“Overall, it's a reasonably satisfying result,” affirmed Domenicali. “Of course, we always hope to be ahead of everyone, but it's not always possible, especially as we are up against some very strong opposition, which we always knew was the case. When evaluating this session, we also have to take into consideration that the difference in fuel loads has a greater effect here than at other tracks.

“Tomorrow, apart from the usual factors – strategy, the work of the team and drivers, tyre performance over a distance – the weather could play a key role. As always, we will be doing our utmost to bring home the best possible result.”

“My compliments to Felipe, who did a fantastic lap on his second run in Q3,” added Baldisserri. “It's a shame that a mistake in turn seven probably cost Kimi at least one grid position. We knew our main rivals would be very strong, especially in qualifying, but we are still convinced that we can be on the pace tomorrow in the race, which is when the points are given out.

“It will be a tough race, in which it will be vital to manage any situations that might arise as well as possible. If it is run in the dry, it will be important to monitor how the tyres perform over a long distance, given that neither yesterday nor today was it possible to do a lot of laps consecutively. The F2008 worked well, and also the performance of the tyres over the first timed lap was up to our expectations.”