We enjoyed our first success using KERS - Raikkonen

On Sunday, the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro scored his first win of the season thanks to a victory of KImi Raikkonen and the historic venue of Spa-Francorchamps. It was the Finn’s eighteenth career victory, the fourth at this track.

Kimi Raikkonen: "I really like to win and I love the Spa circuit. It was great coming back to win here at this track. After such a difficult season my goal was to gain at least one success with this car and we did it. This is definitely the most beautiful moment of the year!

"The F60 wasn’t easy to drive with an empty tank, so after Q1 I though it might be difficult to get into Q3. But in Q2 I managed to drive a good lap qualifying myself for the next round. I drove well in Q3, but as the cars were all pretty close I couldn’t do better than position six on the grid. Saturday afternoon I had a really good feeling: I knew that I could fight for the win. Naturally the KERS helped us a lot at the start and when the safety car came in. That doesn’t change the victory’s value, but we enjoyed the first success with this car using the KERS.

"I knew that the start would be crucial. Barrichello had a very slow start, which didn’t help me, but I managed to come out of the Source in third position and I was right behind Kubica at the Eau Rouge. Then I overtook him, but I took the first right-hand corner after the main straight too wide, holding second position. Then the safety car helped us. At the restart we knew that it would be crucial to keep the tyres and the brakes at the right temperature to attack Fisichella while exploiting the KERS. There was a moment when we were really close to colliding during the overtaking manoeuvre, but I could hold my line on the track. Once I had passed him and I was in the lead I knew that the main part had been done. We had more or less the same fuel loads and although he was very fast there weren’t any possibilities for him to attack me. Maybe it would have been easier if we’d had different types of tyres, but we crossed the line first. It was great listening to the Finnish national anthem on the podium again! I came very close to a win many times last year, but for some reason or another I couldn’t make it.

"I’ll give my best to gain as many points as possible in the remaining GPs. It won’t be easy, because the other teams will show up with further developments, while we “froze” the F60, concentrating on the project for 2010. We have to try to give our best with what we have, trying to fight for a place on the podium. We’re very happy for our fans, who finally had a reason to celebrate. There’s no better way to arrive in Monza. I know that I’m repeating myself, but I want to say it again: it won’t be easy, but we’ll give our best to be on the podium again."