Interview With Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen
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Sep 04, 2008
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Question: A lot has been written about your last few races. Do you feel there is a problem of some sort or is it just circumstances?
Kimi Raikkonen: Definitely, it hasn’t been races that we wanted. There has been a problem but it is not the first time and it is not the end of the life. We have been trying to fix them and hopefully we have found something now and we can get back where we should be. Things go wrong sometimes. You have bad races but hopefully now we can have a stronger weekend and get back.
Question: When you say hopefully you have found something, was that in the test in Monza?
Kimi Raikkonen: I mean we tried many things and we were pretty happy with the car but you never know from a test. It can be a good test and then you come to the next place and it is a different circuit with different conditions. It can get back to where it was, so hopefully we found something and we can be stronger but I mean it is too early to say. We had a good feeling from the test but we will see now.
Question: You had the engine failure in Valencia. Are you confident that that is not going to happen again?
Kimi Raikkonen: Yeah, I think we know what the problem was and it was more or less the same issue with Felipe’s engine the race before. Hopefully we fixed it. So far in testing and on the bench we have been okay. It can happen again but we are pretty sure that we have fixed the problem and it should be fine.
Question: Last year you had similar problems in qualifying but you were able to solve that. How much can the work of last year help you to find a solution because it hasn’t yet been that way. Is the car very different from last year on that point?
Kimi Raikkonen: No, but we haven’t solved the issues yet. We had similar issues last year at some point of the season. We were pretty OK at the beginning of this season and then it seems to have turned a bit worse. Hopefully we will get back to where we were earlier on but we will see now if we have made improvements or not, then we will go from there.
Question: Everybody knows that team orders are not allowed, but can you imagine that at the end of the season you can decide on your own to help Felipe to fight for the title?
Kimi Raikkonen: It can happen. It all depends on how the next races go and where we are at the end of the year but we race as a team. We will see. Hopefully we don’t end up in this situation, hopefully I will be in the championship up to the last race. But you never know what happens.
Question: You have a variety of weather here; what would you prefer for this weekend?
Kimi Raikkonen: Either it’s dry or raining all the time. It’s much easier for everybody. When it gets between those two weathers you have more luck involved. It’s more if you get it right or wrong when it starts raining and it gets drier, so hopefully it’s… for me, anything is good but maybe dry would nice.
Question: Is Eau Rouge your favourite corner, and if so why?
Kimi Raikkonen: Yeah, from a driving point of view, at least, it’s not really a corner. It’s more straight for us. In the wet it’s quite exciting but as Nick said, before it was much more challenging and the cars are better and we don’t go so fast, so it’s not a big deal any more.
Question: If you were not an F1 driver, what would you be doing?
Kimi Raikkonen: It would probably be something to do with motorsport. It’s always been part of my life, so I wouldn’t think it would be much different in some other category or motocross or something like that.
