Drivers eye back on Italian qualifying

Juan Pablo Montoya is on pole tomorrow. Although JP only was second in the Qualifying this afternoon, he stands on the front row with Fernando Alonso because of a 10 place penalty for Kimi Raikkonen after an enige switch.

Juan Pablo Montoya "A clean and fast lap and I am pretty happy with my performance. It is good to start from the front, and I now need a trouble free run to the first corner. To get through there without problems is crucial. Unfortunately Kimi has to start from 11th, but a lot is still possible. We will give it our all to win the race and close the gap in both the Drivers' and Constructors' World Championship."

Kimi raikkonen "Unfortunately, I can not make the best use of my qualifying performance which would have been pole position. Having to start from 11th position I face a difficult race but it was the best I could achieve. However the speed of our car is so good, which means I still see a chance of moving up the field and you never know what happens."

Fernando Alonso “It was a nice lap for me. We have had a few more problems with the car than we expected this weekend, after a good test, but we worked quite a lot this morning to prepare for the race and improve the handling. Even so, I had some doubts about our speed over one single lap, but I showed the speed was there this afternoon – which makes me even more confident for tomorrow. Obviously, I have been helped by Kimi’s problem but that doesn’t change anything for us: we know we need to finish the race with no problems, and hopefully get on the podium. That’s what I will be doing tomorrow afternoon.”

Alonso's team mate at Renault finished 9th this afternoon after a mistake in the first chicane.
Giancarlo Fisichella “I am very disappointed after that lap. I locked up under braking for the first chicane, and lost at least half a second in that corner and on the straight afterwards. Without that, I think I could have certainly been in the top five, so obviously I am quite a long way from the potential this afternoon. But I am still positive for tomorrow – we will see how much fuel the other cars have for their first stint, and I think our strategy will help me to climb some more positions.”

Jenson Button stands on the second row together with his team mate Takuma Sato.
Jenson Button "I am pretty happy with that! After suffering with the set-up of the car a bit this morning, and having to slow up in the final free practice session because of the two yellow flags, I was a little disappointed before qualifying. Alonso and I were extremely close for 2nd, but 3rd here does have the advantage of being on the cleaner side of the track. It's nice to be near to the front on the grid again and hopefully we have a reasonably good strategy and pace so we can keep it there!"

Takuma Sato "I enjoyed the lap and I'm very happy to be starting 4th tomorrow. I was very pleased with the car balance this morning when we were very consistent through the longer runs during free practice. We have a strong package now after making some changes since yesterday and I hope tomorrow we can repeat the success that we had here last year. Traditionally we always have a good race in Monza so I'm looking forward to tomorrow."

Jarno Trulli will start from the 5th place in his home GP at Monza
Jarno Trulli "I was not expecting to be so quick or to be able to put together a lap time like that. You have to be very precise with your braking here, so to get it right in qualifying when you only have one lap is very difficult. But the car behaved well and the lap was clean, smooth and just aggressive enough. We have a good strategy for the race, so I am confident we can convert this into a good result. It is always special to be at home with so many supporters, and I have always been competitive here but I have not had much luck, so I hope to turn that around tomorrow."

Team mate Ralf Schumacher will start from a 10th place tomorrow.
Ralf Schumacher "That was a pretty good lap from me, particularly because I had some trouble finalising my set-up this morning. We made a set-up change in the break before qualifying and that was a help. I didn't feel totally comfortable over the kerbs but it was a clean lap and I had no particular problems. Our grid position certainly leaves us in good shape to chase another strong points finish tomorrow."

Michael Schumacher, reigning champion, will start from the 7th place tomorrow, just in front of Rubens Barrichello who is 8th.
Michael Schumacher “Considering I had to make my run early in the session, which is definitely a disadvantage, I am quite happy with my lap time, which owes a lot to the work we did here last week. Although we should not really use our performance in Turkey as a reference point, this is an improvement. We have worked well and, if you leave out one team, who are just too dominant, we are in the frame. Tomorrow, our realistic target is to fight for points. Although it would be wonderful to end up on the podium in front of all our home fans, I feel that is a bit too optimistic.”

Rubens Barrichello “I think that today’s performance shows that we have done a good job of improving the car since yesterday. But I drove a good lap which started very well, until I had a bit too much graining on the front tyres, which caused the car to understeer and I lost time in the two Lesmo corners. Considering the problems we have encountered so far, I think I can be relatively pleased with today’s result and I am happy with my last good qualifying lap for Ferrari at Monza.”

Jacques Villeneuve managed to clock a better time than team mate Massa and stands on place 12
Jacques Villeneuve "We are only two positions off our ideal position, which would have been 10th, so it was not too bad for me today. The lap was quite good."

Felipe Massa "Starting in the first three in qualifying is definitely not great! When my turn came the track was still quite slippery. But looking at our strategy the lap was actually pretty good and we know that our car is going to be better in race trim, so the situation is a lot better than it appears to be."

For the BMW Williams drivers it was a strange weekend. Not Nick Heidfeld, but Antonio Pizzonia was in the second car of BMW. Heidfeld has headaches after a crash during the testing week at Monza.
Antonio Pizzonia "I was still sleeping when the telephone rang this morning at 8:30 and they told me to rush to the track. I have been away from the car for nearly three months and the last time I drove an F1 car it was fitted with a V8 engine, which makes a big difference. Obviously it was a bit tricky to get used to the car so quickly, but I am happy to have the opportunity to race for the team again. Knowing that I was going to be the first car out for qualifying, today we concentrated more on race set up but I am happy with my qualifying lap, considering the situation. There is a lot more to come from me and hopefully I can do a good job tomorrow."

Mark Webber "The car seems to be reasonable so far this weekend. Last week in the test here we showed some positive steps in performance in relation to the outright pace. Clearly the people working back at the factory have done a good job in the wind tunnel with such a low down- force package which you need in Monza and also BMW is pushing hard for this race. Having to start as second qualifier didn’t help, but I am happy with my lap anyway. The race in Monza is usually hard on the tyres and the cars are sliding a lot around the corners, but it’s the same for everyone and it should be an interesting race tomorrow."

David Coulthard and Christian Klien will start from an 11th and 13th position tomorrow. The Red Bull drivers are looking for more points for their team.
David Coulthard "No big events during that lap; the balance of the car was good, but it was capable of going quicker. I wasn't entirely happy with my performance in qualifying and think it's fair to say that Christian wasn't either. I wasn't really able to feel the car enough on the warm up lap, it felt a bit numb, so I couldn't tell how hard to push. As a result, I was a bit too conservative going into the first chicane and lost a couple of tenths by braking too early. It's frustrating when that happens, as once you've taken the decision, it's difficult to make up the time after. Nonetheless, I think we've got good experience of the car on this track and it's certainly possible for the team to score some points."

Christian Klien "I don't think that was such great lap. I suffered with understeer in two different places, including the last corner. It meant I had to back off and lost some time. I think it could have been better, as overall feeling of the car is good, but a few small mistakes make all the difference."

We'll see what tomorrow brings, but Ron Dennis wants us to remember that Kimi is still in the run for the victory tomorrow.
"He is still in with a chance of winning if he can keep out of trouble in the run to the first chicane. With Juan Pablo on pole position we have a solid basis for fighting for the victory tomorrow."