Q: Kimi, I guess you know every square centimetre of the back of that McLaren now; you spent the whole race behind him. There were moments that you were right there and looked to be slightly quicker on the road.
Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: Yeah, I think we knew that we were going to be quick at the beginning of the race. I expected them to drop out a little bit more but they didn’t really suffer as much as I was hoping, but I would close up and just stay there. The problem here is, especially when two cars are very close, is the other guy in front really has to make a big mistake to give you any chance to get past, so it was a kind of a boring race just driving behind and waiting for something to happen and try to push as hard (as possible) to make him make a mistake but nothing happened so we really finished where we started. Q: How difficult was it following in his wake and his turbulence in terms of tyre and aerodynamic performance?
KR: For sure, it makes it a bit trickier, especially in one of the fast corners, maybe not as bad as some other circuits. I think the downforce and the grip here seems to help a bit but for sure, I had a very good car today. If I could have been in the free air, we could have had very good pace but we couldn’t really use it, so…
Q: As you’ve said, an encouraging day in some ways, given that Ferrari were concerned about these high downforce circuits and particularly this track, and you were right there.
KR: Yeah, but that shows that in qualifying we could not really use our car as we want, we are not quick enough in qualifying in this sort of circuit but in race pace I think we were on the pace. For sure, when we go back to normal circuits like Turkey, our car should be pretty good there, so we try to do the best we can there, get some points back. It’s going to be hard but there are many races to go. One bad race and things can change quickly. We’ve seen that this year already.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Kimi, good start, you picked up a place there.
KR: Yeah, we were expecting to have a good start. It’s been working pretty well in the last few races, so it was good to get behind Lewis but it wasn’t enough, unfortunately. The problem really was that we came in on the same lap on the first pit stop and it’s really guessing, guessing what the other team will do and we didn’t get it right. We had enough speed with the same fuel load if we had been behind them, to stay there, even with more so. Unfortunately we got it wrong and we couldn’t do anything after that, really.
Q: You seemed to be less competitive in that first stint than the other two.
KR: Yeah, I think our car is maybe not exactly suited to this circuit, so once the circuit picked up some more grip I think we were expecting to have a better car and it went that way. So we definitely we had plenty of speed but we couldn’t use it.
Q: Lap 13, you lost 1.5s, do you remember what happened?
KR: Yeah, I remember. I ran wide in two corners, in the last sector, so I lost some time.
Q: But otherwise pleased with second?
KR: It’s better than where we started but for sure what I needed to do was score more points than the three guys ahead of me and I couldn’t, I could only score more points than two guys and not more than Lewis, so in that way it didn’t help me, it only hurt me more. But we did everything we could. Hopefully it should be better at the next races when we get to more normal circuits.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, when did you hear that you were starting third and what was your reaction?
KR: I heard it last night, maybe it was 12 o’ clock or something, just before I went to sleep.
Q: (Juha Päätalo – Financial Times Germany) Kimi, in the very first laps you lost quite a bit to Lewis and it had, for me, the impression that you would have had graining on the first three or four laps. Can you just confirm if that was the case?
KR: I didn’t really have graining but we knew they were going to be fast with new tyres in the first few laps. It is basically a similar situation to qualifying, so I knew that once the race would go normal I should be ok and hopefully we can gain some time. Actually we did, but I had a small mistake, we lost a bit, we got it back but we were all the time a bit behind and if we would have come on different laps into the pit lane then it would have made it slightly easier. But we were just guessing how much fuel they are going to put in their car and we got it wrong so it didn’t work out.
Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Kimi, looking that you lost two points to Lewis don’t you feel that you should have tried an attack somehow? Now you are twenty points behind and in six races it is getting more and more…
KR: For sure I would have tried if I would have had any chance because I don’t have much to lose. Even if we would have ended up off the circuit it wouldn’t have changed much for me. But I didn’t have any kind of chance to have even a reasonable chance so there is no point in being stupid. If I would have had a nice try then for sure I would have gone for it but with the race what is was, we were too close to each other speed-wise. On these kinds of circuits you don’t really have chances.
Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Kimi and Lewis, after yesterday’s qualifying when obviously the gap had been quite big, were you actually quite surprised that the Ferrari has been so close to the McLaren today?
KR: Like I said before, we knew that they would be strong here. Especially in qualifying. I expected the good race car that we had but unfortunately not enough. Next year we need to get the car sorted for one lap but then I know from past experience with them [McLaren] that they are fast here. They are going to be fast in some other places. It has been every year the same thing, so it wasn’t a surprise for me that they were strong here, so I think the next circuit will be ok for us but I’m pretty happy with the second. For sure I needed to win but unfortunately we were not up for it.
Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) One question for Kimi and one for Lewis. Kimi, since this was not a very suitable track for Ferrari, do you think Ferrari is coming out stronger from this race for the last part of the championship?
KR: I think so we are going to go back to the situation we have been in for the last few races. Turkey is good for us. Or that is what I have heard, I have never been there with the team. I’m pretty sure that looking at the circuit, knowing how it is, that the car will be good there and I think we can have a good strong end of the season. Hopefully we can gain points and get back in the fight.
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