Sat: McLaren, Ferrari, Renault

Saturday 11th October 2008

Lewis Hamilton will be starting Sunday's Japanese GP from pole position, while Kimi Raikkonen lines up alongside him.

McLaren
Lewis Hamilton: Usually, on a heavy fuel load, the car can be quite tough to drive on the limit, but I managed to pull all the sectors together and drove a pretty good lap. It wasn't perfect - I made a small mistake in the final corner, where I lost a tenth - but we had a good session. The team has done a phenomenal job all weekend, and Heikki's and my pace today really underlines that. We think we've got a good strategy for tomorrow and we want to finish at the front."

Heikki Kovalainen: A pretty good session for me - it took a little time to get up to speed in Q1, but I put two good laps together in the final session. We were very quick in Q2 as well - and, while third was really the best I could manage today, I'm still very pleased with the result. We're still targeting both world championships in these final few races so I'll be looking for the very best result for myself and the team tomorrow."

Ferrari
Kimi Raikkonen: I'm pleased to be back on the front row, even if I'm not totally happy as I always want to be the fastest. On top of that, I'm not completely satisfied with the handling of my car: all weekend we have worked very hard to find the best set-up but we did not get it a hundred percent right. All the same, we have improved our performance, especially with a heavy fuel load. This result means I'm in good shape for the race. Tomorrow, I will try to make the best of the situation. My aim is to finish this season in the best way possible and help the team to win both championships."

Felipe Massa: A shame. Today I was the quickest man on track but at the wrong moment. In Q3, I never had the right amount of grip from both sets of tyres that I used. On my first run I was a bit cautious on my "out" lap and so suffered in the first sector, making a mistake at Turn 3. On the second run, I did the opposite and found myself without grip at the end of the lap. So, I've ended up fifth on the grid, which is definitely not an easy place to be. I will try and work my way up in the race to score big points for the championship. All the same, the set-up on the car is good and we should be competitive. The first corner? It's similar to the one at the Hungaroring, so I hope I can manage to repeat the good start I got there."

Renault
Fernando Alonso: "We can be happy with fourth place, which is a good result and the work we did yesterday certainly paid us back today. We had a bit of trouble in Q2, but in Q3 with fuel on board the car felt good, which is encouraging for the race tomorrow and I think we can realistically aim for a top five finish."

Nelson Piquet Jr: I am very disappointed as I made a mistake in Q2 and I wasn't able to make it through to Q3. It's all the more frustrating because the car was really working well and I was feeling comfortable with it. I won't give up, but I know that the race tomorrow will be difficult and so I will do all that I can to try and fight through the field."

Your Comments

Faster1

"Heavy fuel loads? Who do Lewis and Kimi think they are fooling? Niaive attempts like these at psyching out the opposition are so pathetic and transparent."

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