Difficult race for Ferrari
It was a very difficult day for the Scuderia Ferrari at the Gilles Villeneuve Circuit at Montreal. Kimi Raikkonen finished the Canadian Grand Prix in fifth position while team mate Felipe Massa received a black flag for ignoring the red light at the pit lane exit.
Jean Todt: "We expected a tough race, but given the outcome, that was just a euphemism. The only really positive news of the day is that Kubica, who had a really serious looking accident, is reasonably alright, given the impact he sustained. In a race that was confusing and chaotic thanks to the numerous safety cars periods, we come away with just four points for Kimi, whose car was damaged in a collision at the first corner after the start and then after Kubica's accident. As for Felipe, he was disqualified for driving out of pit lane when the light was still red. Of course this is not a happy moment for us. Now we have to study everything about this weekend, to understand how to move on. It is not the first time we have been in a situation like this and we have always shown that we can extricate ourselves from these difficulties."
Kimi Raikkonen: "It was a very difficult race for me, right from the beginning. I did not have much grip at the start, being on the dirty side of the track and immediately after, I hit Felipe's car with my front wing. Then, there were so many safety car periods that it caused chaos. On top of that, after Kubica's accident, a piece of debris got stuck in my front wing and I had so much understeer and some difficulties with the brakes. All these problems put together made this a really complicated race. At the end of the day, I picked up some points: it could have been better but it could also have been worse."
Felipe Massa: "What happened at the pit stop is a real shame. Even if the safety car didn't help me I was having a good race and I could have brought home some important points for the championship. Unfortunately, when I left the pits, I did not even look at the lights, partly because there were so many cars in pit lane behind me. It's true that today the McLaren was very strong, but this was not the result we should have had, we should have been able to finish on the podium. The season is long and still very open. We must work to improve our performance. I am happy that Kubica, who is a friend of mine, was not seriously injured in his accident: it is almost a miracle."
Luca Baldisserri: "You could say this was a pretty chaotic race, featuring lots of safety car periods. Kimi damaged his front wing right at the start and the car lost its aerodynamic balance when some debris off Kubica's car got stuck in the wing, making the car especially difficult to drive. Felipe was going very well and could have secured a good result. The roulette of the safety car certainly didn't help and we committed an unfortunate mistake which led to the Brazilian being disqualified. From what we could see, our race pace was competitive."
