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Kimi
Räikkönen looks back to the British Grand Prix and congratulates
his friend Sebastian Vettel for his great race. In the meantime
Ferrari may shift focus on to 2010 car.
"We
had some pretty interesting improvements on the F60 at Silverstone,
such as an improved front suspension and a new front wing. On such
a fast track it was important to understand how much downforce we
could have: we can say for sure that the car wasn't bad in terms
of the set up, but we're still missing downforce to be able to
compete with the leaders. Having said that, the developments go in
the right direction.
The
qualifying seemed very promising. I was very happy with my lap in
Q2, but then, when I had refueled the car didn't go as good
anymore. Starting from the fifth row my goal was to gain some
points. This time I had a good start: the main straight is quite
long, but it wasn't enough to pass Nakajima. I came on the grass
and then I was on fifth position, impossible to gain more, because
my first stint was too short. I couldn't overtake: in the fast
corners at Silverstone it's very difficult to stay behind the car
in front of you, especially when you have less fuel on board than
the first ten cars on the grid. So I had a difficult race. In the
end I gained one point. Better than nothing, but still a poor
result. We are on position four in the Constructors' Championship
and I think that this is our current value. We're out there
fighting for third position, but the two teams on the top are
still ahead of us in terms of performance.
After
Silverstone we have two whole weeks to get ready as good as
possible for the last two races before the summer break. The first
of these two races is at the Nuerburgring. We'll get there with
some improvements. It's a track with more slow corners and more
braking points than the English circuit. We have to be more
competitive, but it will also depend from the improvements the
others can make. As usual.
I
want to congratulate Sebastian for his great race. If the Brawns
had some problems we could benefit: the next circuit is very
different from Silverstone. We'll see how things go before we make
any conclusions."
Ferrari
may shift focus on to 2010 car (©
Autosport)
Ferrari
has dropped a firm hint that it will soon switch its focus on to
the 2010 car, with its current F60 having failed to prove a match
for the race-winning Brawn and Red Bull Racing cars. With Felipe
Massa and Kimi Raikkonen having scored just one podium finish so
far this year, the team has little chance of turning its fortunes
around in time to battle for the title. And that is why Ferrari
president Luca di Montezemolo has suggested that the team will
soon start shifting its efforts on to making sure that it gets its
2010 car spot on.
"I
am confident we can improve our performance in the next races, but
having said that it is quite difficult if not impossible really to
dramatically change the car during the season without tests,"
di Montezemolo told the official Ferrari website. "When you
have a car at the beginning of the season with certain
characteristics it is difficult to change it during the season
between one race and the other. But I am very confident we can
improve our performances in the next race, and then we will be
fully concentrated to next year's car, without KERS, with clear
rules after the important agreement that we have been very pleased
to find with the FIA last week."
Di
Montezemolo has once again blamed the early season uncertainty
over double-decker diffusers for playing a part in Ferrari's
troubles this season.
"Unfortunately
we started the season with grey rules," he said. "It is
difficult to give a correct interpretation, and the proof is that
the three teams that have won the last F1 world championship -
like Ferrari, McLaren and Renault have made the same
interpretation of the rules, and they are not as competitive as
before. This is one of the reasons of our battle, to have rules
more stable, clear, transparent, and we have done the car with the
KERS, it means more weight on the car and a lot of other teams
have not done the KERS.
So
if the federation wants to introduce the KERS, it has to be the
same for everybody. Now I think it is time to go back to clear
rules."
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