What are your feelings being on pole again?
Kimi Raikkonen: It is a nice feeling. I have been trying to get it. It should give us a better chance for tomorrow. It is only qualifying but it is a good place to be.

You are on the clean side of the track. But it has been a difficult weekend for you and the other drivers with the wind. Can you talk about that?
KR: Actually I have been happier with the car than I have in previous races. We changed a bit with the starting point and it seems to be working quite well. Of course in places it is a little bit trickier here, but it is a nice circuit and they have changed the outside of the circuit, so if you run wide it makes it more difficult. But apart from that it has been a good weekend so far.

What do you mean when you say you have changed the starting point? Does the car feel different to what it did in Bahrain?
KR: No. We just changed the set-up quite a bit. It seems to work. We wanted to try something in a test. We had a rainy day and we tried something on the car. It gave me a good feeling, so we decided to keep it. It seems to be working so far.

Fernando, congratulations – what a performance from you and the team. You cannot be dissatisfied with being second.
Fernando Alonso: I was really excited when I crossed the line because I knew the time was good. I knew that only Kimi was running behind. When I crossed the line I knew that it was the first row in the worst case. That is something for sure we didn't expect at all for this race – maybe even the whole season. I cannot be happier than I am now.

Can you describe how the car feels compared to the first three races?
FA: The car feels better. I am happier with the car. We have made a step forward – no doubt. We have seen a big improvement in the car. I think the whole weekend has been difficult for everybody with the track conditions. We have tried to find a good balance around these conditions. We have a better car than what we had yesterday. The second place of today is more than what we expected for the whole weekend, so the job is nearly done.

Can you just tell us how it feels to have worked so hard and got back to this and this result in front of your home crowd?
FA: It is unbelievable. It's difficult to describe or say anything as the team did a huge effort to improve the car. We keep doing work. We started the season with a little bit of disappointment because maybe in the winter we expected to be a bit stronger than we were in the first few races. Now is not the time to give up. Now is the time to work even harder after the disappointments. The team made a step here and they have very aggressive plans to come in the coming races, so step-by-step we need to raise our level. That makes me very happy and hopeful of things for the future.

Felipe, third today but the look on your face suggests you are perhaps a little bit disappointed?
Felipe Massa: No, I just couldn't put a lap together on the last try. On the first try I put a lap together but it's not there to be honest. In competition like today, in all the sessions we saw that if you lose a tenth you can lose one or two positions. I put a lap together at the wrong moment but we have a good car.

What actually happened on the third sector?
FM: I just lost a little bit which maybe cost me the fight for pole.

It looked like a little bit of wheel spin on television?
FM: I had a little bit of wheel spin in turn seven and also in the slow corners. That's the way it is. When you have big competition like that you can lose or gain positions very easily.

And the track conditions here in Barcelona?
FM: It is okay. It is quite hot and we also had a lot of rubber down. I think it is okay.

Kimi, the last seven pole winners have won the Spanish Grand Prix. I don't want to tempt fate but none the less you are in good shape. It appears the McLaren Mercedes challenge here has not been quite the same as in other races.
KR: I don't even know where they ended up. The qualifying is one part but tomorrow is when we get the points. Last year we couldn't finish the race, but for sure we should have good speed in the race as long as we get a clean start. We are confident in ourselves and the team. We need a good clean first few corners and then try to maximise our position and do the best job we can. But this is the best place for sure to try and win the race.

Press Conference