Podium finish for Massa as Germany brings no luck for Raikkonen
Second podium of the season for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, with a third place in the German Grand Prix for Felipe Massa. Kimi Raikkonen had to retire after 34 laps because a radiator was damaged by debris and this led to a loss of engine cooling fluid from the system. Thanks to this result, Felipe moves up to fifth place in the Drivers’ classification while the team has consolidated its fourth place in the Constructors’, reducing the gap to third.
Stefano Domenicali: “It’s a nice feeling to be back on the podium and this result for Felipe is a good reward for all the effort put in by him in producing a perfect race and by all the team, at the track and in Maranello. A shame for Kimi who could have secured a good finish: it was really unlucky. Our aim, as we’ve already said is to finish third in the Constructors’ championship and today’s result has helped us make up some ground on the squad ahead of us. However, we have to work very hard to succeed, because this season is still very hard to interpret: once again this weekend we have seen an incredible see-sawing in performance between some of the teams compared to the previous race and within this Grand Prix itself. There are many variables, especially those linked to the behaviour of the tyres which does not seem to be completely under control: getting to grips with this could be very important for the rest of the championship.”
Felipe Massa: “It’s been such a long time since I made it to the podium! I really wanted it after a very difficult first half of the season. Little bit little, we are improving and we will do all we can to get back to winning ways this season: I want to start hearing the Italian and Brazilian national anthems as soon as possible! A great start and the strategy were the keys to this result. In the first fifteen laps I was struggling to keep Vettel behind me, but than I think he too was also struggling a bit with the tyres. Maybe I could have managed to get one place higher, if we had brought the pit stop forward a bit, because I too was struggling with my tyres, but it's easy to say these things with hindsight. Before the race however, I didn’t think I’d end up on the podium as a place in the top five already seemed a lot to ask. But then we saw that cars that in theory are quicker than us ended up behind us and so we realized we had a good chance. We have to continue in this direction.”
Kimi Raikkonen: “Germany definitely doesn’t seem to bring me luck. I don’t know how many times a problem beyond my control has forced me to retire and this time it was down to debris. A shame, as I think I could have got a good result. The car was a bit difficult to drive at the start, but I think it was the same for everyone. Around lap 14, we began to see that something wasn’t right and we tried to manage the situation. Then I started to lose a lot of power and the team asked me to pit because there was nothing that could be done anymore. The incident with Sutil? These things happen in racing, we spoke to one another and I think that he also sees it that way, as indeed did the Stewards.”
Chris Dyer: “This podium from Felipe is a really great reward for the whole team, who did a great job this weekend and in preparing for this race. However, we are also very disappointed about what happened to Kimi, who could have brought home some important points. This result is a great motivation for the rest of the season. We must continue to work with the same intensity to get back to where we want to be. The choice to stick with the softer tyre for the second stint of the race was based on what we had seen in the first stint, where it’s true that Felipe had suffered a bit, while Kimi had no problems. We were also concerned about how the harder compound would work in these temperatures.”
F. Massa: 3rd 1:36.59.216 + 15.906 60 laps 277 chassis
K. Raikkonen: R 55.53.781 DNF 34 laps 279 chassis
