Ferrari happy to be competitive again
First podium of the season for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, courtesy of Kimi Raikkonen who finished third, ahead of team-mate, Felipe Massa. The Brazilian also set the fastest race lap. Thanks to the eleven points picked up today, the Scuderia has moved up to fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship.
The Ferrari drivers are now eighth and tenth in the Drivers’ classification, with Raikkonen and Massa respectively.
Stefano Domenicali: “The most important thing to come out of today is the confirmation that our car is back to being competitive, thanks to the great amount of work that everyone at the Scuderia, both back home and at the track, has put in over these past few weeks, without getting distracted by everything going on around us. It's not easy to work in these conditions and I want to thank everyone for what they are doing. Today, we got a third and a fourth place which, given the difficult start to our season, is a nice result, but it’s still not the one we want. Our aim is to be ahead of everyone and we will do all we can to achieve that as soon as possible. Of course the others won’t remain idle but we must continue to push as we have done in these recent times.”
Kimi Raikkonen, 3rd 1:40.57.724 + 13.442 78 Laps, Chassis 279: “I can’t be happy with third place, as my aim is always to win, but all the same, this podium is very satisfying for the entire team after a very difficult start to the season. However, I am happy that we are back competing at the front again. Over the past few weeks we have made a real step forward in terms of performance and this result confirms it. We still have work to do to catch up with the best, but we are moving in the right direction. This weekend, if some details had worked out differently, the result could have been different – I’m thinking of missing out on pole by a whisker or of my second pit stop when I lost a few seconds. But overall, we have to be pleased.”
Felipe Massa, 4th 1:40.59.392 + 15.110 78 Laps, Chassis 276: “I am very happy with today’s performance. The car was very competitive: it’s clear we are on the way up and hopefully we can soon be back to fighting for the win. At the start, I lost a lot of time behind Vettel and then, because I made a mistake, I was also passed by Rosberg. But after that I quickly got back up the order and I think I could also have passed Kimi. In the three laps I had longer than him, at the second pit stop, I found myself right behind Button and so I wasn’t able to exploit the opportunity. Starting on the hard tyres was the best choice: we still lack a bit of aerodynamic downforce to be up with the Brawns, but it is too early to claim to be the second best team in the championship. What is sure is that we are working well and I am sure we will see further results of that soon.”
Chris Dyer: “That was a very interesting race today. In the end, we are a bit disappointed, but that’s a good sign, both because it shows how much we want to get back to being ahead of everyone and also because, when you begin to think you should have been able to do better than a third and fourth place finish, it means that you are back to being really competitive again. If we had not lost position at the start, probably we could have attacked Rubens, if we hadn’t encountered a problem changing the right rear wheel at Kimi’s second pit stop. What is reassuring is the pace shown by the F60, especially in the second part of the race, when despite having more fuel than the leaders, we were always quicker. We are very happy with the performance of the car and we are confident we can improve it further with coming developments.”
Weather: air temperature 25/26 °C, track temperature 42/45 °C, sunny.
