"I really
like to win and I love the
Spa circuit. It was great
coming back to win here at
this track," says Kimi
Raikkonen as he reflects on his and Ferrari first
win of the year in Belgium last Sunday. "After such a
difficult season my goal was
to gain at least one success
with this car and we did it.
This is definitely the most
beautiful moment of the
year!
"The F60
wasn’t easy to drive with an
empty tank, so after Q1 I
though it might be difficult
to get into Q3. But in Q2 I
managed to drive a good lap
qualifying myself for the
next round. I drove well in
Q3, but as the cars were all
pretty close I couldn’t do
better than position six on
the grid. Saturday afternoon
I had a really good feeling:
I knew that I could fight
for the win. Naturally the
KERS helped us a lot at the
start and when the safety
car came in. That doesn’t
change the victory’s value,
but we enjoyed the first
success with this car using
the KERS.
"I knew that
the start would be crucial.
Barrichello had a very slow
start, which didn’t help me,
but I managed to come out of
the Source in third position
and I was right behind
Kubica at the Eau Rouge.
Then I overtook him, but I
took the first right-hand
corner after the main
straight too wide, holding
second position. Then the
safety car helped us. At the
restart we knew that it
would be crucial to keep the
tyres and the brakes at the
right temperature to attack
Fisichella while exploiting
the KERS. There was a moment
when we were really close to
colliding during the
overtaking manoeuvre, but I
could hold my line on the
track. Once I had passed him
and I was in the lead I knew
that the main part had been
done. We had more or less
the same fuel loads and
although he was very fast
there weren’t any
possibilities for him to
attack me. Maybe it would
have been easier if we’d had
different types of tyres,
but we crossed the line
first. It was great
listening to the Finnish
national anthem on the
podium again! I came very
close to a win many times
last year, but for some
reason or another I couldn’t
make it.
"I’ll give my
best to gain as many points
as possible in the remaining
GPs. It won’t be easy,
because the other teams will
show up with further
developments, while we
“froze” the F60,
concentrating on the project
for 2010. We have to try to
give our best with what we
have, trying to fight for a
place on the podium. We’re
very happy for our fans, who
finally had a reason to
celebrate. There’s no better
way to arrive in Monza. I
know that I’m repeating
myself, but I want to say it
again: it won’t be easy, but
we’ll give our best to be on
the podium again.
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