We tried to do our best, aware that we did not have the best car. The team worked very well throughout the session, trying to get the most out of the package at our disposal. Obviously, we are keen to do well at our home race: our plan is to tackle it in attacking style. So far this has been a very busy weekend, from every point of view, but we know the key moment is yet to come.”

Fernando Alonso: “Fourth place is possibly my most common result in qualifying this season, so I definitely cannot be surprised at this performance. Usually, in the race we go better than in qualifying, therefore this grid position could provide the basis for a podium finish, which is our realistic target. Fighting for the win? I think it will be very difficult, even if this year’s races have often thrown up surprises. I will try to make up some places at the start, which could make the race even more interesting. It was not easy to find the right balance on the car this weekend. We made a lot of changes to the set-up after each session. Then unexpectedly, in qualifying, the car improved and was more stable under braking and easier to drive, to the extent that we were always in the top four or five positions in each session. Clearly the higher temperatures helped, otherwise we would not be just a few hundredths off the McLarens, after being over two seconds away in Spa qualifying. We hope it will be equally hot tomorrow: it would be great to get a result to delight all our fans who will be in the grandstands.”

Felipe Massa: “All things considered, it was a good qualifying, though definitely not an easy one, because we knew there were some very quick cars out there. The result is pretty much in line with our expectations going into the session. We worked well, trying to fine tune the car in one session after the next. In Q3, on my final run, I had got a good tow behind Michael, but then, I pushed a bit too much and lost precious time at the second chicane and the Lesmo corner. Maybe I could have been one or two places further up, but definitely nothing more than that. I expect the race will be very close and difficult and rear tyre degradation will be one of the key factors. As usual, strategy will be decisive and I hope I can do well. This is a very important event for Ferrari and we are keen to give our fans something to cheer about. The target? A place on the podium, but I know it will be very difficult.”

Pat Fry: “If you work for Ferrari, you cannot be pleased with a fourth and a sixth place in qualifying, but we also need to be realistic about what we are currently capable of doing. We worked very hard on the car over the past two days and I think we managed to improve its performance significantly from one session to the next: I think the qualifying result confirms that, given where we started from. Clearly, the higher temperatures gave us a helping hand, especially when it came to getting the Mediums to work better, which can be seen from the fact that we have never been so close to McLaren and Red Bull in Q1 as we were today. The two drivers also did a very good job, always attacking to find the limit. From the strategy point of view it will be interesting to see by how much the first stint can be extended to work out how many stops to make. The temperature will be another important factor, especially as regards tyre degradation. The start will also be a “hot” time, as indeed is always the case here at Monza.”