Saturday press conference - Malaysian GP - Pt.2.

Questions from the floor:

Q: (Heikki Kulta - Turun Sanomat)
Kimi, was that a perfect lap you did in Q2 and, for Heikki, how much did it mean to you to beat Lewis already in the second qualifying?

Kimi Raikkonen:
I think you can always improve if you try again, but it was a good lap, the car felt good. Unfortunately, we couldn't get as good a lap in the last qualifying but that's life.

Heikki Kovalainen:
Well, for me, I must stress that my primary target is not to beat Lewis. I would rather be in the first position than the third position but, of course, to beat Lewis... he's a great driver, he did a great year last year. He's a very fast driver, to be ahead of him is always good but of course as a team we want to do better, we want to be higher than third and for me, I'm not making a big number out of it. I need to just keep the focus on the race tomorrow and that's the best we can do.

Q: (Flavio Vanetti - Corriere della Sera)
Felipe, last year you had Alonso beside you, now you have your team-mate beside you, even if you have to expect that Kimi will push. Do you feel more comfortable now?

Felipe Massa:
No, it doesn't matter. You always try to do the best start you can, you always try to stay in front at the first corner. Last year, it was not possible. I will just try to do better this year. I should have a good start, so let's hope and see if we can keep the same position tomorrow.

Q: (Mark Danby - Auto Magazine China)
A question to Kimi: were you happy with your start last week and do you hold any concerns for tomorrow on the dirty side of the track?

KR:
No, we were happy. I gained many places on the first lap, so it was good but, of course, this is a different circuit, definitely, different conditions. I don't know if it's going to make a difference not being on the clean side but we will see tomorrow. Hopefully we can have a good start. It's up to us really, so we will try the best.

Q: (Marco Evangelisti - Corriere dello Sport)
Felipe, you were one of the first to say that it would be tricky to drive in the wet without traction control. Now many drivers agree with you. Do you think it was a mistake to take traction control off the cars?

FM:
I don't think it was a mistake. I think - if I need to give my opinion - I think we should have a safe setting for everybody for the wet, because if we have a situation like in Japan last year, maybe we're not going to have any cars finishing the race. I think there's always room to improve. In the dry it's quite nice to drive the cars without traction control, it's not a big problem but in the wet it will be different. There's always room to improve. We just need to see how it's going to be the first time in the rain. But you know, just from having the feeling of driving in the wet in winter testing was not so easy.

Q: (Paolo Ianieri - La Gazzetta dello Sport)
Heikki, before you said that here the situation is more realistic than it was in Melbourne. Does that mean that Ferrari is pretty much in front of you and that it could be hard for the next races?

HK:
I'm hope I'm wrong - or the prediction I made in Melbourne is not correct. Certainly today - and, to be honest, all weekend - the Ferraris have looked strong but we will see tomorrow how the strategies are panning out and how the race is panning out. We are still in a good position to fight and I think all I can say is that we know they are going to be strong all the way through the year, but we can improve our package as well, so there's no concern.

Q: (Juha P??talo - Financial Times Germany)
Kimi, given the fact that it might rain tomorrow, how much of a relief is it that you can start from the front row?

KR:
I don't think it makes much difference if it rains. If it's dry you would rather be in the front [row] anyway, it's much easier there, less chance to have accidents and less people to follow, so it should be a bit easier. We will see how the weather is tomorrow. It can be very tricky, it can change very quickly here.