 Felipe Massa started sixth and finished
sixth in the Italian Grand Prix, while Kimi Raikkonen ended his day just
outside the points in ninth place. The explanation of this less than
satisfactory result is that, in certain track conditions and
temperatures, the F2008 was simply not quick enough. Some consolation
can be taken from the fact that a Ferrari engine powered the winner-
Sebastian Vettel for Scuderia Toro Rosso, who led from pole and never
relinquished the lead apart from during the run of pit stops. Felipe's
main rival for the championship, Lewis Hamilton, crossed the line in his
McLaren-Mercedes one place behind the Brazilian Scuderia Ferrari
Marlboro driver, so one other positive for the Prancing Horse team, is
that the Massa only trails the Englishman by a single point in the
championship battle. However, with Heikki Kovalainen finishing second in
the other McLaren, the Scuderia's lead in the Constructors'
classification, with four races remaining has gone down to five points.
The final member of the podium party was BMW-Sauber driver, Robert
Kubica.
The promise of dry weather proved false and as the cars lined up on the
grid, with Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen in an unfamiliar sixth and
fourteenth on the grid, the rain continued to fall. Nakajima and Button
started from the pit lane and the race was started behind the Safety
Car, with the use of extreme weather tyres declared compulsory. Fourth
placed Bourdais's Toro Rosso did not get off the grid and joined last,
already one lap down.
As the Safety Car pulled in after one lap, pole man Vettel lead from
Kovalainen, Webber, Rosberg and Felipe. Kimi was thirteenth. On lap 4,
Alonso passed Glock to go seventh behind Trulli and Kimi moved up one
more place to twelfth, sitting right behind Fisichella. As the only man
with clear visibility, Vettel was lapping quicker than anyone, leading
Kovalainen by 5.8s. Felipe, still fifth, was 13.4 behind the leader.
Kimi was fighting to get past Fisichella, but this had allowed Hamilton
to close right up to the Ferrari man, so that the battle for eleventh
was providing all the excitement in the early stages. Lap 9 saw the Finn
finally win that particular battle to go eleventh. In fifth spot, Felipe
was 0.6 behind Rosberg.
On lap 11 of 53, Hamilton managed to get past Kimi so the order was now
Vettel, Kovalainen, Webber, Rosberg, Massa, Trulli, Alonso, Kubica,
Glock, Heidfeld, Hamilton, Raikkonen, Fisichella, Coulthard,
Barrichello, Piquet, Nakajima, Button, Sutil and Bourdais. Felipe was
closing on Rosberg and was now just 0.3 behind. The Ferrari and the
Williams had a fantastic duel for several corners, with Felipe getting
the advantage to move up to fourth. However, in case he had been deemed
to cut the chicane in passing Rosberg, Felipe dropped back and passed
him again. Fisichella tapped the back of Coulthard, the front nose of
the Force India went under the car and he went straight on into the
barriers to retire.
 Hamilton was moving up the order, passing Glock and chasing eighth
placed Kubica, passing the BMW driver on lap 17. Leading Kovalainen by
11 seconds, race leader Vettel pitted on lap 18 for 8.4 seconds, fitting
more extreme rain tyres, coming out of the pits just behind Felipe, who
was now third. Kimi was still in twelfth, seemingly unable to move
further up the order. Kovalainen pitted from the lead on lap 22,
followed by second placed Webber and Felipe, so that Vettel was now back
in the lead. Behind him and yet to stop were Rosberg, Hamilton Trulli
and Glock. Kimi was having a wheel to wheel dice with Heidfeld for tenth
place, while Felipe was 1.4 behind his team-mate in twelfth after his
stop. Kimi pitted on lap 26 for a 5.9 stop and Hamilton came in from
second on lap 27. With the half distance completed, the race would now
pan out between those running a two stop strategy and the later
refuellers who were now going all the way to the flag.
On lap 31, Kimi passed Trulli to make it into the top ten and two laps
later, Felipe made his second stop, fitting intermediate tyres as the
track condition had improved. On lap 34, Kovalainen also fitted
intermediates as he made his final stop, followed by Kimi, one lap
later. Race leader Vettel made his final stop on lap 36 as did second
placed Hamilton. Felipe was now sixth, right behind the slower Alonso
and Heidfeld, but finding a way past was proving difficult. The
Brazilian did get ahead of Heidfeld but then let him past as he had cut
the chicane. Once again Felipe had to contend with having Hamilton right
up his gearbox.
 The track was drying out in the final stages and Kimi set a fastest race
lap on lap 47, now running ninth. Webber and Hamilton, racing for
seventh collided on lap 48, but both men managed to continue. Out in
front, Vettel led Kovalainen by 14 seconds, with Kubica trailing in
third by a further 8.4. Felipe, still sixth had dropped off the back of
Heidfeld and had Hamilton 1.2 behind him. From then on positions
remained unchanged to the flag.
Stefano Domenicali: "We're definitely not satisfied with this
result, but considering the circumstances in which the race was run, it
could have actually been much worse. Once again today, we had
confirmation that, in certain track conditions and temperature range,
our car is not quick enough. Then, it only needs a slight change for the
performance to return to being very competitive. Clearly we must take
countermeasures as quickly as possible because similar conditions could
occur in the remaining four races. Having said that, we must not forget
that we have taken a small step forward in the Drivers' classification
although our lead in the Constructors' has reduced substantially. There
are four races to go and everything is still possible. Finally I would
like to congratulate Scuderia Toro Rosso, which uses our engines and
Sebastian Vettel on their first Formula 1 win: they did a perfect job
all weekend and they deserve this moment of great joy."
Felipe Massa: "It was a tough race: I had hoped to do better but
I'm also aware it could have been worse. In fact, I've managed to make
up a point on my nearest rival so this is absolutely not a negative
result. In normal conditions, in other words in the dry, I think I could
have made it to the podium. In the first part, I was struggling because
there was not much grip. In the incident when I overtook Rosberg, I lost
a few seconds when the team told me I had to give back the position:
that was probably the decisive moment because after the first pit stop,
I found myself in traffic. On top of that, when it was time to switch
from the extreme rain tyres to the standard ones, those who had opted to
do just one stop definitely had the advantage. In the second part, I
knew Hamilton was closing on me fast, but I could not see him in my
mirrors because they were too dirty. Luckily, Rob helped me, talking me
through the situation in real time. Then he dropped back a bit. I tried
to attack Heidfeld but then I thought it wasn't worth taking too many
risks and I chose to just bring the car home."
Kimi Raikkonen: "This was a very difficult race for us. In the
conditions at the start, as we have seen before in the past, we could
not keep our tyres up to temperature and we totally lacked grip. I could
do nothing but try to stay on the track hoping the conditions would
change. When they did, unfortunately it was too late to aim for a points
finish. The car worked well but without grip, you're not going anywhere.
The situation in the Drivers' championship is now even more difficult,
but I will continue to give it my best shot as usual."
Luca Baldisserri: "Our race was conditioned in a very obvious way
by the performance of the tyres. At the start, when it was still
raining, we could not get them to the right operating temperature and we
were too slow compared to our rivals. Then, all it took was for the
track to dry a bit for the car to be pretty much transformed, as can be
seen from Kimi's lap times in the final stages of the race. We must put
some more effort into understanding how to improve our performance in
these conditions, which could reoccur in the final stage of the
championship. Felipe drove a good race and was slowed by traffic at a
few key moments, otherwise he could have finished further up the order.
Kimi suffered even more than his team-mate with the deficiency in tyre
performance, especially in the early stages and then, when he did have
the possibility, he showed the potential at his disposal."
Source - Ferrari Media |
