Total practice mileage Alonso, 46 laps, 236 km Fisichella, 37 laps, 190 km
Qualifying Alonso, P1,
1:19.905 Fisichella, P7, 1:21.010
Fernando Alonso took his fourth pole position of the year this afternoon in qualifying
for the British Grand Prix. Running last in the hour-long session after his victory in France, the Spaniard put together a
mistake-free, aggressive lap to claim top spot by several hundredths of a second from championship rival Kimi Raikkonen. Team-mate
Giancarlo Fisichella qualified seventh fastest, his lap compromised by poor grip levels and some small errors. Nevertheless, the
Italian will start from the third row tomorrow after benefiting from the ten position penalty Raikkonen will serve following an
engine change this morning.
Fernando Alonso, Pole position "It was a good lap today, and there was a really
nice balance on the car. It is quite unexpected for me to be on the pole, to be honest, but the team did a great job overnight to
improve the car, and it felt quick straight away this morning. That meant I went into qualifying with a good level of confidence,
and I could really attack on the timed lap. Looking to tomorrow, I think we will see more similar strategies than in Magny-Cours,
which will make it hard for people behind to make up positions, but it is still a long race here and anything can happen. It is hard
for Kimi to suffer another penalty, but from our side, it doesn't change anything in the approach: we have done our maximum so far
this weekend and got pole; we will do exactly the same tomorrow."
Giancarlo Fisichella, 7th position "I
didn't have a perfect lap this afternoon. We worked on the car last night to improve the balance, and it was better today with less
understeer, but the grip levels were still quite poor on my lap. I also made some small mistakes, which meant the lap was not as
good as it could have been. But given my strategy I think I am still in a good position, and the R25 should be competitive tomorrow
afternoon."
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering "We saw another fantastic qualifying effort
from Fernando this afternoon to claim his fourth pole position of the season. We should not forget though that Giancarlo put in a
good effort considering the strategy he is running. Of course, we have benefited from Kimi's bad luck this morning but I am sure
that like in Magny-Cours, we will soon see him in the hunt at the front of the field in race conditions."
Denis
Chevrier, Head of Engine Operations "Our running this morning suggested to us that our level of performance was
competitive with our rivals, and that has apparently been confirmed this afternoon – although we have the usual unknown of the
fuel loads different cars are running, that still has to be played out. However, we have gone about our race preparations in our
normal, serious fashion and it is fantastic to see one car starting from the best possible position, and the other very much in the
hunt for the podium. Of course, the weather remains an unknown factor, as the temperatures have stayed stubbornly low all weekend,
but we expect tomorrow to be much hotter, which will certainly present the teams with some performance and reliability challenges.
Overall, though, it has been a good afternoon – and it is pleasing to take a first pole position with our new C specification
engine."
