Raikkönen's honest talk about his problems
In 2014 Kimi Raikkönen returend to his former team which he won his world title with. However the Finnish champion hasn't enjoyed as fruitful spell as his first one was. He now talks about the challenges he has faced so far in this season.
Raikkönen conceded there is nothing apart from wins which can satisfy him. Hence he considers this year as a failure.
“You are here to win races and championships and if you don’t manage it you have failed, whether you are second or twentieth. It’s been a hard year but we have learned things that will help us in future. But it’s not much fun when you have difficulties race after race. That’s how it goes sometimes in Formula 1, but we have to believe in what we do and I’m sure we can get back to where we should be.”
Ferrari started the year with a poor-handling car which lacked of overall pace, downforce, top-speed and good driveabiity. However the relative performances between the teams hasn't changed much, the Finn believes Ferrari have made big steps forward over the course of the season.
„During this year, we improved a lot on the engine and electronics side and for sure the car has got more downforce now. It’s a much better car than it was at the beginning of the year.”
Kimi talked honestly about the problems he has faced during the first year of the new era. He also added his driving style had caused his problems since this year's Ferrari wasn't strong at the front axle. He liked to attack the corner entry and bringing much speed into corners rather then sacrificing speed for corner exit. This year's cars are unstable under braking thanks to the brake-by-wire system and the huge loss of downforce at the rear end. That is why it makes it much harder for drivers like Kimi Raikkönen or his fellow Sebastian Vettel to feel confident and rely on rear stability rushing into corners.
“Since go-karts, if the front end doesn’t turn in and bite, I have never liked it. My driving style is more to try and carry the speed in the corners, keeping the speed mid corner. That’s the way I’m used to doing it and obviously I change my style a little every year. I believe that is the fastest way for me and if I can’t put the car where I want and brake the way I want because of locking wheels or sliding from the front, then it’s going to become a guessing game and if you miss the line through one corner then you miss it through the next ones. It sounds a small thing, but over a lap it becomes quite a big deficit.”
The man from Espoo also talked about the possible mistakes Ferrari have made while preparing for the new era. He pointed out that the team have recruited their staff recently which gives hope for a significant lift in performance.
„They have hired new people. Maybe they made some mistakes when they started to design the 2014 car and maybe they haven’t got the best out of the rules, but we have plenty of good people who are able to turn things around. We will get there again. Unfortunately not in 2014.”
Raikkönen added that Ferrari has started to design the next year's challenger and he also had had input as Ferrari has listened to him and his advices how to sort out this year's issues.
'They started very early on the design of next year’s car and the designers listened to us and made some changes to try and improve in areas where we feel this year’s car has been lacking in performance. I believe we can have a much better car and a much better package. How good? We will know in February next year.”
Sebastain Vettel has labelled Raikkönen as his best friend in F1. The German is reported to join Ferrari as from next year. However the Finn didn't intend to go into details, he revalealed that the four-time champion was the one he gets along the best with.
„He is the best out of any of the drivers. I know him the most. But as to what is happening in terms of driver line-up, you won’t get any answers from me. Until something is announced I am not interested in talking about possible team mates. He is a good, straightforward guy. ”
Raikkönen is happy to be at Ferrari and is proud to be part of the fabled squad despite his and their own difficulties this year.
„I’ve made the right choice to come here. Sometimes you have a difficult year, but I am sure that Ferrari can turn it around next season. It is better [to have] one here than five with another team. It is the right place to be and even if 2014 was not so good, it is still Ferrari!„
