Kimi review season 2012 It was the longest ever season I have had in Formula One. We did 20 races and I would say we could have had some better results, but generally taken it was a good year for us.
Im happy with it, and I think the team is happy with it, as well.
Obviously we would have preferred to get third place in the constructors championship, too. We fought for that almost the whole season, but at the end of the day, the speed to fight with the top three teams was not there in a every single race. So to finish 4th in the concstructors championship is what we deserved.
Being third in the drivers championship is not a big deal for me. Obviously, Im interested only in winning. We won one race and got six other podiums. Its good achievement, but, for sure, there could have been some more.
The Brazilian Grand Prix was one of the toughest races I have ever done. I had to go out in the first few corners to avoid hitting Vettel, so it started badly, then it went worse in the drizzling rain, and I couldnt see anything because of the vizor being wet and steamy. Finally I spun out, but managed to come back with some extra driving behind the barriers.
Well, we finished the race, got one point and ended the season without a single DNF. That shows we had the most reliable car although the last weekend was a real struggle with it, from FP1 to the end of race.
Once again that proved how much a good result depends on having a clean weekend. If you are not able to get enough laps testing in practice, forget the podium! The grid is so competitive that you need all the tenths and hundreds for you, not against you.
Now its time for a holiday.
Its almost Christmas time, so there is not that much waiting to do for the next year and a new season.
The team works hard to get even better results. I know the team now very well, I enjoy working with them and if the new car is competitive again, we should be heading for a better season.
I wish a Merry Christmas and a Happy new year to all my fans. Thanks for the support!
ZitatKimi personal Australian GP preview 11th March 2013 Getting grips again
The time flies, while we race during the season. It¹s a long year by the calendar, but if we are going well, it feels we approach finishing the season very quickly after starting it all over again.
Obviously, time flies during the vacation, as well. It feels like we just came back from Brazil, and now we are again in Australia starting the new season.
I travel so much because of the long season, so I prefer just staying at home for the days-off. I have relaxed with the family and friends, as usual. I trained hard and prepared myself for the new challenges of this season.
During the pre-season testing nobody could get grips with the new generation of Pirelli tyres, so it takes a couple of races into the season to know better, how they perform in hot weather.
I don¹t expect any radical change since last year. However, for one lap we should get more speed and competitiveness, so that¹s always a welcomed thing.
We had some small issues during the testing, and they cost a lot of track time. I liked the new car. It¹s giving nice and positive feeling, every time while I managed to get some laps with it.
I feel the new car is a improvement in all the areas compared to last year¹s car. It¹s not giving any guarantees to produce better results, but, for sure, I will try my very best to have a stronger campaign again.
But right now it¹s useless to start guessing who will be in the front. Let¹s wait until Saturday for the first qualifying to see all the cars having the first real laps in same fuel loads and tyres.
ZitatKimi Australia review and Malaysia preview 20th March 2013 Great way to start
Obviously, winning the race as soon as the season starts, netting 25 points in the championship and getting the fastest lap time, feels good. I could not have asked for more.
The main reason to be happy with the first weekend of the racing season was, however, the feeling I had with the car. As I thanked the team in the radio after the race, I really meant it: We have a good car!
In Australia the race went very well, but we could have done better in the qualifying. It was a strange session split in two days. I had done the qualifying on Sunday morning only one before long time ago in Japan, and, while it¹s the same for everybody, it was still quite tricky to get the lap together in those conditions.
After qualifying everything went as we planned. We had decided to go for two stop strategy after Friday practise and it was exactly the right way to go. I didn¹t have any kind of issues with the tyres and the win must be one of the easiest I¹ve ever got in F1.
Now we head for the Malaysian Grand Prix. I¹ve got nice and not that nice memories from Sepang circuit. We have won there twice and it was ten years ago, while I did it for the first time in my F1 career.
The circuit is very challenging. It¹s not my favourite place, while it¹s always that hot, but it¹s always a great circuit to race a F1 car. This time we should have a good car for the hot track temperatures, as well, but we have to wait until Friday practise, to find out more precisely.
Obviously, we do our very best to get it right at Sepang, and, hopefully net some good points again.
ZitatKimi Malaysian GP review 26th March 2013 Minimizing the loss
The first two races are done, I¹m back in training at home, and getting ready for the next double in China and in Bahrain.
We got the best result in Australia, but not that good in Malaysia. As I said after winning in Melbourne, the main target for the championship fight is to get strong points and if that is not possible, to minimize the not that good results while time being.
It¹s was a race to minimize the loss. Well, we lost a piece of the front wing in the first lap, then we had some tight moments with a couple of drivers, and finally managed to finish the race in P7 and take six points with us.
Afterwards it didn¹t feel too bad. We still got some points, we had a good feeling with the car on Friday, we know  more or less  what went wrong and we should be able to fix it for the next race.
Obviously, it doesn¹t mean anything right now which position we have in the championship, but still it¹s better to be closer to the top like this compared what we had done last year after a few races.
ZitatKimi Chinese GP preview 10th April 2013 Crossing the break
It has been a different kind of break for me. I have spent some time with my motocross team, while they had their opening race for the European season in an ice cold Valkenswaard in the Netherlands.
The atmosphere was great, there were a lot of motocross fans and the races were great to watch. I personally had a racing driver to a racing driver chat with my motocross team competitors, They are professionals like me and it felt good to change opinions between F1 and motocross drivers.
I tried the bike myself, as well, and it was pretty refreshing way to have a break from Formula One.
Now it¹s time for the third race weekend of the Formula One season. China has been a good place for me from time to time, but every race gives a brand new challenge. It doesn¹t help how we did there 5-6 years ago, or in the last couple of races this season.
Obviously, we have a car to do our very best every weekend. What to expect from Shanghai, that I can say after the practise sessions, not before. That¹s how it goes every time.
Last year we went for it with a tyre risk. We knew it was a long way to go with the same set of tyres. Then it didn¹t work out, and we have to pay for it loosing many positions during the last few laps of the race.
Hopefully we get a good solid weekend this time. If the car goes as it has gone in the some earlier runs in this year, we should be ok for Shanghai, too. Let¹s wait and see, what the weekend brings along.
I¹m ready for it, the team has worked hard to get the car right and the weather should be ok.
The first part of the season is behind us. Our target was to improve from what we got in first four races of 2012, and, obviously, we have gain some better results, and, the most importantly, a few more points.
Winning and clinching podiums has given a good basis for this championship campaign. We have not had the fastest car, but it¹s realiable and competitive, so no complaints so far.
The Bahrain weekend showed again, how crucial it is to get a top result in qualifying. We didn¹t have the speed for one lap, my lap was not perfect and all in all, we dropped too many places behind the leaders.
The race itself was a matter of taking care of the tyres. I was already on Friday thinking of two stops, and, it prooved to be the fastest way for us in the race. It could have been a little bit easier with the Force India, but we played it safe and I stopped quite early.
There was no way to fight for the victory against Vettel. We got second and third place and, for sure, that was a great result for the team. Obviously, we have work to do to keep on fighting with the top guys, but so far, so good. I¹m quite happy with that.
Now it¹s time to move to European season, starting from Barcelona. This is so refreshing time of the year. I don¹t like the long journeys, so it¹s nice to be that much closer to the racing circuits from home. For Barcelona everybody will bring new parts to their cars. It¹s going to be interesting to see, how it turns out to be there in Friday practice.
The summer holiday feels always nice, while you are able to battle for the championship. Obviously, we are!
Half a season is done, the other half starts after a couple of weeks break. After some not that good races we came back to the fight with podiums in Germany and Hungary.
P2 is never what I¹m looking for, but good enough to keep the distance to the leaders of the championship.
We won the the opening race of the season, and we have have strong race speed almost every time. Obviously the qualifying has not been our strongest area, and we have put us in a difficult position too many times on Saturdays.
Hungary was a nice way to start the holiday, while we improved our position in the championship and gained some points to Sebastian Vettel, as well.
We are 38 points behind, but this fight is far away from being over. The boys back in the factory have done good job and our car is still in the top level.
Obviously, the tyres have been in the spotlight for most of the season. It has not helped us, while the tyre has been changed so many times, while you never know, how they start working after the change.
But it¹s the same for everybody, so there is no reason to complain too much. We had our share of the problems in Hungary. We could not get the front tyre working properly in practise and that made it very tricky to get the set-up in order for the qualifying.
It was not that bad, but it could have been better: we lost much too much time solving the problems.
Now it¹s time to chill out with family and friends. Soon the racing starts again and I cannot wait getting back to business in Spa-Francorchamps. Let¹s wait and see, how our car goes there this time.
ZitatKimi Belgian review and Italian preview 4th September 2013
Head up to Monza
Well, I¹ve been around long enough to know, you never can win them all. We had a pretty good run of decent results since the very beginning of the last season, so I could expect that to stop sometime.
Obviously, it happened in Spa.
It was never to be a good battle field for me this time. We simply didn¹t have general speed enough. Then we didn¹t get that well-timed qualifying we would have needed to fight for the podium. And finally we picked up the brake issue, that destroyed our race.
With the first DNF, however, we missed some good points, which hurt our championship fight, while all the other top guys scored maximum points.
But it would be just waste of time and energy to cry because of it afterwards. Let¹s keep the head up and go flat out to Monza.
And it really will be flat out again. Monza is the most historical racing place I know. All the cars will have the smallest wings to go as fast as possible on those long straights.
As a driver the speed itself doesn¹t make any difference to other circuits. With these cars you always try to go as fast as possible.
I have never won in Monza, so it would be really nice to experience that, too. We should get some new parts to our car. Hopefully it helps, while the low downforce nature of a circuit like Monza has not been that ideal for our car last year, and it¹s still the case this season, as well.
There is no reason to give up the fight for the championship. We won the first race of the season, and we would need some top points more to get back to top fight. It¹s still 200 points to gain, so everything is still possible.
One period of continual point scoring races ended in Spa. Let¹s try to start a new one with big points in Monza!
Print view
Tue Nov 27, 2012 7:23 pm
" title="hug" /> 
t" title="hat" />
reply
" title="ty" /> 
