After the disappointment at the Nürburgring Kimi Raikkonen has recharged his batteries and is ready for the challenge at the Hungaroring, where the Hungarian GP, the eleventh round of the Formula 1 season, will be held on Sunday.

"It is always a great pleasure to come to Hungary. Maybe the track is not one of the most fascinating ones, but it is really challenging," says Raikkonen. "And then it's good to know that after this race we'll have a short holiday break. Whatever someone does, it's always nice to have a break. I have already won this race once. It's very hot here and the race is physically demanding: Only if you win you don't suffer at the Hungaroring! I archived the European GP already. I don't want to talk about it anymore: What is for sure is that I will not come to Hungary as someone defeated. Not at all!"

Over the last days Kimi participated in a very special race in Finland: "True, last weekend there was a motorboat meeting at Hanko and me and two friends of mine participated as a team on a boat with a real captain and a real helmsman what a pity that us three were dressed like gorillas we even won the prize for the best costumes! I had lots of fun and I hope that it will be the same during the upcoming weekend in Hungary."

Every now and then one could hear that the Hungaroring does not suit Ferrari, but Kimi does not agree at all: "Everybody says that McLaren has to be stronger than us here; but I don't think that this will be the case. We have taken a big step forward since the race in Monaco and it will be really interesting to see how competitive we are over the weekend.
 

"The Hungaroring is very slow and winding; so the two most important things here are the right angle entry into the corners and the traction: if these two things work out, then you have good cards in your hand. Obviously it is very important to stay ahead in qualifying and if possible also stay clear of the dirty side of the track. Looking at the races of this season one can see easily that starting on the clean side of the track is very important at the start. Beyond that, on this track here it's really difficult to overtake, which makes the qualifying even more important."

Kimi's aim for Budapest is very clear: "Finishing ahead of all the other three drivers who compete for the title: that's the only way for me to make up ground! I'm more or less in the same situation as I was at the Nürburgring, but it's clear that I can't allow myself another race without points. I still believe that it's possible for me to win the title: just look at the last race and you can see that everything can happen. A bad race for my competitors is enough to immediately reduce the gap. Very often the race here in Hungary has been nicknamed the Finnish GP. Many of my fellow Finns fill the grandstands here at the Hungaroring and it is really nice to see so many white flags with the blue cross in the wind: and this time we will see them together with the red flags of Ferrari. I think this is the closest I can get as a home GP, if Bernie does not have any more surprises!"