Fourth time’s the charm.They say the third time’s the charm, but I hope in our case it’s the fourth time to bring the result. I have finished third in three successive times in Bahrain. Time and time again something has gone wrong. Sahkir is one of those circuits where I really want to win, finally.
We should have enough speed to fight for the top place at Bahrain. I have a good touch with that circuit and Ferrari has traditionally been very strong there. It is not easy to find the best set-up in the tricky track but at least we had a very encouraging test down there in February.
I really like the Sahkir circuit, because it differs from the others. While going there, you feel like playing in the sandbox. And it really feels like a gigantic sandbox! Where you go, you just see sand. And you feel it too – in your hair.
I’ve had some good races in Bahrain, but no win so far. The testing went very well in February this year and I’m looking forward to racing in Bahrain again and challenge for the win.
Obviously, we can improve from last year. I was not satisfied with the balance then. Now it should be better.
I’ve had a very good feeling since winning in Malaysia. It does feel good to carry on with the season – with our car we feel we can expect to win in every circuit.
I have been training at home, and I also have kept up my motocross skills in the great indoor track in Tallinn (Estonia). Now we are on our way to Bahrain to do our very best, in what’s the third Grand Prix of the season. If everything goes our way, it wil be a good result again. However, it is useless to promise anything beforehand. This is motor racing and what ever can happen.
It is very early season still. Nobody knows exactly how the other cars are. Our test in February shouldn’t delude us, but of course now the weather is different and our car is different too.
We had improved our car after the Bahrain test, so it should really be better there. But the competitors are not far behind. All the teams know this place, that’s for sure.Nevermind the championship – it’s much too early to make any kind of conclusions of who is who. We have to wait some races to get a bigger picture of who are the main contenders for the title.
It’s going to be as tight as it was last year. That is for sure. Now it’s a battle between three teams instead of two – Ferrari and McLaren have won the first two races, but let’s not forget that BMW has had two second places.
So any slip up by Ferrari and McLaren and they will be there to pick up the points. This time you really have to fight for every point you can get.
Wow, sand in your hair Kimi? Photos please!!! Haha! The desert race track is certainly unique in the F1 calendar and no wonder Kimi wants to win there so badly this time. He’s had a good Sahkir track record – apart from it’s debut in 2004 with a disastrous early retirement on lap 7, with the McLaren MP4/19 (who can forget that engine blow up? It was a firework display!). Reliability is key especially on hot tracks and Kimi will be racing with his Malaysia engine to finish the 2 race cycle rule.
Massa took a revengeful victory here last year, when he failed miserably from pole position at Malaysia. So he’ll be extra determined to do the same again this time and seems to have full support from the team and Luca Di Montezemolo. You also have support from us, Felipe! We can’t forget his team player role at Brazil last year.
In Malaysia Kimi was still considerably fast after ‘taking it easy’ straight after the first pit stop, and he pulled away from Massa. So can we expect another win from Kimi? It’s going to be tough, as the McLarens’ and BMW (except Kubica) will use new engines this weekend.
Whatever happens, keep flying Kimi!
New Aero for Ferrari in Bahrain
From Crash.net
Ferrari technical director Aldo Costa has confirmed that Kimi Raikkonen
and Felipe Massa will both benefit from some new parts this coming
weekend at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
The Maranello-based outfit has not been resting on its laurels
since Kimi’s victory at Sepang and last Saturday, tester Marc Gene
conducted a brief test at Vairano and evaluated the aerodynamic
updates.
Speaking ahead of this weekend’s event, the third round in the 2008
FIA F1 World Championship, Costa added that they will be introducing
new bits for the F2008 at every event this season, in a bid to ensure
they retain both the drivers’ and manufacturers’ crowns.
"The plan for this year is that we should have continuous updates
throughout the season," he confirmed. "We aim to improve the package
step by step with changes coming for almost every race and in Bahrain
we will run some new aero parts.
"We will continue to keep a close eye on reliability too,
especially on the engine side and on this front, at the moment, we will
probably run Massa with the same engine he used in Malaysia two weeks
ago, even though we could change it, as he failed to finish that race."
As for how the Prancing Horse will fare in
Bahrain, the Scuderia was one of only two squads to test at the Sakhir
Circuit back in February – along with Toyota – and while that should
give Raikkonen and Massa some advantage, Costa believes it won’t last
long.
"In a sport as competitive as Formula 1, any advantage we might
have from our winter trip to the Gulf will probably have evaporated by
the end of Friday’s free practice, by which time the other teams will
be on the pace, having been here in past years," he explained.
"It’s not even as though the Scuderia can derive any tyre advantage
either as the winter test was all conducted on just one hard type of
Bridgestone."
Bridgestone will supply the medium and soft compounds for this
event, a change to last year when the company opted for the hard and
medium options.
FUCK ISRAEL 
Good luck Kimi and Forza Ferrari. 🙂
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