Formula One news

Ferrari salvages eight crucial points

Ferrari scored eight points in the Japanese Grand Prix, thanks to a third place for Kimi Raikkonen and a seventh for Felipe Massa. With this result, Ferrari has retaken the lead in the Constructors' classification, while Felipe has reduced the gap to the leader of the Drivers' championship to five points. 

"A bitter sweet taste after this race in Fuji," said Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali. "On the one hand is the regret at not having been able to exploit our great potential: today we saw that this weekend we had everything in place to come away with everything. For one reason or another, from the less than perfect qualifying yesterday, to the chaos at the start today, we never managed it. On the other hand there is satisfaction from retaking the lead in the Constructors' classification and for the slight gain made by Felipe in the Drivers'. Today, our Brazilian drove an amazing race, with an incredible climb up the order, some great passing moves, showing great maturity. Kimi drove a good race, taking a nice third place which puts an end to a bad run for him which had been going on too long, and brings home important points for the team. His car was not quite right after the collision with a McLaren at the first corner and then he was nearly always having to fight in traffic. Indeed, a backmarker at the crucial moment before his second stop meant he lost the chance to rejoin the track in second place."

Felipe Massa commented, "A strange race with everything that happened on track. In the end, seventh place is definitely not a disaster given that my closest rival failed to score points. At the start, I got away well and had passed Alonso and Kovalainen. Then Hamilton braked over the limit and I found myself sandwiched between one car on the inside and one on the outside and all I could do was brake and stay behind. I think the duel that followed with Hamilton was hard but fair and the drive-through really penalized my race. In the second part, on the hard tyres, the car was flying, which is very encouraging for the next races. As for the incident with Bourdais, I think there's little to say: I had already entered the turn and he hit me from behind, spinning me round. In the duel with Webber I saw a space down the inside and went for it. He moved over on me a little bit towards the wall which might have looked a bit scary but it was not like that from the cockpit. Anyway, it was a very important moment in the race and I had to try. Now we will give it our all in the next two races. We have great potential available to us and we must do all we can to exploit it."

Kimi Raikkonen commented, "Even if third place has put an end to a run of poor results, I am a bit disappointed because today we had the means to win. At the start, I got away well but then, at the first corner, the two McLarens arrived too fast at the braking point and prevented me from turning in, taking me off the track. That lost me a lot of ground and I found myself in the middle of the pack. On top of that, the car was not quite right as I was hit by one of the McLarens: the steering was a bit light and there was other damage as well. I tried to do the best I could but I was not as quick as I'd hoped, especially in the second stint. Before the second stop, I closed on Kubica but I couldn't pass him in the pit stop because on my in lap I found myself behind Rosberg a lap down. Then I tried several times to attack Robert but he defended his position well. At one point, I did find myself slightly ahead of him going into turn 3, but I was on the outside and he did not give up the line so I had to go off the track. After that, I had a bit of graining and so I was not able to catch up again. In any case, I am happy to have brought home important points for the team."

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