Ferrari celebrates third pole of season
Third race of the season and third pole position for Ferrari, the second for Felipe Massa. It is the third time that a Ferrari driver will start the Bahrain Grand Prix from pole, the 189th in the history of the Prancing Horse in Formula 1. It was Felipe's fifth career pole.
"We are on pole for the third time in three qualifying sessions so far this season, the second consecutive first place for Felipe, while Kimi will be right behind him on the grid," said team boss Jean Todt. "We are pleased with the overall result, but the memory of Sepang is still fresh in the mind and so we will be tackling tomorrow's race with even more humility and determination, if that's possible. We have made a significant step forward this weekend, but the key one is due for tomorrow as we know from recent history and we can learn from history. On this magnificent circuit, with very high temperatures, as usual, the start, overall reliability and strategy will all be important. We will do all we can to reach our objectives."
Felipe Massa commented, "I am very happy to be on pole once again for the second time in a row and of course I am hoping for a very different race result to the one I obtained last Sunday. I did two good laps and I want to thank the team for the fantastic work they have done and for giving me a really competitive car. I hope that tomorrow's race goes the same way as qualifying. The first two races have not gone the way I expected and I really hope that this one will reverse the trend. We have a very competitive car, both over a single lap and over a distance: now we just have to do our best to get the most out of the potential at our disposal."
Kimi Raikkonen added, "Third place is a good result and puts us in a reasonable position for tomorrow's race. Of course I would rather always be in front of everyone, but I know we still have to improve to get all the performance out of the car over a single lap. Then, I also had a bit of traffic today on both my runs in Q3. Track conditions are better than yesterday and are closer to those we had here in testing a few weeks back."
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