Questions from the floor:
Q: (Rodrigo Franca –
VIP Magazine)
Fernando, yesterday you said on Spanish TV that the best you can do here is seventh place if nobody has a problem among
Ferrari,
McLaren and
BMW. Now, you seem surprised with your performance. What can you promise for your fans here in Barcelona?
Fernando Alonso:
Same thing. I think seventh is the aim for tomorrow. I think the result is good but we need to keep calm and to know that we cannot make bigger steps every race. We are extremely happy with how the weekend went so far but we cannot say to the fans or to anyone that we will be on the podium because we know that would maybe be a little optimistic because seeing Q1 and Q2, we were fourth in Q2 with two attempts, two new sets of tyres, so with the first one we were something like eighth or ninth, so I think we are still there. I think Q3 has been extremely good, because there are many reasons why we got into Q3 and we will see tomorrow.
Q: (Paolo Ianieri –
La Gazzetta dello Sport)
Fernando, before you said that looking at the strategies you might not have such an advantage. Does that mean you are starting with low fuel and that’s why you are so far in front?
FA:
No, we will see tomorrow. I think you never know. I think we went for our optimum strategy and the result maybe has been better than what we thought when we planned the strategy, so now let’s take advantage of the great result today. You never know what fuel the others have but the car is better, we’re happy and we are more confident. Even Q1 and Q2… as I said, being fourth in Q2 was totally impossible in the first two races when we were tenth with some milli-seconds to be in Q3. Today we’ve been fourth, it was much better.
Q: (Juha Päätalo –
Financial Times Germany)
Kimi, two questions: how optimum was your last lap, and secondly was it difficult today to get a performance lap, because at your first attempt, it would have given you a place around 16th in first qualifying?
Kimi Raikkonen:
I don’t know how you compare the last qualifying and the first qualifying. It’s always difficult to get it right but the car has been pretty good this weekend. It gives you more and more confidence and that gives you better results. I would say that the tyres went away a bit in the first one but then we changed the way a little bit on the second try and also the traffic was quite difficult, so it makes a big difference if you cannot use your out lap as you want or you are too close to the cars in front, so we managed to get a good gap and a good lap. The lap was good, as I said, but for sure, if you get ten sets of tyres you are always going to go quicker on one of them. Probably you would never get a perfect lap.
Q: (Laurentzi Garmendia -
Berria)
To both Ferrari drivers: do you see
Fernando Alonso as a threat for victory for tomorrow?
KR:
It’s very difficult to say. I think we will see tomorrow after the start, at the first pit stop and how much fuel everybody has, but it’s too early to say. There are many things that can happen to us. He’s on the front row, so they have a good chance to win it, and to challenge us, and for sure they are in a strong position.
Felipe Massa:
I think Fernando knows better than us how much his car improves, so if he has a good car in his hands he can fight for victory. He knows better than us.
Q: (Laurentzi Garmendia -
Berria)
Fernando, do you see this great result as a one-off or maybe as a milestone for the coming races?
