Kimi Raikkonen is getting ready for the upcoming European GP, the tenth race in this years Formula One championship, although it has to be said he has a negative history here in Germany.

"I don't know what it is about Germany," he said. "I have never had any luck there during my entire Formula One career. I've always been competitive at the Nurburgring and at Hockenheim, but something always happened to stop me from winning. Let's hope that I can turn around things here my first time with Ferrari.

"I had one podium finish at the Nurburgring with my former team," he continued, "but a couple of times I had to stop while I was leading in the race: that is a bad memory. Although I have to say that I like the place. Until last year this was one of the home races for my team, now it's a race like all the others. That means that I can relax a bit more, because I don't have so many promotions to do."

Last week the Finn was testing at Spa-Francorchamps. "The car felt almost even better than at Silverstone: race after race we are making improvements. We finished most of the program, although at Spa you always have to take the weather into account. The Nurburgring is a completely different track compared to the one in Belgium, but nevertheless I expect us to be very competitive.

"It was nice having a break after the two back-to-back races," he admitted, "even although I won both of them. It's good that I had the time to rethink the two victories at Silverstone and Magny-Cours. I've been to Finland for some days, together with my family and friends. I haven't done anything special: a bit of chilling out and training. For me the Finnish summer is something very special"

After the double win Ferrari fans are now waiting for a hat-trick: "I know, but I don't want to predict anything right now," said the Finn. "We have to get on the track and give our best: then we'll see if it's enough to win the race. Up to now there are only two teams, which have won races. I guess that it will remain like that for the rest of the season.

"I'm glad to race in Germany for Ferrari. In the past I had the feeling that Michael was almost invincible there. It looked as if whatever we did, a red car had to cross the line first. Now it's my turn to do the same. We are now starting the second half of the season and the pressure inevitably rises. We have to close the gap on our competitors, but there's still a lot of time left. Slowly but surely, race after race, we have to catch up: we will start doing that on Sunday at the Nurburgring."