A determined performance from Kimi in qualifying this afternoon saw the Flying Finn push his E20 to the very limit around the Autodromo di Monza and with a shaken up grid for tomorrow’s Italian Grand Prix, the Iceman could well find himself in the hunt for further gains in the Championship battle…
Kimi, P7 on the grid for tomorrow’s race; were you hoping for more?
We’ve been around sixth to eighth for most of the weekend so this was about what we were expecting. We don’t have the speed, at least in qualifying. We always want to qualify in the strongest position possible and ideally we’d be a bit further up the grid, but we’re usually a bit stronger in the race so hopefully tomorrow will be better.
Are you confident of making up a few places by the time the chequered flag drops?
There are a lot of straights and our top speed has been good here so with the DRS we should have a good chance to overtake. Having said that, some cars may be a bit stronger coming out of the corners – which means they can reach their top speed faster than us – so we’ll still need to keep as close as possible to them to get past. It’s a long race and it won’t be easy, but I’m confident we can make up a few places.
You have a few Championship challengers around you on the grid; could this be a chance to take some valuable points from them?
It’s difficult to say as the grid is quite close. For the team, Monza is not one of our strongest tracks so at least we’ll be up there amongst the drivers fighting for the Championship at the start. We’re ahead of Fernando [Alonso] on the grid but the Ferraris have been quick all weekend so I don’t think he’ll stay so far back for long. Anything can happen in the race, so let’s see what happens.
Source: www.lotusf1team.com