Q: First all Ferrari front row, and another first for you, fastest in qualifying, quickest in Q2 for the first time this year.
Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: Yeah, it was good, but actually in the last qualifying, after the first run I found the car was not the same any more as it was. I think there is a little problem at the rear of the car but I still decided to try and improve my lap time and I managed to do it, but it doesn’t feel exactly right. But we can check it later. I’m happy to be on the pole, it’s good here, and it was a good result for the team. Q: Well, a demanding circuit on which to have such a problem, particularly after the incidents at Monza last week. Tell us about the state of your neck at the moment and indeed, your love of this circuit.
KR: No, the neck is OK. For sure it’s not 100 percent right but it should be fine. The circuit is very nice. I think most people like it here, it’s a proper circuit for Formula One cars, long corners and it’s very flowing, excellent to drive. I always like it here and it seems to be very good for me.
Q: What a difference a week makes compared with the Ferrari performance at Monza, relative to McLaren-Mercedes. Here at Spa, the car looks great.
KR: Yeah, we knew that Monza was going to be a bit tricky for us and this is a bit more (similar) to Turkey, Istanbul, so we expect to be strong again here, but it’s going to be very close tomorrow and we just to need the best that we can. I think we are in a good position with both cars, so we will see what we can do.
Q: Felipe, the first Ferrari front row of the season. It’s been a little bit of an up and down weekend. It began with an off on cold tyres yesterday morning but here you are on the front row.
Felipe MASSA: Yeah, that was a small issue, just on the first lap on Friday but today I think we are back in the competition, especially looking at the last race where McLaren were a bit stronger. Here we look pretty competitive. It’s pretty close, isn’t it? Qualifying was so close between the drivers and I just almost… I just locked the wheels in the last chicane where I think I lost a little bit which maybe caused a bit of a problem but anyway, I’m happy with the lap and I’m happy with the car as well, also with the strategy.
Q: That last chicane, and indeed the last sector perhaps defining the lap for many drivers. It’s a long lap here, maybe difficult to keep the tyres perfect throughout the lap on that quick lap.
FM: Yeah, for sure, I was pretty happy on my lap until I got to the last corner and maybe I just was a little bit too enthusiastic and I tried to gain even more lap time but I lost a little bit. Anyway, I think it was a good lap, it’s not so easy to keep the tyres working perfectly, from the beginning to the end, but it seems to work in a reasonable way.
Q: And how do you enjoy the fast corners here in the Ferrari?
FM: Well, it’s very good. For sure Eau Rouge isn’t a very demanding corner any more but we have many many others like turn 10, like many quick changes of direction which I enjoy a lot, this kind of circuit, and it’s always nice to come back to Spa.
Q: Kimi, obviously in a great position, but an interesting first corner at Spa, perhaps the most interesting of the year, that tight right hander.
KR: Yeah, it’s always going to be a good challenge, not so much when you’re in front, but in the middle and towards the back, something usually goes wrong there every year, so it will be interesting, but I think we should have a good start and we try to go from there. Hopefully everything goes right.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Kimi, well done, the speeds have been pretty remarkable around here, the lap times.
KR: I don’t know. Compared to maybe some past years, but the circuit has been changed, so it’s been pretty difficult to compare.
Q: But the car has been perfect?
KR: Not all weekend, but I think today it’s been pretty good. We had some problems on the second attempt. The rear of the car doesn’t feel good, but hopefully we can find the issue and fix it.
Q: It’s a very fast circuit, and if you have a problem with the rear of the car, that surely must affect your confidence.
KR: Yeah, but I just decided to try and improve and see what happens. There was nothing that we could do. We tried to look at the data but it wasn’t so easy. Once we get the car back, we will try to find the problem and fix it. I just tried to do my best and it was good but the car wasn’t as good as in the first run.
Q: And you’re pretty confident for tomorrow?
KR: Yeah, I think so. We are usually strong in the race, so I am hopeful that we can have a strong race. Anything can happen but we will do the best that we can.
Q: Is it possible to be doing a one stop strategy here?
KR: I think it is. Maybe somebody will try, maybe not. I don’t know.
Q: A big difference between the hard and soft tyres?
KR: You seem to get a bit more grip from the soft tyre, but I think in race conditions the hard tyres are going to be the better choice. I think in qualifying the tyres were working well.
Q: Felipe, interesting overtaking Lewis at the start of that session. I know it doesn’t mean that much.
FM: It’s always nice to overtake. Practice for the race.
Q: You had the problem on Friday; did you lose any time, have you been playing catch-up since then?
FM: Yeah, we lost time, I didn’t do the whole session but it didn’t affect our performance for sure. For sure, also, the session we did here some months ago was also important to find the right direction. So I don’t think we needed so much time to learn the track. It was only just to improve the set-up, small modifications and that’s it.
Q: On your first run, it looked as if you were just a little bit late on the brakes for La Source.
FM: Yeah, I had a bad lap, but then on the last attempt I managed to do a good lap and I think I was a little bit too aggressive at the last corner where maybe I lost important time to fight for pole position.
Q: It’s seems it’s quite possible to be a little bit late there as we’ve seen quite a few drivers doing that.
FM: It is possible for sure, it’s a very long straight, you arrive very quickly and there’s very hard braking. For sure the grip level there is also not very very high, so it’s always possible to lock wheels and lose important time.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, considering the whole season, was this your best qualifying with Ferrari so far?
KR: It is difficult to say, it is a different place, I have had some good ones before, so overall maybe yes but only the last one really counts so… it was good.
Q: (Dan Knutson – National Speed Sport News) Kimi, quite often in qualifying you have not been able to get everything out of the car. What made the difference this time, so you could get the maximum out of the car?
KR: I think that the balance was very good this morning already. This makes your life a bit easier when you go into qualifying the car should be pretty good. Sometimes we haven’t really been able to do that for one reason or another. It still wasn’t perfect but I was able to try the best I want and it has not been too bad.
Q: (Juha Päätalo – Financial Times Germany) Kimi, you said you had some problems in your last try. But still in the first sector you were three-tenths faster than anybody else, so how did the problems affect your driving?
KR: The rear didn’t feel as good as it should, it felt too soft really and the first sector is mainly a really straight line. There is really only one corner, so for sure it doesn’t affect there as much as in the middle.
Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Felipe, you are in a very difficult situation because the first corner is very tight here and most Grands Prix are decided in the first corner. Considering Kimi has more points than you in the championship, there is a very small window for the championship. What do you want to do tomorrow is the first thing?
FM: To try to win.
Q: And then?
FM: And then we will see. Then we have three more races.
Q: (Miran Alisic – POP TV) I have a question for the three of you regarding racing. We are having a situation where Ferrari have won the Constructors’ Championship actually and McLaren are out of the Constructors’ Championship. Is it going to affect your racing at all because you are now free of thinking of the Constructors’ Championship?
FM: No.
KR: No.
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