Many mistakes in Q3 for Ferrari
After good free practice sessions, Ferrari seemed well-positioned to be the best team behind Mercedes, but Kimi Räikkönen and Sebastian Vettel made several small inaccuracies at the wheel of their cars during Q3.
For his first qualifying session in red, Sebastian Vettel can boast of having beaten Kimi Räikkönen. With a lap time of 1:27.757, the German driver will start from fourth place on the grid behind Felipe Massa.
« We need to keep our feet on the ground, » explains Vettel. « This weekend, everything went well and we didn’t encounter any issues with the car. It’s a shame because the third place slipped away from us and we wanted to be the first team behind Mercedes. »
« We lost that third place because my first stint wasn’t fast enough. I am not satisfied with myself because there was room to do better. The top two are far ahead, but anything can happen in a Grand Prix. A podium? There isn’t a big gap between us and Massa, so I think the podium is a realistic goal. »
On his side, Kimi Räikkönen consistently reduced the gap with his new teammate during the qualifying session, but the Finn still finished behind, just 33 thousandths of a second away from the four-time world champion.
« On my fast lap, I lost three tenths in the third corner and made some mistakes in the next two corners, » explains Räikkönen. « We knew we couldn’t fight against Mercedes, at least not today in qualifying, but third place was possible. »
During free practice, we saw that our pace over long stints was good, so I’m confident for the race. All we need is a good start to do our best, but I think we will be able to fight for a good position. We know we are fast, but we need to improve in all areas and I need to drive better.
