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After
the longest mid-season break in the F1 calendar, it was business
as usual in a very hot and sunny Valencia, where Kimi Raikkonen
faced the media in the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro motorhome,
overlooking the harbour that forms a backdrop to this interesting
street circuit.
Business
as usual maybe, but with a different driver line-up, as Luca
Badoer deputises for Felipe Massa. The Finn did not feel this
would have much effect on his own weekend: “I don’t mind who
is my team-mate and it will be work as usual for me, trying to do
my best. It’s true that Luca has not raced for a long while, but
he has been an important part of the team for a long time. It will
be interesting to see how he gets on, although it will not be an
easy weekend for him. But all of us in the team will get behind
him and try and help him as much as we can. Hopefully, we can both
have a good weekend. For the team it’s a bigger difference than
for me, as I am still working with the same people as before. But
as I said, we will try and help Luca in whatever way possible.”
As
to Kimi’s expectations, they were dependent on the usual factors:
“our performance varies according to the type of circuit and the
type of tyre we have, so it is hard to make predictions,”
explained the Finn. “If we get everything running the way we
want and 100%, then maybe we can fight for a podium finish. But as
usual, we will have to wait at least until tomorrow’s practice
to get a better idea. The track here has some similarities with
Monaco and Hungary, so it should be quite a good place for us.”
The
F60 has proved more competitive in recent races and Kimi explained
it was reaching the end of its development programme. “We will
try and improve the car as much as we can, but we cannot do too
much more with this car as we have to look also to next season,”
he said. He also confirmed that the F60 would continue to run with
KERS this weekend. “KERS has helped us all year, otherwise we
would not still be using it and I am sure it will give us an edge
here also, although I have not yet seen the precise data on this.”
And
a final message for Felipe back home in Brazil: “I hope he gets
better very soon and comes back to racing as soon as possible.”
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