Canada Press Quotes, Kimi on Retirement

From Autosport.com (Thursday’s Full Press Conference can be read further below)

Kimi Raikkonen has not ruled out retiring from Formula One when his current contract expires at the end of the 2009 season.

The Finn, world champion last year, has one more year of his Ferrari
contract to run but he admits he has not yet decided what he plans to
do next.

"There has been rumours like that many years," Raikkonen, 28, said
of talks about his retirement after 2009. "I always say I have a
contract until the end of next year.

"I haven’t made any decision if I’m going to keep going or not. That
is the last contract I have and we will see what happens this year and
next year."

He added: "I wouldn’t stop if I felt I would miss it afterwards. For
sure I would find something else to do and maybe that I would enjoy
more. I don’t know what is going to happen after next year, I haven’t
made my mind up. Who knows maybe I make my decision this year.

"I think I will race as long as I enjoy it, it is the right thing
for me. It could be in four years’ time. It is too early to say," the
Ferrari driver told a news conference in Montreal ahead of the Canadian
Grand Prix.

Raikkonen admitted there are things in Formula One that he is not
enjoying and said he will taken them into account when deciding on his
future.

"I like the racing and the other stuff is not always the best
thing," he said. "Everyone in F1 is here because they love racing and
driving, but when there are too many things that you don’t enjoy or too
many things you don’t want it is time to go away.

"It can be anything. When you find something you don’t want to do or
don’t enjoy… If there are things like that or don’t work out anymore.
There can be many things apart from racing, then probably it is the
best time to go away."

Phew! He’s spoken quite openly about it, and I would love if he stays for four more years as he said. Apart from the driving, nothing else appeals to Kimi and that’s why he’s so cool outside of the car. F1 needs at least one sane and normal driver. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how long he’ll stay!What do you think about these words from Kimi? Any transparency, or are they clearly a manipulated response to avoid any more media intrusion? Personally, I feel Kimi wants to finish his contract after 2009. So that’s just this and next year left to enjoy as Kimi fans. But he has hinted that he may be extending his contract, if you read the full conference comments below so don’t worry, it isn’t over till it’s over and Kimi won’t leave without putting up a fight. Here’s to a second world championship! Keep flying Kimi ~

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Thursday’s FIA Press Conference
From Autosport.com

Q. Kimi, your thoughts looking back at Monaco, now you’ve had a look at it on TV?

Kimi Raikkonen: I haven’t really looked at it on TV but as I
said before, it’s one of the races that didn’t really work out. I got
no points from there. It’s in the past and hopefully we will have
better results here.

Q. Your record here is very good, you’ve finished every single
race in the points here, even from 20th to sixth in 2003. What are your
feelings about the circuit, is it one you like?

KR: Yeah, I like the place but usually something always goes
wrong or happens, but still we have been able to finish the races and
score points, but hopefully we will have a good weekend and not really
have any mistakes or problems. I would expect that we should have a
good enough speed to try to win here, so we will see what happens.

Q. Is it quite a vital race for you, looking back at the last few?

KR: Not really. Of course we would rather score maximum
points than losing any more points to Lewis but there’s still a long
way to go and we’ve been in much worse positions before. It’s not vital
but for sure we want to have a good result.

Q. (Fabritsio Lazakis – Four Wheels Magazine) Kimi, what do you
think causes the problems heating the tyres? Can Felipe maybe do it
better? What happens in your situation?

KR: There can be many reasons: tyre pressures, many other
things, set-up, the way how you drive. Sometimes you get it working,
sometimes not, especially in some conditions, when you don’t get them
working it’s very difficult and you just try to do the best that you
can and wait until you get things working as you want them to, but it’s
not always easy.

Q. (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Kimi, there have
been some rumours about you saying that you will stop racing at the end
of 2009?

KR: There’s been rumours like that for many years. I always
say that I still have a contract until the end of next year. I haven’t
made any decision as to whether I will keep going or not. So far,
that’s the last contract that I have and we will see during this year
and next year what happens.

Q. (Bob McKenzie – The Daily Express) Kimi, David Coulthard is
37, Michael Schumacher went on to 36; do you not see yourself driving
in that sort of middle thirties time, and would you miss it if you
stopped?

KR: I wouldn’t stop if I thought I would miss it. For sure, I
would have found something else to do, something maybe at that time I’d
enjoy even more. I don’t know what’s going to happen after next year. I
haven’t made up my mind and we will see. Maybe we make the decision
this year or maybe not and then we will look next year, but until then,
I haven’t really made any decisions so far. It’s hard to say. I think
I’m going to race as long as I enjoy it, I think it’s the right thing
for me, and then when the day comes when it’s no longer fun, then for
sure I stop. It can be the end of next year, it can be in four years’
time. It’s too early to say.

Q. (Bob McKenzie – The Daily Express) What will you do?

KR: I don’t know what I will do, something else.

Q. (Daniel Bastien – Radio FM 103.3) What do you see as the biggest trap of Montreal – the wall of
champions, the marbles or something else?

KR: The last three years I think some of the corners on the
circuit have been breaking down and there are stones on the driving
line, so when you end up on that you can almost turn the car. For sure
if that happens again it is going to be very difficult on those areas
and of course the kerbs are not easy. When you hit them wrong you can
easily end up in the wall. I have never been here unlike the other three
drivers. The bridge coming into the paddock looked quite scary, but for
the circuit I don’t know yet.

Q. (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Kimi, due to some
mistakes you have been giving some points to McLaren. Does it worry you
that it might happen in other races and it might allow McLaren to come
back and disturb a championship that could be between you and Felipe?

KR: No, people make mistakes. That is normal in F1 or any
part of life. I think we lose together and we win together and we learn
from the mistakes. Of course, we always try to improve but sometimes
things don’t go as planned and then you usually give up points or have
bad results. But it doesn’t really worry me. If you look at the first
race, we had a really difficult first race and the team was completely
different in the second race, so for sure we can improve and learn from
things, so I don’t see that we should have similar problems again.

Q. (Jon McEvoy – The Daily Mail) Kimi, I was wondering if you
have got some aims? What would you like to do before you retire in
terms of success? Do you want to win back-to-back world championships,
three?

KR: For sure I try to win them but if I don’t win I have won
one and it is not the end of my life. But for sure I am here only for
winning and we are still there, very close to the championship, so
that’s the aim. But, you know, it is not always easy.

Q. (Jon McEvoy – The Daily Mail) Would you go to any other team other than Ferrari?

KR: Probably not.

Q. (Jon McEvoy – The Daily Mail) Definitely not?

KR: I said probably not.

Q. (Jon McEvoy – The Daily Mail) Are you in talks with Ferrari about a new extended deal?

KR: Kind of yes, but like I said there is no decision made yet.

Q. (Bob McKenzie – The Daily Express) Now that the Max Mosley
situation has been resolved, have you guys any views on the fact that
he is staying?

KR: I heard it from you. For me it doesn’t really matter. I
think it is his personal life and really has nothing to do with F1. I
think it was a good decision.