02/04/2007
NEWS STORY
After two days of testing last week at Sepang, Kimi Raikkonen stayed in Malaysia to prepare himself for this weekend's Grand Prix.
"I'm here with my family and some close friends on an island just off the coast," writes the Finn on his website. "We expect two very busy weeks with the two back-to-back races in Sepang and Sakhir. To prepare myself the best way possible I relaxed a bit after testing, although I have to say that here in Malaysia it's really hot: it's almost like in a Finnish sauna, but 24/7!
"I played some tennis and I went to the gym," he continues. "I must say that I feel really fit. The race in Melbourne is already history. But I will never forget my finish: the feelings, the flags of the tifosi and the joy of the team. I celebrated adequately and I was really happy that I could start with Ferrari that way.
"A couple of years ago I had my first victory in Formula One in Malaysia," the Finn recalls. "Later on I won more races, but you never forget the first victory; that's for sure. I hope that the next weekend will be a positive one for us, just like the one in Melbourne. Over the last days we had some very good testing. I drove the car over two days and we were able to collect all the necessary data. The F2007 seems to be a really competitive car on every kind of race track and the team continues in every direction to make it even better. The competitive spirit of all the members of the team is really great. We have hardly started the Championship but it's already clear that if we want to win the title we have to try to drive always in the points.
"The Sepang race track is very difficult and demanding: if not all the components of the package are working perfectly, one cannot be competitive. As I said before, the car is running very well, but as long as we are not on the race track, everybody under the same conditions, you can't tell. As I always say: lets' wait and see how it will work out this time."
The doubts about the engine used in Melbourne are still on the agenda admits the Finn: "There is some concern. We had a slight leakage of water during the last part of the race and the team told me to slow down, writing 'Cool' on the sign next to the pitlane, as the radio didn't work because of a problem with a plug.
"The engine has since been checked in the works and they also did some simulations. Now the technicians have the data. Obviously we hope that the engine will make it through the whole weekend and that we don't have to change it before the qualifying, because we want to completely use our chance. In case we had to change it, obviously it would be a bit different for us: everything would be much more difficult as we had to start ten positions back regarding the result of the qualifying; than the aim would be to reach a good result, the best one possible. But in any case we will give it all!"