Qualifying was affected by rain arriving at the mid-point, complicating matters for everyone, but come the end, Scuderia Ferrari had got Felipe Massa into second place and Fernando Alonso into third.It was dry and very hot for the start of Q1 when both Ferrari men did just one run using the P Zero Orange hard tyres. A single run was also the strategy for Q2, this time using the Mediums. After 8 minutes of this part of qualifying, light rain began to fall, so that no one went out for the final moments. Tyre choice was now problematic for the final part.As Q3 began the ten cars went out on Intermediates, the drivers testing the conditions during the ten minute session. Massa and Alonso did two runs each, the last one on new Intermediates.It was very close in the final stages, with each successive car going quicker at the flag, so that Fernando was briefly on pole, before being overtaken by Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull, fastest at the end and Felipe. It was a good team effort for Scuderia Ferrari, following on from the positive showing in Melbourne and the first and second rows look promising for tomorrow.
Fernando Alonso: I am very happy with this position as its been too long since I qualified in the top three! Something I have usually managed to achieve in the race has been missing for quite a while: maybe the rain helped us a bit as we were not the quickest in the dry, but starting in the top three gives us a realistic chance of a podium finish and we can even dream about winning. In Q3, when we had seen the track was drying quickly, we had a moments hesitation, because in the dry, the intermediates only last one or two laps before beginning to degrade. But in the end, it seemed the most sensible choice and it worked out well. Of the past three years, this seems to be the moment when everything appears to be working for the best: performance, strategy, pit stops. Now we must see how tomorrow will turn out, because its always a lottery if it rains. Even if, in the current Formula 1, the start is not the most important thing, we will still try to make a good one in order to maintain position or even to try and get past Vettel at the first corner. Then we will see: our race pace in Australia and the long run here on Friday means we can be reasonably optimistic.Felipe Massa: It was a great qualifying in which we managed to make the most of all the opportunities that came our way. In Q3, we decided to stop towards the end of the session to fit a new set of intermediates and this allowed me to do a lap good enough to take second place on the grid. I am very happy with this team result, which is down to the great job done over the winter months. The car has shown itself to be competitive in all conditions, both in the wet and dry, but we must continue to improve. Today, we were up against very strong opposition and maybe the rain helped us a bit, because in normal conditions it would have been harder to aim for this result. Now we can expect a long and difficult race in which anything can happen and in which strategy and tyre management will be the key, while the uncertainty over the weather wont help anyone.Pat Fry: Like all the other teams, we tackled todays qualifying with the aim of using as few tyres as possible to save them for tomorrows race. It took just one run on the hard compound to get both drivers through to the second part, providing various options for the rest of the session. In Q2, we used just one set of Mediums and even without the rain, I think that we would have managed to get through to the final part without any trouble. From then on, as predicted, it started to rain, but not enough to complicate matters: even though the track was wet, it was clear that Intermediates were the right choice. Going for a pit stop change after the first few laps proved to be the right move: we had to evaluate a subtle balance between tyre temperature and the amount of water on track and while at the time that can seem stressful, given the conditions, thinking back, it was relatively straightforward. If the rain holds off tomorrow, it will be very interesting to see how everyone exploits the tyres. All the teams have a few more new sets, which will make for a fascinating race.
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