Q: Kimi, you must be very happy the way the weekend has gone for you, to be on the podium for the second successive race.
Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: Yeah, of course I’m happy to get some points but a bit disappointed how the race ended up. The whole weekend was quite difficult but I think we needed to compromise too many things and we lost too much speed because of those things, but it was one of those weekends where we needed to do what was most important and try to get as many points as we could. We just didn’t have enough speed today and couldn’t do much more. Q: Well, you had a terrific spectator position for that battle between Lewis and your team mate Felipe Massa. Talk us through that from your point of view; you nearly passed Felipe. Well, you did pass Felipe eventually.
KR: Yeah, in the end when he made a mistake but unfortunately I didn’t have enough speed in a straight line to try to challenge either of them when I got behind Lewis. I got close to him but I didn’t have as much speed as Felipe so he could always challenge him but I was not able to do that. I always tried to get close to them because I knew that they would have a fight and I thought that maybe I could get passed one of them, and in the end it worked out but unfortunately I didn’t get past Lewis. But I think we did the best we could and at least we scored important points, so we need to make everything 100 percent right at the next race.
Q: It looked like your car was much more competitive in the closing stint than the middle stint.
KR: Yeah, it wasn’t difficult to drive but it was just not fast enough. I think we know the reasons why we were not quick in this race, but unfortunately, as I said, we were in a position where we couldn’t do anything else. Hopefully we can turn the tables in the next race and fight for a win again.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Kimi, it looked good in the early stages – you were really charging…
KR: Yes, but not enough. We needed the speed, as much as Felipe, who seemed to be very strong in a straight line, but we had to do some compromise as a team and so it cost us a little bit, maybe a bit too much in this race, but at least we scored a podium and points and we finished the race. We learned a lesson and we will do things better in the next race.
Q: Can you give us an idea of those compromises?
KR: No, I can’t, but we know what we have done and that is the main thing and hopefully we can do better at those things in the next race.
Q: What were the track conditions like, given there was a serious rain-storm last night?
KR: I think quite similar, quite slippery all the time and not very easy conditions, but it was the same for everybody. Especially, being behind people all the time is not the easiest one – you don’t really get an idea of the car, or how good it will be when you run alone. It was quite okay when I was on my own especially near the end, but it came too late really.
Q: And the middle stint, you seemed to lose time then?
KR: Yes, just the speed really…
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Kimi, how disappointing is it not to win this race for Ferrari after having dominated free practice and the qualifying?
KR: It is a little bit disappointing, but it is the early part of the season, but we did the best we could in the situation we were in and so the team did very well, I think, a very good job. We knew when we came here we had some handicaps. So, I think we maximised our speed, but we wanted to win and be top of the table – but we did the best we could here and we just need to work better in the next races and in the coming weeks and improve the car. I think we have some big improvements coming, but probably not next race, but for Barcelona it should be ready.
Q: (Niki Takeda – Formula PA) Was there any concern about your engine during the race?
KR: Not any more than before the race. As I said we needed to compromise some things and it was not the ideal situation to start the weekend, but I think we got the most we could from it. We wanted a better position, but we couldn’t, but it is a long season and we still have a good position. We know we have the speed when we everything right and it is going to be a close fight in the coming races, but that’s Formula One.
Q: (Anne Giuntini – L’Equipe) Kimi, when you say that you knew you had a handicap was it on your car only or on two cars?
KR: I think we knew that the engine was not 100 per cent and we had to be a bit on the safe side, but there were some other things, which were not perfect so we could not take risks to do anything stupid with what we had, so hopefully next race we can have all the right things in the car and be 100 per cent again like in the first race.
Q: (Marco Evangelisti – Corriere dello Sport) Kimi, was it the battle between Fernando and Felipe in the first corner that somehow cost you a position to Lewis?
KR: Of course, I didn’t want to get into that. Our tyres were not really as good as theirs then so we lost a few metres in the first metres, but then also in the first corner with all the things going (on), but I think they did a better thing in the first corner than us.
Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Kimi, don’t you think that Felipe was too aggressive and that this cost Ferrari another race?
KR: You need to ask him that yourself. He wanted to get past and I would have wanted to get past also while he had the speed and he had an opportunity and he tried to take it. But it cost him and that’s racing.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Kimi, your team-mate had a bad day today, does that mean anything to you?
KR: It is unfortunate for him, but that’s racing like I said. Sometimes you push hard to gain places and it doesn’t work out as you planned. It has happened to many other people and it will happen maybe one day again. It is not ideal for the team, but you really need to hear it from him. I am not the guy here answering questions about him. So, I don’t know what happened - or if he had a problem or not. So, I am not the right guy to give you those answers.
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