Kimi
Raikkonen will be starting his first season with Ferrari in 2007 and
says that it would not have made any difference to his decision to join
the team if Michael Schumacher had not retired.
"They are free to choose whoever they want as my team colleagues," the Finn told Gazzetta dello Sport. "I
never asked the team who would be racing next to me," reiterating that
at the time of signing his contract he did not know the futures of
either Schumacher or Ross Brawn.
The 27-year-old also admitted that he does not take much notice of what the Italian press writes.
"I
have no time to read that. I surf on the internet a lot and check out
the kart races. I like Italy; I already spent a lot of time here during
my karting days when I was young. The mentality is something quite
different from Finland. I find it pretty funny," he added.
Read more here: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/56760
Thats our boy; just do your own thing
I’m so pleased to hear it, you are music to my ears!
Barcelona, 12th-14th Feb
Kimi’s overall best lap time a Barcelona was a 1.21.719 and complted 224 laps! Yesterday, Kimi was 7th fastest today after completing only 45 laps, and he went home earlier than the rest lol thats about it.
Day Two: Kimi started today much better as he and Felipe topped the sheets in the morning and are consistantly maintaining their good progress with Felipe covering 77 laps and Kimi 84. Kimi concluded over a 2 race distance test with 154 laps. He must have been exhausted! He was testing with the new front and rear wing whereas Massa tested with only new rear suspension. Both cars seemed to have done a good job, with the drivers going 1st and 2nd fastest.
Day One: Today’s session consisted of nine red flags and rain hit the track around lunchtime. Kimi did only 25 laps and Massa 29. Both Ferrari’s suffered a
serious electronics problem and both Massa and Kimi spent hours in pits
when the team tried to solve the problems.
| Translated interview By Juha Päätalo, 14.02.2007 It seems as if you finally had a good test? Kimi Räikkönen: I don’ know. Everything worked fine and that’s the most important. Yesterday you drove 145 laps, a lot more then two race distances. How was that mentally? Kimi Räikkönen: Not so much of an effort, but my overall didn’t fit properly and did press a bit. How has the new chicane changed the track? Kimi Räikkönen: Not so much. It was really slippery though, even while the asphalt was quite new there. This track is a benmark for the competiveness of the cars. What is the relevance of the results here? Kimi Räikkönen: I don’t know. The track is more difficult then most others, but the competiveness will only be clear after the next test when all have their new components on the car. Does it bother you that your teammate Massa is always faster than you? Kimi Räikkönen: No, not at all, because we always have a completely different testprogram. Ferrari was strong also in the long stints. How did the car feel? Kimi Räikkönen: Quite good Fisichella thinks that Ferrari is quite quick in the first and last laps of a long stints. Is he right? Kimi Räikkönen: Everything is fine with us (Ferrari) |
Testing @ Jerez
During the tests at Jerez, Kimi drove the most laps with 221. On the last day, Kimi and Felipe spent most of their time on car set-ups for a wet track due to being disturbed by rain. Raikkonen’s best time from the tests was a 1’20’068.
Kimi slowly getting used to Ferrari car
Ferrari
driver Kimi Raikkonen has been testing at Jerez this week as he
continues to acclimatise to his new team. As well as getting used to a
new car, the Finnish driver has to learn how to get the best out of
Bridgestone tyres having been used to Michelin rubber at McLaren. "It is getting better all the time but it takes time to get used to it," the 27-year-old told autosport.com."We
still have some work to do, every day it is getting easier: I think we
need to work on the car to make it work for me," he added.
Day Two: The session was stopped early this morning, as a result of Fernando Alonso who spun his McLaren off the track after the straight. However he wasnt the only car to stop on track, Alexander Wurz an Mark Webber had problems with their car. Testing continued soon after with the other McLaren of Hamilton’s, Sauber, Williams and Ferrari lapping between 1.22.0 and 1.19, Lewis Hamilton reached the latter.
Later in the day, Kimi stopped with mechanical issue in the Ferrari in corner 2. It is one of seven red flags on track today. Granted, Kimi lost a big part of his day due to a mechanical problem and
then poor weather, with rain hitting the track in the afternoon. Teammate Felipe Massa went quickest overall today with a time of 1.19.746 and Kimi 3 tenths slower. The McLaren’s put in the most laps yet again today, and Hamilton and Alonso going 2nd and 4th fastest.
Day One: Kimi and Felipe continue work in their F2007 cars, this time at Jerez where the weather is sunny and mildly cool at 18 degrees celcius. Luca Badoer is also present to test and may replace Felipe at stints. In the morning, Kimi was progressing well with work and went fastest:
1 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari F2007| 1:20.474| 23
2 Lewis hamilton McLaren MP4-22| 1:20.674 + 0,200| 35
3 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber F1.07| 1:20.752 + 0,278| 11
The track has been getting faster and times have been varying between 1.22.0 and 1.20.0 within 1 hour. Sunny weather is expected to continue for today, however tomorrow and Thursday may be cloudy and cooler. 
Final results:
1. Pedro de la Rosa McLaren 1:20.001 108
2. Alexander Wurz Williams 1:20.036 72
3. Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 1:20.159 46
4. Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1:20.233 111
5. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:20.245 86
6. Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1:20.254 55
7. Jenson Button Honda 1:20.371 99
8. Franck Montagny Toyota 1:20.409 46
9. Nico Rosberg Williams 1:20.525 62
10. Luca Badoer Ferrari 1:20.666 62
11. Sebastian Vettel BMW Sauber 1:20.715 51
12. David Coulthard Red Bull Racing 1:21.021 48
13. Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault 1:21.264 117
14. Ricardo Zonta Renault 1:21.392 67
15. Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 1:21.858 27
16. Christian Klien Honda 1:22.083 35
Group Test at Valencia 30th Jan – 2nd Feb
Kimi gets his hands on the F2007
Tuesday morning saw Kimi Raikkonen complete his first lap in
Ferrari’s F2007. The Finn completed an installation run in the wet at
Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia. In the afternoon Raikkonen continued
his day of testing with Ferrari under better circumstances. At
the circuit in Vallelunga, Italy, Kimi Raikkonen covered his first
miles in a Ferrari F1 car last week. However at both tests bad weather hampered Kimi’s chances of completing some thorough testing. The wet and cloudy weather cleared for a while later allowing Kimi to drive some more laps. Raikkonen worked alongside test driver Luca Badoer, who drove the
old 248 F1 car. The Italian’s day, however, was cut short after he
suffered a mechanical problem around 3:00 pm. It was not Badoer’s only incident of the day, as the Ferrari driver
also spun off the track when trying to avoid Alonso as the
Spaniard overtook him down the inside. On Wednesday, Kimi continued his acclimation to the Italian cars. The Finn was joined by teammate Felipe Massa, the Brazilian taking to
the track in last year’s 248 F1 car. Massa forced the session to be
stopped in the afternoon when he spun off the wet track. The weather cleared again briefly just before the end of the test. Thursday saw Kimi Raikkonen sixth quickest in the Ferrari F2007, the Finn
covering 66 laps. Raikkonen caused one of the red flags of the day when
he stopped on track with an apparent engine problem but it was quickly resolved. The dry weather finally allowed the teams and drivers to get on with
some serious set-up work, and also meant Bridgestone could continue
evaluation of their latest rubber. Both Toyotas were first and second quickest, with Ralf having the fastest time of 1:11.297. Kimi Raikkonen completed between 115 to 120 laps on Friday (according to varying sources) The Ferrari driver finished over sixth tenths behind Hamilton in the McLaren who was fastest with 1:11.119.
Raikkonen was again working with the new F2007 and he was the only
Ferrari driver on track.
Kimi comments regarding the time sheets:
"I have not looked at what everyone else is doing and what teams are
running," he said after testing at Valencia in Spain finished today.
"So we are just doing our own thing. We will see where we are at some point, it is just too early to
say. You see what times they are doing, but it is still hard to tell."
The damp start to the week’s testing in Valencia left Raikkonen frustrated, and he says he is keen to get a clear day of running.
"It is not ideal, but this is what it is. We cannot change it. It
has been very difficult and very tricky. Hopefully it gets better at
some point and we get some proper work done."
When asked where he thought Ferrari were in comparison with their
rivals he said: "I had only one set of tyres, so it is too early to
say. I don’t know what the others are doing. I just need more running
and some time in the car to set it up."
