Alonso secures first Ferrari pole of the season in front of Tifosi
First pole position of the season for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, here at the team’s home race, thanks to a fastest lap from Fernando Alonso. Adding to what is a great day for the Maranello team, is the fact that Felipe Massa secured a brilliant third place, so that he will line up right behind his team-mate on the grid tomorrow.
This is the Scuderia’s 204th pole and the last time it was fastest in Q3 dates back to the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix. For Fernando, it is the nineteenth pole of his career, the second at this track, and nineteen is also the number of times that Ferrari has taken pole at this race. “A really great and important result,” commented Stefano Domenicali. “Fernando and Felipe did a fantastic job and the team delivered them a very competitive car. It’s nice to have that feeling again which comes from having a car on pole, after such a long time, but we must not forget that what really counts is the race, because that is when the points are given out. Therefore we must all remain totally focussed on preparing for tomorrow’s race, bearing in mind how tough the Monza circuit can be in terms of reliability, which is still the crucial element in all races. It is very pleasing that this long-awaited pole has come at Monza and on a day when our President Luca di Montezemolo and his opposite number at Fiat, John Elkann were both here to witness it. Tomorrow we hope to be able to give them and all our fans something special.”
Luca di Montezemolo: “I am very happy about this result, which I found so exciting that I was jumping for joy on the pit wall. Having both our cars on the front two rows in front of all our fans is very nice. It goes without saying, this track has always delivered strong emotions for me. The team did a great job and never gave up trying. Now we must concentrate fully because the hardest part is still to come tomorrow.”
Fernando Alonso: “Pole position at last! And it’s come at the best possible place, here in front of all the Ferrari fans! We managed to save two sets of new soft tyres for Q3 and so we were able to post a time immediately, before giving it absolutely everything on the second run. In fact, the time on the first run was good enough. The team and I have been without a pole for too long and two Ferraris in the top three is a fantastic result. At this track, the car really gets a hard time so we must try and keep all the parameters under control. We must make the most of this opportunity to bring home a lot of points: we will try and get a good start and tackle the first chicane as cleanly as possible, which is always difficult on the first lap. We needed this result: coming off the back of a weekend like Spa, which had raised some doubts about the car, but here it has improved a lot day after day. It would be nice to get a one-two tomorrow in front of our fantastic fans: I feel at home here, just like in Spain.”
Felipe Massa: “Today I could have taken pole, but maybe in Q3, we did not adopt the best strategy. In Q2, my time on the soft tyres came on the third lap, so for the next part, we opted to do a series of three laps, but things did not go as we had wanted. Then on my second run, I did not manage to improve enough to take pole. All the same, it was a good qualifying and I am pleased with the performance of the car, which improved yet again today. We changed various things compared to yesterday morning which saw us become more competitive. I have never been very lucky at Monza, but tomorrow I will be starting from a good grid position. It is very motivating, especially when you see how happy are our fans, and it gives you a little bit extra. It would be nice to reward them for it…”
Chris Dyer: “A fantastic result, for the team, the drivers and for our championship chances. Both Felipe and Fernando were pleased with the handling of their car and we had no problems of any sort today. Both of them did a great job, setting a time at the right moment and being first and third is a just reward. It has been such a long wait to see one of our cars on pole and there could be no better place to do it than here at our home race. We know that usually, one of the F10’s strongest attributes is its race pace, therefore tomorrow we must try and consolidate today’s achievement. From what we have seen yesterday and today, there are no particular problems in terms of tyre life: maybe the hards struggle a bit more to get up to temperature, but we don’t expect to see anything different to usual in terms of strategy.”
