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After
achieving his second pole position in this season, Kimi
Räikkönen was guest in the FIA press conference after the
Qualifying at the Nürburgring.
Question:
Kimi, obviously a disrupted third qualifying session, tell us your
thought processes before you went out for that final run, and how
good the lap was.
Kimi:
Of course it’s sometimes a bit difficult to wait for a long
time, but it’s not the first time, so we just needed to be
patient and try to do the best you can. It wasn’t the easiest
session. We only had one chance with one set of tyres, so… The
lap was good. It was easily good enough for pole so that was the
main thing. I think the car has been pretty good all weekend. In
the first qualifying it was a bit difficult to find the grip but
then once we put the fuel in the car, it seemed to come back again
so I’m very happy now. It’s been a bit difficult to get it on
the first row but I’m in first place so finally it happened.
Question:
You were quickest on Friday and Saturday; how do you think the
race will be with McLaren Mercedes?
Kimi:
It’s pretty easier now with one car only but I think it will be
a hard race, a long race. I don’t have very good memories from
here, so hopefully this year it will go a bit better, but for sure
it’s going to be a close race as the last was. We will just do
our best and hopefully we can win.
Question:
Kimi, winner of the last two races and now your second pole this
year; you must feel you’re on a bit of a roll at the moment.
Kimi:
It’s certainly better than it was a little bit earlier this
season, but it’s only pole position, it doesn’t make much
difference, you can still win from the other places but for sure,
I think we have good speed right now and it makes life feel a
little bit easier to start at the front.
Question:
Are you progressively feeling more comfortable in the car or have
you been fine for a race or two?
Kimi:
Since the last two races it’s been good but I guess you always
learn a little bit more and more and you can progress, but we’re
talking small differences and sometimes when you get everything
together you can be very fast and sometimes you don’t get all
the details exactly how you want and then it can be more difficult.
But right now, this weekend has been pretty good so hopefully
it’s the same tomorrow.
Question:
Do you feel you have the edge over McLaren here?
Kimi:
I don’t know, it’s difficult to say from the fuel loads. We
will see tomorrow but I think we’re going to have a strong car
in the race and that’s the main thing.
Question:
Kimi, considering what happened this afternoon, was it the most
demanding qualifying of your career?
Kimi:
No, I wouldn’t say so. I think certainly I have had more
difficult times. Probably Monaco a few years back with Fernando
was harder.
Question:
With the crash of Robert Kubica in Canada and Hamilton here, do
you think that there is a problem of safety in Formula One at this
moment?
Kimi:
It is always going to be dangerous, you can’t take that away.
Even though we try to improve the safety, you can get to a certain
level but we go so fast that usually when something goes wrong
somebody gets hurt. But luckily enough it is nothing serious so
this is part of racing really.
Question:
Yesterday the feeling was that with a used tyre you were faster
than McLaren. This morning and this afternoon did you have the
same feeling?
KR:
Today it is very difficult to say. We didn’t do too many laps in
a row. I’m pretty happy with how my car is performing in race
conditions, as close as we can see. I think we will have a good
package tomorrow.
Question:
Kimi, we saw your grandmother in the boxes, have you had some time
to speak with her after the pole position?
Kimi:
I’m in here, so what do you think?
Question:
But it seems lucky, you know because this is the second pole
position for you this year…
Kimi:
Yeah, but she wasn’t at the first one, was she? So that
doesn’t change anything. But it is nice because probably it is
her last race to be here and she is so excited, so it is good for
her.
Question:
Obviously, no-one likes to see an accident like Lewis suffered
today, but is this the opportunity you have been waiting for to
close the gap on Lewis in the Driver’s standings?
Kimi:
For sure it is not the way we want to do the racing but that is a
part of racing. Sometimes you have an accident, sometimes it is
not your fault, sometimes it is your mistakes, but it all counts.
The main thing is that he is ok and probably is going to race
tomorrow, but we will see. Anything can happen tomorrow, similar
things can happen to us, we will see.
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