A large crowd was treated to a very exciting qualifying session for the British Grand Prix this Saturday afternoon. In front of around 100,000 spectators, the Scuderia ended up with Kimi Raikkonen fifth in 1.33.379 and sixth with Sebastian Vettel, who did a 1.33.547. On their last set of Medium tyres, neither Ferrari man managed to improve on the times posted on their first set of new tyres, but it was enough to lock down the third row of the grid for tomorrow’s race. Pole went to Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes with a 1.32.248 [via ferrarif1.com]
| Pos | Driver | Car | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m32.248s | – |
| 2 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1m32.361s | 0.113s |
| 3 | Felipe Massa | Williams/Mercedes | 1m33.085s | 0.837s |
| 4 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams/Mercedes | 1m33.149s | 0.901s |
| 5 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1m33.379s | 1.131s |
| 6 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1m33.547s | 1.299s |
| 7 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull/Renault | 1m33.636s | 1.388s |
| 8 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso/Renault | 1m33.649s | 1.401s |
| 9 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India/Mercedes | 1m33.673s | 1.425s |
| 10 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull/Renault | 1m33.943s | 1.695s |
| 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India/Mercedes | 1m34.268s | 2.020s |
| 12 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus/Mercedes | 1m34.430s | 2.182s |
| 13 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso/Renault | 1m34.502s | 2.254s |
| 14 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus/Mercedes | 1m34.511s | 2.263s |
| 15 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m34.868s | 2.620s |
| 16 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m34.888s | 2.640s |
| 17 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren/Honda | 1m34.959s | 2.711s |
| 18 | Jenson Button | McLaren/Honda | 1m35.207s | 2.959s |
| 19 | Will Stevens | Marussia/Ferrari | 1m37.364s | 5.116s |
| 20 | Roberto Merhi | Marussia/Ferrari | 1m39.377s | 7.129s |
QUOTES
From crash.net – Kimi: “Obviously, we expected to be behind the Mercedes but, today, we ended up behind the Williams with a small difference between us and them. I don’t see it as sliding back, but we maybe didn’t get exactly what we wanted today. This kind of layout and in windy conditions, we know that it’s not very good for us, but it’s not like a disaster, it’s just that we are not happy to be fifth and sixth. There is no point to start talking about sliding back – I’m sure we are improving, but maybe the times didn’t show today. I think it’s down to the conditions, circuit layout and which tyres are at which race. There wasn’t the second difference in the last race, so you see how quickly things change. It wasn’t an ideal day for us, but I don’t expect this to be suddenly the true story. It’s one of the places where we seem to have a bit of struggle [and] we are not being worried about this going on all year. I think we could have done it better in the way we ran the whole thing, but the main thing is that we went through in Q2 after we got a bit close. It’s been quite tricky to get the laps together and I think it’s the windy conditions that seems to affect us quite a lot. One lap is fine and the next lap is a bit different, so it’s hard to get it right. On the last two new tyres in Q3, if I could have managed to put the sectors together, we probably could have been third or something, but we did our best. Obviously it’s a bit disappointing to be where we are, in fifth, and it doesn’t make me any more happy [to be ahead of Vettel] when we are fifth and sixth. I don’t care if he is in front of me when we are in this position. It makes a difference when we are going for P1 and P2, but it doesn’t make me happy to be in front of him when we are in the position we are in. Maybe other people look differently, but for me it is just a number.”
From autosport.com – When asked if Saturday’s performance showed Ferrari is losing ground, Raikkonen said: “I don’t think so – I don’t see that we are sliding back. Every race is different. We didn’t get exactly what we wanted today, but in these windy conditions we know it’s not easy for us. But it’s not like a disaster. There’s no point to talk about if we are sliding back.”
From ferrarif1.com – Kimi: “It was not an easy qualifying, with the strong wind the handling was not ideal and it was very tricky for everybody, because the conditions kept changing from run to run and from corner to corner. We know that when is windy it’s not very easy for us, we improved our car on that side but here it was still difficult to get the lap right, putting all the sectors together. Obviously we can’t be happy for fifth and sixth position, it’s a bit disappointing, but we tried our best and hopefully tomorrow we’ll do better. I don’t think we’re slipping back, it’s just the different conditions we had today. In the race we’ll see what is going to happen, we’ll push to gain some positions”.
Q+A from f1.com – Q: Kimi, would you say that it was good weekend so far? At least from the outside it has looked pretty smooth…
Kimi Raikkonen: No, not really. There were many things that we were running through and today, for example, there was one lap that was super and then the next lap was cr*p. So we had to get our game together at some point. In Q3 finally I was able to put all the sectors together – and it was okay. We did our best.
Q: Were there higher expectations after Q1 when you were quickest?
KR: No, because we ended up on the grid pretty much where we thought that we are. We keep our expectations realistic. And Q1 is never decisive, as we are all know, so to think that this could be the grid position would have been pretty blue eyed. And we are very down to earth with our expectations.
Q: You got one lap in Q2 deleted. Was there a misunderstanding on your side as to what was allowed in terms of track limits?
KR: No, not at all. We have to analyse what happened and see that we do not run into the same issues again. But it was no big drama.
Q: From what we’ve seen lately – including today – would you say that Ferrari are moving backwards in terms of relative performance?
KR: No, I definitely don’t think so. But every track produces different racing conditions – it is nothing more than that. Our car likes certain conditions and if these conditions are not there – just like the relatively windy conditions here – then we are struggling probably a bit more. Maybe you could say that we haven’t been too happy today, but tomorrow is the race and things can change pretty rapidly.
Q: What do you expect in terms of race pace compared to the Williams? They’ve shown that they will be a factor to consider this weekend…
KR: I have not looked at what they’ve done in qualifying. I was basically focusing on myself. But from my position I think it should be possible to gain some positions. But that is something that will – if at all – happen tomorrow! (laughs)
Q: It is the first time that you have outperformed Sebastian Vettel in qualifying in a situation where he didn’t have a problem. Are you dealing better with the fast corners – or what do you put it down to?
KR: Well, starting one position better than Seb doesn’t make my any happier. I don’t care whether it is fifth or sixth, this doesn’t have any impact on me. Yes, if it were first or second – that is something different. But fifth or sixth – no. That just shows that we have to work on the gap!
Q: The gap to the Mercedes is still somewhat significant for a team that wants to fight for wins. Are there any updates in the pipeline that will help you get closer?
KR: There are always bits and pieces that are new on the car at every race. Other than that I will not go into detail. We know that we have things to improve – and Ferrari was never a team that ‘forgets’ to develop. We have a clear goal and that is to fight for the championship. We know that it will not be this year, but everything that we learn and do this season will help us be more competitive in 2016. I have no worries that we will get there and improve to the point where we can challenge them.
OTHER STUFF
#Kimi7: “Obviously we are not happy. My aim is to be infront of everybody” #BritishGP 😂😂😂 That’s our #Iceman!
— KimiRäikkönenSpace (@EvenstarSaima) July 4, 2015
Raikkonen’s lap is deleted after going wide at Copse – time in Q2 running out #Quali #BritishGP pic.twitter.com/dmftFXzQQJ
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 4, 2015
@EvenstarSaima thank you Kimi giving your water bottle to Bradley today @SilverstoneUK made his day pic.twitter.com/NX6dsj6AwV
— Tina Jane Tubey (@sparkletina_16) July 4, 2015
DC: “Kimi why do you think you are the fans favourite driver?” Kimi: “I’m honest and don’t bullshit like the others.” WE LOVE YOU KIMI!
— F1 Talk (@F1___Talk) July 4, 2015
KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN SPACE 
Pardon my french, but this is BS. How on earth do they get it right with Vettel and just screw the F up with another car. If points matter then heads should fly, cause somebody is playing amateur league, if its kimi’s fault or lack of performance then its really going to be sad to see him leave.
Whats happening to kimi’s side of the garage is outer nonsense, even a scientist wouldnt be able to make something logic out of it.
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Kimi is being the punching bag of the season and my god ferrari is doing nothing. Its seems to me that ferrari has only one driver and the other driver is a sponsored ferrari car.
If ferrari PR people are ever reading this, please get your act together, maybe kimi has some part to blame but for gods sake what you guys are doing to him is even worse.
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Agree… 😥
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