24 April: San Marino Grand Prix - FIA Sunday Post Qualifying Press Conference
DRIVERS: 1.
Kimi RAIKKONEN (McLaren), 2m42.880s 2. Fernando ALONSO (Renault), 2m43.441s 3. Jenson BUTTON (B A R), 2m44.105s
Q:
Kimi, a devastatingly quick third sector there, a fantastic lap. Kimi RAIKKONEN: Yeah, the car was good already on Friday and
we ran quite a bit of fuel and I was happy with the car, straight out of the first corner the tyres were working well, I got a bit
sideways in the last corner but that didn�t cost too much time so I am very happy.
Q: Quite a big gap to Fernando, half a
second in fact, is that realistic in terms of strategy? KR: I don�t know what the others are doing, I only know what we are
doing, so, I was very happy with the car and we will see what happens in the race but I think we are in a strong position.
Q:
Fernando, very close yesterday but a bigger gap today. What do you read into that? FA: I think today the conditions were
different, so hopefully the gap we found today is due to different strategies and not due to the car balance or performance, but
this we will find out in the race. So far I am happy with the car, no problems in the balance and the consistency should be quite
good, regarding Friday�s times, so everything is ready for the race.
Q: You are leading the championship, of course.
Interesting to see Michael going off and also you nearly caught him. Is that any distraction, and what are your thoughts about
Michael�s incident today? FA: I saw the smoke from the tyres in Rivazza when I was on my out lap so I didn�t know exactly
what happened there and then I had Michael very close every lap, more or less the same distance, 150m or 250m in front of me, but he
was not disturbing me at all because it was a nice gap. But anyway it is not nice to do your qualifying lap with someone in front,
due to the mistake he had in qualifying and everything, my qualifying was like this but it was okay, no problem.
Q: Jenson,
good to see you here top three and BAR looking very good with fuel loads. Jenson BUTTON: We have been very strong today. I
think yesterday we were hampered by the early qualifying position but I think we have shown our speed today. We have a very, very
good strategy for the race and I am positive we can give these two guys a run for their money and it is great to be back in this
position again, fighting at the front.
Q: Can you talk a little bit about the build-up to this race and the improvements
that have been made to the car since Bahrain? JB: There has been a lot of improvements. Reliability, first off, we are doing
a lot of running, first in Barcelona and then Ricard, and we have been going very, very well. Aerodynamically we have really
improved the car, not just with downforce but in driveability and stability of the car, and there are improvements in a lot of areas
and we have seen the end result today and hopefully we can do a bit better this afternoon in the race.
Q: Perfect lap from
your point of view? JB: No, it was terrible! It was very, very slippery and when I got to the top of the hill, the top
chicane where the kerbs are, I hit the first kerb so hard and it sent me a bit sideways so that cost me a bit of time but all in all
it is a reasonably good lap time.
