 To say that Ferrari did not have a good
start to the 2008 season would be something of an understatement, with
Kimi Raikkonen classified eighth, thus securing a "consolation point"
and Felipe Massa posting a retirement at the halfway point on lap 29. In
fact, the Finn was originally classified ninth but moved up one place
after Barrichello was disqualified.
Things went badly for Massa shortly after the start, as he spun out of
fourth place, hitting the wall in a battle with Kovalainen, forcing him
to pit for a new nose. Out in front, Hamilton, (McLaren-Mercedes)
starting from pole for the seventh time, led Kubica (BMW-Sauber) and
Kovalainen (McLaren-Mercedes.) Rosberg (Williams-Toyota) moved up to
fourth ahead of Heidfeld (BMW-Sauber) and Trulli (Toyota.) Kimi had
moved up from 15th on the grid to eighth at this point.
Button and Davidson collided in the Honda and Super Aguri and local boy
Mark Webber in the Red Bull also went no further than the opening lap.
The incidents saw the safety car deployed.
Out in front, Hamilton was stepping up the pace and by lap 10, he led
Kubica by 7.6s, while Kovalainen was on his own in third ahead of
Rosberg, Heidfeld, Trulli. Behind them came the Honda of Barrichello who
was now locked in a battle with Kimi who was right behind him and keen
to get past.
Kubica was the first man to change tyres and take on fuel, while Massa's
long hard afternoon improved by one place as he passed Nakajima in the
Williams on lap 17. When Raikkonen finally disposed of Barrichello on
lap 19, running on the softer tyres, he began to set personal best laps.
Felipe's day took another downward turn on lap 26, when, having got his
nose ahead of Coulthard, the two men collided at Turn 1, forcing the
Scotsman to retire and bringing out the safety car yet again. Kimi
actually thought of pitting at this point, but fortunately he realised
that, according to the safety car regulations, the pit lane was not yet
open.
 Felipe's race ended on lap
30, as he pulled off the track to retire with an engine problem and one
lap later, the race was on again as the safety car came in. Kimi charged
past fellow Finn, Kovalainen but ended up having to run through the
gravel trap at Turn 3, consequently slipping down the order and pitting.
Lap 44 saw the most serious incident of
the race, when Glock had a heavy crash in his Toyota, bringing out the
Safety Car yet again. Barrichello refuelled before the pit lane was open
and also knocked over the refueller in the Honda pit. By lap 50 it was
obvious that Raikkonen was in trouble from looking at his lap times and
on lap 54 he came back to the pits to retire with an engine failure. On
lap 56, Bourdais, making his F1 debut for Toro Rosso retired from fourth
place and in the final move of the day, Kovalainen passed Alonso but the
Spaniard re-took fourth place on the finish straight.
So the race ended with Hamilton taking his fifth F1 victory to be joined
by Heidfeld and Rosberg on the podium. The remaining points then went to
Alonso, Kovalainen, Nakajima, Bourdais and Raikkonen.
 For the Scuderia this was a very poor start as the team management
admitted, but on the plus side, we only have to wait one week to try
again at Round 2 at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia. Ferrari has often
managed to overturn seemingly impossible situations at much more
critical moments of the season and therefore the mood in the camp is
disappointed but not downhearted.
Stefano Domenicali: "This has
definitely been a very difficult start to the season and we have got off
on the wrong foot. However, we should not react in an over emotional way
to this. We weren't a phenomenon before and we're not carthorses now. We
have to work out exactly what happened to the engines on both F2008s and
they are being sent immediately to Maranello for analysis. As for the
performance, we saw that when we were not running in traffic, we could
run a very competitive pace. This shows that the potential is there, but
we have to be in a position to exploit it, which means starting from the
front. The whole team has not performed to our usual standard. We have
to roll our sleeves up and react, as we know we can."
Kimi Raikkonen: "It's really disappointing not to finish the
race, but at least the point is better than nothing. I had an engine
problem, the reason for which now needs to be analysed. The car was good
and I had a good pace when I found a free track ahead of me. I spun a
couple of times trying to pass those ahead of me, but the first time,
with Glock, I put a wheel on the grass and the second time, with
Kovalainen, I was a bit too optimistic. This result is obviously not the
best start to the season but it is a very long one and we are well aware
that we are capable of recovering from far worse situations than this.
We have to put everything in place and then we will be really
competitive."
Felipe Massa: "A horrible start to the season. We had engine
problems which is unusual for a team like ours. We have to understand
what happened and react immediately. I was fighting my way up the order
all race long. At the first corner I lost control of the car while
battling with Kovalainen and ended up off the track. Then I moved up the
order and could have finished in the points. The incident with Coulthard?
I was on the inside and he closed the door on me, probably because he
hadn't seen me. Our championship will have to start again in Malaysia.
We know we have a good car we have to work to be able to use it as
intended."
Luca Baldisserri: "There's not much to say about a disastrous
start to the season. We did not work well on any level and this is the
consequence of that. We know how important is reliability and we were
severely lacking on this front. It is absolutely ages since we have seen
two engine failures in a race. We have to look at every detail of this
weekend to understand what went wrong and how we can improve. We have
seen the technical potential is there and we have to do everything to
use it to its maximum, starting in qualifying."
Source - Ferrari Media |
