05/09/2013
NEWS STORY
Following his retirement from the Belgian Grand Prix, his first non-finish in 39 races, Kimi Raikkonen has admitted that his hopes of the 2013 title are probably over.
The Spa brake failure followed a brace of seconds though these in turn followed hugely disappointing results in Monaco and Canada. Ahead of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, where he has never won, he conceded that his hopes are at an end.
"It's definitely more difficult than it was at the last race," he told reporters. "But we still have a chance and we will try to do the best that we can.
"It's not going to be easy and is probably not going to happen," he admitted, "but we will do the best that we can to get points back. It really needs some other things to go our way."
However, other than his 2013 title hopes there is the little matter of who he will be driving for in 2014. On Monday, the announcement that Daniel ricciardo will partner Sebastian Vettel shut that particular door.
It is claimed that Ferrari is willing to offer mega-bucks to partner the Finn with Fernando Alonso, while rumours of Lotus' financial struggles continue. However, the Iceman insists that money isn't everything and he will only remain in F1 whilst he is enjoying it.
"Obviously I enjoy it and it depends on many things," he said. "But you want something to make sure you will have a good time, and not just in the racing but also on the other side.
"I don't really see why I should do something that I don't enjoy or be something that I'm not," he continued, the Finn notorious for his loathing of PR work, a necessity in the current era. "I'd rather not be here if it's not going to be fun. There are a lot of more important things that we have to decide."
Asked about the Red Bull drive and what went wrong, he said: "I don't think anything went wrong. Probably they wanted a different thing. Go and ask them, I don't know. For me it doesn't really matter and it's not the first time. Sometimes you speak with people and it doesn't work out. There can be ten reasons, but I have no idea. I think they took the option they think is the best and that's fair enough."
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