It would be great to fight for a position on the podium - Raikkonen
Scuderia Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen had another very difficult race at the Circuit de Barcelona this weekend. The Finn came to a halt along the track with a technical problem and was force to retire. The Iceman looks back on the Spanish GP and previews the Monaco race.
Kimi Raikkonen: "Sometimes motor sports is like that. You’re trying extremely hard to improve, but then nothing goes right, like it happened in Spain. An incredible series of negative moments and the wrong decisions made it a very bad weekend for me.
"The only positive aspect is that the car’s performance has improved a lot compared to the last four races: the hard work over the last weeks is leading somewhere. Right from the start I noticed that the car had improved and that there was a great potential to be used; not just in the last race, but for the whole season. The qualifying was a bad thing. We took the wrong decision and paid an extremely high price. That was a terrible moment. Unfortunately the race was very short for me, but at least we could see that we were competitive. I had a good start, although it was difficult for me to see the light and I left when I saw that the other cars moved. I’m sure that I could have made some points, because the car went very well. I was about to pass Heidfeld on the first lap when the safety car came out and that possibility was gone.
"After that it was difficult to overtake, although I was faster. But I wouldn’t have finished the race anyway. The electronic control for the accelerator stopped working, due to a hydraulic problem and I had to stop next to the track. After five races I’ve got only three points.
"The fight for the Championship is really difficult now, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not motivated. I want to win again and I’m sure that we will do it. We’ll keep on working on the car to make it more competitive and especially more reliable. We could see already that hard work pays. The next race is at Monaco, where I had some great weekends, but it’s a very difficult race. It would be great to fight for a position on the podium, but this track is even more unpredictable than others. The qualifying will be even more decisive and one should not make even one mistake."
