Ferrari will
complete a third day of testing at Monza today, wrapping up a
programme which has comprised of finding the best set-up for
the F2007 on this circuit and on development of new
aerodynamic and mechanical solutions for the forthcoming
Italian Grand Prix, that takes place at this track on 9th
September.
Before Kimi
Raikkonen got on board his F2007 for the test he confided to
his own website and to that of his team his thoughts about
the race at Istanbul. "First of all the positive things. I
went to Turkey hoping that I could reduce the gap to the
leader and that is what happened," Kimi said. "Honestly, I
thought reducing the gap by four points would have been
possible if everything had gone perfectly well. But that
wasn't the case, in one way or the other the gap came down
by four points. That was the best thing at the weekend.
After every race I get asked how the championships will
proceed and my answer is always the same: we have to wait
until the last race in Brazil to be able to say for sure,
because anything can happen. Istanbul was a fine example:
Hamilton was doing well and racing for high points but then
unexpectedly he had a tire failure; nevertheless he
collected some points, but not as many as he had hoped for.
He will certainly give his best until then end, but that is
what we will also do.
"You can't take anything for granted and we have to push to
the maximum race after race. Since the qualifying I knew
that the race was to be like that. If on Saturday all would
have gone well, I could have caught the pole. But after I
had been beaten by my team mate I knew that my cards had
already been played. When you know when your team mate is
going to pit, there is hardly anything to do, above all if
you are the one who has to stop before him. Today's Formula
One is like that: Whoever is ahead rules, especially when
you have the same strategy. With these cars it is
practically impossible to stay behind another car and
looking for an opportunity to overtake.
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Winning football
coach Fabio Capello (with Luigi Mazzola) was an
interested visitor to the Ferrari pit garage during
the Monza testing this week. |
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"Monza is waiting for us; there we have to push to
the maximum, as ever," says Kimi Raikkonen (above,
during the Monza test this week). "I think that
Ferrari will also have a very competitive car there,
for the home race." |
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There is too much turbulence and every time you get close
you can feel a heavy understeering. To be able to overtake
you have to be a second faster than the car ahead of you or
you need profit from an error by the driver. I got really
close to Felipe just once, but we were at the end of the
second stint.
"My car was really, really good: I could have gone much
faster than I was. The most important thing was that the
team gained as many points as possible, so there was no
point in taking unnecessary risks. Anyway, we have reduced
the gap: that is what we wanted, but just like in Budapest
my race was quite boring. Thinking about what could have
been done in a different way doesn't change anything. I made
a mistake in my last attempt in Q3 and I paid the
consequences. I hope that next time we will have a perfect
weekend."
Raikkonen also gave an outlook for the immediate future:
"Monza is waiting for us," he says, "there we have to push
to the maximum, as ever. I think that Ferrari will also have
a very competitive car there, for the home race. For me it
will be the first time in Monza as a Ferrarista: I have to
say that I really feel the difference to the past, I'd also
like to say that I've always had a very good relationship
with the Italian fans. It would be nice winning and
celebrating together! It will be tough. I know from
experience that McLaren is very strong there. It wasn't by
chance that they won the pole here last year. Having said
that, let's go to Monza and win."
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