A high price for a mistake - Raikkonen

It wasn't a good weekend for the Finnish Ferrari driver. Kimi Raikkonen left Monte Carlo clearly disappointed. "I had high expectations for this race, my first one in the Principality with Ferrari," said the Finn back home.

"I threw it all away in the qualifying. In the second session I started on extra-soft tyres and when I came out of the swimming pool chicane I bumped with the right front wheel into the guard rail. It was not a very heavy bump, but enough to break the steering rope and to crack the suspension's lower arm: in the past I already hit the guard rail in a much more violent way and nothing happened. This time there was nothing we could do, although the team tried very hard: it would have been much too risky to get back on the track without having everything set up perfectly. This was my mistake. Let's not make a drama out of it, because these things happen in racing and there's no point in crying over spilt milk."

After the qualifying Raikkonen knew that his chances for the race were extremely limited: "I knew that I had a pursuit race ahead of me. Starting from the 16th position on the grid, there's hardly anything you can do. The only positive moment was the start, when I managed to pass four cars. Considering the fuel load I had on board, if I had done something like that from a position further ahead, it would have been perfect. But all I could do was to improve a difficult position. From then on I was stuck in traffic. There was not even one single lap I could push as I could have done and wanted to. So it's difficult for me to understand what my race rhythm could have been. The car was perfectly set up since the beginning of the weekend, as it also was during the tests at Le Castellet the week before. I felt that maybe for the first time this year I could have given the max with the F2007. It's annoying when you're always stuck behind a slower car and you can't do anything to improve your position. At least we managed to bring home one point; still better than nothing."

Despite the problems Kimi had over the last two weekends, he is still optimistic as far as the season is concerned: "Sure, the gap between me and the top makes life harder, but this is still the first part of the championship. We will give it our all to catch up and we will fight until the end. In case nothing really surprising happens, there are four drivers who can win a Grand Prix. This situation might actually help me a bit with bridging the gap. I knew that McLaren was to be very strong in Monaco, but I also knew that we could have a very good rhythm. It would be nice to have a direct confrontation. I hope that everything will finally go well at the next race. I'll go to Canada after a short trip to Finland. Meanwhile, for my good friend Teemu Selanne, who'll play with Anaheim in the finals of the Stanley Cup: break a leg!"