Nuerburgring, 11th July 2009
Qualifying session
Felipe Massa: 8th 1.34.574 6 laps
Kimi 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.
In a session affected by light and intermittent rain, both Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro drivers made it through to the third and final part of the session, ending up eighth and ninth on the grid with Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen respectively. “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.”
