WRC Pirelli driver blog - Kimi Räikkönen

Blog two: Friday 2 April.

"I don’t want to say anything that might bring me bad luck on the final day, but it’s actually gone quite well for us so far in Jordan. I wasn’t feeling any particular pressure before the rally - there’s no point - but the main thing was to get experience and now this is coming.

There’s still a long way to go as we have the final day left, and that’s sure to be another big challenge with some tough stages and hot weather. But I’m used to warm temperatures in Formula One, so that’s not a problem. Somebody actually pointed out to me earlier that it was the Malaysian Grand Prix this weekend; I hadn’t even realised until it was mentioned.

The way I see it is that for now I’m a rally driver so I’m not thinking about the past or the future, even though people keep asking me. Obviously at some point I need to take a decision about what I do next, but that won’t be until the second half of the year at the earliest. Everything is possible, but I need to know how I will get on in rallying before I take any decisions. For now I have only just started and so far I am really enjoying myself.

The thing that has surprised me most about Jordan is how much the stages change from the first run in the morning to the second run in the afternoon. It’s almost like two different rallies because there is a lot more grip the second time. But also I find that I have a lot more confidence during the second run, because I have seen the roads before.

It just goes to show how important experience is in rallying. I knew it from the start: we were never going to win overnight so we are roughly where I thought we would be. Luckily we’ve not made any big mistakes here so far - just a couple of spins and an overshoot - and that means we are steadily able to build up the experience we need.

Having said that, it’s still very tricky for me. I’ve got a whole new style of driving to learn and a completely different way to set up the car, as well as finding out how to get the best out of the pace notes. There’s a lot of information to soak up in not much time. But I suppose if it were easy, everyone would do it..."

Source: WRC - Pirelli