Q: Kimi, like David, you’re a previous winner here. What are your feelings about the circuit?
Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: It’s a nice place, always. Good fun. You never really know before you come here how it’s going to go but I think we should have a pretty good package, so we will see how it goes. Q: It’s said that you’re still really having problems adjusting to Bridgestone tyres after using Michelins; is that the case and how does it manifest itself?
KR: I don’t know if it’s exactly the tyres but for sure I’m not as happy with the car as I could be but I think it’s getting there. It seems to take a bit of time but we’ve sorted out a lot of things and I think we’ve found something in the end, so hopefully it will start to go where we want.
Q: Is it a lack of confidence and knowing what they’re going to do?
KR: Not really, but if the car doesn’t work as you like it to, it’s hard to go as fast as you want. I think we just need to get everything together now and start getting better results.
Q: And looking at the championship as a whole, you’re obviously a few points adrift at the moment, but of course, you now have three rivals. Is it still winnable?
KR: It’s only four races old and so many things can happen. Unfortunately we had a retirement in the last race. I think we could be in a completely different situation now in the championship, but at least the gap is not too big. As you said, there are many cars fighting for it so probably the points can go differently to normal when there are only two guys there. It’s less easy to catch anybody so hopefully we can catch up.
Q: So you’re not too worried.
KR: Not yet, it’s a long season and I’m probably not the only one who will have problems during the season.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, do you think that McLaren has an advantage with their car against you on this circuit?
KR: I don’t know really. I didn’t do the test there for Monaco, last week; I did for Montreal. So I don’t have a good idea how good it will be. But I know that we still seem to be going good and I only know what I know from the past that we always used to go well with McLaren, so probably they will be strong, but I don’t think that we should be any weaker than at any other races.
Q: (Juha Päätalo – Financial Times Germany) After Barcelona and some more problems in testing, how worried are you about reliability here?
KR: I don’t think it is an issue. We had a problem in the race, but we know what it was and it was a small problem that unfortunately cost our race. I don’t think it is going to happen anymore. It has been solved. And the problems in testing were just some new things that we tried. It wasn’t a massive problem. It just took longer than it should (have). I don’t have any problems about reliability.
Q: (Dan Knutson – National Speed Sport News) Kimi, how frustrating have these last few races been?
KR: A little bit, of course, but I am here the first year and I knew in Australia that we were not 100 per cent happy with the car, so it wasn’t a surprise that we had some hard times. I think at least we know what we want and we have worked on it and found it. Unfortunately, with not so much testing now, we seem to find a good set up in a test, but then a week later in the race it is not there anymore, so we just need to understand a little bit more. But it is a long season and we are in good position in the championship and we keep fighting and we see what happens…
Q: (Frédéric Ferret – L’Equipe) Kimi, Mario Almondo in Barcelona talked about a special way of working with his drivers. Can you tell us about this?
KR: I don’t know what he meant. You have to ask him yourself.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Kimi, who do you react to being described as a ‘bad luck’ driver?
KR: It is part of racing, unfortunately. I don’t know if it is bad luck. Sometimes I can be, but everyone really must work harder to make sure these things don’t happen. We cannot change it. We just have to make sure everything is right for the races. This can always happen. Unfortunately it is not the first time for me and probably will not be the last time. So we just try to recover from it. It is a long season and we haven’t lost anything yet.
Q: (Randy Phillips – The Gazette) Robert, how much better is the car now than last summer when you joined the team full-time?
RK: It is much better. Last year, we were on the limit to Q3 and this season it looks as if our position is fifth or sixth without any big problems till now. But we have to work hard to close up to the top teams and to develop and improve the car. This situation will now last all season. The teams behind, Renault and Red Bull, in Barcelona and Bahrain, they were really quick so we have to work to be even better.
Q: (Randy Phillips – The Gazette) Does this put extra pressure on you?
RK: I don’t think so. There was no pressure last year and none this year. I just get in the car and do the best I can and drive as fast as possible. |
