Team Infidel
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It was a Ferrari kind of day at Istanbul on Saturday as Felipe Massa secured his first career pole and Michael Schumacher combined to lock the front row for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro for tomorrow’s Grand Prix of Turkey.
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro led every session of practice and qualifying on Saturday and the final pole-shootout was no different.
With a fast lap of 1:26.907, Massa was able to edge out teammate and seven-time World Champion Schumacher – whose best time in qualifying session three was a 1:27.284 around the 3.318 mile Istanbul Park Circuit.
"I am emotional and happy and hope to get many more poles in my career," said Massa. "Tomorrow I will drive my race thinking about mine and the team's objectives in both championships. We know we have a great package while the Bridgestone tires are consistent and perform well over a long run."
It is the fourth all-Ferrari front row of the season.
Even though he will start from the outside pole, Schumacher felt he had more to offer.
"Getting myself on the front row is definitely not something I can complain about, but today I definitely did not deliver a great qualifying performance, failing to get all the potential out of the car," said Schumacher. "I aborted my first run on new tyres in Q3 after I ran wide at Turn 1 and I also made a mistake on my second run when in any case, I took a slightly more cautious approach to the lap, knowing I only had one set of tires left and that it would be better to be second or third rather than not managing to do a reasonable time. It's better to be safe than sorry."
While the German driver was not thrilled with his position, the overall result was beneficial for his team as rivals Renault qualified on row two. Championship leader Fernando Alonso will start third, alongside teammate Giancarlo Fisichella.
With only five races remaining in the FIA Formula One World Championship, Renault begins tomorrow’s race with a seven point advantage in the Constructor’s Championship and with Alonso holding a 10 marker lead over Schumacher in the driver’s standings.
Following today’s outcome, Ferrari feels poised to change both of those statistics.
"We have good reason to be optimistic: the tires are excellent, the car is pretty good,
we have a good team and good drivers," said Technical Director Ross Brawn.
"We can be optimistic about the race as, from what we have seen so far, everything is in place for us to do well," added Schumacher.
Ralf Schumacher rounded out the top five, with Nick Heidfeld, Jenson Button, defending race and pole winner Kimi Raikkonen, Robert Kubica and Mark Webber taking up the remaining spots in the top 10 on the qualifying chart.
Toyota’s Schumacher will start from 15th place, however, due to a penalty for an engine change this weekend which his team made as a precautionary measure.
In an accident free first qualifying queue, Massa led the session which saw David Coulthard, Scott Speed, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Tiago Monteiro, Sakon Yamamoto and Takuma Sato eliminated from further participation. Those six drivers will start from positions 17-22 respectively.
The result was especially disheartening for Speed. The American Scuderia Toro Rosso driver was 12th quickest in the morning’s final practice session with a best lap of 1:28.861 in the session – only to run a fast lap of 1:29.158 during the initial 15-minute qualifying period.
"I am not too happy with this result as for some reason there was a big difference between our pace in practice and qualifying," said Speed. "But the car is still really good and I expect us to have a better race pace."
The second session once again went accident free, but did offer some interesting notes.
At the top of the charts, Ferrari’s Schumacher turned in the best lap of the weekend with a time of 1:25.850. The mark was over a second quicker than the next competitor, as Honda’s Button lapped the 14-turn circuit at 1:26.872.
The drivers that occupy positions 11-16 on the starting lineup respectively are Christian Klien, Pedro de la Rosa, Jarno Trulli, Rubens Barrichello, Nico Rosberg and Christijan Albers.
Despite the positive result for Albers, he will start from the rear of the field due to an engine change earlier this weekend.
Tomorrow’s 58-lap Grand Prix of Turkey will get the green flag shortly after 8 a.m. (ET) with live television coverage available on SPEED.
It was a Ferrari kind of day at Istanbul on Saturday as Felipe Massa secured his first career pole and Michael Schumacher combined to lock the front row for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro for tomorrow’s Grand Prix of Turkey.
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro led every session of practice and qualifying on Saturday and the final pole-shootout was no different.
With a fast lap of 1:26.907, Massa was able to edge out teammate and seven-time World Champion Schumacher – whose best time in qualifying session three was a 1:27.284 around the 3.318 mile Istanbul Park Circuit.
"I am emotional and happy and hope to get many more poles in my career," said Massa. "Tomorrow I will drive my race thinking about mine and the team's objectives in both championships. We know we have a great package while the Bridgestone tires are consistent and perform well over a long run."
It is the fourth all-Ferrari front row of the season.
Even though he will start from the outside pole, Schumacher felt he had more to offer.
"Getting myself on the front row is definitely not something I can complain about, but today I definitely did not deliver a great qualifying performance, failing to get all the potential out of the car," said Schumacher. "I aborted my first run on new tyres in Q3 after I ran wide at Turn 1 and I also made a mistake on my second run when in any case, I took a slightly more cautious approach to the lap, knowing I only had one set of tires left and that it would be better to be second or third rather than not managing to do a reasonable time. It's better to be safe than sorry."
While the German driver was not thrilled with his position, the overall result was beneficial for his team as rivals Renault qualified on row two. Championship leader Fernando Alonso will start third, alongside teammate Giancarlo Fisichella.
With only five races remaining in the FIA Formula One World Championship, Renault begins tomorrow’s race with a seven point advantage in the Constructor’s Championship and with Alonso holding a 10 marker lead over Schumacher in the driver’s standings.
Following today’s outcome, Ferrari feels poised to change both of those statistics.
"We have good reason to be optimistic: the tires are excellent, the car is pretty good,
we have a good team and good drivers," said Technical Director Ross Brawn.
"We can be optimistic about the race as, from what we have seen so far, everything is in place for us to do well," added Schumacher.
Ralf Schumacher rounded out the top five, with Nick Heidfeld, Jenson Button, defending race and pole winner Kimi Raikkonen, Robert Kubica and Mark Webber taking up the remaining spots in the top 10 on the qualifying chart.
Toyota’s Schumacher will start from 15th place, however, due to a penalty for an engine change this weekend which his team made as a precautionary measure.
In an accident free first qualifying queue, Massa led the session which saw David Coulthard, Scott Speed, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Tiago Monteiro, Sakon Yamamoto and Takuma Sato eliminated from further participation. Those six drivers will start from positions 17-22 respectively.
The result was especially disheartening for Speed. The American Scuderia Toro Rosso driver was 12th quickest in the morning’s final practice session with a best lap of 1:28.861 in the session – only to run a fast lap of 1:29.158 during the initial 15-minute qualifying period.
"I am not too happy with this result as for some reason there was a big difference between our pace in practice and qualifying," said Speed. "But the car is still really good and I expect us to have a better race pace."
The second session once again went accident free, but did offer some interesting notes.
At the top of the charts, Ferrari’s Schumacher turned in the best lap of the weekend with a time of 1:25.850. The mark was over a second quicker than the next competitor, as Honda’s Button lapped the 14-turn circuit at 1:26.872.
The drivers that occupy positions 11-16 on the starting lineup respectively are Christian Klien, Pedro de la Rosa, Jarno Trulli, Rubens Barrichello, Nico Rosberg and Christijan Albers.
Despite the positive result for Albers, he will start from the rear of the field due to an engine change earlier this weekend.
Tomorrow’s 58-lap Grand Prix of Turkey will get the green flag shortly after 8 a.m. (ET) with live television coverage available on SPEED.