Fuji Preview Interview with Kimi

Q & A with Kimi Raikkonen
     
Has Kimi forgotten his hat and sunglasses? He isn’t wearing them for a change!

Q. Do you think that Ferrari has arrived with a number one at the team too late?

Kimi Raikkonen: I don’t think we have number one and number two. We are racing. It is not why we are in this position.

Q. Last year you were in McLaren and you had a lot of problems
with reliability. This year you are at Ferrari and you have these
problems. Any regrets?

KR: No!

Q. Is the atmosphere at Ferrari better than it is at McLaren?

KR: The atmosphere here is very good. I cannot say what it is
like at McLaren, because I don’t know. I am happy with how things are
going here. We had some little issues with the reliability, but that is
part of racing unfortunately and it has cost us too many points. But we
still have a little chance and we try to use it.

Q. You are 13 points behind now. How would you rate your chances now, especially when you see the last three tracks?

KR: This one is still a question mark, and tomorrow we know
more. We still have a chance. We know it is going to be very difficult,
but you never know when there can be issues with other cars, and maybe
a surprise. But we try to do the best that we can and then just see
where we end up. There is nothing else we can do.

Q. How did you learn this track?

KR: I went around just five minutes ago, two laps. It is a nice circuit.

Q. At races this year it seems that either McLaren or Ferrari
have had a big advantage over the other team. At Spa, and in a
situation where you are ahead, does it actually feel quite easy?

KR: I don’t know what you mean by easy, because it is never
going to be easy. For sure you would rather be in front, but it is
always tricky.

Q. But you looked like you had quite a bit in reserve in Spa?

KR: I had enough, so I think after the first pit stop it
wasn’t too difficult. I knew what I needed to stay ahead (of Felipe)
and that made it easier.

Q. When you look back on your career, did you find it easier to hunt somebody or be hunted down?

KR: I haven’t been often in the position to be hunted, so I
don’t think that it makes much difference to me. Unfortunately we
always seem to be in a position where we need to catch up, and
hopefully we can turn it around.

Q. Do you expect Felipe to play a supporting role to you this weekend?

KR: I don’t know anything about it; you need to ask the team. I expect to be in the same position as before.

Q. Is it realistic to have Ferrari win the next two races, like in Spa with a 1-2?

KR: I don’t know. I know as much as you guys. We try, for
sure, to win every race. But it is going to be very tricky, and we just
need to see what happens.

Q. In France you were allowed to use your strategy to beat
Felipe, which surprised him a bit. Would you be surprised if that was
allowed to happen the other way around in the final three races?

KR: It was done in qualifying already, so it wasn’t like it
happened in the middle of the race. It was already in the first pit
stop and the second pit stop, so everybody knew in our team that I had
a bit more fuel. It is a normal thing. Either one of us can choose when
we want to stop. If it happens, it happens. It was a similar situation
in the last race, but it didn’t work out for him.

Q. After what happened in Spa between Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, do you think this close fight can be helpful for you?

KR: I don’t know really. It is nothing to do with us. I saw
what happened between them, but nothing really happened. It was just a
racing thing, and they both came out with pretty much the same speed.
Maybe it will happen…

Q. If at some point in the future, maybe the distant future, that
you were told that your teammate was going to be Fernando Alonso. What
would your reaction be?

KR: It wouldn’t change anything for me. I don’t expect it to
happen, anyhow. I have never been in a position to say who I want my
teammate to be. I don’t really care too much who it is. It really
doesn’t make my life any different.

Q. Would you enjoy the chance to beat him?

KR: It would be nice, for sure. But like I said, I don’t know. It is more talk than anything else.

Q. Looking at Fernando, he is fighting against you, he is
fighting against Lewis and he is fighting against the team. Are you
surprised how well he is handling the situation psychologically?

KR: It is nothing to do with me. I don’t have any interest to
answer questions about him. It is nothing against him, but I am not
here for that reason.

Q. The weather could be tricky here. How would you like the rain?

KR: For sure it could be tricky here because it is a mountain
but it is the same for everyone in the end. It would be nice to be
either wet or dry. When it is the middle conditions it is always a bit
more of a question mark, and more luck is involved.

Q. You get a lot of pleasure out of racing…

KR: Yeah, I wouldn’t do it otherwise.

Q. So how do you rank this year?

KR: I think it has been good. Of course with a new team it is
always a bit different from a team you have raced with before for many
years. So I enjoy the racing, and it has been easier anyhow. It has
been a good year. Okay, the results could have been a little bit better
but there are different reasons for it. Otherwise for racing, and
working with the team, it has been very good.

---

Massa ready to play supporting role

Felipe Massa says he is ready to play a supporting role to Kimi
Raikkonen in the drivers’ championship if he is required to this
weekend.

Although Massa still has a mathematical chance of winning the crown,
his 20 points deficit to Lewis Hamilton with three races to go is
realistically too big a margin to overhaul.

But although he insists that he has no official orders to act as
Raikkonen’s number two from now on, Massa has said he will not hesitate
to help the team if needed.

"I work for the team," said Massa at the Fuji circuit on Thursday.
"If I don’t have a chance, then for sure I will help the team.

"The team are very fair with me. We had a very good championship,
they were very fair in terms of how we worked inside the team, and I
don’t have any problems to help the team in whatever championship if I
have no chance.

"That is pretty clear. I am going to do the best I can to do what is best for the team."

Massa is well aware that his title charge was dented by poor
reliability this season, having seen several points scoring
opportunities slip through his fingers because of technical troubles.

"I won three races and I was very close to winning other races, so I
am happy with this season," he said. "But I am not happy with the
problems we had this season. There were, for sure, too many problems.

"To win the championship you need to have everything perfect. This
year our reliability was not perfect but I am satisfied with the
season."

But Massa has made it clear that he will not waste any time
wondering how different his campaign would have been if his reliability
had been better.

"It doesn’t change anything to say that now or to start thinking
like that now," he said when asked about how the championship could
have been his in Brazil.

"I am not the sort of guy who says, if this happens, or that happens
it would have been different. If it is not possible this year then we
try again next year, so what more can I say?"