Ferrari confident of winning in China despite missing out on pole
The Scuderia Ferrari drivers will start from 2nd and 3rd position on the Chinese grid tomorrow. Kimi Raikkonen is satisfied with his second place and is confident for tomorrow's race. Felipe Massa finished third in the close session, but believes he could have been on pole if he didn't make a small mistake.
Jean Todt: "Right from the start of the weekend, we have seen a competitive Ferrari and also in today's qualifying we had a confirmation of that, with one car on the front row and the other on the second, with Kimi in second place and Felipe third. The weather forecast predicts a strong chance of rain, which makes it ever harder to make predictions and introduces an additional one to those that usually decide the result, which are strategy, reliability and the performance of the team and drivers. For our part, we will do our best to win this race, run in a country which is becoming ever more important for Ferrari in commercial terms. We can count on two fantastic drivers, cutting edge technical partners, I'm thinking for example of the work Shell has put in to developing the V-Power fuel and commercial partners who guarantee us an essential support, such as Philip Morris. We want to win to please our fans, who have always supported us both in the good times and the bad."
Kimi Raikkonen: "Of course it would have been better to be on pole, but all things considered, second place is a good result, especially when you consider the uncertainty about how much fuel those in the top ten are running. I am very happy with the handling of the car this weekend: we have shown we are competitive in all conditions and I think that should be the same even if it rains, which seems likely. I am confident. We know the situation in the championship is pretty compromised but I will do my all to try and win."
Felipe Massa: "A very close qualifying, from start to finish. With four very closely matched drivers, all of them capable of taking pole you have to always go to the maximum. I tried to do that and, on my second run in Q3, it went wrong. I made a small mistake which with the times being so close, made the difference. All the same, I think I will be competitive in the race, whatever the weather. If it rains, the important thing will be to stay out in front and not make any mistakes. I will be trying to win, but clearly if it is required, I am ready to help the team and keep alive its chances of winning the Drivers' title."
Luca Baldisserri: "It was a closely contested qualifying, with four drivers all capable of taking pole. The car confirmed it is competitive on this track, which was already evident yesterday. Both Kimi and Felipe pushed to the limit to be in front and missed out by very little. I think we can win, whatever the weather tomorrow. At Fuji we saw we were also competitive in the wet even if our race was compromised right from the start."
