Sepang, 18th March 2006
Engine confusion
Unless their respective teams discover engine problems after today's qualifying session, it seems certain
that Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella has secured the third pole position of his career, that the Roman shares
the front row with Jenson Button in the Honda and that Nico Rosberg will start his second ever Formula One
Grand Prix from the second row of the grid in third place. However, behind this trio, the picture is somewhat
confusing, because so many drivers have had to change engines and take the various penalties that this
involves. Both Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro drivers are among those affected by the obvious reliability issues
with the new formula V8 engines. Felipe Massa started the weekend with a fresh engine after a fault was
detected after the race at the Sakhir track. This automatically meant a ten place penalty on the grid.
However, further signs of engine trouble meant the team decided that the Brazilian would have a further
engine change on race morning, thus starting from the back of the grid, with the advantage of a fresh engine,
extra sets of tyres and freedom to choose fuel loads. Michael Schumacher also required an engine change
prior to qualifying. He actually set the fourth quickest time which will see him drop ten places and start
fourteenth. These changes turn row 2 into an all Williams-Cosworth affair, with Mark Webber joining
Rosberg. And the third row features both McLaren-Mercedes, with Juan Pablo Montoya fifth ahead of Kimi
Raikkonen. It is fair to say that, even having changed engines, the Scuderia engineers are somewhat
concerned about the race, which even when running the well proven V10 engines, was always very tough.
The team is working hard to identify the cause of the current problem.
Jean Todt: "Considering our decision to have Felipe start from the back of the grid, our qualifying session
was basically with only one car. This decision was taken so as to let him start the race tomorrow with a
fresh engine, lots of fuel on board and new tyres. Michael was also obliged to change his engine and he'll be
starting from the seventh row after having gone well in qualifying. Tomorrow is going to be a very tough race
with reliability and a consistent tyre performance being the decisive factors. The championship has only just
begun but even if we are now going through a difficult moment with the reliability of the V8 engine, what is
important is to try and pick up as many points as possible. All kinds of things can happen for us tomorrow,
but this is true for the others as well."
Michael Schumacher: "I'll be starting from the seventh row which isn't too bad considering the penalty
inflicted for the engine change. We're satisfied with this position and obviously I hope to end up in the points.
I'd be really happy if I could get a podium finish. Considering the circumstances, our objective is not to lose
touch with the drivers who presumably will be fighting for the championship. The fact that Alonso and
Raikkonen aren't too far ahead on the grid certainly helps me a bit. It'll be interesting to see whether
overtaking will be possible and how much fuel the others have on board. During unofficial practice we have
seen that our race pace is fine. It's a pity that we've lost ten places on the grid because of this engine
problem, but I would rather try and bring home a few points than end up with nothing at all."
Felipe Massa: "Obviously I'm very disappointed because I was convinced that I had the potential to compete
with the front runners. We chose to do only the first part of the qualifying session so as to be able and start
the race with as much fuel as we want and in order to save our new sets of tyres and keep a fresh engine for
the race. This morning, when I was running on used tyres and with quite a lot of fuel on board, I felt that the
car in this configuration was performing excellently. Tomorrow is going to be difficult for me, but in racing you
never know what can happen: perhaps a weekend that got off to a bad start could end up quite well !"
Ross Brawn: "This is very frustrating for us. We have had various problems with the engine but we'll get over
them. I'm convinced of that. It's a pity, because during all the winter testing we were very reliable.
Considering the amount of fuel that Michael had on board because of the ten-position penalty, his qualifying
session went quite well. The tyres seem to be very consistent in their performance. We can expect a tough
race but we'll do everything possible to finish in the points."
Qualifying session
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