ZitatTopfit Kimi ready for Sepang sauna F1 | Turun Sanomat 08:58
Kimi Raikkonen, the winner of 20 Grands Prix, is in the best shape of his life. Just have a look at him and his muscles, he’s really fit. Compared to team mate Romain Grosjean, the Frenchman looks thiny and boyish.
After winning in Australia Raikkonen headed to a gym in Kuala Lumpur. The planned game of badmington against Sebastian Vettel was postponed, while the German were busy elsewhere.
Turun Sanomat met Raikkonen in a good mood, but like every Thursday, approaching every question very critically in this one-to-one interview. While the driving starts on Friday, the Finnish star of Lotus is not that keen to speculate beforehand how it will go.
It will a anniversary of the first ever Grand Prix victory of Raikkonen on Saturday. It’s exactly ten years ago Raikkonen joined the winner’s club.
– Where do you dig all these dates, Kimi comments, while I reminded him about this anniversary.
Do you still remember it well?
– Of course, for sure, I remember all my races, but it doesn’t change anything to what ever will happen this weekend.
You have won twice with Lotus – are there any similarities between Abu Dhabi and Australia?
– No win has any kind of simililarities to some others. Only the position is the same, that’s all. In every race everything, however, happens a little bit differently.
But but TOP3 was in the same order both times?
– Eventhough every single driver would finish the race exactly in the same order, it would not mean, that the races have been similiar – not at least from the driver’s point of view.
Raikkonen is well-known as an athlete, who recordfast is able to leave even the worst disappointment behind. Does the good feeling after winning in Australia disappear as fast from your mind?
– For sure, the feeling is better while you win compared to get a bad result. But it doesn’t change any way how long you feel it – especially now, while a new race is following so soon.
Does Australia then feel as old as a memory like your first victory ten years ago?
– Don’t ask that kind things. Thet feel like questions from a shrink...
Well, let’s change the subject:
You have been working with Adrian Newey at McLaren, with Aldo Costa at Ferrari and now with James Allison at Lotus. Does Allison differ from the two as a technical director?
– For sure, they all have been different kind of people, but the way I have been working with them all, does not differ terribly much. None of them has become more close to me. They all are very good people - without that, they would not be able to build such a good cars.
Allison seems to do well with a smaller budjet, as well?
– I’m certain, all of them would be good. It’s not up to the budjet.
According to team sources Raikkonen has asked to leave his car alone after Australia. Not to touch it, while he wants to carry on like it was in Albert Park.
– But we don’t set-up the car between the races, any way, while it would not help at all. Something small we do for every circuit, but we didn’t touch the car last year, either between these two races. Only on Friday we drive it and then we know, do we have to change something.
Is this the best car you have started the season with?
– I cannot tell. It’s pretty tricky to compare, while every year is a little bit different. Now we have different tyres. And you have to remember, everything is not depening on how good is the car. You can get a bad result with a good car and you can get a good result with not that good car, if something surprising happens.
What is going to decide the championship this year - and, please, don’t answer whoever has the most points?
– What else would then decide it? It’s not up to the mercy given by the others to win it. It is, like it is, who has most points after race 19, will be the champion. It’s like it is in every other sports, too!
Kimi Räikkönen topped the times on the first day of running as the second round of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship – the Malaysian Grand Prix – got underway at the Sepang International Circuit. Kimi set a 1min 36.569secs lap in an afternoon session which was interrupted by a minor rain shower, while Romain Grosjean was sixth fastest. The team evaluated new front wings on both cars with a new exhaust and related bodywork also featuring on Kimi’s car.
Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director – Technical programme notes - We evaluated a new front wing on both cars. - Kimi ran with a new exhaust and outlet package in both sessions. - Pirelli’s hard (orange) compound tyre was used in the first session, the hard and medium (white) dry tyres as well as the intermediate (green) in the afternoon. - The second session saw rain-interrupted long runs on both tyre compounds.
What we learned today: - The E21 ran reliably, giving strong performance on all tyres and in all weather conditions. - The new front wing works well and will be retained for the rest of the weekend. - The new exhaust package works well and will remain on Kimi’s car for the rest of the weekend.
Kimi Räikkönen, E21-03 Free practice 1: P2, 1:37.003, 15 laps Free practice 2: P1, 1:36.569, 28 laps
Kimi: “It was a pretty good day. We tried changing a few things on the car and made progress with where we wanted to be at the end of the sessions. We had some running in the wet which you often get around here and the car feels fine. We ran pretty heavy today so I don’t know how we’ll be when everyone is light for qualifying, but I’m happy with where we are and expect we’ll be reasonable tomorrow.”
Romain Grosjean, E21-01 Free practice 1: P10, 1:37.915 17 laps Free practice 2: P6, 1:37.206, 26 laps
Romain: “We’re still working on the setup of the car as it’s not quite right for me and it’s difficult to understand why exactly. The new front wing does feel better than the one before so that helps. Kimi was running an updated aero package which looks to be an improvement so we know there’s more pace to come in that area, but there are still things we can do with the current specification once I get everything working for me. It was pretty hot out there – quite a contrast to Melbourne – but I felt comfortable and I’m looking forward to making some improvements tomorrow before we head into qualifying.”
James Allison, Technical Director: “I’m happy with our day’s work. We came here this week seeking reassurance that our car would be equally as competitive in a very different set of conditions to what we saw in Australia, and the early indications are that it looks reasonably useful. The upgrades we’ve trialled today also appear to be working well. Although both drivers ran the new front wing, Romain was at somewhat of a disadvantage in not having the latest exhaust variation and related bodywork on his car, so he can take heart from a healthy position on the time sheets. The only slight interruption to proceedings was a compromise to our long run programme once the rain arrived, but this actually proved to be pretty useful in itself as we now have a better understanding of the crossover point for the intermediate tyres. Overall it’s been a very productive day.”
Kimi Raikkonen says he could have gone faster in after setting the quickest time of Friday practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix.
After ending the morning session within 0.1s of Mark Webber, Raikkonen set the quickest time of FP2 as he edged out Sebastian Vettel by 0.019s. Asked if he thought he would be more competitive against the Red Bulls in qualifying Raikkonen was his usual non-committal self but said there was more performance in the car on Friday.
"I don't know. The car feels as good as it was the last race and we didn't really have any issues," Raikkonen said. "The qualifying wasn't normal there so it's very hard to say where we'll come really if we qualified in normal conditions and we don't know what will happen tomorrow. It was OK today and for sure we could have gone faster so I think it's reasonable."
Raikkonen also said he was unsure if the E21 would be as easy on its tyres in Malaysia as it was last weekend having not completed a high-fuel run on Friday.
"It's the same like we had in the last race. We had a small issue with the KERS battery in the morning but apart from that it's OK. We couldn't do a long run but it's the same for everybody because it rained ... I think everybody missed the long runs."
ZitatKIMI KEEPING COOL ON FREE PRACTICE PACE Second in the morning and fastest in the afternoon, it seems Kimi is picking up where he left of last weekend here in Malaysia. What does it all mean to the Iceman? Have a guess…
YOU WERE FULL OF PRAISE FOR THE CAR AFTER MELBOURNE; HOW DOES IT FEEL HERE IN SEPANG? It’s the same car we had at the last race and we won there so we know it can be fast. We tried changing a few things, made some progress with where we wanted to be at the end of the sessions and it feels just as good as it did in Australia. There was also some running in the wet which you often get around here and the car feels fine in any conditions.
MANAGING THE TYRES WAS ONE OF THE KEY ELEMENTS OF YOUR VICTORY LAST WEEKEND; WILL THIS BE A MORE DAUNTING TASK IN THE MALAYSIAN HEAT? We didn’t complete a long run this afternoon like we planned because of the rain so it’s hard to say how the tyres will be, but they were ok last time so hopefully it will be the same here.
WE’VE SEEN SHOWERS ALMOST AS INTENSE AS THE HEAT HERE ALREADY; HOW DOES THE CHANGEABLE WEATHER AFFECT YOU IN THE CAR? I don’t really mind about the weather; we can’t change it and it’s the same for everybody. It’s hot when you walk around the paddock, but you don’t notice it so much in the car with all the air coming into the cockpit. Like I said, the car feels good in all conditions so I’m not worried what happens.
SO OVERALL A GOOD START TO THE WEEKEND? It was a pretty good day and it’s always nice to be fastest, but of course that doesn’t mean it will be the same for the whole weekend. We ran pretty heavy so I don’t know what will happen when everyone is light for qualifying, but I’m happy with where we are and expect we’ll be reasonable tomorrow. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.
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Thu Mar 21, 2013 9:42 pm
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