Q: Felipe a fantastic qualifying lap and your first career pole, your feelings and emotions?
Felipe MASSA: Yes definitely it’s a fantastic moment for me and it’s much more important than all the others will be, because when you get your first pole you feel it much more. It’s quite a surprise so I’m really, really happy and the team is doing a great job and this is really fantastic for me.
Q: And what a great circuit on which to take that pole, with Turn Eight?
FM: Yes, Turn Eight is a challenge for everyone here and we saw many cars going off and there are a lot of bumps in the corner. It is a very difficult corner, a great challenge and I did a good job this time, I also know the corners well so I was able to put a good lap together and get pole position.
Q: You still have a chance of winning the world championship this year, it’s going to be an interesting first corner with Schumacher and Alonso behind you?
FM: Yes for sure, it will be a very tough race and start especially. But it’s good to be in front and I’m just looking forward to being very quick and consistent in the race. As of now I have to say we are looking very strong.
Q: Michael, P2, maybe not where you want to be, but we saw you running wide on new tyres at Turn One?
Michael SCHUMACHER: On both types I ran wide you didn’t get the ultimate lap and in Turn One in particular. Then we aborted the first run and had an extra lap available for the last run. But we didn’t gain anything because the tyres were basically good for one lap. But it’s a great job for Felipe in particular, I’m happy for him. It’s his first pole position and he’s on the front row and that’s what counts for us at the moment.
Q: Tell us a bit about qualifying at this circuit and in particular Turn Eight?
MS: It’s certainly very different from last year to experience the circuit, because if you have a car that basically slides and doesn’t go where you want it to go, it isn’t great fun. At this circuit we have a car where you can position it where you want it to go and that makes a difference. Because the circuit is a big challenge and everyone talks about Turn Eight, but there are a lot of corners where you don’t see the apex, so technically they are very demanding. There is a very nice combination of Turn Three, Four and Five which is quite technical so there’s quite a lot of high and low speed combinations which are a great challenge.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Felipe well done, how much does it mean to have this first pole position?
FM: It’s just fantastic, the first pole position is always much more important than all the others. It’s the first time you can achieve it as a driver. But you are always trying to fight hard throughout all of your career and when you get it, it’s just fantastic. It’s a fantastic day for me and the team did a fantastic job as well for me, to be able to put the lap together. It’s the first pole position of my career so I am really happy.
Q: How good was the car and how much have you changed it over the last couple of days?
FM: Yesterday was an important day for us as we compared the tyres and we had a clear idea which tyre to use today and we did a good job, because the tyre is working quite well, not just on the qualifying but going into the race we think it will be good as well. It was important to find the right set-up and solutions for the race.
Q: Was it quite difficult to make the tyre choice because this morning the track temperature started at 36 degrees C and went up 11 degrees in one session?
FM: This time it was not so difficult for us.
Q: Michael, phenomenal times coming into qualifying, are you disappointed to be second?
MS: It didn’t go exactly to plan, honestly. I had a good car and for whatever reason, I couldn’t really translate all of our performance. But then I took it a bit cautiously as I had to abort the first run. I wanted to make sure I got a reasonable lap in and we’re on the first row, so we shouldn’t really complain. If I could have made up the three tenths Felipe made, I’m not sure honestly. He must have done a very good lap in that one but we were very well sorted.
Q: The middle sector has been very good for you; do you concentrate on that?
MS: No, you try to concentrate for every sector. There’s no point in just looking at one sector and there’s not really one sector which is more important than the other. No, that’s not really the case.
Q: So do you have the left side going down into the first corner?
MS: I have the second position which… yeah, I think so. Yeah. The clean side. Wishful dreaming!
Q: So how do you feel about that, especially with the fast-starting reputation of the Renaults?
MS: I would be more pleased to be on the clean side somehow, but nevertheless, we’re in the first row which is certainly… you would prefer, in a way…. there are tracks where you would prefer to be third. I don’t have enough experience on this circuit, how much of a difference there is between the right or left side, clean or dirty track, so we will check what the case was last year and we will see tomorrow anyway.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Matthias Brunner – Motor Sport Aktuell) When was the last time you were on pole?
FM: It was in a go-kart race in Brazil last year. I was on pole.
Q: (Panos Diamantis – Car and Driver) I have two questions for Michael; the first one is do you believe your experience in this championship situation would help you in the last races? And the second question is, although a little irrelevant, could you please talk us through Wednesday’s charity football game?
MS: Obviously we had the charity soccer game – whoever knows or doesn’t know – in Greece, in Athens and it was their national piloti against a celebrity team which was fun in a way. It’s always fun to play soccer. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough time to see the city and the surroundings. I remember many years ago I was there – the last time – and a lot of things have changed, but sometime in the future I may have time to see the city.
And considering my experience, I don’t think it’s any harm. Certainly it should help, in a way.
Q: (Matthias Brunner – Motor Sport Aktuell) Michael, a couple of weeks ago we learned that in Turkey there would be an election for the new board of the GPDA. Did that happen?
MS: No, we postponed it to a later time in the season, because that’s what we thought, without specific reasons.
Q: Michael, I understand yesterday from a report on autosport.com that in the drivers’ briefing that there was quite an exchange of words, particularly, between yourself and Pedro de la Rosa and Alexander Wurz. Can you tell us roughly what was said and your take on it?
MS: I was rather quiet. They had a discussion with Charlie Whiting, they put their point of view of what happened in Hungary and the FIA made clear that they had a slightly different point of view and that was about all.
Q: (Luc Domenjoz - Le Matin) Michael, if we take your best sector times from Q2, you are more than 1.5s slower during qualifying. It’s not the case with Alonso, so what would you say about your strategy. Are you happy about it and what are the choices now?
MS: There are several reasons, maybe. Maybe we were heavier than the others, maybe I didn’t have as good a lap as I could have done but we will find out tomorrow, because I know, I haven’t had a perfect lap but nevertheless, on the weight side we will see tomorrow when cars will stop.
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