Thursday PC – Interview with Kimi

Thursday’s press conference at Monza, Italy

Q. Kimi, obviously you are going to be racing in front of a
Ferrari home crowd for the first time; what are you feelings about that?

Kimi Raikkonen: I think it is a bit more hectic this weekend
because it is a home Grand Prix for the team but I don’t think the
racing side of things changes at all because we always try to do the
best that we can and that’s why we come here.

Q. Now you have set the fastest time in qualifying for the last
time two years though you didn’t necessarily start from pole and that
must make you quite confident for this weekend?

KR: Yes, I like this circuit, but it’s difficult to get the
car right as you run on a low down-force and it is quite bumpy and you
need to be able to drive over the kerbs… It is difficult to say where
we are going to be, but hopefully we are going to be in a grid position
to fight for a win.

Q. Felipe believes that you, Ferrari, are better than they appeared to be in testing last week?

KR: I don’t know, really, because from testing it is always
difficult to say – you can only guess what fuel the other teams have,
but you only really know yourselves what you are doing. I was not 100
per cent happy with the car, but we found some reasons and hopefully we
will have a better set up and we’ll see where we are. I think we should
be ok – probably not our strongest race, but it should still be pretty
good.

Questions From The Floor

Q. (Dan Knutson – National Speed Sport News) Kimi, from your
perspective, how much influence and benefit has Michael Schumacher been
to the team?

KR: It is difficult to say for sure, really, he has a lot of
experience with the team and in Formula One, also, but I don’t know
actually how much he has done, because I don’t really ask them who is
doing what and who is responsible on which days… You have to ask from
the team…

Q. (James Allen – ITV) Kimi, I am curious to know – there have
been a few times this year, and it happened again in Turkey, you have
made a mistake in qualifying at a critical moment and as you said the
next day, it has gone on to cost you… What has happened in those
situations?

KR: I just got it wrong, that’s all. The tyres are a bit
tricky when you really push as we were able to last year when they were
good for more than one lap. I think they are more difficult now and if
you push too much you can lose it. We are still looking to find the
ideal set-up for qualifying, but for the race we usually have a very
good car.

Unfortunately, qualifying is very important this year, so if you
don’t get it right it is very difficult to improve your position in the
race. I think we have been looking into it and tried to change it a bit
the way we do the qualifying and hopefully we can improve.

Q. (Ian Parkes – The Press Association) Kimi, what are your
feelings regarding the fresh evidence that has surfaced from the FIA
with regard to the ‘spy case’ that is going to be heard next week?

KR: I don’t know anything about that story. The feeling in
the team is good and of course we would rather be in first place in
both world championships, but there is a good atmosphere and it is a
great team to work with. I don’t think it affects our racing side at
all but of course it is not nice to be asked all the time about it and
it in the news all the time, but that is part of racing. In the team,
we have a good atmosphere and feeling.

Q. (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Giancarlo and Kimi, going back to the
spying thing, have either of you been asked by the FIA for any
information given that you Giancarlo were Fernando’s teammate and you
Kimi were at McLaren?

Giancarlo Fisichella: No.

KR: Absolutely, no.