The lost trophy bugged Räikkönen

Small things decide in Formula 1. It's difficult to give form to something like how changing a helmet before the crucial quali-stint could cost you the chance to even drive for a podium position in a race.

This however happened to Kimi Räikkönen.

7th position and 6 WC-points offered after Saturday's disappointment a quite reasonable start to the new season.

– A result like this doesn't change the fact that we had a good car and we would have had chances for a much better result.

– It's good that we scored points, but mostly I'm bugged when knowing for how good positions we could have raced for with this car. When looking from the situation we put ourselves into with stupid mistakes in quali, then the result is okay, but it isn't any comforting story, Räikkönen summed up.

Eric Boullier had to balance a weekend where on Saturday Romain Grosjean got a brilliant 3rd position in qualification and then in the race Räikkönen worked up from 17th to 7th in the race.

Räikkönen who wanted a different visor changed helmet at the end of Q1, which took those few seconds he would have needed to get one extra lap after the car went wide in the 12th corner.

Grosjean again fell asleep in the start and hence Pastor Maldonado crashed into his car on the second lap.

Räikkönen stretched to a fairly good race performance and did what he could from his bad starting positions.

– It's easy to sum up this weekend. Both our cars could have had a good qualification, we have the speed and it doesn't vanish in the race. We only have to screen out mistakes. Malaysia looks very promising from our viewpoint, Boullier noted.

Then what about Räikkönen's performance?

– Kimi had his old speed already this weekend. After this it's only a question of small details so he gets everything to fall in place. The qualification-process in particular is new to him, and Kimi surely needs a bit more time before that also comes naturally, Boullier said.

Räikkönen didn't even try to hide how much the mistakes on Saturday - own driving mistake and failure in estimating the time - still hurts.

– Hopefully we won't make as stupid mistakes anymore. We would have had a car that would have quite easily taken us to Q3. But if you make those mistakes, what can you do, Räikkönen sighed.

Turun Sanomat, Melbourne

HEIKKI KULTA

Courtesy: Nicole

The change of helmet cost the additional lap Räikkönen needed

Changing the helmet just before the crucial Q3-stint in Saturday's qualification cost Kimi Räikkönen the time he would have needed to get one more additional lap.

According to information Turun Sanomat has, Räikkönen wanted a helmet with a different visor and these crucial seconds were spent during this change.

When Räikkönen's Lotus slided a bit wide in the 12th corner, he slowed down in order to make sure that he could drive a clean lap. He would have made it even with slowing down, if the time used for changing the helmet would have been at his disposal.

Turun Sanomat, Melbourne

HEIKKI KULTA

Courtesy: Nicole

Massa regrets approach to Q3

Felipe Massa stayed out longer than any other driver on his first Q3 run

Felipe Massa admitted he made a mistake with tyre strategy during qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix but is expecting to be competitive in Sunday's race.

Massa defied convention by completing two timed laps on his first set of tyre in Q3, forcing him to rush back to the pits for a final attempt. He said he was hoping the soft would offer up more grip on the second lap but it did not pay off.

"I tried a different strategy in Q3 because I was not so sure of the tyres. When I put the soft tyres on in Q2, I couldn't do the best lap on the first lap straight away so it was getting better and better all the laps, so I did three timed laps and the best was the last.

"So I said let's, with the tyres, try and do three laps and we see maybe it's getting better and hopefully the last lap will be the best lap. But then during Q3 it was a little bit the opposite. I tried that but it didn't work as well as I expected with the grip on the tyres. Then I stopped and I was able to go again do a single timed lap on the tyres, but it wasn't enough to fight for the pole."

However, Massa said the majority of his set-up work this weekend had been focused on the race and that he should be in a strong position to fight on Sunday.

"I think we have a good car, I'm happy with the car for the race," he added. "Yesterday we did a very good job finding a good direction for the race and we improved the car massively like we expected and I think we should be very strong tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it."

Source: ESPNF1

Vettel admits to qualifying mistakes

Sebastian Vettel starts the Belgian Grand Prix from fourth on the grid

Sebastian Vettel blamed himself for making mistakes in Q3 that cost him a higher grid position than fourth for the Belgian Grand Prix.

"There was a bit of rain in the first corner and my first try in Q3 wasn't good enough, simple as that," said Vettel. "I made a couple of mistakes at the beginning of the first sector and lost momentum."

Despite an unfamiliar grid position for the German this season, Vettel says he still has a car good enough to be faster than the rest of the field on Sunday.

"On the last lap I made a good recovery and it was quicker than my first try, but then I went a bit sideways in Turn 14 and that was it. The most important thing today was that the car was very good, good enough to be ahead of everyone else. It didn't happen for me today, so we need to do it tomorrow."

Source: ESPNF1

Massa confused by lack of pace

Felipe Massa has promised not to panic as he tries to figure out the reason for his poor qualifying performance at Catalunya.

The Ferrari driver will start a lowly ninth, having lapped 0.6s slower than his team-mate Fernando Alonso in Q3 as the home hero grabbed fourth.

"In qualifying I had a lot of trouble finding the right grip level, especially in the second and third sectors, which contain the slowest corners on the track," said Massa.

"I felt as though I was rally driving, always understeering."

He admitted that he had been steeling himself for a tough time after being less than happy with the car in practice.

"Already yesterday, I realised this would not be an easy weekend and so I was not surprised at what happened today," said Massa.

"We worked on different set-ups for the car and chose the best one, but it was not enough.

"We have to work out why, but without panicking, but by calmly analysing the situation.

"Maybe I didn't put together the best possible lap, but even so I don't think I would have been in the fight for the top places."

Ferrari's Chris Dyer insinuated that Massa's result might just have been a better reflection of the team's pace, and that perhaps Alonso had over-achieved.

"Fernando produced an exceptional lap and getting the car at least onto the second row was down to his talent," said Dyer.

Source: ITV.com