Saturday: Alonso and Massa aim for the podium for Ferrari

Felipe Massa – 6th and 4th:

It was a difficult qualifying session, but at least we managed to keep one of the four fastest cars behind us. It’s never easy here to make the perfect lap, and my last stint was very good even though I lost a bit of time in the last sector.

Tomorrow, it will be important to get off to a good start. Whether Hamilton is next to me on the grid makes no difference.

The race promises to be complicated with many pit stops to change tires that have shown significant degradation here: strategy will play a key role. It will be vital to find the right rhythm to be both fast and, at the same time, preserve the tires.

Overtaking will not be easy, despite the KERS and DRS: perhaps tire management will matter more, given that we enter the straight after a very slow chicane. Our goal is the podium: we are starting one place behind, so it’s a realistic goal.

Fernando Alonso – 4th and 5th:

« I am not very surprised by this result: in the end, McLaren and Red Bull were faster than us all weekend and, at least, we managed to get ahead of Webber. I seem to have a subscription for fifth place this season and, at least, it means I will start on the clean side of the track.

Tomorrow, I expect that significant tire degradation will be the key to the race, with the possibility of numerous pit stops, which means strategy will play an important role. We hope we won’t have the same issues as in Singapore, fifteen days ago. We will try to make the best decisions and fight for the podium, which is a realistic goal.

The victory is probably less certain: as we saw in the qualifiers, McLaren seems very close to Red Bull here. The start will also be an important moment: Felipe and I will try to put pressure on them, and if we manage to gain a few places, we will try to have our say.

Regarding my first stint in Q3, I was pushing to the maximum but, after reviewing the data, I don’t think I could have done better than what I did in my second stint.

Stefano Domenicali, Team Principal:

« Before discussing our performance today, I would like to seize the opportunity to make a general observation. Once again today, as has happened already this season, we saw cars – no fewer than 4 in Q3 – choosing not to do a fast lap. Far be it from me to criticize those who made this choice, which is absolutely respectable from a technical standpoint, but I think it shows that something is amiss in the way qualifications are conducted, and we should seriously consider this for the future because I don’t think it’s a good thing for the spectators in the stands who, I must say, are incredible at showing their passion for Formula One, as well as for those watching on television.

Regarding our result, I have to say it roughly matches what we expected. We know where we stand technically at the moment, and we must try to seize every opportunity to fight for the podium.