Turkish GP: Bridgestone Saturday qualifying notes

Turkish delight for Massa as he takes first career F1 pole on Bridgestone Potenzas

Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro's Felipe Massa flew to his first ever F1 pole position this afternoon at the Istanbul Park circuit where track temperatures hit 46°Celsius. Meanwhile his teammate Michael Schumacher made it a Ferrari 1-2 and front row lock-out, setting up a thrilling start for tomorrow's race as championship leader, Fernando Alonso, qualified just one place behind in third.

Panasonic Toyota Racing's Ralf Schumacher was also on good form, giving Bridgestone three runners in the top five. Unfortunately the Toyota driver will start ten places back on the grid following an earlier engine change but his performance suggests he will be a strong contender in tomorrow's 58-lap race. WilliamsF1's Mark Webber was the fourth Bridgestone runner to make it through to the top ten shoot-out this afternoon.

Hisao Suganuma, Technical Manager - Bridgestone Motorsport:

"First of all, congratulations to Felipe on his first F1 pole position! It was a great performance and with Michael in second, Ferrari has dominated the front row which puts them in an excellent position for the race. They have certainly been consistently strong through the practice sessions and qualifying so we are expecting this momentum to continue tomorrow."

"Ralf Schumacher also qualified well in fifth and it is just a shame he will be penalized ten places for his engine change. Mark Webber was tenth and was running very consistently which is also a good sign for the race where consistency of the tyre performance will be important. Looking across the Bridgestone runners we can still see a little tyre graining on some cars but it is reducing as the track develops and we are expecting our tyres to perform well tomorrow."

"According to the weather forecasts it will be another hot day which will generate tough conditions for the tyres but we are confident our tyre specifications for this race will cope well and give our teams the competitiveness they want. It is important not to forget however that only part of the job has been done and we will be checking the tyres ahead of the race and advising our teams overnight on how to get the best out of them."

Bridgestone Team News

Ross Brawn, Technical Director Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro:

"We are very pleased with the car and Bridgestone tyre performance here - it seems to be just right and the tyres were very good in the long runs too. Michael made a mistake on his first qualifying run which meant that the second run had to be slightly conservative. Felipe on the other hand did the opposite. He put in a great time on his first run and was therefore able to go for it again on the second run. He did a fantastic job! We have good reason to be optimistic: the tyres are excellent, the car is pretty good, we have a good team and good drivers."

-credit: bridgestone