|
Kimi
Raikkonen is expecting BMW Sauber to win races this year as he
predicts a 'long and tough' battle for the world championship.
The
Ferrari driver moved to the head of the drivers' standings with
second place in Bahrain last weekend. And, although managing to
overtake and beat pole position man Robert Kubica, he is mindful
of the major threat BMW are now posing.
"The
BMWs were very close," Raikkonen told Ferrari's official
website. "I managed to pass Kubica, when he had some trouble:
this was an important moment, because his race rhythm was very
good. In the end I already said that in this season it will be
very hard to gain every single place. It will be a very long and
tough championship. I wouldn't be surprised if BMW won some races
this year. There will be Grands Prix where we will be stronger and
others where they will have an advantage; the same is true for
McLaren, who remain very competitive."
Raikkonen
admits he was disappointed to have been beaten by teammate Felipe
Massa in Bahrain, but said he had little reason to be too unhappy
after moving to the lead of the drivers' standings.
"I
want to win races and fight for the title: coming in second left
me a bit disappointed," he said. "Sometimes certain
weekends are just like that and the one in Bahrain was one of
them. For one reason or the other, the Sakhir circuit does not
seem to be very favourable to me. But there's still some
satisfaction at the end of this Grand Prix: I'm leading the
drivers' championship. When we think about how many points we
gained in Melbourne this is a great result."
|