I¹m a racing driver, and being one, I always want to win. When we talk about the races in China last week and in Bahrain last year, well, obviously, we finished second in both occasions. So something was missed, but, to be honest, I can live with that.

We have a competitive car. But it¹s not easy to get everything right with it in the set-ups. While it works, it is ok. So we got it going ok in China, and hopefully we manage to get it good in Bahrain, too.

This is a very tight championship. Every point counts. For sure, there will be more not that good weekends like we had in Malaysia, so it¹s important to minimize the losses then, likewise to maximize the result, while the car is going well.

The race at Shanghai started badly, then I know now, how it felt going close range to McLaren. We lost some parts of the nose, but, surprisingly, not that much the speed after all.

To finish second was probably the best possible result with all the happenings we experienced, but still I was not that happy, while I knew, we could have fought stronger for P1 as well.

After the race I went back home, rested a little bit and recharge the batteries to keep on fighting in Bahrain this weekend. I have some very good memories from there, but, unfortunately, some not that good, too. Last year we gambled on qualifying, but didn¹t loose the chance to fight for the victory.

Obviously, it doesn¹t help a single bit this time, how we did last year. It¹s a brand new ball game every time were start a new race weekend. We expect to be competitive, but we have to wait until Friday morning, to learn, how the car goes in Sakhir circuit this time.

Kimi clinched a hard-earned P2 in today’s Chinese Grand Prix, and is aiming to stay right at the sharp end throughout the season ahead

Q: Another podium after a tough race; are you pleased with the result?

A: Second wasn’t quite what we wanted, but in the circumstances it was the best that we could manage today. I’m not 100% happy because we didn’t win, but it is what it is and second place is a good result after a bad start and the incident with Sergio [Perez].

Q: What was your view on that incident?

A: I was moving alongside him and thought there was enough space, but in the end there wasn’t and I got pushed onto the grass. Maybe he didn’t see me and I tried my best to avoid him, but unfortunately I couldn’t so I hit the rear of his car which damaged my front wing. Luckily there was still the kerb there so I found some grip to stay on the track and carry on.

Q: How tricky was the car to handle with the damage?

A: It was quite difficult out there. Obviously the car is not designed like that otherwise we would use it all the time, but I was surprised how good it was still. Of course there were some handling issues and quite a lot of understeer which was not ideal, but we just had to try to live with it. We could have changed the wing but we would probably have lost more time overall and we still had pretty ok speed even with the damage.

Q: You’re second in the Championship, just three points off the lead; are you pleased with your start to this season?

A: We just have to keep doing our best at every race. For sure it’s not a bad start and we’re in a better position than this time last year, but we’ve only had three races so it’s too early to say. We just have to keep doing our best at every race, make sure we still pick up points if sometimes we don’t have such a good weekend and hopefully we can stay in the hunt.

Q: You needed an entourage to make it back through the paddock today; how does it feel to have such fanatical support?

A;:It’s great to see so many fans and there was a lot of noise up on the podium. Hopefully I can keep giving them some good results.

Kimi Räikkönen took his second podium finish of the season with a strong second place in the Chinese Grand Prix. Despite a rearranged nose and front wing – courtesy of contact with Sergio Perez’s McLaren – Kimi fought back after a poor start from the front row of the grid. Kimi keeps up his run of consecutive points finishes and retains second in the Drivers’ Championship on a tally of 49 points; three behind leader Sebastian Vettel. The team falls one place to third position in the Constructors’ Championship on 60 points, with Ferrari now ahead with 73 points.

- Both drivers started on scrubbed sets of the soft compound (yellow) Pirelli tyre.
- Kimi pitted for new mediums (white) on laps 6, 21 and 34, Romain on laps 7, 23 and 37.
- Kimi incurred damage to his front wing after an early collision with Sergio Perez.

Kimi Räikkönen, P2, E21-03
“Second wasn’t quite what we wanted, but in the circumstances it was the best that we could manage today. I’m not 100% happy because we didn’t win, but it is what it is and second place is a good result after a bad start and the incident with Sergio [Perez]. It was quite difficult out there; obviously the car is not designed like that otherwise we would use it all the time, but I was surprised how good it was still. Of course there were some handling issues which was not ideal, but we just had to try to live with it and we still had pretty okay speed.” 

Kimi Räikkönen will have his first front row start since the 2009 Monaco Grand Prix after qualifying second for tomorrow’s Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit. Kimi set a 1min 34.761secs lap using Pirelli’s soft compound tyre and will start alongside Lewis Hamilton for the 56 lap race.

Kimi Räikkönen, E21-03.
Q: P2, 1:34.761.
FP3: P7, 1:36.605

“This is my best qualifying for the team which is good, but of course you always want to be on pole. It’s been quite a tricky weekend so far and we’ve had a few small issues with setup, but it’s always difficult to get things exactly how you want them and the car seems to be working well now. The tyres will of course be the question mark tomorrow; some people are starting on the primes but we chose the strategy we think will work best. Hopefully we can keep managing the degradation well like we have so far this season and have a good race tomorrow.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director:


How was qualifying for the team?
We’re obviously very happy with the result today. Kimi has been comfortable with his car pretty much all weekend; not so much this morning when a small set up change was made, but that was reversed and he was back where we wanted to be.

What was the problem with Romain’s car?
Romain had a difficult morning but with no real issues; just circumstantial problems which put things on hold briefly. He went into qualifying with a car that was unchanged from this morning, so bearing in mind his earlier tribulations he did a great job to take P6.

What are the considerations the for race strategy?
We’ve done all our race preparation and run work so we know where we are in terms of both the soft and the medium compound tyres; we’re pretty confident on strategy and looking forward to running a very strong race.

What is possible tomorrow?
From second and sixth anything is possible; we will certainly be pushing to get both drivers on the podium with one of them on the top step.

Kimi Räikkönen set the second fastest time of the first day during the opening sessions for round three of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship; the Chinese Grand Prix. Kimi lapped the Shanghai International Circuit in a time of 1min 35.492secs during a soft tyre run in the afternoon session. Romain Grosjean was hampered on his flying lap using the softs; ending his second session with the twelfth fastest time. Kimi trialled new rear floor aero parts.

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director - Technical programme notes:

- We evaluated a new front wing on Romain’s car.
- Kimi ran with new aero components on the rear floor.
- Pirelli’s medium (white) compound tyre was used in the first session, the medium and soft (yellow) tyres during the second.
- Romain ran with the latest exhaust package in the morning, reverting to the older configuration in the afternoon for comparison purposes.

What we learned today: - The new front wing appears to be beneficial and Romain will continue with it for the rest of the weekend.
- The data from the rear exhaust package appears to confirm the benefit of the latest specification.
- The car looks good with both tyre compounds.

Kimi Räikkönen, E21-03
Free practice 1: P11, 1:38.790, 16 laps
Free practice 2: P2, 1:35.492, 32 laps 

Crossing the break It has been a different kind of break for me. I have spent some time with my motocross team, while they had their opening race for the European season in an ice cold Valkenswaard in the Netherlands.

The atmosphere was great, there were a lot of motocross fans and the races were great to watch. I personally had a racing driver to a racing driver chat with my motocross team competitors, They are professionals like me and it felt good to change opinions between F1 and motocross drivers.

I tried the bike myself, as well, and it was pretty refreshing way to have a break from Formula One.

Now it¹s time for the third race weekend of the Formula One season. China has been a good place for me from time to time, but every race gives a brand new challenge. It doesn¹t help how we did there 5-6 years ago, or in the last couple of races this season.

Obviously, we have a car to do our very best every weekend. What to expect from Shanghai, that I can say after the practise sessions, not before. That¹s how it goes every time.

Last year we went for it with a tyre risk. We knew it was a long way to go with the same set of tyres. Then it didn¹t work out, and we have to pay for it loosing many positions during the last few laps of the race.

Hopefully we get a good solid weekend this time. If the car goes as it has gone in the some earlier runs in this year, we should be ok for Shanghai, too. Let¹s wait and see, what the weekend brings along.

I¹m ready for it, the team has worked hard to get the car right and the weather should be ok.