Kimi’s 2007 Season in Quotes – Part II

So, despite taking his maiden Ferrari victory in domination at the season opener in Australia, Kimi was left with a barrage of criticisms. With his results reaching no higher than third, he also took first DNF of the season at Spain. Kimi was behind his rivals and lingered fourth in the driver’s championship. Now we pick up onto the next races where things got even more tough for him, but there was some fortune:

Monaco GP: 8th

The Iceman – "We knew we were facing an uphill battle (starting from 16th) and that’s how things turned out. I got a good start, quickly moving up to twelfth, but from then on I was nearly always in traffic, never getting any chance to overtake. I never had a clear track ahead of me and it was only thanks to the strategy that I was able to make up some more places and get into the points, but I couldn’t do any better…There is still a long way to go in the championship and I am not the sort to give up."

The Ice Burns, Kimi – "The car was perfectly set up since the beginning of the weekend…I felt that maybe for the first time this year I could have given the max with the F2007."

Bernie Ecclestone – "I’ve only known one driver, an extremely good one, always in the right spot at the wrong time: Stirling Moss."

Fernando Alonso – "Being fifteen points behind he’s entering a risk zone. The next mistake will leave him out (of the championship fight). He’s still in the battle, but he’s risking losing touch."

Die Welt (German Newspaper) – The Finn appears "paralysed" every time the retired multiple world champion and team ‘advisor’ Michael Schumacher strolls into the garage wearing a red uniform. La Gazzetta dello Sport headlined its own story about the same issue by wondering if Kimi can be diagnosed with ‘Schumi Syndrome’.

Alain Prost (former Ferrari world champion) – "Kimi is still not completely integrated within the team"

Mika Hakkinen (former McLaren world champion) – "It is possible that Kimi has not measured the risks (of joining Ferrari) too well because it looks like being a difficult year for him. In this game there are many excellent drivers, so Kimi cannot rely exclusively on his talent."

Ron Dennis (McLaren) – "Kimi is a friend, and I’ve seen him struggle with his problems…But the past is the past, the future is the future, and now is now. The reality is I don’t spend any time thinking about it, other than seeing a friend in pain gives me no pleasure at all."

Canada GP: 5th

The Iceman – "It was a very difficult race for me, right from the beginning. I did not have much grip at the start, being on the dirty side of the track and immediately after, I hit Felipe’s car with my front wing. Then, there were so many safety car periods that it caused chaos. On top of that, after Kubica’s accident, a piece of debris got stuck in my front wing and I had so much understeer and some difficulties with the brakes. All these problems put together made this a really complicated race. At the end of the day, I picked up some points: it could have been better but it could also have been worse."

The Ice Burns, Kimi  – "There is no point going into the details (about the problems). It is not going to change anything here. We have still not found the car exactly the way we want it to go, but it is definitely getting there."

United States GP: 4th

The Iceman – "The car had a very quick race pace (and also taking the fastest lap) but I paid a high price for the positions lost at the start…In the final stages I closed on Felipe but there was never a really clear opportunity to overtake him and we were both thinking about the next race where we use the same engine. We must improve, especially in qualifying, because our target has to be to try and win."

The Ice Burns, Q&A with Stefano Domenicali (Ferrari)  – Q. Kimi was the only driver to start on hard tyres because he didn’t have any soft ones. Do you think that was the critical point in this race?

Stefano Domenicali – "We, because of the situation yesterday, we had to use an extra set of soft for qualifying, and so the question we were discussing this morning at that stage was it better to have a set of new hard tyres or used soft in that condition, considering all the things have to be considered. And our conclusion was that was the best choice and of course, we cannot say that Kimi didn’t have a good start because of all these things."

Ross Brawn (Ferrari’s ex-technical director) – "We saw in the US Grand Prix, Kimi’s (Raikkonen) race times were very good. But he made a bad start and was not so good in qualifying, and that’s what makes the difference between winning and losing"

The Snowflakes, Kimi – "Later in the race I was able to push. The car was well balanced enabling me to get the fastest lap en-route."

Stefano Domenicali – "The stint that he did was very very impressive and looking positive it’s a very good sign for the future…It’s not a very positive weekend globally here in North America, but for sure the race that Kimi did is something that can be considered as a positive of Indianapolis."

Luca Di Montezemolo (Ferrari president) – "We are waiting for the real Raikkonen, the one that everyone fears. Kimi has always been in the fight, and now we are waiting for him to go back to being the one everyone fears – and we are convinced that he will do it."

France GP: 1st

The Iceman – "The work starts paying off now. It took maybe longer than we expected, but in the end it is good that we are back in the right place now. It is nice. I think we had a bit of a hard time but I kind of expected to have difficult times. People always think that you have lost it when you don’t have good results but we jut worked hard and tried to get it right and I think we can still improve. We are still not where we want to be but we are definitely much happier with the car since the last test, and in the last races."

The Ice Burns, Felipe Massa (teammate) – "Everything worked perfectly that afternoon, except that at the key moment in the race I was not very lucky and last Sunday Kimi had all the lucky points in his hands. In qualifying Kimi gained an extra lap being the first man out, then at the start of the race he was lucky to pass (Lewis) Hamilton and then he was lucky I got stuck in traffic."

The Snowflakes, Kimi – "I have had no doubts that I could have lost my skill of driving. There has never been even the slightest doubt of my motivation or of my confidence. It was just a question of getting everything right with the whole package. It was a real good car already at the Indy race, but it did not work out exactly right. Magny Cours just proved that our feeling was right. Now we have the car to fight for the victories."

Chris Dyer (Kimi’s race engineer) – "To be honest, I don’t think we’ve ever had any problems with Kimi fitting into the team and the way we’ve worked with Kimi or the way Kimi’s worked with us. It’s not something we had a problem with and we had to improve. I just think it’s part of the natural process of a driver coming to a team and settling into that team, and the team settling into the driver.  There’s been a lot of pressure especially on Kimi, I think, about the fact that we weren’t winning, so yeah, it’s more satisfying to win here than it was in Melbourne and I hope we can continue with a few more before the end of the year."

Italian press praise Kimi – Corriere dello Sport said the famous outfit from Maranello "awoke from its slumber" and say Finland’s Raikkonen "drove like Schumi". Tuttosport agreed: "Raikkonen is back, and with the double (one two) victory a crisis is over." La Gazzetta dello Sport added: "Raikkonen did not have a simple task to take Schumacher’s place. But in Magny Cours he proved again that he also has the talent of the German." La Repubblica said – "The difficult phase for him is over. He struck a large blow at his critics and can now go on to prove that he is a worthy successor for Schumi."

Matt Bishop (F1Racing magazine editor) – "Kimi Raikkonen’s rivals made a point of appearing unconcerned about the Finn’s return to form in France last weekend. That merely proves just how nervous they really are. He’s happy to have won again – of course he is – but his win hasn’t altered his mindset. It hasn’t cheered him up – because he didn’t need cheering up. But what it has done, and no mistake, is put the wind up Ron, and up Fernando, and up Lewis, and, yes, up Felipe, too. Kimi is back, and it’s good to see…"

Britain GP: 1st

The Iceman – "It was a great race for me. After my mistake in qualifying yesterday I was very disappointed, but today I was able to make up for it. I had to stay in touch through the whole race and then push at the decisive moment. I am very happy. We have made up ground in the Drivers’ championship and there is plenty of the season still to go. We must continue to push on the development of the car and we are working in the right direction."

The Ice Burns, Kimi – "In F1 you go from hero to zero very quickly. That is the nature of the sport. I just get on with my job and do the best I can."

Bild-Zuitung (German newspaper) – Raikkonen only ever wins "if Schumi is not there. Is Schumi’s shadow too large? Does Kimi feel restrained in his presence?"

The Snowflakes, Stefano Domenicali – "Everyone can see he has made a step forward in performance."

Luca Di Montezemolo – "I was pleased to admire Raikkonen’s nice laps: those five spotless laps were up there with the best from (Michael) Schumacher."

Keith Collantine at F1Fanatic.co.uk, Raikkonen’s Biggest Fan: Evenstar (appeared on television twice with her Kimi flag) – "I’m sure there’s plenty of competition for the title of Kimi Raikkonen’s No. 1 fan – but I think I’ve found a strong candidate."