Kimi Raikkonen was fastest when it counted at Magny-Cours in France. The Finnish driver captured Ferrari’s 200th pole position during qualifying for Sunday’s Grand Prix of France his teammate, Felipe Massa for the honors.
Raikkonen’s fastest lap was 1:16.449 while Massa’s was 16.490. It was the second pole position of the season for Raikkonen and 16th of his career.
“I am very happy with this result, not just for myself but above all for the team. It is a pleasure to have taken Ferrari’s 200th pole even if, at the moment, I have only played a small part in the history of Scuderia,” Raikkonen said. “So far, the weekend is going really well but of course we have yet to tackle the most important part which is the race, where anything could happen. The car has always been well balanced and, at least as far as the first lap is concerned, the performance of the two tires is pretty similar, while the harder compound seems to do better over a long distance. If I was not to win, I would obviously be a bit disappointed, but the most important thing is to finish and bring home the maximum number of points, because we really need them.”
Raikkonen lost his points lead after the last Formula One race in Canada after an accident relegated him to an 18th-place finish. BMW’s Robert Kubica leads the points by four over Massa and Lewis Hamilton and seven over Raikkonen. Kubica earned a seventh-place grid spot.
“It looks like we are having a difficult weekend. After yesterday’s free practice sessions I was expecting us to struggle. The balance of the car is not how I want it to be and my car has a poor overall grip,” Kubica explained. “The gap to the top teams seems to have stayed the same, and at the same time the other teams obviously have made a big step forward. My goal now is to score as many points as possible in tomorrow’s race, which certainly will not be easy.”
Renault’s Fernando Alonso finished the third qualifying session in fourth, followed by Toyota’s Jarno Trulli.
“The times were very tight today, in both Q1 and Q2, but I made it through to Q3 and was able to set a good time. The car has really improved and so for the first time this season we have the real chance to fight for the podium. The Ferraris are certainly a step ahead, but we will give our maximum to get a good result tomorrow,” Alonso said.
Hamilton ran his McLaren third fastest during the final qualifying session but will start 10 spots back in 13th as a result of his penalty from Canada. His McLaren teammate Heikki Kovalainen qualified sixth during the session but lost five spots after stewards penalized him for blocking Mark Webber during qualifying.
Technorati Tags: Felipe Massa, Robert Kubica, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, Ferraris, Mark Webber, Jarno Trulli, Heikki Kovalainen, F1 Rage!
Tags: Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso, Ferraris, Heikki Kovalainen, Jarno Trulli, Lewis Hamilton, Mark Webber, Robert Kubica
peterg wrote,
And they are predicting rain!!
Link | June 22nd, 2008 at 9:45 am