..F1.com said:Qualifying - selected driver quotes
07 April 2007
Ferrari’s Felipe Massa on his first pole of the season; Nico Rosberg on Williams’ improved form in Malaysia and Red Bull’s Mark Webber on making it into Q3. All 22 drivers report back on Saturday’s action…
Felipe Massa, Ferrari (1st, 1m 35.043s):
"I am very happy with this pole. On my second run I had a bit of traffic but on the last one, I got a really clean lap and I got a hundred percent out of the car. At Turn Seven and in the final sector there were a few drops of rain, but luckily it did not get worse and I was able to finish my run without any bother. Obviously, tomorrow I want to finish the race in the same position in which I start it. We know we are up against some very strong opponents and that this is always a hard race, both from the physical point of view and in terms of the stresses on the car. In these very high temperatures, it is like racing in a sauna, and the track became very slippery, but I was able to put together my best lap right at the last minute."
Fernando Alonso, McLaren (2nd, 1m 35.310s):
"All in all I’m very pleased as I think we have closed most of the gap to Ferrari. We made some improvements overnight and also between running this morning and qualifying, and the car is working well. I think we can have a strong race tomorrow, but the heat and humidity makes it tough on everything and everybody, but we will push 100 percent. A lot of work took place at the test last week but also back in Europe, and the car has definitely improved so we are going in the right direction."
Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari (3rd, 1m 35.479s):
"All in all, today's result is what we could have expected. The balance of my car was better than in yesterday's free practice, but still not perfect for a single timed lap. But it is very good over a long run and so I think I can be a frontrunner in tomorrow's race. The battle was very close but we saw already in Melbourne that the McLaren is competitive in qualifying. The heat? It's the same for everyone so it should not be a decisive factor tomorrow."
Lewis Hamilton, McLaren (4th, 1m 36.045s):
"The car is working well and I think we could have had two cars on the front row. However when I came to Turn Seven it had started spitting with rain a little bit. I had experienced this at the test last week and knew it could be slippery, so I eased off a small amount. Apart from that everything went smoothly, and I’m confident for the race tomorrow. I’m on the clean side on the track and will aim to make a good start."
Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber (5th, 1m 36.543s):
"I am very happy starting from fifth on the grid. It was the best I could achieve today as the balance of my car is better, but still not ideal, so under the circumstances the result is fine. Timing was quite difficult in the session when the sky became darker and darker, and on my last outing in two of the corners the track was already slightly wet."
Nico Rosberg, Williams (6th, 1m 36.829s):
"I don’t think we couldn’t have hoped for much better than P6 today. I am pretty pleased, especially because yesterday we seemed unable to find the form we had showed here at the test. However, since this morning, my car has been feeling better and everything started to go in the right direction. As the grip level rises, the car gets stronger, just like in Melbourne. Starting from sixth is a good position for tomorrow, even if the gap to those around me is tight. The most important ambition for us tomorrow is trying to maintain our consistency and continue gathering points."
Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber (7th, 1m 36.896s):
"The car is as competitive as it was in Melbourne and I could have been in the top five, but we made a mistake. In the end we could have had a better result, and that is what counts. After free practice I was happy with the balance, as I was after the last test here. The car improved because the condition of the track improved and, though we had a few problems yesterday, we did not have these in qualifying."
Jarno Trulli, Toyota (8th, 1m 36.902s):
"That was a good result and again we were able to exploit the car in qualifying trim, which has often been the case. I missed some running this morning due to an electrical problem but I still had a better balance than yesterday. Now we have to see how we can do tomorrow. I’m confident because I’ve always done good races here in Malaysia and the car has always performed better here than at some other circuits. It’s always hot here so this is an issue both for the drivers and the cars, as the heat can lead to mechanical and technical issues. But we were reliable in Australia so we can hope for more of the same. Obviously we now have to make the best of our positions and aim for more points."
Ralf Schumacher, Toyota (9th, 1m 37.078s):
"In general that was a good qualifying session for us and it’s good to get both cars into the top 10 again. This weekend has been relatively difficult for me because there has not been much grip out there and I’ve had a few balance problems. That’s why I’ve been struggling a bit but overall I’m happy. We’ve had no major problems and no reliability issues so we can look forward to tomorrow. The field is close together and it will be a long, hard race but our goal is to make the points with both cars. We are expecting a dry race but the likelihood of rain increases as the race unfolds. When it really starts to rain here you need to use the full wet tyre but the track can dry quickly so there will be a lot of activity around the pits which should be interesting for the spectators."
Mark Webber, Red Bull (10th, 1m 37.345s):
"It would have been nicer to be a bit further up, but that's probably where we are. It was very tight in Q2, but we managed to put in a lap in that got us in to Q3. In the last qualifying session, we decided to pit early, as we thought it was going to rain. Ten minutes either way, and it could have been a good call, but you have to make decisions when you're out there and that's what the guys thought was the right thing to do at the time. We're in the middle of the field for tomorrow's race, so we'll see what we can do then."
Heikki Kovalainen, Renault (11th, 1m 35.630s):
"The grip levels were improving with every run, and I think we had the pace to get into the top ten this afternoon. But I didn't manage to put my best three sectors together into one lap, so it's a little bit frustrating to end up eleventh - and outside the final shootout. From a personal point of view, though, this was a much better qualifying session for me compared to Melbourne. I think our race will be with Williams, Toyota and Red Bull tomorrow - and I am optimistic that I can do a good job."
...F1.com said:
