forsurescuderiasf1:

“Stefano Domenicali: “All in all, we can be pleased with the overall result of this qualifying, the first time this season that we have managed to get both our drivers through to Q3, I am particularly happy for Felipe who finally managed to show what he is capable of. As has more than ever been the case this year, all three parts that go to make up qualifying are very closely contested and it only takes the slightest thing to turn things on their head. Tomorrow’s race will have everything going for it, from the first to the last lap. We know just how much the many imponderables in this race can effect the outcome and this time, there’s the additional factor of tyre behaviour over a long run, given that no one was able to check on that during free practice. We must be ready to deal with any eventuality and react to every changing situation. Finally, I want to congratulate Michael Schumacher for his fantastic pole position: I think this result comes at the right time for him and on a track that has played a truly significant role in his career.” 

Fernando Alonso: “In Italy there’s a saying, “he who goes slowly, goes well and goes far,” right? Well, that’s what we are doing: step by step we are getting closer. I am happy with this qualifying, the best as a team that we have seen this season. I have had a good feeling all weekend long. Maybe in Q3, we could have shaved a few hundredths off here and there, but I don’t think I’d have moved up any places, given that the driver in front of me is three tenths away. Usually here it falls to the top three on the grid to fight for the win, so I think that our realistic goal is a place on the podium, but we also know that surprises are the order of the day. We saw that again today, with Michael on pole: I was very pleased for him, even though he won’t be able to make the most of it because of the penalty. This afternoon and tomorrow morning I will have to work along with the team to decide on the best strategy. The Softs behave well, but we will start on the Supersofts, therefore we go into it a bit blind in terms of how long they will last: we will find out in the race how they perform. In terms of the championship, it’s a good grid, given that of the immediate rivals, only Hamilton starts ahead of us and Vettel is actually ninth. Michael alongside me on the grid? It’s been a while, so it will be nice to have him close by, but I’ll be concentrating on passing the four in front rather than thinking about the sixth placed man.” 

Felipe Massa: “It was a good qualifying and I could definitely have done even better than this seventh place: fifth was within my reach, given what we saw in Q1 and Q2. Unfortunately, in Q3 I did not manage to get a perfectly clean lap because of traffic, but that’s an easy thing to find here. Having said that, I am very happy with how things have gone in this Grand Prix so far. Finally, I am having fun at the wheel of the F2012: clearly the set-up we have chosen here makes it much easier to make the most of its potential. It’s a point to keep in mind for the rest of the championship too. We still struggle a bit in the places where traction is crucial, which can easily be seen by comparing our car, corner by corner with the best ones, however in this area too we have made progress. Michael did a great lap and I congratulate him: a shame that he will then find himself very close to me on the grid tomorrow afternoon. Let’s hope we have a good race tomorrow and that a new championship can really get underway for me!” 

Pat Fry: “I don’t think we could have done better in terms of performance. As I said yesterday, we have got closer to the quickest but not to the extent that we can fight for pole position. We still have work to do to close the gap. However, it’s very positive to have finally managed to get both our drivers into Q3. Tomorrow, it will be very important to interpret the race strategy as well as possible because the number of variables in play is greater than usual, given that there is not enough data on tyre behaviour. I think we could witness quite a variety of strategies and we must do a good job of reacting to any eventuality: the Safety Car often plays a role at this track. On top of that, there is always a question mark as to the weather: at the moment it is not forecast to rain, but you never know what can happen here!” 

forsurescuderiasf1:

“Fernando Alonso: “For we drivers, Thursday in Monaco provides the best opportunity to reacquaint ourselves with a very unique track. The more you go round, the more you gain confidence and the harder you can push to bring the lap time down. This morning, we were able to get through our planned programme without any trouble, but in the afternoon, the rain came to spoil our plans and those of the others too. We weren’t able to even fit the Supersoft and only Button was able to find the right window to make the most of the Option, which is how he set the fastest time. Now, we must see what the weather will be like on Saturday morning: if it turns out to be dry then maybe we will do more laps than usual, but even if it rains we will have to do work aimed at the race. In fact, it’s not as though we understood much more when on the Intermediates, given that the track was only damp in places and so it wasn’t very representative. We can’t control the weather, we can only adapt to it as it changes. As for the car, I would say the first impressions are quite positive: everything seems to respond as we would expect. We only made a few small modifications to the set-up, trying to improve it, but it’s obviously too early to draw any conclusions. Let’s say the weekend has got off on the right foot for us: now we must try and keep going down this path.” 

Felipe Massa: “We weren’t able to do as much running as we would have liked because of the light rain that fell this afternoon, but all the same, I am happy with the way things went on this Monaco Thursday. The car seemed to me to be okay right from the start of the first session, with a good balance in all conditions and with slightly better traction than we had expected. Even when we ran the Intermediates in the final part of the second session, the feeling was still positive. As for the tyres, we didn’t even fit the Supersoft, therefore we can’t say anything about their behaviour, while the Softs worked well, also in terms of their degradation. Sure, there is still plenty of work to do to fine tune all the set-up details, but we have an extra day to think about what to do to improve in this area. It’s hard to make predictions about qualifying and, even more so for the race, but definitely we can say the first day of free practice can be considered a positive one.” 

Pat Fry: “The rain upset our programme a bit in the second session, preventing us from getting through the usual FP2 work, centred on a comparison of the two types of tyre brought here by Pirelli. This morning, we worked mainly on the set-up of the car, which has no significant new parts apart from the usual adjustments typically required for this track. In the afternoon, we actually wanted to try both tyres over a short and a long run, but we didn’t even manage a single lap on the Supersoft. In the end, we used a set of Intermediates with both drivers but, even in this case, the track conditions were not exactly ideal for this tyre. The same applied to almost everyone, therefore relatively speaking, we are not at any disadvantage. Clearly, we have less data available with which to define the best strategy for Sunday’s race: a bit more improvisation will be called for and we will need to be even more ready to react to every eventuality. We have no had any problems of any sort on both cars, which is always positive on a track like this.”