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Kimi
was guest of the FIA press conference after the Qualifying of the
Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul. In this he spoke about his
problems in the last session as well as his expectations for the
race.
Question:
Kimi, you also looked like a pole man for quite a while there.
What was qualifying like for you?
Kimi:
I think the first qualifying (sessions) were good. I made a
mistake in the second one in corner nine but the car felt good and
just in the last qualifying, the last lap, I had a bit of
oversteer in the last two corners, but nevertheless, I think third
is OK. For sure, I would rather be in first place but I think we
have a good race car here. It’s going to be a long race so
hopefully we can fight back.
Question:
We talk a lot about the dramatic fast corners here particularly
turn eight but then it’s interesting to hear you and other
drivers talking about the last few corners of the lap, which are
relatively slow and appear to be quite easy corners.
Kimi:
Yeah, they’re slow but you lose much more time in slow corners
than in fast corners. They’re very important corners and it’s
very tricky to get them right. They seem to be very slippery. You
can easily destroy the lap there so that’s what happened, but I
think we are still in a good position for tomorrow and we will see
what we can do in the race.
Question:
Kimi, a bit disappointed to be third after yesterday for instance?
Kimi:
Yeah, for sure we want to be in first place but the first two
qualifying runs were OK, the car was good. I made small mistakes
in the second qualifying but I just had maybe not as a good car as
I was expecting in the last run, but a small mistake in the last
two corners was enough to put me third. But I think we have a very
good car in the race, so we should be able to fight and it’s a
long race. We will see what we can do.
Question:
You seem to be talking a lot about the third sector. Is it a case
of you can lose a lot of time there but you can’t gain a lot?
Kimi:
I think you can win as much as you can lose if you get it right
but the fact is that you can lose more time in the slow corners
because you spend more time in them. It’s just a tricky place
with very tight corners and you try to be quick in a straight
line, so you don’t want too much downforce but it is also
slippery.
Question:
Kimi, yesterday you said you would prefer P3 to P2 if you were not
on pole. Do you still agree?
Kimi:
I think so, if you look at past years the clean side of the
circuit seems to be the better place to start. I think it might
make a difference here but we will see what happens tomorrow.
Question:
There are 50 points still to play for, so both of you could still
be world champion, but realistically what have you got to do now
to stop Lewis and Fernando? I think that you need to be beating
Lewis by three and a half points per race between now and the end
of the season, so what do you have to do?
Kimi:
We will do our best and hopefully win races and you never know
what is going to happen in the last six races. We will keep
pushing for as long as we still think we have a chance. The next
three races are important but we need to wait and see.
Question:
You said you didn’t have as good a car in Q3 as in Q1 and Q2, so
can you just describe what happened with the balance of the car?
Kimi:
It was nothing specific, I just think that when you put more fuel
in the car it is always going to be different. You are always
guessing a bit how it is going to be and although it was still
good I could not quite put a lap together as well as I was hoping.
But I think for long runs in the race the car should be good. I am
not too disappointed although for sure it makes it easier if you
start in first place, so we will just have to see what happens.
Question:
Kimi, can you describe how it felt when you made a mistake, I
think between T12 and T13? Did you analyse in that moment that you
had lost pole position?
Kimi:
I didn’t know. I knew that I lost time because I was a bit off
the line. I don’t know how much I lost but for sure it would
have been a lot closer. It just sometimes happens when you push to
gain time and you overdo it. It is part of the game.
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