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A
hopeful Kimi Raikkonen is getting ready for the upcoming European
GP, although it has to be said he has a negative history here at
the races in Germany.
"I
don't know what it is about Germany. I have never had any luck
there during my entire Formula One career. I've always been
competitive at the Nurburgring and at Hockenheim, but something
always happened to stop me from winning," said Raikkonen.
"Let's hope that I can turn around things here my first time
with Ferrari."
"I
had one podium finish at the Nurburgring with my former team, but
a couple of times I had to stop while I was leading in the race:
that is a bad memory. Although I have to say that I like the place.
Until last year this was one of the home races for my team, now
it's a race like all the others. That means that I can relax a bit
more, because I don't have so many promotions to do."
Last
week Raikkonen tested at Spa Francorchamps. "The car felt
almost even better than in Silverstone: race after race we are
making improvements. We finished most of the program, although in
Spa Francorchamps you always have to take the weather into account."
"The
Nurburgring is a completely different track compared to the one in
Belgium, but nevertheless I expect us to be very competitive. It
was nice having a break after the two back-to-back races; even
although I won both of them. It's good that I had the time to
rethink the two victories at Silverstone and Magny-Cours. I've
been to Finland for some days, together with my family and
friends.I haven't done anything special: a bit of chilling out and
training. For me the Finnish summer is something very special.
"After
the double win the tifosi of Ferrari are now waiting for a
hat-trick: "I know, but I don't want to predict anything
right now. We have to get on the track and give our best: then
we'll see if it's enough to win the race."
"Up
to now there are only two teams, which have won races. I guess
that it will remain like that for the rest of the season. I'm glad
to race in Germany for Ferrari. In the past I had the feeling that
Michael was almost invincible there. It looked as if whatever we
did, a red car had to cross the line first. Now it's my turn to do
the same."
Raikkonen
is third in the championship with 52 points. While he is now a
point ahead of team-mate Felipe Massa, the Finn trails
championship leader Lewis Hamilton by 18 points.
"We
are now starting the second half of the season and the pressure
inevitably rises. We have to close the gap on our competitors, but
there's still a lot of time left. Slowly but surely, race after
race, we have to catch up: we will start doing that on Sunday at
the Nurburgring."
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