07/06/2009
NEWS STORY
Only thee points picked up by Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro in the Turkish Grand Prix, thanks to a sixth place for Felipe Massa: Kimi Raikkonen finished ninth. The opening lap of the race was the decisive one. After a good start, Felipe was fifth, but then, while trying to pass Trulli at the end of the main straight, he was also passed by Rosberg. The last corners on the track were also the key ones for Kimi, who having run wide at turn 9, was passed by Alonso going into Turn 12 and then after hitting a rear tyre on the Renault the external part of the left hand front wing was damaged and he was then also passed by Kubica. After that, the race pace of the two F60s was not quick enough to regain position and the classification at the end of the first lap stayed the same for the two Ferrari men to the end.
Stefano Domenicali: We definitely expected more from this weekend, especially given what we had seen up to the end of Saturday morning, when our level of competitiveness was pretty good. We have to understand why the performance of our car evolved in a negative fashion over the course of the three days: the race pace we saw this afternoon was not only not up to the level of the best but it was also not as good as many of the others. We must continue to work on the development of the car to try and make up ground, by continuing to stay focused and without getting discouraged by this setback.
Kimi Raikkonen: It was definitely not the race we were expecting or the one we wanted. The first lap was decisive for me: I lost valuable places and then it wasn't possible to get them back because today we weren't quick enough. Over recent weeks, we have improved our performance a lot, but we are not yet at the level of the best, especially at tracks like this one. It is never easy to catch up, because in the meantime, the others are not exactly stopping their own development. We must not be negative about this after a weekend like this one, but we should continue to concentrate and to push: I am sure we can soon return to fighting for the top places. It won't be easy but I have confidence in this team.
Felipe Massa: A very difficult day for us. We have to accept the fact that sixth place was the best we could do, because we were not quick enough to fight against those in front of us. We must continue to push on the car development front to make up for what we lack in terms of performance, starting with the race at Silverstone. From Friday it was complicated to find a way to make the tyres work well: for example, today the softs seemed to go better than on previous days, but using them right from the start would have been a risk because the degradation, up to yesterday seemed to be pretty significant.
Chris Dyer: We are very disappointed because we expected to be in the fight for better places. We have to really understand why we lost so much speed from one day to another. Today we weren't competitive, not just up against Brawn GP and Red Bull but also when compared with Toyota and Williams. On top of that, the way the first lap went cost us dear: it's not by chance that the classification of our cars at the end of lap 1 was the same as they passed the chequered flag.