Kimi
Raikkonen finished his preparations for the new Formula One season in
perfect style at the weekend – with victory in a snowmobiling
race.
While some of his rivals flew out to Australia to get acclimatized
to the time zone and climate, Raikkonen demonstrated his passion for
speed by winning the 24-kilometre Enduro Sprint event at the Kopparberg
King race in Finland.
Interestingly
Raikkonen entered his number 59 Lynx MaMo under the
name of ‘James Hunt’, before his proper name was put on the results
sheet. The reason for entering with Hunt’s identity is not known, but
it could have been to minimize public interest before the event.
Raikkonen completed the 24km course in 19minutes 38.24 seconds –
well clear of second place Pasi Hietalo on a Lynx P-SMK, who finished
it in 19m59.68s.
Q & A with Kimi Raikkonen
By Jonathan Noble Thursday, March 15th 2007, 07:11 GMT
Kimi Raikkonen kicked off his official career as a Ferrari Formula One
race driver at the team’s regular pre-event Thursday media briefing at
Albert Park.
After years of being entertained, enthralled and sometimes amazed
by his predecessor Michael Schumacher’s similar press gatherings,
Raikkonen was always going to have a tough act to follow.
And although it was instantly clear that F1 and Ferrari are
entering a new era with Raikkonen, who is widely known for using one
word when 20 words will suffice, he still offered some interesting
insight into how his winter had gone.
Autosport.com was there to hear from the Finn:
Q. How does it feel to be here in Melbourne?
Kimi Raikkonen: It is nice to be here at the first race. It is a
new team, new season and it is exciting. Let’s wait and see how it
goes.
Q. Ferrari are everyone’s favourites for this weekend. How do you see the potential of the car?
KR: I think so we are pretty happy with how things went in testing.
In the last test we had everything, the package, that we have here. We
are looking forward but it is too early to say. So many things can go
right or wrong, so we just do the best that we can and hopefully we can
be up there fighting for all the wins.
Q. Everyone is talking about the new tyres being very hard, what do you think about the tyres?
KR: It is the same for every team, and every driver so it doesn’t
make any difference to anybody. It seems to be okay. They are different
to Michelin and different to what they used to be last year, but like I
said it is the same for everybody. We just need to find the best way of
using them.
Q. Did you have to change your driving style?
KR: No.
Q. Do you not feel a certain level of excitement because you are now driving for Ferrari?
KR: I think so; the first race is always exciting. Maybe it is a
little bit more with a new team, everything is new, but we will be
okay.
Q. Do you feel more integrated into the team now that the winter is behind you?
KR: Yeah, I feel a lot better. With more time you get to know more
the working way of the people you work with – and they know you more.
But I think we had an okay winter and we will see how it goes in the
races. But every day you learn something and we will get better.
Q. People say Ferrari are favourites, but some say that the battle
between you and Felipe Massa could be a big problem. Does that worry
you?
KR: For sure, if we have a good car like it looks like then it will
always be a race between teammates. That is always normal; it has
always been like that in the past. It is good in a way. We have a good
atmosphere in the team, a good relationship, and on the circuit we
always want to beat each other. That is always normal.
Q. What is your aim for this first Grand Prix weekend?
KR: We want to win of course, but in the past the Australian Grand
Prix has been quite funny. The weather has been very difficult; you see
many accidents and safety cars, so hopefully everything goes well.
Q. How was the race in Finland at the weekend?
KR: It was okay. Normal. Why you ask? It is nothing to do with this weekend.
Q. Kimi, looking at the winter testing and your performance next to
Felipe Massa everyone is getting excited. Bernie Ecclestone has said
that Felipe will be world champion. Have you been holding anything
back? Have we seen a misleading picture?
KR: I don’t know. We will see what happens in the races, but of
course testing is always difficult to say what is going on but at least
we know ourselves where we are. That is the main thing. There is no
real point to go into the details because it is not going to change
anything. But I am very happy with how things have gone and we need to
wait and see what happens in the races.
Q. You have come here to win the championship. Have you seen
anything that makes you think it will be more of a fight than when you
originally signed with the team?
KR: I think so
Other quotes: Raikkonen unfazed by place in Ferrari history
http://ia.rediff.com/sports/2007/mar/15kimi.htm
Interview: Dyer ready to guide Raikkonen
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/57328
Iceman Kimi unfazed by Massa hype
Kimi Raikkonen says he is unconcerned by the hype surrounding Ferrari
team-mate Felipe Massa, who is odds-on favourite to win the opening
race of the season in Australia on Sunday.
Massa set the pace for much of the winter and came out ahead of
Raikkonen in the final pre-season test in Bahrain, but the ice-cool
Finn claims he has yet to show his own true pace for Ferrari.
"We did not concentrate on [qualifying laps in testing at Bahrain]," he said in an interview on Ferrari’s website.
"We concentrated more on race distances and reliability. In Bahrain
we had only one car with all the new parts, so there was no chance to
do much with it.
"But I do not believe that there is any problem."
Asked whether he was worried about his team-mate’s testing pace he replied: "No, I am not."
"For sure it will be tight racing," Kimi added.
"But I cannot see that there will be problems. And Felipe has
always been quick. He did not fight badly at all against Michael
[Schumacher]. It will be a close fight for sure."
Raikkonen said that comparisons of testing times were pointless and
that it won’t be until the flag drops in Melbourne that a true order
will emerge.
"The main thing is that I know we have been puttering around," he said.
"It is the same if you look at testing as an outsider.
"It is really difficult to say if somebody suddenly has been very
quick, it does not mean that they are really quick, because they could
have been trying some tricks.
"I think we should have quite good systems. No worries."
That said, Ferrari’s consistency throughout the winter has led
Raikkonen to believe that his new squad is in a good position ahead of
the first grand prix at Albert Park.
"In testing in Bahrain our speed with the new car was very good but
it is pretty difficult to say how we will go in some other circuits,"
he said.
"I do not believe that our speed will disappear anywhere. We have
quite a strong package. But it can be that the other teams will find
something new.
"We will see in the first race, Australia will be the real proof.
"You can always speculate, who is quick, who is not, but I think there will be also some surprises."
Raikkonen added that he believed that his main competition would come from BMW, Renault and McLaren in Melbourne.
"For sure BMW is one," he said.
"They are quite strong, they have been relatively strong during the whole winter.
"About Renault I do not really know.
"In the end of the day in Bahrain they went fast, but most of the
testing sessions they have been quite lifeless. McLaren is also strong.
"Probably there you will find the strongest challengers."
Kimi Räikkönen heads to Melbourne in confident mood
Finnish driver anticipates stiff resistance from Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa
By Siri Markula
Kimi Räikkönen does not appear overly concerned, in spite of the
fact in recent statements a good many motor sport pundits have rated
his Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa as quite as much a candidate for
this year’s Formula One driver’s world championship title.
The latest name to come out and tip the Brazilian for the crown
was none other than F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, in an interview with
the German paper Bild.
"I’m certain the competition is going to be tough, but I don’t
believe there will be any great problems", commented Räikkönen when he
met with Finnish journalists in Helsinki on Thursday.
"Massa has always been quick, and he certainly did not make a bad
fist of fighting against Schumi [Michael Schumacher] last season."
During their testing sessions on the Sakhir circuit in Bahrain, ahead
of next Sunday’s season opener in Melbourne, Ferrari only had one car
equipped with all the latest aerodynamics and other hardware.
Hence the times that were set are not always fully comparable.
Massa in any event posted the fastest times and broke the lap record on
the final day, as Ferrari dominated proceedings.
"The main thing is that we know ourselves exactly what went on there", says Räikkönen calmly.
In winter testing, the Ferraris did not look to be setting the
pace, but by the close of the Bahrain shakedown session the stable had
emerged as the team to beat this season.
One competitor after another has stepped forward and dumped championship pressures onto the Italian team’s shoulders.
"It’s rather difficult to say how we’ll go elsewhere, but it is
hardly likely that the pace we showed [in Bahrain] is going to vanish
into thin air. We’ve definitely good a very strong package, but others
can do the same", reasoned Räikkönen.
He anticipates that his old team McLaren will put up a strong
fight at the Australian GP in Melbourne. Renault, too, began to show a
good turn of foot towards the end of the Bahrain stint, with Heikki
Kovalainen working his way up and posting the second-fastest time on
the final day.
Like many others in the sport, Räikkönen also lifts BMW-Sauber
into the role of "the team most likely to spring a surprise".
Räikkönen only began his own testing programme in January, but he says the timetable has been perfectly adequate.
"Basically I could have limited it just to Bahrain. It was the
only place where we could really achieve anything, becuase the weather
there was great."
Ferrari have concentrated in their test programme on driving full race-distances and ensuring the car’s reliability.
The Finnish driver believes that a car developed in this way will also be quick in qualifying.
In addition, this season the drivers will benefit from changes to
the Friday practices: they will now have a total of three hours on the
track to find the right settings, both for Saturday qualifying and the
race itself.
Räikkönen was not willing or able to compare this year’s Ferrari with the McLaren-Mercedes he drove in 2006.
He argued that the changes that have been made to the tyres –
there will be a Bridgestone monopoly now that Michelin have withdrawn
from F1 racing, and FIA have also made changes to the rules on which
tyre compounds can be used and when – render such comparisons
pointless. In any event, the Ferrari appears very competitive.
"At least it feels good. Then again, when you haven’t driven for
three months, more or less anything feels quick", grinned Räikkönen.
"The first test sessions are always about getting used to things."
Ice-Man Räikkönen had the journalists laughing when a reporter from the late-edition tabloid Iltalehti asked him how he had physically prepared himself for the new season.
"Hey, I read all about that in your paper", Räikkönen tossed back
with a broad grin. The remark was in reference to an article in
Iltalehti reporting his visit to a Helsinki karaoke bar.
Turning more serious, Räikkönen told the reporters that his
preparations had gone as smoothly as before, though he admitted that a
good deal of his time in recent weeks had been spent behind the wheel
on testing.
"There again, that is always the best preparation there is. I haven’t had much time to do anything else."
Kimi headed to Melbourne on Sunday 11th March.
Kimi unsure about Monaco tyres
8 March, 2007
F1’s new tyre regulations are likely to put drivers to the ultimate
test on the streets of Monte Carlo later this season. That is the claim
of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, who was asked by the Finnish newspaper
Turun Sanomat what effect on the racing the rule requiring drivers to
run both available Bridgestone specifications at each grand prix might
have.
“Monaco could be terrible,“ said the 27-year-old, “because most likely the harder compound won’t have grip there at all.“
Finn Raikkonen, however, explained that he won’t be losing sleep
over the new rule, which has been introduced to spice up the interest
in the wake of Michelin’s departure from the grid. He said: “It’s the
same for everyone. At some tracks it will be more difficult with the
other compound than at others, but there is nothing you can do about
it. It doesn’t put any more pressure on me, I just drive.“
< Love it! Go Kimi!!!
FUCK ISRAEL 