Gearbox problem for Raikkonen
Formula 1 returned to the Nurburgring after a one year break, on a day when the weather was certainly not summery, with even a few rain showers. The two Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro drivers completed just over 100 laps (Felipe 54, Kimi 52,) working mainly on preparation for Sunday’s race and on the comparison of the two types of tyre brought here by Bridgestone.
“The situation is reasonably similar to that at the last race,” commented Stefano Domenicali. “Tomorrow, our aim is to get both cars into Q3 and then try for a good result on Sunday. We know that won’t be at all easy, but, as always we will do all we can to succeed.”
Felipe Massa: “It was a reasonable day, which confirmed our expectations. We still have a bit of work to do, especially in finding the right balance for the first timed lap: with these temperatures, the fronts struggle at the start before improving lap by lap. In the afternoon, we had a heavy fuel load, so as to be as well prepared as possible for Sunday’s race, so we’re not particularly bothered about our position in the classification.”
Kimi Raikkonen: “I think we are more or less where we were at Silverstone. We are still struggling a bit to find the best balance on the car, but I am sure that we will find a way of fixing that. In the second session, I only used the softer tyres because we had to work on the car in between the two sessions, which cost me a bit of time. We certainly struggled to get the harder tyre up to the right operating temperature, as was to be expected given the weather.”
Chris Dyer: “It was rather a difficult day, with changing weather conditions and a few little technical glitches (Kimi’s gearbox had an oil leak) which meant we had to compress our work programme. However, in the end, we managed to complete almost all the tasks on our list, including the evaluation of some new aerodynamic components. There is definitely more work to be done to get the balance right on the car, in order to achieve our objectives which are to get both cars into Q3 and to do well in the race. The low temperatures do not suit us, especially when it comes to doing a good time on the first flying lap.”
First Session
F. Massa: 3rd 1.33.745, 21 Laps
K. Raikkonen: 6th 1.33.840, 23 Laps
Second Session
F. Massa: 12th 1.33.052, 34 Laps277
K. Raikkonen:16th 1.33.182, 29 Laps 279
