KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN – “SUNDAY IS THE PRIORITY; THAT’S OUR FOCUS”

A difficult weekend thus far for Kimi, but as always the Iceman has his eyes on the prize, and all thoughts on the race…

KIMI, P8 ON THE GRID FOR TOMORROW’S RACE; WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON QUALIFYING TODAY?

To be honest I think we’ve been slightly behind where we wanted to be all weekend. Missing FP1 didn’t help of course but the car itself feels ok; the biggest issue is getting the tyres working. I could have gone a bit quicker on my fastest lap but I locked a wheel in the second part of the swimming pool so unfortunately that lost us some time. Not the best day but Sunday is the priority; that’s our focus.

DO YOU THINK GETTING THE TYRES WORKING WILL BE THE KEY FACTOR DURING THE RACE?

I don’t think it will have such a big effect in the race as we’re doing much more laps on the tyres; it’s getting them right for a single lap that’s been a bit difficult. We still have a lot to learn with the super soft tyres though as it’s the first time we’ve used them.

YOU’VE USED UP THE ALLOCATION OF SUPER SOFT TYRES ALREADY; WILL THIS BE A HANDICAP IN ANY WAY?

Obviously it’s always nice to have fresh tyres but I don’t think it will make a huge difference. Degradation is very low here, and strategies will probably be very similar between the teams. Besides, when you look at the front of the grid it was so close that most people are in the same situation as us.

OVERTAKING IS NOTORIOUSLY DIFFICULT HERE; HOW HARD WILL IT BE TO MAKE PROGRESS IN THE RACE ITSELF?

You can never tell with Monaco. If we have a completely clean race then it will be tricky to improve but anything can happen here; especially if the weather changes. For sure we expected to be in the top five today and that would have made things easier, but the race could always bring a few surprises…

Source: Lotus F1