Raikkonen leads home Ferrari clean sweep - French GP - Qualifying

Ferrari utterly dominated qualifying for Sunday’s 70-lap French Grand Prix with Kimi Raikkonen taking the pole position from team-mate Felipe Massa and in doing so recorded a historic 200th pole for the Italian champions.

While Raikkonen celebrates the pole, Massa will be disappointed to lose out on the top position by just five-hundredths of a second, especially as the Brazilian topped the timesheets in both Q1 and Q2. His final run in Q3 saw two minor errors and the time was lost.

McLaren Mercedes had no answer to the pace of Ferrari with Lewis Hamilton making gains on his final run to set the third fastest time. However, with his ten position penalty applied due to his Montreal misdemeanour, Hamilton lines up a distant 13th on the grid.

Fernando Alonso shined once again in qualifying trim in the Renault and will start the race from third position on the grid and with Hamilton taking his penalty, has a realistic chance at a podium position on home soil for Renault.

Jarno Trulli suffered a spin on his penultimate qualifying lap but got the job done as usual for Toyota and starts an impressive fourth position on a weekend the Toyota team mourn the passing of former Team Principal Ove Andersson. Timo Glock starts ninth in the second TF108.

Heikki Kovalainen was unable to challenge the front-runners again in his McLaren and lines up fifth* on the grid ahead of Canadian Grand Prix winner Robert Kubica.

BMW Sauber really struggled in qualifying trim and a third row start will be seen as a good result for Kubica. Team-mate Nick Heidfeld was just six-hundredths of a second slower than Kubica in Q2 but did not make it into the top ten and starts a disappointed 11th.

The Red Bull Renault duo of Mark Webber and David Coulthard have been closely matched all weekend long at Magny Cours. Qualifying was no exception as they line up in seventh and eighth positions respectively.

With Glock starting ninth in the second Toyota, Nelson Piquet is promoted into tenth position courtesy of Hamilton’s grid position penalty. The Brazilian topped the morning practice session in his Renault but just missed out on making it into Q3 this afternoon. Still, it was a much better performance from the Renault rookie.

Sebastian Vettel had been firmly in the top ten throughout practice in his Toro Rosso Ferrari and will therefore be slightly disappointed to line up 12th ahead of the demoted Hamilton. Sebastien Bourdais proved much closer to Vettel in qualifying trim and starts 14th.

Qualifying would prove a major disappointment for the Williams Toyota team. Nico Rosberg set the 15th best time having only just escaped elimination in Q1 but his grid position penalty for his Montreal pit lane infringement drops him to the back of the field. Kazuki Nakajima therefore inherits 15th position on the grid after a poor run and traffic on his final qualifying laps of the day.

Honda has shown little pace all weekend and it is therefore no surprise to see Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello starting 16th and 17th respectively ahead of Force India Ferrari duo Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil.

Weather aside, Ferrari look set to run away with the French Grand Prix.

* It was later announced that Heikki Kovalainen would be demoted five positions on the grid for blocking in qualifying.

Earl ALEXANDER
© CAPSIS International

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Massa and Raikkonen upbeat - French Practice

A lot of work completed by Ferrari in these three hours of free practice on the first day of the French Grand Prix. Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa covered around 500 kilometres and the Italian team now has plenty of data to work on with a view to qualifying and especially French Sunday's Grand Prix.

Felipe Massa set the fastest lap of the day with a 1:15.306s in the morning session and was second fastest in the afternoon despite a stiff neck. Raikkonen was third in the morning and fourth in the afternoon.

Felipe Massa
"It was a good day, apart from a slightly tight neck which I began to feel this morning: so as not to take any risks, I chose to avoid doing too many runs of several laps. I therefore concentrated on the car's set-up, working with both types of tyre. On the softer ones, it seems to be a little bit harder to find the right balance, but we must take into account that today, as usual on a Friday, the track is still dirty. Everyone suffered a bit with graining on the front tyres, but tomorrow the situation should improve. We must study all the data we have gathered to prepare as well as possible for qualifying and the race."

Kimi Raikkonen
"I am happy with the way things went during these two free practice sessions. We got through all our usual Friday job list, working mainly towards the race. Of course we don't know how much fuel our main rivals were running, but I get the impression we are very competitive. Maybe I did not get the most out of the first lap, but I am happy with the balance of the car.

We tried out this new system for a Safety Car period and I think it could be a good solution because it puts everyone in the same situation and that way, you can't be penalised just by unfortunate circumstances."

Stefano Domenicali, Team Principal
"Overall, it was a good start to this race weekend. Both drivers declared themselves pleased with the handling of the F2008 on this track. In evaluating the results, the usual unknowns come into consideration, these being the fuel taken on by the other teams and their work schedule, but we can say we are confident for the rest of the weekend. Coming off the back of two negative results, having not fulfilled our potential, it's time to get back to our usual standards."

Luca Baldisserri
"Because Felipe was suffering with a stiff neck this morning, we slightly modified the two drivers' programmes from the usual ones. The Brazilian concentrated on defining the best set-up on the car, while Kimi also had to tackle the task of evaluating the behaviour of both types of Bridgestone tyre available to us. We are happy with the work we did today: the F2008 seemed to be going well on this track and that means we can be cautiously confident for the rest of the weekend."

E.A. © CAPSIS International

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Raikkonen had ear infection in Bahrain - New pit system in place at Ferrari

Kimi Raikkonen struggled through the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend in more ways than one, according to reports.

The reigning world champion was off-colour at Sakhir, as he was outperformed all weekend at the desert venue by his Brazilian team-mate Felipe Massa.

The Finn argued that he simply did not get the setup of his Ferrari right, and it is true that he is not a fan of the Bahrain layout.

But the Swiss publication Motorsport Aktuell claims that Raikkonen also struggled physically, with an ear infection.

Raikkonen also encountered a dose of bad luck, when Ferrari's novel new pitstop lights system - which has replaced the more common 'lollipop man' - didn't function well during his first stop.

At recent races, a series of LED lights, mounted horizontally on the team's pitlane gantry, informs the Ferrari drivers when it is time to exit the pits.

The 'green' light is apparently triggered automatically with the removal of the fuelling hose.

"There was a problem with the system, so it took a bit longer, but it didn't change much," Raikkonen insists.

Source: GMM
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Raikkonen happy with second in Bahrain - Taking the championship lead with Ferrari

Kimi Raikkonen may not have had the pace to beat Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa in Bahrain at the weekend, but for the Malaysian Grand Prix winner, the one-two result for the Ferrari squad was still an excellent result as the team prepare for the fourth round of the championship in Spain.

"We came to Bahrain hoping for a double win and it worked out: it's difficult to do any better," Raikkonen began. "True, the second place was not ideal for me, but it was a great weekend for Ferrari, making up ground in the Constructors' Championship, where we are second now, just one point behind the leader."

"The team gives its best to remain on this level," Raikkonen continued. "There's no better reward for all these efforts, than seeing two Ferraris ahead of all the other cars. Felipe has done some great work since Friday, while I had some problems finding the right set up for the car, especially on Saturday. During the race the set up was very difficult to handle, especially on the first two laps, when there was oil on the track. The situation improved and I could press more and keep a good race rhythm. But when you know that you'll come in one lap before your teammate, there's hardly anything you can do."

"I want to win races and fight for the title: coming in second left me a bit disappointed. Sometimes certain weekends are just like that and the one in Bahrain was one of them. For one reason or the other the Sakhir circuit does not seem to be very favourable to me.

But there's still some satisfaction at the end of this GP: I'm leading the Drivers' Championship. When we think about how many points we gained in Melbourne this is a great result."

"The worst part of the weekend was the qualifying and then the start; I had Felipe in front of me and I knew that I couldn't lead a trump. The BMWs were very close. I managed to pass Kubica, when he had some trouble: this was an important moment, because his race rhythm was very good. In the end I already said that in this season it will be very hard to gain every single place. It will be a very long and tough Championship. I wouldn't be surprised if BMW won some races this year. There will be GPs where we will be stronger and others where they will have an advantage; the same is true for McLaren, who remain very competitive."

"After the first three races we're now heading back to Europe," he said. "I can't wait to race in Barcelona, where we're also having some tests over the next week. We'll give it all to remain ahead of our competitors."

E.A. © CAPSIS International
Source: Ferrari

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