Disaster for Ferrari in front of home crowd
A wet qualifying with rain falling in all three parts of the session with varying intensity, which produced a surprising result which is certainly not a positive one for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro. Felipe Massa was sixth fastest, with Kimi Raikkonen fourteenth.
"Of course we're not happy," said Stefano Domenicali. "It was a frenetic qualifying, in which random factors in the shape of the rain and traffic, played a key role. However, that was the case for everyone. On the wet we are not competitive at the highest level. Having said that, we must look at this result in the light of the championship and, we can take some consolation from the fact that our main rival is behind us. I wish to congratulate Scuderia Toro Rosso and Sebastian Vettel who produced an amazing result, which included putting a Ferrari engine on pole in Monza."
Felipe Massa: "A very difficult qualifying but, overall, I am reasonably happy. It's true it could have been better, but it could also have been much worse. I am ahead of my main rivals in the fight for the championship and I still have a good grid position therefore. Today, especially in Q2, conditions were very critical with aquaplaning at various points and visibility was also poor, especially in traffic and the situation got worse and worse. I still managed to improve my time and make it through to Q3, which was important. Tomorrow I must try and finish as high up the order as possible and get some points. It will be a very tough race, but we can rely on a very competitive car."
Kimi Raikkonen: "There's little to say and I am definitely not happy with this result. I was unable to do a time in Q2 when the conditions would still have made it possible and then it was impossible to catch up. On that lap, I went off at Ascari where there was a lot of water on the track, which meant I didn't make it through to the next session. Now we must try and make the best of this situation which is definitely not ideal. Starting from the seventh row of the grid could be a bit tricky at the start, because the entry to the first chicane is very tight and it is easy to touch other cars. In the dry, the car is working very well but obviously, if it were to rain, it could give some chances to those who are starting further back like me."
Luca Baldisserri: "Rain and traffic weighed heavily against us in this session. We struggled, especially in terms of getting the brakes to the correct working temperature. We made choices in terms of set-up aimed at the race and probably today, these worked against us. Therefore, before evaluating this result, we should wait until tomorrow afternoon."
