Kimi Raikkonen is keen to get racing this weekend, after early promise in Malaysia was wiped out on Sunday after a first lap coming together with Kevin Magnussen. “In Malaysia, the car was more or less the same as in Australia, although clearly we learned more from doing a lot of running and of course, the circuit layout in Sepang is different,” the Finn told the media at his usual Thursday press meeting. “Those factors make a difference and overall, we were much better in Malaysia, even if not quite where we want to be. Then my race was destroyed, which was not my fault, but that’s how it goes. There are a lot of things to improve in all areas, but we have the right people and all the tools we need to fix those things. It will take time, but we will get there. As for this weekend, if we start well as we did in Malaysia, but then don’t have the problems we had in the race there, we can have a better weekend.”
As for how life was going with Fernando Alonso as a team-mate, the 2007 world champion explained he had more pressing matters on his mind. “I don’t know have any real opinion formed yet as I’ve been putting all my effort into sorting out my side of things,” he said. “If I can do that, then we can get the results we want which is our aim. I haven’t given much thought to Fernando, apart from seeing his lap times and data of course. There’s nothing there I would not have expected.”
Asked about whether or not he liked the current Formula 1 so far this season, Kimi was his usual pragmatic self. “It makes no difference if we like it or not, as we do not make the rules. We cannot change it and it is what it is. Sometimes you end up in areas that you would not choose, but you just have to make the best of it. I don’t see the point in talking about the sound of the cars or whether I like it or not.”
Alonso, ready to fight
Today was much cooler than expected in the Sakhir paddock, as Fernando Alonso faced the media, with his first comments defending the sport from recent criticism. “There will be some exciting races and some boring ones, just like in football, where you can see a terrible nil-nil game and the next one is an exciting 5-4 which you enjoy so much,” said the Ferrari man.
Next, he had to defend the Scuderia’s title aspirations. “It would be extremely sad if I felt I would not be in the fight for the title in Abu Dhabi, as today is only the Thursday of the third race,” he affirmed. “I definitely think we can do a good job. It is early days for the development of the car and this year, instead of the usual half tenth performance increase, we are moving forward two tenths at a time. There is very good room to improve and become more competitive. No question, we think we will be in the fight in Abu Dhabi. We need to improve in all areas. We will try to do better, there have only been two races, so there’s a long way to go and we are ready to fight.”
While calling for patience regarding the state of the show, Fernando did admit he would like the cars in general to be faster. “Driving these cars is still exciting because you are competing against others and that’s the DNA of a driver, we enjoy driving karts at 50 km/h on very hard tyres, sliding everywhere,” said the Spaniard. “You keep enjoying the competition but for drivers like me, Kimi or Jenson who were around before that, you miss the quicker cars. The cars are much less physically demanding. In the past, Malaysia required a specific training programme, but this year I told the team I didn’t even need a drinks system. The cars are still hard to drive, as they slide more and we have more switches to manage all through the race, which makes it more complicated. However, it’s interesting how F1 has developed over the 14 years I’ve been racing.”
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