10.09.2009 KIMI RAIKKONEN: "I know how much the team wants to have a great race here"
KIMI RAIKKONEN - FERRARI F60 - BELGIAN GRAND PRIX, SPA
KIMI RAIKKONEN - FERRARI F60 - BELGIAN GRAND PRIX, SPA
KIMI RAIKKONEN - FERRARI F60 - BELGIAN GRAND PRIX, SPA

Kimi Raikkonen won the Belgian Grand Prix held a week last Sunday after an impressive drive to give Scuderia Ferrari its first win of the season the Finn his fourth podium of the year.

"These are very intense weeks: after the two consecutive races in Valencia and Spa now there is Monza on the calendar, this year's last race in Europe. In Belgium we won and we want to go on like this in the last races, trying to stay on the podium," says Ferrari driver and Spa winner Kimi Raikkonen as he prepares to get on track at Monza tomorrow morning. "It's one of the most important GPs of the year, because we race in front of our fans and it would be great to give them satisfaction. The success at Spa was very important for the team: I could see the guys in front of the podium and understood how much this victory meant for them, especially in such a difficult season. It was great for me to listen to the Finnish and the Italian national anthems after such a long time. And it would be excellent to repeat it until the end of the season. Racing in Monza in front of our fans with all the Prancing Horse flags in the wind is a fantastic feeling. I've never won a race in Italy, but I always liked racing at Monza. For me there's no extra pressure, but I know how much the team wants to have a great race here.

"The track is the fastest of the season and the KERS should help us just like in Spa. You need to use the kerbs well and this wasn't the strong point of our cars over the last years. We'll see what will happen as of Friday. We didn't do the usual test on the track so it's difficult to say because the cars haven't used this aerodynamic set up so far. I'll have a new teammate, Giancarlo Fisichella. I always got along very well with him. He's one of the most expert drivers and we will give our best to help Ferrari keep the third place in the Constructors' Championship. The performance levels changed from one race to the next this year. There are team like us who stopped developing the car and others making pressure, because there are still several goals to reach.

"Looking back I'm happy because I'm the driver who gained the most points over the last races (25): who would have said that after such a start of the season? It will be a difficult weekend, but I can promise the fans that we will give our best as usual," concluded Raikkonen.

While the teams were getting ready in the garages yesterday at Monza, in a meeting room at the race track FOTA [Formula One Teams Association] met under the presidency of Luca di Montezemolo. At the end of the meeting the press release mentioned the comeback of Force India and Williams in the teams’ association, the launch of an initiative for the stakeholders of Formula One (including the media, the sponsors and the organisers) and the intention to start a round table for discussions with the FIA and the commercial rights holder about the future of the sport after 2012. “We spoke about the future, the possibility of a third car on the track and the possibility to give young drivers the chance to test: this has become the only sport where you can’t train and maybe we’ve exaggerated a bit,” Montezemolo said after the meeting. “As far as Ferrari is concerned, this will be a Grand Prix, which is traditionally not very good to us, but we will give it everything for a good result. I am happy that I’ve chosen an Italian driver, Fisichella, to race here and also Raikkonen is in great form. I’ll be back here tomorrow to talk about a new partnership, but that doesn’t mean anything in terms of choices for the near future: I want to say it again, that the drivers are chosen by Ferrari and not by the sponsors."
 

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