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Istanbul
was hit with a very heavy storm this morning, but the sun was
shining by the time Kimi strolled into the Scuderia Ferrari
Marlboro media motor home for his first meeting with the press.
Everyone
wanted to know if the podium finish in Monaco a fortnight ago
could lead to a win here n Sunday. “I won here once, so this
circuit is not too bad for me, but let’s see how we get our
package to work first and then we can see what we can expect this
weekend,” began Kimi. “Of course, I will try my best but I
cannot promise we will win. We tried some things in the last race
which means we are moving forward all the time, so we should be in
a better position this weekend. But you cannot compare this track
to Monaco, so we must wait and see what happens in tomorrow’s
practice and whether or not we have closed the gap some more to
the Brawns. As for our car, we just need to improve the package
overall and find some more downforce. When that happens we will be
stronger. We were the second best team in Monaco, but that is a
special place, so it is hard to know if that situation will be the
same in Turkey.” Kimi has won once here, but his team-mates has
the last three victories in Istanbul under his belt, so is the
Brazilian unbeatable at this track? Felipe has won many times here
and I’ve won once, so if I get the car working well and
everything works smoothly, I can be strong,” replied the Finn.
“I am sure I will win a race this year, but maybe this weekend
is too soon, but like I say, we can’t know much until
tomorrow’s practice.”
On
the subject of the future of F1, given the current political
wranglings, Kimi preferred to pass it over: “I don’t know,
don’t ask me, it’s a question for the people who run the sport.
This is not an easy time for those who run the teams and F1, but
probably something will get sorted out soon.”
Although
the F60 has improved considerably the gap from Ferrari to the
series leaders is considerable, but Raikkonen refuses to lose hope
about the titles. “As far as the championship is concerned, we
are improving, but in terms of points we are a long way behind.
But we keep trying and hope to put together some very good races
soon. Brawn would need to have a very bad time, not scoring points
in several races, to lose that advantage. I think that’s
unlikely to happen, even if we have seen strange things happen in
F1 in the past. If we continue to improve, we can have a chance,
but it’s a slim one. I always feel there’s a chance until it
is mathematically impossible. Even if that moment comes before the
end of the season, we will still try and win races. For the team
this is important.”
Finally,
a question about any superstitions he might have when preparing
for a race, when unsurprisingly, the straight talking Finn had no
mysteries to reveal. “I always do the same things, but it’s
not a ritual and I don’t have to do everything in the same
order,” he said. Basically, I put my helmet on and just jump in
the car! I don’t have any superstitions.”
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