Formula One news

Ferrari drivers fairly happy after qualifying

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa will have to start Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix from row two. Both drivers were reasonably happy with their results in Saturday's qualifying session.

Kimi Raikkonen said about his qualifying session today: Quite a good qualifying session. I could probably have got a better grid position but I came up against a bit of traffic and also had a small problem with the electronic management of the gearbox which cost me precious time. Of course it was something of a gamble starting qualifying in the wet without having ever run in these conditions but it only took a handful of laps to find the right line.

"I expect tomorrow's race will be very tight. As we could work out from yesterday's practice, it is very close between us and our main rivals. Overall, the car worked well and I think I can be competitive in the wet or dry."

Felipe Massa was a bit less enthusiastic about his car. He commented: "Qualifying produced a very close fight between us and our main rivals. In Q1 and Q2, I was very pleased with the handling of my car but something changed in terms of balance on new tyres and less fuel, given that it gave me a bit too much oversteer. A shame, because even at the start of Q3 I was going well, but in the end, with new tyres, I lost time with this oversteer. All the same, fourth place is not a bad position. There are four of us in the same two tenths of a second and all sorts of things could happen tomorrow."

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