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1. Kimi
RAIKKONEN (McLaren), 1m19.886s
2. Fernando ALONSO (Renault), 1m19.889s
3. Michael SCHUMACHER (Ferrari), 1m20.260s
TV UNILATERALS
Q: Kimi, a great looking lap but incredibly close between you and Fernando.
Kimi RAIKKONEN: Yeah, the start of the lap for me was slightly better than
Fernando’s and he almost caught me on the last sector but it is enough. It
would have been good to have a gap between me and him tomorrow but we will
see what we can do.
Q: The speed was there in Bahrain, perhaps a small mistake in qualifying
there but no mistakes today.
KR: Yeah, but the car is much better than it was in Bahrain. This circuit
seems to suit the car much better than the previous circuits and it was
already good yesterday straight out of the box and I am pretty happy with
it.
Q: Fernando, the opposition is drawing closer as we get to the European
season.
Fernando ALONSO: Yes, we knew that. Unfortunately that was the case today
but, anyway, we did our job, the weekend is difficult for us, we know. Imola
is not historically a perfect circuit for the Renault car, it is much better
this year over the kerbs so we are happy and we are there. Okay, we are
second, but we are still competitive, we are still fighting for the pole
position and hopefully tomorrow for the victory so even in bad circumstances
we are there, so we are extremely happy with the performance we are doing
here this weekend.
Q: Really fighting for the pole position, it was so close between you and
Kimi, did you think the pole was on when you went out for that lap?
FA: I didn’t know what Jarno was doing and I knew Kimi was 19.8 and on my
display I saw the sectors and I realised it was very close and I did a
maximum in the last section to try to get the pole but it was not possible.
But, you know, for tomorrow we have a good gap to the guys behind us so
maybe we can play a bit with the strategy as well.
Q: Maybe a good gap, Michael, going out as early as you did - a legacy to
your retirement in Bahrain – you must be very, very pleased with that lap
time.
Michael SCHUMACHER: Yeah, indeed, we have been showing very consistently a
strong performance over the weekend with qualifying, which is a little bit
of a weak spot after we have seen all the races, we have had a weak spot
obviously in the race in mid to the end of the race and I think we have
worked very well on that one, so overall I am pretty happy.
Q: Can you talk us through the mood at Ferrari in the build-up to a very
important race for the team, taking into account the start to the year that
you have had.
MS: After this particular start everyone was extremely motivated seeing the
performance possibility with the new car in Bahrain. We worked very, very
hard, the whole test team, the drivers, the engineers, mechanics, everyone
really pushed extremely hard and I think we can see the result here. We are
in a good mood, qualifying confirmed what we have been doing so far and now
we look forward to the race tomorrow.
Q: One qualifying session before the race to go tomorrow, of course, but can
you just give us your thoughts on the race tomorrow? Can you do it?
MS: I think we will be there. It is going to be tight and tough but I think
we have an opportunity.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Kimi, you haven’t won yet, but McLaren are a lot more competitive. What’s
made the difference?
KR: It’s a different circuit, I think that’s the biggest difference. The car
seems to be good here. It’s not very easy over the kerbs, but that’s normal
for us here, every year it’s the same situation. We may not be the best over
the kerbs but overall the speed is good. I’m very happy with the car. It was
already good yesterday and I think in the race we are usually pretty good.
Now we’ve got qualifying right we should be in a very good position.
Q: Michael has been quoted that his World Championship starts here; does
yours also start here?
KR: No, it started already, but of course we haven’t been in the place where
we would like to be but it’s not over yet, there are many races to go and I
have been in a similar situation before and we lost it in the end. So every
point we can score is very good and important, so let’s see what happens
tomorrow because it depends what people are doing with the fuel loads and
stuff like that in second qualifying. We will try to get it right.
Q: Ron Dennis says you’ve got a lot more parts coming for Barcelona; you
must be fairly optimistic…
KR: Let’s see. Hopefully that’s the case. We are getting a new engine for
the next race and some new parts and it all depends really what happens in
testing and how well things work. But I think we will have some new things
which should improve our speed.
Q: Fernando, you are second fastest, and yet you haven’t had much running
over the last couple of days; that must be encouraging.
FA: Yes, we prepared the weekend in quite a different way compared to the
others with very little running, a different strategy from the team and even
with that, as I said before, I’m really pleased with second position so
close to pole, because historically this has been quite a bad circuit for
our car, especially on the kerbs, and we weren’t competitive in the last two
or three years and even without the kerbs, it’s nice to drive again. We can
push in a good way and we’re still there, fighting for pole position in
equal conditions to everybody. So tomorrow, as Kimi said, with fuel loads
many things can change, but at the moment, we’re again showing that we’re
competitive here.
Q: The competition is closing in on Renault after their three wins; who are
you most worried about? Ferrari? McLaren? BAR?
FA: All of them. I think we have to be careful of all of them, because we
saw Kimi was the fastest car today, the fastest driver. We saw the
improvement that Ferrari have made. They are very consistent with the lap
time, they are also very quick on a single timed lap so they will be there
as well tomorrow, and also BAR and Williams – they have also shown that they
are quick today. So there are a lot of things important to the podium
positions and it will be a very interesting race.
Q: The track temperatures were considerably cooler at the end of the session
than when Michael went out; did that help or hinder you?
FA: I don’t know, probably at the end of qualifying the track was in a
better condition because it was cleaner and there was more rubber down, but
it’s true that it was a little bit cloudy, and I was a little bit scared
about the rain and I was lucky that we didn’t have any rain, but it was
probably more windy because the clouds were coming, so I don’t know,
honestly, what the conditions were at the beginning.
Q: Michael, do you think it affected you, would you have preferred warmer or
cooler?
MS: Put it this way, I would have preferred to try at the end, yes!
Q: So you don’t think it made all that much difference?
MS: How can we judge? It’s difficult to say.
Q: One of the problems with Ferrari and Bridgestone has been the first lap
performance, that one lap performance. Has that been cured, do you feel?
MS: It has been improved but not cured.
Q: Ross Brawn said yesterday that there was no quick fix and yet here you
are up in third place; it seems to have come good pretty quickly.
MS: Yeh, but in Bahrain we were second in first qualifying, so I think the
car is simply very good. We have obviously had a problem with the tyres not
being consistent enough for the whole race. I think we’ve done good work on
that so we’re probably in good shape.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Dusko Dragic - Ekipa) This circuit is one of the greatest in the
calendar but its infrastructure is very bad. Fans, on some parts of the
circuit, can easily climb over the walls and fences. Do you have any
security worries at this circuit?
KR: No.
MS: Honestly, we have to have this kind of circuit. They have so much
tradition. If we only raced on new built-up circuits, we would miss out very
quickly on traditional places. Whenever everything is perfect, it’s not
perfect either honestly. This has so much charm and I’m pleased for the
reasons of the circuit and the environment. On the other hand I am also an
ambassador of San Marino so there are plenty of reasons why I’m pretty happy
and I have no safety concerns at all. |
