Monza - Before we arrived at the Italian GP I said that a place on the podium was our goal and that for reaching it we’d have to do everything 100 percent. My forecast was correct: we got out the car’s potential and me made it. The qualifying went very well. The
F60 was set up well and the KERS was lots of help: in Q3 I had one of the best laps this season and I was very happy. Third on the grid was very important for a good result. We knew that many had opted for a one-stop strategy. The difference between the two strategies is extremely small on this track and those who didn’t use the KERS had a valid option with the one-stop strategy.
I had a very good start, but because Hamilton wasn’t as fast I had to lift my foot and move to the left, where I touched the grass with two wheels. I managed to pass Sutil and that was the decisive move so that I was able to fight for the podium. We didn’t make any mistakes for the whole race: it was a piece of luck that we gained the third place, but in the end it’s the result that counts. It was a perfect weekend, because we couldn’t have done any better.
I’m really happy for another place on the podium, especially because we gained it in front of the numerous Ferrari fans: when you see all the flags of the Prancing Horse in the wind you understand how much passion there is. That was a great feeling for me.
The Brawns seem to be there again, fighting for the title, while Red Bull’s situation is more complicated. Webber and Vettel won’t give up, but they have to hope that the two Brawns will have some problems if they want to catch up. My goal is to help the Team keeping the third position in the Constructors’ standings and gaining as many points as possible.
The next race will be held in Singapore, where I didn’t finish the race last year. Nevertheless it’s a place I really like a lot. We have to do the same we did in Monza: trying to get the best out of the F60 and gaining a place on the podium for the fifth time in a row. The more the championship proceeds the more difficult it is for us, because the others continue developing their cars, while we don’t have any innovations coming up anymore.

Da Ferrari.com

Ferrari had an oiled machinery that drove their successful number one driver. Michael Schumacher earned his status with his speed and exploited it perfectly.

Then Kimi Räikkönen got into the same position completely accidentally and unfortunately too late - when Massa injured severely in Hungary qualification.

After that Räikkönen has shipped the Ferrari armada in the top three. The team focuses so that the car fits Kimi's hand and the results speaks for themselves.

After Monza Stefano Domenicali was grateful telling that this is the Kimi with whom they won the world championship two years ago. Manager Steve Robertson put it even better and says that Kimi has drove his last races even better than he did during his championship year.

Ferrari doesn't take any pressure at the moment for the threat that this is one of the worst seasons. The pressure comes elsewhere. The new sponsor Banco Santander is pushing on so that their favorite Fernando Alonso would drive in Ferrari already next year.

The power to chose Ferrari's drivers lies with Luca di Montezemolo and him only. Stefano Domenicali can only wait for the announcement which of the trio Räikkönen, Alonso and Felipe Massa are his pair next year.

Räikkönen's top form makes it even more difficult. They understand Kimi's speed even better at Ferrari when Giancarlo Fisichella stayed 0,7 seconds behind his team mate on every race lap and crossed the finish line 56 seconds after him. During the practice the difference was even bigger and in qualification it was half a second.

When Fisichella drove at Renault with Fernando Alonson their difference in speed was remarkably smaller.

If Ferrari dumps Räikkönen, then the team knows that next season they will have to compete against one really fast driver - one who is on their own mega-payroll. I guess that Ferrari can't afford it.

Monza / Heikki Kulta

http://www.ts.fi/f1/kolumnit/74123.html

Turun Sanomat 13.9 2009 23:16:00
Italian GP column 13.9. 

Reproduced with kind permission of the FIA
1st Rubens Barrichello (Brawn GP), 1h16m21.706s; 2nd Jenson Button (Brawn GP), 1h16m24.572s; 3rd Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari), 1h16m52.370s.

Q: Kimi, it was a bit of a repeat for you of the Belgian Grand Prix in many ways with the Force India in your mirrors just about throughout the whole race.
Kimi Raikkonen: I got a very good start but them something happened with Lewis. He slowed down but I had nowhere to go and I had to go around the left half on the grass, but I needed to back off before then. If I had had some space to go around him I would have got him at the start. Anyhow, it didn't really change the end of the race. In the end he went off. We got third place a little bit on a gift but it doesn’t matter. It all counts. Good points for us. It is a bit disappointing to drive as well as you can every lap, not really making any mistakes, and still finish quite far away from the first two. It is not the perfect position for me or for the team, but at least we scored some points which we needed. I think we got the most out of the car this weekend. It is good for the fans to be on the podium. It is much better than finishing fourth. We are going to keep pushing as hard as we can. We know that there are cars quicker than us, but maybe some races we can still challenge them for the win and that is what we try to do. It was a great thing for the team and everything worked well for us and the guys put in good hard work.

Q: It looked like a small glitch at the second pit stop and you just caught the leg of the refuelling guy. Then you had to brake before you left the pit lane.
KR: I was in a hurry to get out as I knew it was going to be very close. The lollipop guy just moved a little bit and I was ready to go and he put it back down and I stopped. But luckily enough the fuel rig was out and I could go. We lost a little bit of time but not too much. It would not have been enough anyhow for beating McLaren at the pit stops, but we could keep the Force India behind and in the end it did not make much difference.

Q: Kimi, how much pressure was Adrian (Sutil) putting on you, or were you just able to push the button and get yourself a safety margin?
KR: I think it was very similar to the last race with (Giancarlo) Fisichella. OK, sometimes it looks as if it gets very close in the middle of a chicane, but then once you get to the corner exit and you start accelerating and he’s still in the chicane it opens up again, so it never really got very close, so that I would need to defend or anything like that. They seem to be fast in a straight line, fast through the corners, so for sure I needed to make sure that I didn’t make a mistake and I got a good run in the few places on the circuit where I knew that his only chance was going to be. So as long as I didn’t make a mistake in those two places it was OK.

Q: Do you regret the strategy that you chose, the two-stop?
KR: No. I think we still did the right thing. We got the best out of the car. We know that we’re where the top cars are, we’re not as fast. The car feels more or less OK, we’re just missing grip, we’re sliding more than the others and that’s the penalty that we have to pay. We’re not going to have any more new parts for the car, so it is what it is right now. Third place for us is very good, we’re still keeping position in the championship which is what we’re aiming for. I think we got the maximum out of the car.

Q: Much difference between the tyres?
KR: I think the soft one was easier for us. It is normally. It’s hard to get the hard one working. Probably we don’t have as much downforce as the others, so you cannot put load on the tyres, you cannot get them working. In the end they started to work a little bit better again and it helped but for sure, the soft one is the better one.

Q: Will Singapore suit you better?
KR: It should be a bit more than Valencia, Monaco. Hopefully there we will have a bit more of a chance to challenge for first place but I don’t know. We will wait and see. Hopefully we can be stronger there.

Q: (Heikki Kulta –Turun Sanomat) Kimi, you have had four successive podiums. Are you surprised by this consistent record?
KR: A little bit, yes. But we’ve been chasing the car a bit since the last five races and it’s been working well for us, we’ve been getting the best out of it and other people have got the most out of their cars and their package, so it has worked out very well for us. It’s a big surprise to finish on the podium, but OK, here we were a bit lucky to finish on the podium. No matter how it comes you need to finish the race, so we will try again in the next races and try to keep third place in the Constructors’ championship.



http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2009/9/9927.html

Q: Kimi, it looked to be a reasonable trouble-free qualifying for you. At Parabolica the car seemed to be a bit loose at the front end but you got the lap done in the end.
Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: It is not perfect for sure but it shows us again that once we put the race fuel in the car it seems to be to always be stronger against the others. It is more difficult especially in the second qualifying than the first and last one to make sure that we get through. The car has been good all weekend. We had some issues with it but unfortunately we cannot fix them as well as we want. But, overall, on the race pace and with the race fuel the car is running nicely and I am pretty happy with it. I think it was one of our best qualifying and it was a good time in our home race to do it and hopefully tomorrow it is going to help us get into a stronger position for the race and try to fight for the first three places. But we will see. It is not going to be easy tomorrow but we will give it our best.

Q: Can you compare how you felt before the race at Spa to how you feel now in terms of how you think it will go on race day?
KR: In both races we knew that car was going to be stronger in the race than in qualifying. Of course if you start from sixth than third place it is a slightly different story. I think it gives us a better chance to have a strong finish. But it is going to be a long, hard race for the car. We give the best and hopefully we can give a good result for all the Italian fans and for ourselves. That’s our biggest aim.

Q: Kimi, tenth and eighth yesterday; you said there was room to improve. What changes did you make overnight?
KR: We made some changes to try to improve the issues that we had but even when yesterday I wasn’t a hundred percent happy, it was still pretty fast. I think it’s been a positive surprise how good the car has been all weekend. Today it was even better with high fuel.

Q: In comparison to Spa when you won but started further back, are you confident for tomorrow?
KR: Yeah, but OK, we are three places ahead of where we started in Spa, but now there is a McLaren with KERS in front of us. At the start, you cannot expect to jump them. We can jump the Force India but probably not the McLaren. So that’s a different story and then we see how the race goes. It’s definitely easier to overtake here than in Spa, so if they have the speed on the straight line, as it looks it will be difficult to keep people behind, it will be difficult to pass them. We will see what we can do.

Q: We’ve seen a lot of drivers weaving on the back straight; how much of an issue have tyre temperatures been here during qualifying and the race itself?
KR: For us it hasn’t been a big issue. It’s more or less the same as at any other circuit but maybe the first lap isn’t always the easiest one, not the fastest one. It takes a few laps but I think it’s the same for everybody. Some teams can use them on the first lap, straight away, very easily and some not. But they may pay the price later on in the race, the tyres would maybe not last, so it’s a bit of a difficult situation.

Q: (Ian Parkes – The Press Association) Lewis, gathering that both Brawns are on one-stop strategies tomorrow, presuming you guys are going to be running two, it looks like it could be close with those two cars as well if that’s going to be the case.
KR: It is what it is. We will see in a few hours how much fuel everybody has, then we can make our plans, but until then there’s not much point in thinking about it too much.

Q: (Will Buxton – Australasian Motor Sport News) Kimi, we’re moving into the last few races of the season, who do you think has got the best shot of winning the championship?
KR: I don’t know, there are a few people that can win. We still actually have a chance but it’s not very… I don’t think it’s going to happen for us, so after that it doesn’t really matter who wins. I think Brawn has picked up speed a little bit this weekend, so they are in the strongest position for sure.

Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Lewis and Kimi, how much time did it take you to get used to KERS at the beginning of the season? Was it easy?
KR: I had it the whole winter when we started to test, so it’s not difficult for the drivers to use, I think it’s more of a challenge for the engineers to get it working well.

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Kimi, you talked about the new kerbs, how the last version was lower than these ones, but do you think that today it helped to get your position? And secondly, no Finn was ever able to win here. Are you superstitious?
KR: No. I will try tomorrow and we hope to have a good result. The kerbs are the same for all the teams and drivers, so it makes no difference. It was more fun with the old kerbs but this is probably a bit more similar for everybody. Nobody can really run over them anymore. It seems to be working OK for us, so no complaints really.

via FIA.com

Kimi Raikkonen is under no illusions that he will be able to repeat his Belgian Grand Prix victory in the remaining races of the season.
The 2007 world champion gave his Ferrari team its first win of 2009 at Spa, after a race-long battle with then Force India driver and now his team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella.
But despite his breakthrough win, Raikkonen believes it will be hard to repeat the feat, as Ferrari has already shifted its focus to 2010.
"We knew that it was not going to be easy," Raikkonen said of winning in 2009. "We are still not where we want to be, and we are not going to be, because we are not going to put any more new parts in the car.
"We will try to win more races, but we know it's not going to be any easier, as everybody else will be putting new parts and we are not.
"I think it depends a lot on the circuit and the conditions. We will try our best and see where we end up."
The Finn also downplayed the advantage the KERS-equipped cars are expected to have at Monza this weekend.
"I don't think so," he said when asked if he expected the six KERS cars - Ferrari, Renault and McLaren - to dominate the race.
"There are other cars that can be very fast, as we've seen in many other races this year. Hopefully we can be in the front, but I still think it's going to be very close between the teams."
Raikkonen denied his win in Belgium had given Ferrari reasons to retain him next year, as he made it clear he is not going anywhere despite speculation about his future.
"I think they know what I can do from what I've done. The results sometimes don't give you a true picture. I always say I'm not worried about my future. I have a contract, and it's not going to change whether I'm last or first.
"Of course I want to win, it's good for me and for the team, but for the future it makes no difference.
"I wouldn't have a contract if I didn't want to drive."
via Autosport.com

Kimi Raikkonen isn’t giving up his bid for a second consecutive Formula One title, even though he is only fourth with four races remaining and Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa could use his help to catch Lewis Hamilton.

“It definitely won’t be easy, but I’m going to try to win the championship and I’ll still help the team,” Raikkonen said after testing at the Mugello track Thursday, running 79 laps with a best time of 1:21.079.

McLaren’s Hamilton leads with 78 points, Massa is second with 77,Robert Kubica of BMW Sauber is third with 64 and Raikkonen has 57. The next race is the Singapore Grand Prix on Sept 28.

“It’s been a while now that I haven’t been able to perform how I like to and right now the only thing I’m focused on is getting good results, then at the end I’ll look to see where I am in the standings,”

said Raikkonen, who finished ninth in the Italian GP last weekend.

Singapore will be making its debut on the Formula One circuit with a night race.

“I don’t think there will be any type of danger because there will be so many lights you probably won’t be able to notice the difference from a traditional Grand Prix,” Raikkonen said, according to the ANSA news agency.

Raikkonen only knows the Singapore track from a FIAT simulator.

“It’s like a video game,” he said. “It was great to see the curves, but the truth is you need to actually drive it to really understand how it is,” he added.

"You push, you give it your all, but it seems as if it won't go in the right direction," he said.

"It's been a long time without a win for me and even the list of races without points is growing.

"Five times no points in the standings are really a lot: you don't have to be Einstein to understand that this is not the right way to fight for the title.

"It's not over yet, but now it will take a miracle, like one that makes lightning strike twice."

He insisted that he did not lack motivation despite having failed to win since April and amid strong hints from Ferrari that he will now have to back team-mate Felipe Massa's title bid.

"Things are definitely not going my way," said Raikkonen.

"Sometimes it happens, but that won't lower my spirit or my determination.

"I want to try to win again this season."

Both Ferrari drivers have struggled in the rain in recent races, with the team admitting that it has to work out why its car refuses to generate sufficient tyre temperature on a wet track.

That scenario left Raikkonen marooned in the midfield in Italy, although he gained several places in the closing laps as the track dried.

"I didn't lose my driving ability in the wet, but when you don't have any grip under certain circumstances, there's hardly anything you can do," he said.

"You can just try to stay on the track and hope that the situation will change, as it happened at Monza.

"At a certain point it was as if a light had been turned on and I could attack in every corner, but by then it was already too late"

Kimi Raikkonen endured another torrid weekend at Monza, finishing outside the points for the third race running.
With his title hopes all but gone, the Ferrari driver told a group of reporters after the race that his main focus is to now solve his problems rather than worry about retaining his title.

Kimi Raikkonen: Do you think I am?

Q. I am wondering?

KR: For sure we are not happy. But fortunately this is the result. In the end the car was good again but we seem to have a problem to get the tyres working. Once they switch on, it is okay. But if they don't work, then there is nothing I can do.

Q. Q. Are you still thinking of the championship, or more about helping your teammate?

KR: I am just trying to get the things right, that is the main thing. I am not thinking about anything right now. Hopefully we will get the car working. It works when the tyre works but we cannot switch the tyres on and then everything goes wrong after that. I am not really interested to think about what we are going to do in the next few races. Hopefully we can get everything right, and have some more fun again.

Q. How much is Ferrari's wet-weather performance compromising the team's championship hopes?

KR: It is not the first time for us. Sometimes it works and sometimes not, and we don't really have an explanation about why it doesn't work, and why the tyres work sometimes. I think it is not about the car not being good in some conditions, it is just to get the whole combination working together and usually we then get good results. Today was one of those. In the end, it was good but it was 40 laps too late.

Q. What are your feelings about Toro Rosso's victory? Is it embarrassing being beaten by a customer team?

KR: It was good for them, but nothing apart from the engine is from Ferrari. That is all. I think it is more an issue for Red Bull as they have the same car, so for sure we would rather be winning here but we could not.

Q. How long did it take for the tyres to come in?

KR: At the end they only started to work. They didn't have any proper grip during the first or the second stint. The second was slightly better than the first stint, but at that point it was quite late. Once we got the intermediates, first it took a while and then once they start working it is like a switch - from one lap to another it is a completely different feeling with the car and then we can push again. If we could do it straight away it would help.

Q. Is it all about the tyres then?

KR: Like I said, it helps us to get the tyre working and then everything turns good again. If we can get the tyres working straight away that will be a big help and a completely different story, but we could not today. Hopefully in the future we are able to do it.

Q. What do you think about your championship situation?

KR: It is not good, but we keep trying and hopefully we can have good races at the end of the year and that would be a nice thing. It hasn't been lately so easy, so that is what we are aiming for.

Q. Are you worried about the situation for the future, especially having just extended your contract?

KR: Well, of course I am happy otherwise I would not have signed it. This year has not been easy for us, but that is racing and it sometimes goes like that. Next year is a different story and after that we will see what we can do.

Q. Are you going to help Felipe Massa?

KR: I don't know. We will see what happens.

Kimi Raikkonen sparkled in the sunshine as the morning torrential downpour over Monza gave way to clear blue skies in the afternoon.

Raikkonen, who has ended speculation surrounding his future by extending his contract with Ferrari through to the end of the 2010 season, posted the fastest practice session time ahead of Sunday's Italian Grand Prix.

The Finn's hot lap of one minute 23.861 seconds came in the closing stages of the 90-minute period, ousting BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica from top spot by just 0.070secs.

Nick Heidfeld was a close third in his BMW Sauber, a mere 0.016secs further back, with current championship leader Lewis Hamilton down in fourth in his McLaren.

Williams' Nico Rosberg was fifth, with sixth place taken by Felipe Massa - the Brazilian two points adrift of Hamilton in the drivers' standings.

Q. It is looking very good today?

KR: It is probably the best that the car has been. Little by little we have found what we want for the car and at least today it was pretty good.

Q. You have extended your contract, are you more positive now?

KR: I haven't been worrying about anything. It was my decision, so I knew what I could do and what is possible. It doesn't change anything for this year or the future - I still try to do the best I can. And hopefully now we have started to find the way we want and hopefully we can get a good result.

Q. In the race conditions do you feel you are on a par with the McLaren?

KR: Today it looks like we are faster. I am very happy with how things are today.

Q. Was signing a new contract a difficult decision to make?

KR: No. I enjoy it here. Of course when you have a hard time it is sometimes not easy, but it doesn't mean you don't enjoy the driving, or I am not motivated. It is just not fun when things are not always as you want, but we have been working hard and getting things where we want which is the main thing.

Q. So retirement was never an option then?

KR: I never said it was. It was all you guys. It was not what I said. I said I had a contract for the next year at least and then we see after that. I have a couple more years and we look when the times comes for what happens after that.

Q. Why did you decide to stay at Ferrari?

KR: I always had a contract for next year anyway. I never said I was going to retire, it came from you guys. I still enjoy it. I still drive as well as I can. Sometimes when the results are not coming it is not such good fun but it doesn't mean that I don't enjoy it. It was not a very difficult choice. I enjoy working with the people, so I am happy.

Q. So an easy decision to make?

KR: I knew that I had next year so I could have waited even longer, but we came to a solution with the team and everyone happy.

Q. And you feel Ferrari are best placed to help you win another championship?

KR: I wouldn't go anywhere else. I won last year and we are still not out this year. I still enjoy it, even though sometimes it is not such good fun. When the results are not coming, it is nothing to do with the team or me – it is just that we didn't get it right together. We are making things go in the right direction though.