On Thursday before the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai, Kimi Raikkonen addressed questions from the media. Many of them focused on his predictions for the week end. “Obviously we have to put in a clean weekend with no issues, then I’m sure we could be pretty happy with the result. This is a different track but so far the car has been working well in all kind of conditions on every place and I don’t see reasons why it should be different here. Here it can be a little bit different because it’s cold and the track is challenging, but of course if you have a good car it helps. Tomorrow we’ll go out and see but I don’t expect big surprises.”
Can you say you can challenge Mercedes even if, unlike Sepang, the weather here is not so hot and this one is not a rear tyre limited track? “All track are different and every condition too, and one car can behave better in a place that in another one. Maybe we are not where we would like to be, but compared to last year things have changed a lot even if we still have a lot to do.”
The win in Malaysia is a very good result for the team and for Sebastian. “We knew from testing we have a good package but the two first races for me have been pretty difficult , although I could take some good points in Malaysia. We keep pushing as hard as we can trying to do things right knowing that every race can be different, but generally I think we can be quite strong everywhere. In general we know we have the speed but we have to get rid of all the issues even if they are not our fault like the puncture”.
Winning his first race for Scuderia Ferrari in Malaysia hasn’t changed Sebastian Vettel 's approach to the remainder of the season: “I think we’re realistic about where we are and what we want to achieve”, he said. “Targets haven’t changed. The victory we had in Sepang is a great result as a team but for the next race we haven’t changed our approach. We have to confirm that we have a strong package and a strong car and we’ll try to make sure that we stay ahead the people we stayed ahead the last couple of races, but knowing that Mercedes is in a very strong position.”
Asked whether Ferrari’s pace in the last race was a reaI indication of the car’s potential, Seb replied: “I think it was for real two weeks ago: I don’t think Mercedes backed off and everyone left. It has been nice but we had a couple of circumstances coming together. Most important of all, we managed to capitalize and get a very good result and win the race, but for the next races things can be up and down: we want to make sure that there are a lot of up and not so many downs as it is normal that at some races you’re more competitive than others.”
The four-time world champion reckons that it’s too early to make judgements: “We’ve had two races and usually you need at least a couple of races to understand where you are. I think we had a decent understanding, but the target is to confirm the fact that we vere close to the top class in Australia, fighting with Williams for the podium, and obviously in Sepang two weeks ago we were close enough to win, but – as I said – in general we want to make sure that we establish ourselves as the team behind Mercedes and it means that we stay ahead of strong teams like Williams and Red Bull for the entire season. The target is to ensure that the gap to Mercedes gests narrower and narrower.”
Shanghai, a very technical track.
“It’s a very different circuit to the one in Malaysia, both in terms of its technical characteristics and when it comes to the weather,” says Esteban Gutierrez, Scuderia Ferrari’s third driver. “Shanghai has many fast corners, such as turn 1, that leads on to the long finish straight.
This, along with the fact that usually, it’s quite cool in Shanghai, means the tyres are made to work in a very different way when compared to Sepang. In fact, in Malaysia, we benefited from the fact our tyres had very low degradation in the high temperatures. However, in China, the track surface will be much cooler and there are some very heavy braking points: at the end of the long straight, you actually have to decelerate from 330 km/h down to 60 in around 120 metres.
It’s definitely a good passing opportunity, but if you don’t have a well-balanced car, then you can suffer from tyre graining after just a few laps. “I think it will be a harder race than Malaysia for us,” concludes Esteban. “But, all the same, we hope to be able to reduce the gap still further to our competitors and to make the most of our current potential with both our cars. China is a very important market for Ferrari road cars and we want to do well in front of the many Prancing Horse owners and fans there.”
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