British GP - Ferrari - RaceThe first half of the season ended in dramatic style at Silverstone, as the rain played a significant effect on the outcome of the race.
The British Grand Prix was won with panache by Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren-Mercedes, but for Ferrari
it was not the best of days, with
Kimi Raikkonen salvaging fourth place and Felipe Massa down in 13th spot, both men suffering lack of grip in the slippery conditions.
The turning point in the race was the decision not to change tyres at the first pit stop. Raikkonen was particularly penalised by this, having followed Hamilton into the pit lane, but thereafter being unable to post competitive lap times up to the point when he made his second and final stop nine laps later, fitting a set of new tyres.
Proving how close this season's racing has been the Drivers' Championship now sees a three way tie at the top of the table between the two Ferrari men and Lewis Hamilton. The Scuderia continues to top the Constructors' table, fourteen points ahead of BMW.
Kimi Raikkonen"I am disappointed, but I am equally aware that things could have been much worse. We had the possibility to win the race but we made a mistake at the first pit stop, keeping the same set of tyres, because we expected the track conditions to improve. It was a joint decision: we are a team and we win or lose together.
Things are not going too well for me at the moment, given all that happened in the last few races, but I am leading the championship, even if it is on equal terms with Felipe and Lewis. We know we have a great potential, but we have to put everything in place to get the most out of it."
Felipe Massa
"This Silverstone weekend is one to be wiped out. On Friday I had an accident, yesterday there was the problem in qualifying and today a series of mistakes at all levels. We have to look ahead, because there is still a very long way to go in the championship and once again, we've seen that it only takes one result to turn the situation around. After nine races I am in the lead in the classification and I have every chance to fight for the title all the way to the end. Today, I could hardly keep the car in a straight line and it was always very difficult to drive. Only after the last pit stop did things improve a bit, but by then I was a long way back. We have to do a good job in the forthcoming Hockenheim test to be as well prepared as possible for the German Grand Prix that takes place on the same track."
Luca Baldisserri
"We are very disappointed with the way things went today. Kimi was having a great race and he had every chance of fighting for the win, but we made a wrong choice at the first stop. We had banked on the weather getting better and it didn't and in fact the rain actually intensified for a while, which put our drivers in great difficulty. Clearly, looking back, one could say we should not have made this decision, but it was not just a shot in the dark, as seen from the fact that we were not the only ones to make this choice out of all the drivers who stopped around this time. Felipe was struggling right from the start because of a lack of grip and his race was immediately compromised, and then it is very difficult to drive in these conditions in the middle of the pack. We are all very disappointed because once again, we have lost valuable points. Now we have to stay concentrated and must work even harder to improve our performance and to make sure we don't make any more of these mistakes."
Stefano Domenicali
"A Sunday to forget as quickly as possible in terms of the result, although we must remember certain elements of this weekend, as there were mistakes made that we cannot afford to repeat. We could have won this race with Kimi but we made a key mistake at the first pit stop, choosing to stay on the same set of tyres. The rain did not ease off and lasted longer and our drivers - Felipe had also gone for the same choice - found themselves in difficulty. With hindsight it's easy to say we should have changed tyres, but Formula 1 is not an exact science: sometimes strategic choices pay off and sometimes they don't."
"All the same, we have to admit that, this weekend, we did not operate to our usual standard. We made mistakes at every level and even our performance did not match our expectations and now we have to work out why, but calmly without panicking. We have reached the mid-point of the season: both our drivers are on equal points in the lead with one other driver in the Drivers' classification and we head the Constructors' Championship. We have lost a few opportunities to pick up a greater number of points, but we always knew this would be a very closely contested championship. Now we will concentrate on the coming rounds and will try and do better."
Ferrari
