News From The Finnish Mark

Ferrari delighted of Kimi’s honest attitude

From MTV3.fi | Translation by Jian

The F1 season ended last weekend, but the drivers’ work with the media
and the sponsors continues. Ferrari’s spokesman Luca Colojanni is happy
with the job Kimi Raikkonen is doing outside the races.

"Kimi is a true professional. He always follows the schedules given by the media and the sponsors," Colojanni said to MTV3.

Especially in Italy people are often baffled by Kimi’s way with words as he doesn’t speak too much.

"It’s true that he’s not the most talkative person in the world. There
are also good sides in it. When he has something to say, he really says
it and won’t start playing with the words. I like working with Kimi.
He’s a nice guy," Colojanni stated.

Through the already ended 2008 season the Italian press
occasionally critisised Raikkonen’s performances with some harsh words.
This hasn’t surprised the Ferrari team.

"This season was tough for him and critisism did increase. We knew to
expect it as this is how it’s always been," Colojanni expressed.

Before leaving Ferrari’s spokesman yet again gave praise to Kimi’s faithful and honest attitude.

"The picture you get from Kimi is real. He’s not showing off. He’s
not putting on any special role for the media or when he’s being
friendly to people. Even if he was in bad mood he behaves
professionally. There’s nothing to improve," Colojanni convinced.


Kimi
isn’t appreciated by the media, especially the British, so these
few articles from the Finnish media are a treat for us. Colajanni in the picture above was slightely bemused at Kimi’s cheekiness at the reporters, when he was asked about ‘the pass’ between him and Massa at China. But generally, Ferrari’s pressman is rather fond of the Raikko! Good news.

Kimi and Massa given equal chances again

From TurunSanomat.fi | Translation by Jian

Kimi Raikkonen is getting ready to face the new challenges.

"I believe next year slick tyres will be the key factor in the title
hunt. At the moment though, we can only try them with the old car. We
have to wait until January for the new car before we know how much
better the slicks will handle," Raikkonen spelucated on Sunday at
Mugello.

"I’m sure the new car next year will suite better my driving
style. The cars designed under the new regulations should also make
races more interesting and we should see more overtaking."

Felipe Massa is also happy to see the grippy slicks return to F1.

"Slick tyres is definitely the best rule change for the next season.
The new tyres improve grip significantly and it’ll be easier to try to
overtake."

Raikkonen was playing a supporting role to Massa for the last two
races, but the Brazilian knows that at the beginning of the next season
he’ll be on his own again.

"Kimi and I will be treated equally again next year in Melbourne. That’s the right way to do it."

"The season start wasn’t too easy for me. We were unlucky in
Australia, and in Malaysia I made a mistake. But surely that wasn’t the
end of the world. I knew we had a magnificent car, very strong team,
and that we were working well together with Kimi."

"Last year I didn’t have the opportunity to fight for the title at
the end of the season, but this year I had. The way the season ended
was very exciting and I had no chance but to accept that even after
winning a race you might lose it," Massa philosophised.


Also good news. I think we all mentioned in our 2008 summaries last month that Kimi having a level head with Massa at the start of the season was a bad move from Ferrari. He won the title in his first year with the team, after all. There should have been some more focus on the Finn, especially since the development process went completely down the wrong side of the road for Kimi. However, having equal treatment and competition between your teammate is the best part of racing. Because you know when you beat them, you did it fair and square. I’m sure Kimi doesn’t mind this, he always made it clear that he doesn’t care who his teammate is as long as everything’s equal – and it proves the fact that he never glorified himself as ‘the champion’ and didn’t claim himself to be treated any differently afterwards. That’s being humble, and we’re proud of him. I won’t bear no grudges against Ferrari for going with the same approach next year. They seem to hold the ‘team’ passion closer to their heart more than anything else. But go and kick Massa’s butt next year Kimi!

Raikkonen admits he didn’t give his best

From MTV3.fi | Translation by Jian

The F1 season of Kimi Raikkonen ended up in a disappointment as the
2007 world champion finished only third in the final standings.

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton grabbed the title with a minimal margin before
Raikkonen’s team mate Felipe Massa. Raikkonen admits it was difficult
to keep up the motivation in the closing stages of the season as he
couldn’t drive flat out. Team mate Massa was fighting for the title all
the way up to the season finale.

"You know it yourself when you’re driving for third place and
basically unable to do anything, so you won’t even drive the whole race
with the same pace as you would normally," Raikkonen admits to MTV3.

"Of course if you’re fighting for a position, you’ll try as long
as you can, like I did in Brazil. And if you’re not actually allowed to
overtake anyone and such, that’s not too interesting," Raikkonen
continues.

Raikkonen wants gradually to forget the 2008 season. He’s
confindent about the future and believes that the Italian squad will
get their car into a better shape for the next season.

"Surely, it’s not the same when you’re in a good position for the
championship and actually driving for it. I’m quite sure we’ll get a
strong season next year. Let’s try and improve," Raikkonen says.

Ahhhh, that picture said it all. The first night race at Singapore was another nightmare realisation for Kimi – the title’s gone. But he continued doing his job graciously, and his motivation may not have been up to his usual standards however it was more than what most drivers could have shown. But it wasn’t the worst year of his life, Kimi has said before, and he’s right. He’ll keep flying…