It was certainly
not a happy Kimi Raikkonen, the one who left Montreal after
the Canadian GP, which was, on the whole, a disappointing
race for him and for the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro. "Once
again it was a very difficult race for us. We did not get
the result we expected, due to all the problems we
experienced; you could almost say that in the end finishing
fifth was not that bad," commented Kimi. "It could have gone
much, much worse out there! The whole weekend was really
difficult. We did not have a competitive package as we hoped
for; we try as hard as ever to improve it for Indianapolis:
for sure we will give it all
"The race was very hectic with all the safety car periods.
At the start I touched the rear wing of Felipe's car and the
handling of my car was never 100%. After Kubica's accident,
debris from his BMW got stuck in my front wing and I lost a
lot of aerodynamic downforce and the car was really
difficult to drive through the corners. Then I practically
lost my breaks, that at a certain point I even lost one
position to Sato. In the final phase of the race it was
pretty difficult, not knowing when the brakes were working
and when not. So in the end it was important that we got
some points. While also Fernando and Felipe had some
problems, I managed to reduce the gap to them. Sure, now I'm
21 points behind Hamilton, but I'm certain that there will
be difficult moments even for him." Kimi knows that this is
not an easy situation for him: "The last three races have
not been what I expected. We do our best to get back to the
level of the first three races.
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It's difficult to say what we expect from IMS," says
Kimi Raikkonen (above centre at Monte Carlo with
Michael Schumacher, right). "I enjoy the circuit and
it has always been a good circuit for Ferrari." |
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"The last three races have not been what I
expected," said Kimi Raikkonen (above, during the
Monaco Grand Prix). after last weekend's
disappointing Canadian Grand Prix "We do our best to
get back to the level of the first three races. |
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"I really want to win, because that would help us a lot." In
the afternoon the Finnish driver arrived in Indianapolis: "I
was in Montreal for a couple of days and played some ice
hockey. The best thing in Canada for me over the weekend was
the meeting with the kids at Coronation School arranged by
Bridgestone: It was really nice answering all their
questions and I really enjoyed talking to them. It was much
less enjoyable talking to the journalists after the race.
It's difficult to say what we expect from IMS. I enjoy the
circuit and it has always been a good circuit for Ferrari.
There is a very long straight, where you need to have a good
speed, but at the same moment the infield section is very
tight and there are some corners you have to take with the
smallest gears. Fortunately you are able to overtake at the
end of the straight."
Kimi's last thought was about his colleague Robert Kubica:
"We were really delighted to see that he was not injured.
This shows the high safety standards of a modern Formula One
car. I really hope he can race in Indy."
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