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"We didn’t do well in Abu Dhabi (above),"
says Kimi Raikkonen. "But we knew that
gaining points would be difficult: this
circuit has lots of corners and we were
lacking downforce and grip." |
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"That’s it.
My story with Ferrari ended
last Sunday in Abu Dhabi:
with the “Reds” I had the
possibility to make one of
my dreams come true, while
now I’m looking ahead,
waiting for new challenges,"
says Kimi Raikkonen. "What’s for sure is that I’ll
leave Maranello with lots of
very nice memories. Over the
last three years I’ve won
nine races and a Drivers’
Title and I contributed to
winning two Constructors’
Championships. I made many
friends at Ferrari and we
spent some great moments
together. True, this year
things didn’t go as we had
expected, but in the world
of racing you can always
have a year where things go
a little wrong. The package
wasn’t competitive, but
nevertheless we managed to
finish fourth, just one
point behind the third in
the standings. We had
problems with the car, but
nevertheless we brought home
some good result, starting
with the victory in Spa. The
team demonstrated that it
knows how to react, what we
could see after the bad
start into the season.
"We didn’t do
well in Abu Dhabi, but we
knew that gaining points
would be difficult: this
circuit has lots of corners
and we were lacking
downforce and grip.
Furthermore we had problems
on the kerbs, worsening the
situation. When you start
from the eleventh position
and cross the line twelfth,
you don’t have to say
anything. The circuit’s
structures are just
breathtaking, but the track
didn’t offer too many
possibilities for overtaking
and in the end the race
turned into some sort of
parade.
"Now
everybody is fully
concentrated on the next
season, as Ferrari has
already been for several
months. There will be
further changes – refuelling
won’t be allowed anymore and
the front tyres will be
thinner – but they won’t be
as radical as this year. At
the start of the races the
single-seaters will be
fairly difficult to drive
with all the fuel on board
and it will be crucial that
we don’t stress the tyres
too much. The qualifyings
will be lots of fun, because
we’ll drive with almost
empty tanks in Q3. I’ve been
racing for nine years in
Formula 1 now. I still want
to win races and titles, but
I’ll only stay in F1 if I
can find a team that can
guarantee me a car I can use
to fight for victory. Let’s
see what will happen in the
upcoming weeks."
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