30.05.2008 KIMI RAIKKONEN: "we have to go to Montreal and pay back"

KIMI RAIKKONEN - FERRARI F2008
KIMI RAIKKONEN - FERRARI F2008

"Although I didn't collect any points in the last race, thus loosing the lead in the Championships, it's not the end of the world," says Kimi Raikkonen, "last year I was in a much poorer situation; now we have to go to Montreal and pay back."

"Sometimes things go well and sometimes they don't," says Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen. "But what happened to us at Monaco was something no one could have foreseen. I left Monaco empty handed. Everything that could go wrong did. But I never look back, because you can't change things of the past. Now we can only analyse the causes, which produced this outcome and we have to try, as far as we can, that these things never happen again. I'm really sorry for what happened with Sutil and I told him I was sorry. These are things that just happen in racing.

"We had a strong car for this track; a car that was much better than the one we had last year. We gained the first row in Qualifying, which was a great result for the Team. We hoped that it would rain and that is what happened, but then everything went wrong, even before the start.

"We had a problem with the right rear wheel before the start and we went over the 3-minute-limit, which triggered the penalty. After that the race it was a bit like a ride. I never had the right grip and the car was extremely nervous. Being behind the cars I could hardly see anything and the aim was to get as many points as possible. The fifths place would have been still acceptable, but then there was the accident with Sutil. On every other track I could have avoided the Force India car, but not at Monaco. After the safety car phase my brakes were cold and I braked on a small bump on the track, loosing the control of the car. There was nothing I could do.

"This was my second bad race this year, but, as I've already said after the race at Barcelona, we all have some bad days. I built up a little advantage before the race, which enabled me to absorb, at least a bit, that negative race.

"Although I didn't collect any points in the last race, thus loosing the lead in the Championships, it's not the end of the world. Last year I was in a much poorer situation. Now we have to go to Montreal and pay back. It's a nice city and I'm convinced that we'll have a better car than last year. Traditionally Canada is a good race for Ferrari; so let's hope that we can continue this tradition. It's possible to have strange races there, too, because it's very possible that the safety car will be employed, but we're ready for every kind of situation."
 

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