Q: Kimi, a strong performance. You had hydraulic problems at the end of P3. Did that have any impact and how was your qualifying session?
Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: Yeah, it was okay, no problem. We had good speed yesterday and also in practice this morning. And also in qualifying. I’m very happy with the car and I think we will have a good car in the race and I think there could be different fuel loads in the cars. It has been a good weekend so far. Q: Kimi, a great drive from you, like Lewis, in the Japanese GP. The weather forecast for tomorrow is for rain. Your thoughts on a wet Chinese GP?
KR: Last time when I was here it was wet. It won’t be as bad as Fuji, I think the visibility should be better and so I don’t think it will be too bad and I am not too concerned about the weather.
Q: Felipe, Kimi implied that there could be some strategy going on in terms of fuel load, so your perspective on qualifying?
Felipe MASSA: It was okay. I did a very good lap on the first attempt and then just lost the car on the second one. I wasn’t able to fight at the front because of that. The car was pretty good but I just came into Turn Eleven too quick, too aggressive, and just lost the rear end. So it was not a very good lap on the last set of tyres but it’s okay. I’m starting in the top three and let’s see what is going to happen. The forecast is for rain and so it could be a bit of a lottery.
Q: The detail of that incident you had – was it a different feel on that set of tyres or was it just you pushing a bit hard?
FM: No, it wasn’t the tyres, it’s just that in qualifying there are four cars and nobody knows who is going to be first. You need to push and take some risks sometimes and sometimes it doesn’t work. It was like that. There was nothing wrong with the set-up of the car.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Kimi, you’ve been fastest in all sessions; a bit disappointed not to be on pole?
KR: For sure we would rather be on pole position but I think we have very good speed in the car. It’s been good all weekend, so probably there’s different fuel loads in the cars, but nevertheless, I’m pretty happy. I think it’s good.
Q: The problem this morning, did that affect you at all?
KR: No, it was just the power steering. It was an unfortunate thing but it didn’t hurt us really. We planned to do some more laps but it didn’t really hurt us at all.
Q: The fact that you’re on the front row with Lewis means you have direct possibility to fight for this race, for this championship.
KR: I think for this race. The championship isn’t looking too good but you never know. I think we should have a good car for tomorrow, whatever the conditions are, so I’m quite confident.
Q: Is it too much of a gamble to go for a wet set-up?
KR: I don’t know. We haven’t done so. It’s up to everybody to choose whatever they think is going to happen tomorrow but some cars probably need some different things for wet and then dry for others.
Q: Your wet and dry set-ups are relatively close, are they?
KR: We had exactly the dry set-up in the last race and it seemed to work pretty well, so I’m not worrying about it if it’s raining.
Q: Felipe, obviously important for you to be ahead of Fernando to help Kimi but how much of a supporting role can you play?
FM: Well, it depends on Lewis. There’s not so much that can be done in a race like that. For sure, I’m going to start tomorrow trying to win. That’s what I’m going to do. If you see that maybe Lewis is not in the points, and Kimi still has a chance, then maybe we think about the team, but I think Lewis needs to be behind sixth or sixth for Kimi to still have a chance to fight in the last race. So I’m going to start tomorrow for him.
Q: A good qualifying for you?
FM: Yeah, I just lost a little bit on the last attempt. At the first attempt I did a very good lap and on the last one I just lost the rear going into turn eleven and for sure, I lost very important time which, in qualifying like that, when you see four cars completely on the limit and very close to each other, you need to risk and try the best you can. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t and this time it didn’t work when I tried on the last set of tyres.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Jia Chen – King Sports) A question to Kimi. I wonder why you came back into the pits after only one lap in Q1.
KR: We just wanted to check the car after we had that power steering failure in the last practice session, just to make sure everything was fine.
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