> Kimi’s Spanish GP Preview < Read here!
Kimi, for the win. Kimi, for the win, KIMI, FOR THE WIN!!!!
Q. If you had to rate how confident you have been with the car this season, how would you?
Kimi Raikkonen: I don’t know. It is not easy. I think the
first race was the best one, the car was the nicest but then the last
race in Bahrain it was quite difficult. Here after the test we have
found something so hopefully here it works, but you never know. It is
completely different weather again. I am pretty sure it is better but
you never know until you get in the racing, and then qualifying.
Q. After three races, how would you describe your relationship with Felipe Massa?
KR: It is the same. We have a good relationship. Of course we
race against each other, but we have a good atmosphere in the team and
that is the main thing.
Q. So is he your teammate or your opponent?
KR: He is both. (Hehe!)
Q. You were very positive after the last test here. You said that
finally the car was handling the way you wanted it. What is the big
difference now with the car compared to what it was in Bahrain?
KR: We have some new parts. New aerodynamic stuff, new front
end slightly and we have found a better set-up overall. That is the
biggest difference. It is more like I want to drive it. So I can to
drive it like I used to. Before I was driving as the car was going best
for me, but it wasn’t really what I wanted to do. So hopefully now it
is better.
Q. Fernando Alonso has said that it is not a championship for
four people, it is a championship for two – himself and you. What do
you think about that?
KR: It doesn’t look like it exactly. I think you never know.
It is going to be a long season and for sure I don’t think it is going
to last like this all year. For sure something is going to happen to
some drivers and then probably they will lose too many points to get
back in the game any more. For sure now it looks very close and I
cannot really say what is going to happen in the future. But hopefully
we can come out on top.
Q. Michael Schumacher is coming to the circuit for the first time this season. Any feelings on that?
KR: He is coming as he is still involved in the team. He will
try and help the team go forward, so I think this is why he is coming.
I think it will only be a positive thing.
Q. Do you expect Lewis Hamilton to stay in the hunt for the world championship?
KR: Like I said, I don’t know what is going to happen in the
next races. Nobody knows. So far he is been doing great work, so he
might be the worst enemy for us. He might be up there all year, or
maybe not. Maybe we are, maybe not. I don’t know. Let’s see what
happens.
Q. Do you like the chicane after they changed the final two corners on the track?
KR: I think the last circuit was nicer, even though it was
maybe more dangerous. It was more fun in a way. It was good to have a
go and try and make it easier to overtake, but I don’t think it is
going to make it an awful lot easier. Hopefully it makes it, but
looking at the test it still wasn’t easy if the other guy doesn’t make
a mistake. (Interesting to hear what a driver thinks of the new chicane, especially Kimi. Lets hope it doesnt stop him from giving the ‘maximum attack’ tomorrow 🙂 )
Q. On Michael’s visit, how can he help the team? What kind of role can he do to help you this weekend?
KR: Like I said, he is here to help the team. Hopefully he
has much more time to look at what the other teams are doing and comes
up with some ideas. That is the way he is approaching the weekend and
naturally he is not coming to us to tell us how to drive the cars. It
has never been the thing why he is here. You need to really ask himself
or the team, I am not here to answer those questions.
Q. Now that you are racing alongside Massa, is he better than you expected?
KR: I knew that he was good. You never know how it is going to go in the racing but I think it is what I expected.
Q. As a Ferrari driver have you changed your way of working?
KR: Not really. I think every team has a different way of
working and different schedules – things like that. So I am doing the
same things I did before, but it is just a different style.
Q. It has been suggested that one of the areas you have improved
the car from your point of view it to use the new tyres better. Is that
true?
KR: I think so. Our weakest point has been the qualifying and
the race has never been such a big problem. But with the new tyres, if
you don’t get to the front in qualifying then it is hard to do much
after that. So for sure that is where we want to improve and hopefully
that will happen.
Q. Are you in a position where if Michael says, ‘I think we
should do this…’ you have to listen to him, or is it much more of a
committee process where you all have an input?
KR: I think I still drive the car, and I do with my engineers what I want. (Lol what a classic comment. Yes, Kimi is one in the car, let him do the job!)
Q. So no?
KR: (shrugs shoulders).
Kimi’s brand new ‘big’ motorhome at Ferrari; It’s 3 storeys high:
The new chicane at the circuit, which leads to the curve before the pits straight; Kimi seems to have no problems with from the last test, of which he finally feels confident with:
This is from the kart event McLaren and Alonso did today. It’s not Kimi, but I like these pictures! The kids are so cute in those race outfits and perhaps Alonso in the kart reminded me of Kimi when he did similar things at McLaren.
Remember Kimi karting in Bratislava and etc?
News:
Teams question McLaren ‘bridge’ wing – report
May 9 (GMM) A new controversy surrounding the legality of allegedly flexing bodywork could be set to rear its head at the Spanish grand prix this weekend.
The German specialist magazine Auto Motor und Sport reports that some rival teams are concerned about the behaviour during testing of the radical bridge-like element on McLaren’s new front wing, which could be raced at the Circuit de Catalunya.
The controversy would be the latest instalment in the so-called and long-running flexible wings saga, which has involved rear wings and – most recently – the under-bodies of formula one cars.
It is suggested that some unnamed teams have already asked FIA observers to keep a close eye on the behaviour of McLaren’s ‘bridge’ wing via on-board cameras as the Barcelona event progresses later this week.
Valencia confirms seven-year F1 deal
Valencia will host a Formula One Grand Prix next season after
agreeing to a seven-year deal with Bernie Ecclestone, it was announced
on Thursday.
The deal was announced on Thursday in the Spanish city in a press
conference with Ecclestone, who was joined by the Valencian
government’s president Francisco Camps, and Valencia’s mayor Rita Barbera.
The race, which will be known as the European Grand Prix, will take
place on a street circuit around the Mediterranean city, which is
currently hosting the 32nd edition of the America’s Cup.
This way, Spain will have two Grands Prix in the future, as the Barcelona circuit has a contract with Ecclestone until 2011.
The Gravel Trap
Ferrari star Kimi Raikkonen will not only be concentrating on the
Spanish Grand Prix this weekend, he’ll also be keeping a close eye on
events back home, as Finland hosts the Eurovision Song Contest for the
first time in the competition’s 50-year history. (Read the title link for more jokes.)
The season so far and what to expect this weekend – From Rudi
IcemanFan (Rudi) is a Kimi fan (obviously) and wrote a review after being bored of reading misliding reports about Kimi and F1. Here, you can enjoy reading what has been going on concerning Kimi and his races so far:
Australia
Even after winning in Australia, Kimi was complaining about the car
handling, meaning its balance, to be balanced your car needs no under
or over steering, under steering occurs if you have poor grip in your
front wheels cause you turn the steering but by lacking grip, your
tyres don’t transmit that to the track, on the other hand over steering
happens due to faulty grip in the rear, the back of the car then slips
into the curve direction, which could be helpful in rally racing but
not in F1, so as expected NO driver likes an unbalanced car but if
forced to choose almost all of them would prefer over steering and it’s
a logical choice don’t you think, but why the explanation, well because
Kimi’s F2007 is doing the worse to Him, it’s under steering at some
stages of every race, you should know that a balanced car doesn’t
remain that way for the whole race, the weight changes during the race
cause the fuel load is constantly changing, also the tyre degradation,
tyre changes and track temp changes affect the balance and remember to
make for all of these the team can only adjust the front wing to
compensate, but balance is a really, really complicated thing. Now kimi
was complaining even after winning, not because he didn’t win, at the
same race a faulty clamp ring that later was found to belong to a whole
faulty batch from an undisclosed provider, was responsibly for the now
infamous leaking in Kimi’s engine.
Malaysia
Here, the above leaking problem forced Ferrari to detune Kimi’s car
to 18500 rpm, not the ridiculous 17000, mentioned in some reports, do
you see why I’m tired of some media workers, but the main problem
wasn’t just that, they took some wing off the car, to compensate the
straight speed, but again the balance of the car paid for that. The
cherry on the pie was the fuel load on his car, it could have worked
well, provided a decent start and normal behavior but we all know what
happened there.
Bahrain and the wrong strategy
Again Kimi complained about the balance of the car, and again they
fueled him heavier than the other top contenders, what’s behind the
“more fuel than your rival” strategy, it’s pretty simple the idea is to
be your fastest when your opponent just came out of pits and is heavy
and with cold tyres, of course for this to work a car should be faster
with light fuelled and hot tyres even if they have lost most of its
rubber, for instance in Australia Kimi, fastest on 41 lap (pitted on
42), Alonso’s best on 20 (pitted on 22) Hamilton’s on 20 (pitted on 23)
and Massa’s on 28 (pitted on 29). You see you’re faster when light
fueled and at the same time the opposition is slower if they fuelled
before you, right? Let’s examine Malaysia first and Bahrain later shall
we, Hamilton fastest on 22 but pitted on 20, Alonso’s best on 42 but
pitted on 40, Massa’s on 42 pitted on 40, only Kimi did his best the
usual way on 40 one lap before pitting, what’s wrong here, maybe by
ruining the start Massa messed up with the inner workings of normal
practice, or maybe it was the tyres hum, let’s check the last
possibility, in Albert Park they used medium and soft tyres while
Bridgestone decided for hard and medium after that. Now what about
Bahrain, hard and medium again, and the results Massa fastest on 42 but
pitted on 40, Hamilton normal on 18 one before pitting, Kimi normal 2
before pit stop, but Alonso’s best came again 3 laps into a stint. So
what could be learned from here, first that hard and medium really
stand for steel and stone with Bridgestone, remember Massa made 28 laps
on the so called soft tyres in Australia, in second place we have an
abnormal car handling with the harder tyres, cars seem to be faster
with heavy load but new tyres after properly warmed, what the heck new
rubber beats light weight, that’s an aberration, of course track temp
will be lower in Montmelo than the past 2 GPs, but what tyres will be
used, yeah! you guessed right steel and stone again. So for Christ sake
please don’t put to much fuel on Kimi’s car cause the old way is not
working with these tyres. just ask Ross, he’ll tell ya Jean.
Spain
They made changes to the track to promote overtaking, to achieve
that they basically neutered the best part of the track in hope of
creating one overtaking opportunity, my guess is they won’t succeed. As for the contenders Kimi is so happy about the car
balance now, that even after a crash on the very wet second day of
practice, they (the team assistants) found him reportedly smiling and
waving. Based just on that fact I would say Kimi’s going to take pole
by 1 sec, race by a lap and new circuit record on race day, but to be
objective, it will be a difficult race but, when he’s happy with the
car the boy can really drive fast, so he’ll take pole by 2 tenths, race
by 15 seconds and fast lap.
Sorry for the long post, but it’s my way to relief frustration with
the media and to say the best is yet to come in this season and
finally, when a good driver is not having the results you want there’s
always a good reason behind, this applies to our Ice Dragon and to
every top driver on the grid, but again did I mention, I’m a Kimi fan. – End.
FUCK ISRAEL 