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The season is over and this is the verdict: Ferrari won again! The last race was a mirror for the Championship. We were really strong and we gained and excellent result, but not the perfect one. The most important thing is that the Team gained the Constructors' World Title; the most realistic goal we could reach in this last race.

It's a very important result for all who work for or are part of the world of Ferrari: the people of the Scuderia, our partners, and more above all Stefano Domenicali, during his first year as Team Principal. It's also a little victory for me, at the end of difficult and complicated season. It's good to win after such a year; it shows how united the Team has been and that we have fought right until the end.

My hopes ended up in smoke at Spa and Monza. From then on I tried to gain as many points as possible for the Team and I tried to understand how to improve things for the next year.

I want to congratulate Lewis Hamilton. He gained more points than any other driver and the one who's leading the standings earns the title. It doesn't make sense to think of the "ifs" and "buts"; that only makes you feel worse and it won't change anything anyway. I'm sorry for Felipe: the situation last year was very similar and things went our way; this year it went the other way. It was a season our fans will remember for a long time. Now it's time to relax and to celebrate together with our supporters at Mugello another win of the Costructors' Title. Then we will think about our holidays, to charge the batteries for the 2009 season.

The last season didn't go as I wanted. It started very well, but then there were too many negative moments. We made some mistakes, as did our competitors. But we paid a higher price for them, we couldn't make up and I was out of the title race too early.

But this already part of the past. Next year we'll be back to win again. There will be new rules and many things will change. So it's difficult to say how it will lool like in 2009. But I think we'll be very competitive again. Whenever there were changes Ferrari usually managed to adapt to them faster as all the others. We have to wait and see what our capacities will be and we can reach in the next Championships.
11/08/2008 10:19:00 p.m. No comments
We're ahead of the season's last race and the last possibility to taste the pleasure of racing for a while. This is what a driver loves most: pulling on the helmet and fighting for the win. I want to fight for victory in Brazil and celebrate a good result with the Team: this would give me a good feeling for the winter and the upcoming season. There are not so many positive things for me I achieved over the last season. We have to analyze every single detail of what happened and try to learn from our mistakes to improve everything for next year.

But now we have to give it all at the last race of the 2008 season.
I'm happy to be in Brazil again. Interlagos is a track where there are often really exciting races. We drive anti-clockwise here, which is very demanding. But more than anything else this place reminds me of something very special. Last year I won the race and the title, something really extraordinary. The Ferrari very often went very well on this track and I hope that it will be the same this year. We're fighting for both titles, just like in 2007.

We'll try a one-two win again. Winning the Constructors' Championship is very important for every team and even more so for Ferrari. I'm glad that I can help the Team to reach its goals.

After the Chinese GP I relaxed a bit. I went to Switzerland to meet my friend Anton Alen, Markku's son, who was driving a rally there. It was great seeing him in action. I didn't have to do anything in particular to charge my batteries for Brazil: that comes naturally. I had some pretty good results in this race, but last year's victory was the icing on the cake.

We have to wait for Friday's practice sessions to see what our chances might be this year. It will be very hard with McLaren in the qualifying. Over the last two races I had a much better feeling with the car in Q3, when I had a bigger fuel load. It's important to believe in the car and the possibility to attack, this is what makes the difference. I hope that we can find the right set up, after we've been very close for a couple of times. At the beginning of the year things went very well, but then we lost track and we couldn't get back. It was a very long year and I can't wait to have a breack.

There will be several new rules for the next season and we will have to work a lot during the winter. But before I go on holiday it will be great to get back to Mugello for a second time for the Ferrari World Finals. This is a very special event for all the Ferraristi. It would be even better if on 9th November we had a World Championship title with us to celebrate. I couldn't win the Drivers' title this year, but I assure you that I'll try again next year.
11/03/2008 09:56:00 p.m. No comments
For a change, it was nice to come back home from a race weekend. Looking at it, the most positive thing of the both weekend is to be strong in the qualifying - at last.
The car is more to my liking and, because of that, we started from the front row both at Fuji and at Shanghai.
It gave a good feeling. Finally we got something back from the hard work the team has done with the car. Obviously, we have done some things right, while the results have improved.
I like sushi and chinese food, too, but, of course, I liked it more to get back to the podium. We need a strong finish for the season. A positive finish gives a positive feeling for the long winter and a good starting point for the next year.
The possibility of a win was almost there. But the race pace was not enough in China.
I've got better feeling with the car all the time. That felt positive, but still it was not 100% we wanted it to be. We could not exactly match the speed of McLaren during the whole weekend. Hamilton was quicker than us in the first laps of the race and, again, quicker with the new tyres after the stops. We managed to get a little bit closer, but, obviously, it was too late.
While we had the same amount of the fuel, only their mistake would have made it possible to try to beat Hamilton.
I became 29 years old on Friday in China. The birthdays come and go, but it was nice to see and hear, that so many fans remembered and supported me, although this season has not been my best. Thank you all for the support.
Last year I had the best weekend of my life in Brazil. I will never forget that. Now we head for Brazil again and, obviously, what happened there last time, will give me such a great feeling again. This time we try our very best to repeat that 1-2 result again. We try to fight for the win and we monitor what is happening and act accordingly.
My approach is the same like going to the last two races. The qualifying is very important. The front row would be fantastic again. Let's wait and see, how it pays out this time.
We made the best out of it from the position we had in China. While I cannot win the drivers' championship any more, it was the same for me to finish second or third. The main thing was to get 14 points for Ferrari. The team still fights hard for the both championships.
I'm a team member and I'm more than happy to do my share and to help the team to win the championships in the season final.
10/23/2008 03:24:00 p.m. No comments

Kimi Raikkonen - 8th: "It was nice to see so many fans in the grandstands to celebrate my birthday. As usual it's difficult to judge the relative strengths of the teams just by looking at the results sheets. At the start, it could have been that our main rivals were quicker but then the situation seemed to balance out and I think that's how it will be for the rest of the weekend. Overall, the car's not bad even if there are still some areas that need to be improved."

10/17/2008 03:35:00 p.m. No comments
It's difficult to find the right words: racing at night or during the day, this is definitely not my year.

I hit the wall when there were just a couple of laps left. True, I wasn't racing for the win, but for some very important
points for the Team; and then it ended like at Spa, with another DNF. It seems as if the more we try to improve the situation the less we get in the end. At this point I can just hope for a weekend where everything goes in the right direction.

Once again we had the right speed at Singapore, but not when it was really necessary. The fastest race laps aren't worth anything, if you don't combine them with the situation when they really count.
Obviously I'm really sad about this situation. I can't explain this dark period and there's nothing I can do to change what happened. We have to look ahead, to the last three races.

Singapore is a wonderful place for a GP. The night race was organized very well. I was a bit surprised to hear all that chat about the time of day and the visibility: when the lights went on it was bright day at the track.

The car went really well on Friday morning, but in the afternoon we decided to change the set up and it didn't go in the right direction. In the third practice session we had a problem with the steering wheel and I
lost a lot of precious time, because I couldn't try the harder tyres on the fast lap; obviously this was not the perfect way to prepare myself for the qualifying.

At the start of the race I couldn't find my rhythm, because the tyre pressure was too low; I needed some laps to make them work properly. When they were alright I started to fly and I could easily catch up on Hamilton. When the safety car was deployed I understood that my chances were destroyed, because when your second at a double pit stop there's hardly anything you can do. I managed to gain position five and then, with a faster car, I was right behind Glock. I was waiting for the right moment to overtake him, but then I hit a very high kerb and the car literally lifted off and I couldn't keep it under control. I hit the wall and my race was over.

I'm very sorry for the Team, because they've done some great work to improve the F2008. It hurts loosing these points. But we know that we've got what it takes to fight for victory in the last three GPs.
Let's hope that I'll finally have a smooth weekend, from Friday to Sunday evening.
10/03/2008 11:37:00 a.m. No comments
First of all I need to start winning again. Obviously, the championship now depens on the results from my main competitors. It’s not over yet, but it’s not in my control. If they are on the podium for the remaining races, then I cannot win.
Last year from midseason onwards I found a great set-up and I was able to win many races in the second half of the season. For a long time now my aim has been to work with the engineers to overcome the tyre temperature issue.
The car is very competitive once the tyres are up to temperature. That’s what we are looking for this weekend in Singapore.
For me there is nothing else to do, but go there and just focus on the winning. We will give it all we have and go flat out race by race. This is motor racing, you just try to win a race. Nothing else matters. Who knows, suddenly everything can still change.
I know I have been repeating myself, but I say it again. We are here just to win. I don’t want to go there just to hang around. There would not be any sense doing that. Obviously, Monza was terrible for me, but after that we had an encouraging test in Mugello, I was the fastest on my day.
The balance has been good in the last two races once we got the tyres up to temperature. In test we tried a few new things and improved the car.
Now I have been working with the business partners in Dubai and just recharging my batteries for the last part of the season. All the time I have had a very fascinating feeling, because Singapore is getting closer. It’s just a big and new challenge in every day. I have been waiting for Singapore ever since I heard about it coming to the calendar.
It’s going to be a real challenge for all the teams and drivers. I don’t feel racing at night will be a major issue. They have already done it this in Moto GP. Actually it looked great. I am a night person, too. I like to sleep long and my whole body really wakes up late. Obviously this kind of a new schedule suits me fine.
It doesn’t matter at what time is the start of the race. When you put your helmet on and you take your place in the grid, there is so much adrenaline storming in your veins, that you forget everything else and just go for it 100% every time.
They say that it will rain in Singapore when the evening comes. Well, we see it there. It’s not use to worry about that. It will be the same for everybody, any way.
I think we have a good chance to fight for the victory in all the remaining races starting from Singapore.
When you look at the results from the ‘street’ races this year things have not gone well for me. But it doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t like the street races any more. I sincerely like them all, it’s a thrilling moment when you have a well balanced car there between the walls and really go for it.
I did a day in the simulator last week in Italy. I tried the Singapore circuit and just saw how the corners are.
I’m looking forward to racing at night. It’s something new everything there in a brand new experience.
9/23/2008 09:35:00 p.m. No comments
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Kimi-Matias Räikkönen born 17 October 1979) is a Finnish racing driver. After nine seasons racing in Formula One, in which he won the 2007 Formula One World Drivers' Championship, he competed in the World Rally Championship in 2010 and 2011. In 2012, he returned to Formula One, driving for Lotus and continued to drive for Lotus in 2013. On September 11, 2013, Ferrari announced their signing of Räikkönen on a two year contract, beginning in the 2014 season.

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