Have a FaceBook, Twitter, or other social networking account?

Link them to your fanatic account!

Add An Account

TAKE ME TO...
Formula One
F1: Massa Feels Ferrari Have Made Improvement
Felipe Massa said that Ferrari had "a small step forward" after both he and Kimi Raikkonen made it into Q3 for only the second time this season.
SPEED Staff  |  Posted April 25, 2009   Sakhir (BAH)
Massa felt more optimistic after making into Q3 for the first time since Australia (Getty)
Bahrain Grand Prix Photo Gallery HERE

Felipe Massa said that Ferrari had "a small step forward" after both he and Kimi Raikkonen made it into Q3 for only the second time this season.

After the 2008 championship runner-up was eliminated in Q1 in Malaysia and Q2 in Shanghai, Massa finally made it back to Q3 on Saturday in Sakhir, but failed to make a big impression, winding up 8th on the grid, with 2007 world champion Raikkonen down in tenth position, despite the team reinstating the use of KERS after removing it temporarily in China.

"Personally, I’m happy to be back in the top ten in qualifying and I hope I can have a good race and make it into the top eight" said Massa. "This morning, the car was handling very well, but in the afternoon it lost a little bit of performance because of oversteer, probably down to the track conditions. It seems we have made a small step forward, but we know we still have a long way to go.

Tomorrow it will be very hot and that will have a considerable effect on reliability and tyre performance. We must try and make it to the finish and bring home some points, maybe making the most of the KERS, especially at the start.”

Massa's teammate Raikkonen added: "“It would have been difficult to do better than tenth. In the first two parts of qualifying, the car handled better than we had expected, but in Q3 I no longer had any new soft tyres, having already used all four sets. The car’s performance has improved with KERS. Tomorrow, the race will be very tough because of the high temperatures. Let’s see what we manage to do. The aim is to finish in the points.”

Ferrari's team principal Stefano Domenicali said that the tremendously close times made Ferrari more prone to being punished for mistakes, as they currently lack the raw pace to get themselves out of trouble.

“We were aware of the current situation in terms of the pecking order and how difficult it would be to get into Q3" said Domenicali. "You only had to look at the times in the second part of the session, with five cars all within half a tenth. The slightest thing and you wouldn’t make it.

Clearly this is not a Ferrari-style result, but we have to make a virtue out of necessity. Tomorrow, it will be vital to ensure that first and foremost, we make it to the chequered flag. With these high temperatures, car reliability faces a stiff test. Our aim is simple, to wipe the zero off our score card in the championship.”

Play Super 7 Sweep Fantasy Racing powered by Wind Tunnel!
speed_staff's avatar

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

SPEED Staff

SPEED.com

MORE BY THIS AUTHOR
Advertising | Jobs | Feedback | FAQ | Terms of Use | NEW Privacy Policy | Ad Choices | Site Map
Fox Sports | FUEL TV | FX Network | National Geographic | IGN | AskMen
The Motor Sports Authority, SPEED and associated logos are registered trademarks of Speed Channel Inc.
All Rights Reserved © Speed Channel, Inc. 2012

All external links will open in a new browser window. SPEED.com does not endorse external sites.