Q & A with Kimi Raikkonen By Simon Strang
Q. Kimi, last year there were rumours about you retirement. What are your plans?
Kimi RaikkonenKimi Raikkonen: There is speculation. There has always been speculation in Formula One. Of course these days it is always difficult in Formula One in every way, but I don't have pressure outside. I want to win and I give a hard time to myself and we'll see. Like I said there is a two years contract we'll see what happens after that.
Q. The new rules tend to favour a grippy front-end and produce an oversteery car. Is that a good thing for you?
KR: I think you can change the car a lot to how you like it and of course now the rules are slightly more difficult, with the weight and everything. It depends on the weight of the drivers how much we can change it, but if I can choose then definitely I prefer oversteer to understeer. I think that the tyres plays a big part of it also, I don't know exactly how the car will be, that's why we have to wait until next week when it will be slightly more easy to say. It all depends.
Q. Last year Luca di Montezemolo said that it was not you, but your brother driving, what do you think of this?
KR: I have one brother, but he definitely didn't drive the car! I read the same story, but he was joking and that's about it.
Q. Yesterday Stefano Domenicali mentioned that they tried to design the car more to suit you, can you explain what sort of input you have had into the design and how the team has worked with you in terms of how the car will be set-up?
KR: We worked all year together last year, we wanted something slightly different in some areas but of course it's difficult to make big changes during the year. We tried many things and we were talking about stuff we would like to try at least and see how it is, but for sure the whole year that we worked there is some ideas and like I said next year we will see how it worked. Definitely, everybody is pushing hard to improve.
Q. Which of the three new technologies, KERS, slicks or the aero regulations will be the most difficult to adapt to and why?
KR: Like I said, they are the biggest changes for many years in Formula One. I don't have an idea how it will be all together. We have tried the tyres, but it was last year's car. We tried to take the downforce off to get it more close to where it should be this year, but it is still not the same car so, with everything together we should know better next week. But it is interesting and hopefully it will improve the racing, and that will be much better for all of us.
For sure it will be difficult for the teams to get everything working well together - we don't have much testing before the season, and no testing during the season. So it is up to the teams, and it will be whoever gets everything working and gets the best out of the package. But I don't know what it feels like because I haven't driven the car. We will have to wait and see.
Q. There have been changes to the team structure, including Chris Dyer moving to a new job. So you have a new race engineer, how is that relationship developing?
KR: I have been working with him for two years, like I have with Chris. It's nothing strange, but need new challenges. We had a good time with Chris, of course we won in the first and year and didn't last year, but it is nothing to do with that we couldn't have worked, like people have said. We have a very good relationship, but unfortunately sometimes people want to try something different.
I know Andrea (Stella) very well. I have been working with him as long as I have with Chris. We did the test together and it seems to be okay and I'm expecting to have a good year with him. And Chris is there doing different things but he is still pushing for the whole team to improve and get better so, it is not a big change in the end.
Q. You are not anymore the world champion, has that changed your life and approach to racing?
KR: I am still (a world champion), just not last year, but no it hasn't. It didn't changed my life at all even when I won the previous year. People always expect you to do well, win races and win championships so, in that way it doesn't really change anything. Hopefully this year we can improve it again and be up there and at least fight for it and we will go from there.
Q. You won in your first season, when you approached your second did you not consider Massa as a great competitor, but now that Massa has developed a lot, how do you approach the season that you have a teammate that was much stronger than before?
KR: I wouldn't say that I didn't expect him to be strong. I mean we were fighting the first year all the time. We were similar points, it was very late in the (2007) season when it went my way, and it was a similar situation last year. It went one way then it turned around and went this way, so it has really been more-or-less similar both years, so it was nice to see him have a very good season. So I have no reason to change my way of doing things this year than in the past, he has always been a strong, fast guy so we will see what happens this year.
Q. Do you think you were fairly represented by the press coverage last year, or do you think you were just unlucky?
KR: No for sure, I made some mistakes and the team made some mistakes at some points, but that is part of racing. Everybody makes mistakes and we go through the bad and the good times together. Sometimes there is luck involved but also the luck comes from how you work, sometimes it is with you and sometimes against you. It is up to me and the guys around me to get the best out of it. Sometimes you are lucky, sometimes not, but it doesn't change anything anymore so if it is something to do with luck, then hopefully this year we will have it.
Q. What can you promise the Ferrari fans for this year, and secondly what was the turning point that lost you the championship last year?
KR: First of all, we made some wrong choices and some mistakes. And then it took too long to recover from those. But there is no point to talk about last year, that is past, and we can't change it anymore. And the other question... I always try to win and hopefully we can win championships this year, but I'm not going to promise anything and put my hand on my heart because maybe it won't happen. We are just going to try and do the best weekend and be back on the top podium position. Like I said it is still early days so we need to do the work and hopefully it will work out.
Q. Kimi, do you have any reservations about KERS safety?
KR: You hear a lot of things and one guy got an electric shock at BMW, but I think the team for sure knows what is safe and what isn't, and if it wasn't safe we wouldn't put it in the car risk anybody getting hurt. For me it is okay, if we get more horsepower out of it and we get everything working well, I think it is a good thing.
Q. Would gold medals motivate you more for race wins, or do you feel motivated enough?
KR: Whether they are medals or trophies doesn't make any difference, if you win, you win. That's what is everybody wants and everybody likes so if you get a gold medal out of it or a big trophy it makes no difference. You want the maximum points and the feeling from the win so I don't think it changes anything at all.
Q. What's your feeling about the in-season testing ban, you'll have more time for your life, but less time to develop the car?
KR: It's the same for everybody, these are the new rules in Formula One. It's a big change for everyone and it is to try and save money. If the car is quick straight away then I have no issues at all, it's a good thing. But if the team's have problems then it is going to be very difficult to fix them because you won't have any testing or time on the circuit to try things. We will see how it goes, for sure the team will come it with some things, so we will not have so much time off. We will still be developing the car and putting new things on the car on Fridays. Of course there will be less driving than this year, but a lot will have to do with how quick the car is straight away.
Q. So how will you approach your weekends, taking into account the fact that you will do development testing on Fridays?
KR: I don't know how we are going to work the whole weekend through, but I think it is going to be slightly different than the last few years, because of the rule changes. For sure we have time enough to fix the set-up and try different things. That's how it has been last year and the year before, the Friday's more trying things and try to find better set-ups, but also we have been bringing in new parts and trying them. Probably Fridays will be more like a test day now, but we will see how it goes. For sure the team has an idea how we are going to run our weekends through, but I don't know we haven't gone through it yet.
Q. You recently met the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, what can you tell us about this meeting?
KR: I was asked to go there and meet him and we had some talks together. It was nice to meet him, he seems to be a very open and nice guy. That's about it.
Q. What do you think about having your salary capped?
KR: There has always been a lot of talk but I don't think it is going to happen.
Q. But in a world where we have serious economic problems and people losing their jobs, do you think it's justified that you are paid the kind of money you get paid?
KR: I don't really want to get involved in the whole thing so…
