Kimi, a bitter-sweet day again, a beautiful-looking lap, particularly through the second chicane and the Lesmos but sadly an engine change just before qualifying, so starting ten places further back.
Kimi Raikkonen: Yeah, it was not very good for the weekend but we’ve been quick all weekend and the car is good. Unfortunately the engine let go just on the last lap when I went out in the last practice but at least I did the best that I could. We’re starting 11th now so I think we have the speed and good tactics so we will see where we end up. It’s going to be a hard race but that’s racing. Hopefully we get a good result.

Of course, it’s not the first time that it’s happened this season. You seem remarkably resilient to it and it was a great lap, you put everything you had into it.
KR: Yeah, of course it depends what others are going to do tomorrow but I think we are in a strong position again. It’s not the first time and unfortunately it’s hurting us a lot in the championship but it’s nothing that I can change and for sure everyone is working as hard as they can so hopefully we can sort out the problems and we don’t have them any more. But it doesn’t make our lives any easier for sure.

What do you think about your opportunities from eleventh on the grid in terms of overtaking on this circuit?
KR: Like I said, we’ve had a very fast car all weekend, also last week in the test. I think here we have a better chance to overtake people than many other places but there is a tight first corner and I’m in the middle of the pack, so it’s not the perfect place to be but I think we will have good speed and we just have to wait and see what happens in the race. But it’s going to be difficult to try to win.

Juan Pablo, well done, too. Effectively starting from the pole now and with a bit of a margin over the guys behind you; a great-looking lap as well.
Juan Pablo Montoya: Yeah, it was good. I’ve struggled all weekend with a lot of understeer and I think we’ve still got a bit of understeer in the car, more than I want. But it was a clean lap, there’s a bit more in the second sector but I’m pretty happy. We’re clearly quicker than anybody else and if we can get a good run into the first corner it should be good to try to win the race tomorrow. It’s all we can do for the team.

Talk about the build-up to this race, the events of Turkey and then your focus, in terms of the Constructors’ championship, on the situation now as the season draws to a close?
JPM: I think Kimi should be quite good tomorrow and should be able to get into the points or even get on the podium, we’ll see what happens later in the race but from where we stand, even if I wanted to help him, there’s not much I can do at the moment, he’s too far back. I think the main goal at the moment is to try to win the Constructors’ (Championship). The Kimi situation today just made it a bit harder.

And that first corner – as you say – a great place to be right at the front, because it is a tight corner.
JPM: It is. I’ve been on the front row here four out of five times so it’s a good place to start again.

Fernando, quite a lot of pressure on you as you went out, the BAR Hondas suddenly picking up speed and of course not a good run from your team mate Giancarlo Fisichella, a ragged-looking lap. What were your thoughts as you went out for that qualifying lap?
Fernando Alonso: I was confident of having a good lap. I think the car was not perfect this weekend compared with last week in the test, so we had a bit more problems than we expected but we managed to do a good job this morning and to prepare the car for the race situation. Some doubts about the qualifying lap, whether we have enough speed to be on the front row, but we did it, so for tomorrow even more confidence.

It is very competitive behind you, but how did Kimi’s problem this morning affect your approach to qualifying? Indeed, did it change it at all?
FA: Not really. I think for us we have to do our best which is finish all the races, be sure that driveability-wise the car has no problems and I think that’s what we are doing. From the middle of the season we have not had the quickest car but we try to finish the races or get on the podium if we can and for this race we didn’t change anything strategy-wise.

I guess it’s encouraging to see how quick you are on the straights here, this, the fastest circuit in Formula One.
FA: Yeah, we are OK. I think Fisi was the fastest car this morning. We have to check in qualifying now, but for sure we have good straight-line speed so for tomorrow, for the race, we have confidence in the possibility to overtake or to defend our position. So I think front row for tomorrow to start the race will be good.

Kimi, just back to you, thoughts on coming from behind tomorrow. Obviously the championship is still there in sight. How are you going to sleep tonight?
KR: As good as ever. It doesn’t change my sleeping at all. It’s not going to be easy but I think it all depends on what happens. As long as we get through the first corner with no incidents I think we should be OK after that. So many things can happen in the race. We just need to do the best we can and I can push as hard as I always do. We don’t have anything to lose. In that way it’s a pretty easy race because we just go as fast as we can.

Press Conference