German GP: Ferrari qualifying report

Raikkonen Struggling With Balance

Chassis: F. Massa 269, K. Raikkonen 270

Weather: air temperature 24 C, track temperature 27/29 C, partially cloudy.

Qualifying for the German Grand Prix brought mixed fortunes for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: Felipe Massa set the second quickest time in the third and decisive session, while Kimi Raikkonen, took sixth place.

"On the one hand, we are satisfied with Felipe's position as he produced a good qualifying performance, while we cannot feel the same about Kimi, who never managed to find the right balance on his car," commented Team Principal of the Gestione Sportiva, Stefano Domenicali. "It's true that to analyse this afternoon's result objectively one would need to know how much fuel the others have on board, but clearly, starting from the third row won't make life easy for Kimi. We can count on having a good race pace with both types of tyre and will have to work with scrupulous attention over the next few hours to prepare for a race that looks like being a very tough one. I am sure both our drivers will give it their best shot and have a great race"

Felipe Massa: "I am pleased with this result. Of course you'd always prefer to be on pole position, but all weekend long we have been trading fastest times during the sessions and, in the end, our main rivals managed to find a little extra, even if the fuel load is an unknown quantity. It will be a very difficult race: our aim is still to win, but it will be important anyway to pick up many points. We must try to get a good start and make the most of what we have."

Kimi Raikkonen: "All weekend long, we have been struggling a bit to find a good set-up for the car. At the end of yesterday, it seemed we were on the right road and this morning we tried to improve still further down this path, but it was not the right one. Then, in qualifying, we went reasonably well with low fuel, but in the final session, the car was not as good. Clearly sixth place is not satisfying and tomorrow we won't be in for an easy time, but it's definitely not the end of the world. It will be a long race tomorrow and that's when the points are allocated. For our part, we will do all we can to get a good finish position."

Luca Baldisserri: "Felipe produced a fine qualifying performance and is in a good position for the race. A shame for Kimi, who didn't manage to find the best set-up for his car and will have to start from the third row: we will have to investigate what happened. To get a complete picture of this afternoon, in terms of tomorrow's race, one has to take into account the usual parameters and the fact that this track allows for more strategic flexibility than usual. The F2008 has a good pace over a long run and we will try and make the most of that to come home with a good result."

-credit: ferrari