22/08/2007
NEWS STORY
Like most of his rivals, Kimi Raikkonen has been making the most of the 'summer holiday' between the Hungarian and Turkish Grands Prix. However, now, with just six races remaining, comes the serious business of the fight for the 2007 World Championship title(s)
"The holidays were as I hoped them to be," said the Ferrari star, currently third in the championship, 20 points adrift of Lewis Hamilton. "I enjoyed the Finnish summer with my family and my best friends. We went to the sea, did some motocross, played tennis and, the most important thing, chilled out. Now I'm ready to get back on the track.
"We now have to confront the last part of the season, the one in which everything will be decided," he continued. "There are three races in four weeks, plus a test: this is certain to be a very busy period, but we are racing on tracks, which are amongst my favourites - Istanbul, Monza and Spa-Francorchamps. I think that these are tracks where Ferrari should be very competitive: there are no characteristics, that are against us.
"The whole team is working together, to try to recuperate the gap in the points," added the Finn. "in Maranello they didn't stop working over the last days! I spoke to the technicians and they told me that we have a couple of new developments in the car."
With two thirds of the championship behind him, Kimi is able to make a first summary of his experiences at Ferrari: "As I said immediately after Hungary on the occasion of the Shell event in Helsinki, there is great harmony inside the team: now I understand the difference between being a driver for Ferrari as compared to the other teams.
"We only concentrate on what we have to do, 100 percent. I will confront these last races in the same spirit I confronted the ones before: I'll try to win and collect as many points as possible and then we will do the maths in the classification. We have to give our best and hope that those who are ahead of us, have slight problems: I don't have much to lose so I can risk more than my colleagues at McLaren.
"Six races can seem to be only a few, but for the ones who are leading it's a lot," he continued. "We were able to see that over the weekend at the Rally of Germany, where Gronholm paid a high price for a bad day.
"We are optimistic for Turkey: I won the first race ever held here, which gave me a very special feeling. The track is similar to the one at Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps, where the aerodynamic efficiency counts a lot. And then we drive anti-clockwise: nothing changes in terms of the techniques, but the driver's necks will suffer slightly.
"Everybody is talking about turn number 8: it doesn't have the fascination of Eau Rouge but is very demanding in it's own way. It is really nice to have new kinds of fast corners to drive through at the max: everybody always wants to have more. I can't wait for Friday morning so that I can drive my laps behind the wheel of my Ferrari!"