Press Conference, Hungary – Kimi: “I got stuck at the airport”

Read the full conference from Autosport.com

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Q: (MC) We’ve been joined by Kimi. I guess it’s been a bit of a race to get here?

Kimi Raikkonen: Yeah, I got stuck at the airport in Switzerland for a couple of hours.

Q: In testing, do you think you’ve found the reasons for your lack of performance in the last couple of races?

KR: It’s difficult to say, really. In Germany we definitely didn’t
have the speed that we were hoping for but then there were many other
people who didn’t either. We will see this weekend. You can always
think that from the testing that we found something… or at least we
should understand better what our position is but racing is a different
place and hopefully we will do better here.

Q: What about your own motivation? Does that remain the same?

KR: Yeah, it hasn’t disappeared anywhere but of course it’s not nice
when it’s not going so well but it’s not the first time. We just keep
pushing and at some point it starts going better again.

Q: People are talking about you retiring, not necessarily at the
end of this year but at the end of next year. Are there any thoughts on
that?

KR: I never said anything like that. I only said that I have a
contract until the end of next year and then somebody made up that I
will stop at the end of this year or the end of next year, but I never
said that.

Q: Are you still enjoying Formula One?

KR: Yeah, but like I said, there are a lot of other things in life
but I’m enjoying this. I have a great time, I have a great time with
them. Of course it would be better if we could do a little bit better
right now but that’s racing and for sure we will get where we want.

Q: (Fréderic Ferret – L’Equipe) Have you tested the sharkfin
engine cover? And how is it with your driving style and the performance
of the car?

KR: I didn’t test it. I think we will probably run it tomorrow and
see how it is but I think Felipe tried it on the last day of the test.
We will see how it works tomorrow.

Q: (Juha Päätalo – Financial Times Deutschland) Kimi, can you
describe how much of the time at Jerez you could use for finding the
reasons for the lack of performance in the last races?

KR: The whole test, that’s why we went there. We tried to more or
less understand if we have done something wrong, taken a wrong
direction. We tried many, many things and we at least know where we had
a problem, or if we had a problem or not. I think we have a clearer
picture than before.

Q: (Dan Knutson – National Speed Sport News) Kimi, when you set
up a car for a race, how much do you look at Felipe Massa’s settings or
do you pretty much go 100 percent your own way?

KR: Of course you always look at your team-mate, and then in the end
you need to do what you think is the best way and what is best for you.
Sometimes they can be very close, sometimes they are more far away from
each other and I would say that this year they would probably be closer
than they were last year but it really depends from race to race and it
keeps changing.

Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Kimi, it wasn’t really hot in
Hockenheim but it’s quite hot here. Do you think it will help Ferrari
to use its tyres more efficiently?

KR: Usually when it’s been hot it’s been good for us but the last
few races have been quite up and down for us. Hopefully it helps us but
then I might be wrong. We need to wait until tomorrow.

Q: (Bryron Young – The Daily Mirror) Kimi, do the last two results make Lewis the championship favourite now?

KR: For sure they’ve been very fast in the last races and we haven’t
really been exactly doing so well. There are many races to go, but he
has a little gap over us, so it’s not easy to catch up, especially if
we don’t start winning, it will be pretty difficult. Hopefully we can
catch up.

I think this is the third time Kimi has been late for a press conference, the ironic thing is that he’s a full-on and passionate Tag Heuer ambassador! He’s been asked about about his future in F1, and it’s good that he made it clear that he never implied retiring earlier than when his current contract finishes. Now, please stop making things up and let’s never mention it again!

This weekend looks set for hot weather and Kimi usually does well at the Hungaroring (who could forget that qualifying lap in 2005 and then he went on to win the race) but it’s clear that the McLaren suits these tight and twisty circuits better. Are Ferrari really in a slump or have they regained focus? Tomorrow will be day 1 of the final push before the summer break so they have no choice but to give it their best shot. Good luck Kimi!