Light and shadow
Kimi Raikkonen: I was trying to attack Glock in case he might make a mistake, but I went slightly wide at the chicane, jumping over the kerb and when the car landed, I lost control and ended up in the barriers. My situation in the championship was already rather compromised, so this doesn’t really make that much difference but I am unhappy because the team has lost precious points in the Constructors’ classification. In the opening laps, the car was a bit difficult but then it improved a lot, to such an extent that I was able to close right up to Hamilton. When the Safety Car came out, I know my race was compromised given that I had to pit behind Felipe. I was able to get back up to fifth but then the incident I described earlier happened. Clearly, morale is not high today. But I am not used to giving up and will do my very best to try and help the team reach its targets.
Kimi Raikkonen: All things considered, this is a good result. Of course, you always hope to be in front of everyone but third place is not so bad. In Q1 and Q2, the car worked very well on the soft tyres but in Q3, on the harder ones, it was not so good anymore. Today, it was difficult to choose the best type of the tyre for the decisive session because the performance difference over the first lap was not so great. I probably suffered a bit because of the time lost this morning with a technical problem which ended my free practice session ahead of time. The track is very demanding with many places where you really feel the bumps and you have to maintain concentration all the time. Tomorrow I will do my best for myself and for the team.
P1 3rd 1:45.961 24 laps chassis 271
P2 7th 1:46.580 25 laps chassis 271
Kimi Raikkonen: The visibility is great and you don’t really feel you are driving at night with all the lights on the track. In general I like the track although some parts are too bumpy. The entry and exit to the pit lane are pretty difficult and we will have to be very careful. At the start of the day, we had a well balanced car and then, in the afternoon, we tried a modification to the front end that we had tried at the Mugello test last week, but it did not produce the effect we hoped for, but there was not enough time to switch back. Overall, I think we will be competitive. Overtaking? I don’t think we will see muchm as usual in fact.
The most important thing is to win again. The situation in the Championship is what it is and it doesn’t depend anymore only on my results, but of my competitors’ results. In theory it’s not over yet, but I don’t have it under control anymore. Lase year, in the second part of the season, we had a great set up for the car and I was able to win many races. It was much more difficult this year. Especially as far as the tyre temperature is concerned. When the temperature is right, the car is very competitive. We’ll give it our best at Singapore, so that we can fight for the win, which still remains the main objective. We have to give it all in these four races and then we’ll see what’s going to happen. I’ve said it many times: victory is the only objective, the essence of motor racing. I’m not just here for driving, but I want to win.
Monza was a bad weekend for me, but afterwards we had a good test session at Mugello. The car had a very good set up in the last two races on the dry track and we’ve tested some new solutions, which will improve the performance. Last week I spent a day with the simulator at the CRF (Fiat Research Centre) at Turin, where I god an idea of the track, where we’re going to race at the weekend.
I arrived at Singapore today, after one day at Abu Dhabi, where I took part in some promotional event with our partners Mubadala and Etihad Airways. I can’t wait to get back on the track, because I love new challenges: since we’ve known the Championship’s race calendar, I’ve been waiting for 28th September. Of course when I think of the results I had this year on street circuits, I shouldn’t be too optimistic, but I still like to race on this kind of track: it’s pure emotion, when you find the right set up for the single-seater and race between the walls. I don’t think that it will be a big problem that we race at night. They’ve done it already with motorbikes and it was a great experience. I’m someone who likes to sleep late. My body will adapt prefectly fine to this unusual time of day.
In the end it’s not important when the race starts. When you put on your helmet and go out to the starting grid, you’ve such a high adrenaline level, that you forget everything else and you just think about giving it everything for the whole race.
They say that it rains every evening at Singapore. This shouldn’t worry us too much, because everybody will race under the same condition. I think that we’ll have the possibility to win in the four outstanding races and I will give it my all to make it and to help the Team to reach it goals.
Sometimes it’s rough. You try and try, but nothing seems to go your way. I haven’t been winning for ages and I haven’t got any points, either. In Monza we finished the race, but it didn’t feel any better compared to two previous ones with DNFs.
We have now five races without points. Obviously., you don’t have to be Einstein to realize that this is not the way to fight for the championship. It’s not over, I’ll never give up.
We have had the same problem too many times. With this car in certain circumstances it’s too difficult to get the right temperatures to the tyres – especially if it rains. And it seems to rain almost in every race nowadays.
It rained a lot in Monza, Unfortunately, for me, there is no reason to talk about anything else but the last laps of the race.
The car was really good on Friday in the dry. But in the wet on Saturday I simply could not get the tyres up to temperature. This is something we need to understand, because the car is very good, when the car has the right temperature in the tyres. But the race is all but over by then.
Obviously, at the moment things simply are not going my way. Sometimes things happen like that. But I will keep pushing and hopefully my luck will change. I would like to win a couple more races before the end of the season.
I have not lost my skills for driving in the wet. But we have to get the car right to be able to fight in the rainy races, too. If there is no grip, you cannnot fight. You just drive and drive and hope that things get sorted out. While it started to dry up in Monza, it was like switching on the lights. Everything felt well and I was able to attack the corners, but it was much, much too late then.
Now we go to Mugello to test. We do our very best to solve the problem. We wouldn’t mind, if it would rain the whole week.
We are heading for the new challenges. It’s good for F1 and the drivers to race in a city like Singapore. It will also the first ever night race in F1 so a completely new experience for everybody. Obviously, the atmosphere will be great. Hot and humid seems to be more favorable for Ferrari.
You never know what happens in the race. There is no reason to make any plans. We just concentrate on doing our very best. Whoever has the most points after the last race, will be the champion.
I am really happy to extend my agreement with Ferrari. They are the best team in F1. My memories of last year will never be forgotten and I would like to repeat that feat again.
Kimi Raikkonen: This was a very difficult race for us. In the conditions at the start, as we have seen before in the past, we could not keep our tyres up to temperature and we totally lacked grip. I could do nothing but try to stay on the track hoping the conditions would change. When they did, unfortunately it was too late to aim for a points finish. The car worked well but without grip, you’re not going anywhere. The situation in the Driver’s championship is now even more difficult, but I will continue to give it my best shot as usual.
Kimi Raikkonen: There’s little to say and I am definitely not happy with this result. I was unable to do a time in Q2 when the conditions would still have made it possible and then it was impossible to catch up. On that lap, I went off at Ascari where there was a lot of water on the track, which meant I didn’t make it through to the next session. Now we must try and make the best of this situation which is definitely not ideal.
Starting from the seventh row of the grid could be a bit tricky at the start, because the entry to the first chicane is very tight and it is easy to touch other cars. In the dry, the car is working very well but obviously, if it were to rain, it could give some chances to those who are starting further back like me.