Montezemolo: Kimi Will Come Good

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo defended the team’s decision
to extend Kimi Raikkonen’s contract and says the reigning world
champion will come good again.

The Finn has come under criticism for a string of below par
performances this season, and three races without a point mean he is
now 21 points adrift of championship leader Lewis Hamilton and will
have to play a supporting role to teammate Felipe Massa where possible
in the final four races.

But di Montezemolo believes that despite his poor run of form, Raikkonen will come good again.

"I know some disagreed when we lengthened his contract, but we are
talking about the world champion, who won the title in his first year
at Ferrari," he told Italian newspaper Gazetta dello Sport.

"Kimi is like those great forwards in football who can’t score for a
while but, since they’re good, sooner or later they find their way to
the goal again, which is good for them and their teams."

The marque boss admitted that the team’s pace in the wet has become
an issue and that they were thankful that one day of last week’s test
at Mugello was run in the wet.

"The tests were very positive and one day was in the rain," he
added. "We needed it a lot because we have a car that in similar
circumstances struggles a lot to bring the tyres up to temperature."

Di Montezemolo also said that he doesn’t need to give any advice to
Massa for the remainder of the championship battle, or to Raikkonen
about his role in the remaining races.

"Felipe doesn’t need any, he’s always done his job," said di
Montezemolo. "He’s very quick and he works in perfect harmony with the
team. I appreciate his ability not to take risks in order to bring the
car to the finish.

"Felipe and Kimi know well what they have to do because both of them
race for Ferrari. The rules have always been clear, we all work for the
team."

The Italian is confident Ferrari can win both championships this
year, but is not looking forward to the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix
next weekend.

"I have great confidence, obviously," he said. "For the 11th
consecutive year, Ferrari are fighting for the title. We’ve had
Williams, McLaren, and Renault coming and going, but we have always
been there.

"The drivers are concentrating on what needs to be improved and on
the next grand prix in Singapore. But I have the impression that it’s
another track where you can’t overtake, Valencia-style.

"To go on with these circuits spells an ugly future for Formula One."

Kimi is a good guy and we know he never criticises his own team for anything. If there’s been a problem, it’s been ‘our’ problem. As a team, Ferrari have and will look after him. There’s 4 races to go, beginning with the night race in Singapore this weekend, and my heart tells me Kimi will have yet a big part to play, for good or worse. The point is, he’ll be working very hard anyway and Montezemolo’s words only confirm this. Meanwhile, McLaren’s appeal for Lewis Hamilton’s penalty at Belgium takes place today. I wouldn’t pay much attention to it, seeing as it wouldn’t make a difference to how we all saw the race in Belgium. Keep the faith and keep flying Kimi! ~