AutoSprint: Kimi is already at full throttle

You look at him, sunk into a sofa in front of the tv that is showing a match of Federer, and you wonder: why is he doing this? Kimi Raikkonen is still slim, always hazy in his look. Blond locks come out under his beanie that he wears even indoor. Why are you doing it, Kimi? You won a worldchampionship five years ago, last Ferrari driver who got it. You had fun with rallies, with Nascar, with Peugeot 908 (until it was possible). You know very well that with Lotus the chances to back to the top are few, especially at 32. And then? The money? You expect an unkind answer and instead he plays ball: “The money is just a part of the story, of course. But it’s not that I needed it. For sure it’s a work where you risk your own life, so…”

- Now you can say to have raced also in others categories. But is the F1 for you always something special?
“Special? I wouldn’t know. It’s what I have done for most of my career. But if you want to race, you try to make it at the top level. And if you can choose, you probably choose F1.”

- Can you tell us how were your negotiations with Lotus?
“Well, it didn’t work with Williams: their offer was not what I wanted. With Lotus we talked a bit about everything and it went all very fast. We easily found a deal that satisfied both.”

- Now you see at you like a rookie, who has a lot to learn, or as a champion who can teach something?
He smiles. He didn’t lose that way to speak lazy, but he seems he has more will to explain, to tell: “Uh, we’ll see how it goes. To tell the truth I didn’t think much about the results, so far. I just want to do the best I can, then I hope to make some good races too. I really don’t think that if something goes bad we’ll say: fu*k you, I give up all!”

- You come back after two years, Sch. After three…
“It’s not the case to make comparisons. I don’t know how easy or difficult was for him. I think about me.”

- You’ll find again the GPs but also the interviews with the press, the meetings, things that you hate. Do you expect something will change?
“I expect as the same as before. They say that everything changes, but I don’t believe it. And I have always said that I’m here because I like racing, the rest is part of F1 but it’s not the main thing. It’s always been like this and ever will be.

- When have you decided to give up with rallies?
“When I have tried Nascar and I felt I liked to race together with the others. And that I missed it. It’s not that I wanted to stop with rallies, I would do them even now, but I can’t. We’ll see in future.”

- Do you think that with more time you could reach Loeb’s level?
“I think that anyone hasn’t reached him yet… Rally is still one of the most difficult sport, it’s impressive how much fast some people go. But if you put them on a F1 car it’s the same story… I would have needed of two more years and maybe to make tests and to have an official team”.

- Did you follow the GPs during this time?
“Not at all in 2010, I started to watch some races last year, because I knew that I could probably come back. It doesn’t seem to me too much different. There are more overtakes but just because they often use the mobile wing. Are real overtakes these? Sure, there is more show, with the tyres and all, there are more different speeds on track. But it has always been in F1, to overtake someone you have to be more more faster.

- Did you return to win again?
“Well, winning is always good and the championship is always your main goal. But if doesn’t happen, it doesn’t change my life.” Here the old Kimi comes back… “It’s not my obsession. I think that people expect it to me, but I’m happy with my driving and if it’s not enough, it’s not enough. That’s all.”

- They said you left F1 because of the lack of motivation…
“Those who write it, don’t know me. Always these bulls*it around. What’s motivation got to do with it, when you know that your car is a sh*t and even doing the best you can, you can’t reach the result? It’s not always your fault. I never had a problem of motivation, I’m not interested in what they say.

- Is there nothing that you regret of your last period in Ferrari? Have you ever said to you “If I did so..”
“No, I have no regrets. I drove the best I have ever driven, it was the car that was not enough. If I came back, I wouldn’t change anything. Sure, you make mistakes: but they are used to learn.”

- Have you ever had the feeling that they wanted to shoot you because they were interested in taking Alonso?
“I’m not interested, really. I have no resentment. And then it was three years ago.”

- During Valencia test with the 2010 car you tried the Pirelli tyres (demo). Did you find some differences?
“I wouldn’t say. After a while the rear tyres go down, but I don’t find them so different. Even if they say me that those of this year will be different again.”

- You raced when there were fuel pit stops. Now they aren’t anymore…
“Ok, at the beginning you have 150 kg fuel. But it’s not a difference like day and night. We tried with full tank and it’s the same car, just heavier.

- You have to accustom yourself again with the buttons on the wheel. Those of R30 were not so “complete”…
“Yes, Kers was missing, but I used it in 2009 and it’s just one button. There wasn’t the DRS also, the mobile wing.. But in the end I don’t believe it will be so scary. Just more stuff to push after a bit it will be automatic.”

You will have Grosjean as teammate: would you prefer a more expert teammate?
“No. I met him before Christmas at the factory. We don’t know us so well yet but he seems to me a good guy.”

-Have you already changed your physical training?
“Yes, above all for the neck. In rallies also we have strong lateral accelerations, and the steering is even more hard. And then it’s more tiring. All the week you wake up at 5 in the morning, when in F1 you spend just a session of 1 hour half.

- About the Peugeot 908?
“Beautiful, fun. It seems big but you can drive it like a F1 car. Funny, it’s so quiet…”

- How long do you think to stay in F1?
“I had no plans before, I haven’t any now for the future. Ten years? No, I really can’t see myself in F1 so long…”

- Among the drivers now in F1, is there someone who impressed you?
“I can’t see big differences. Vettel was strong also two years ago. With the regulations, some teams can change position, but the stronger are always the same.”

- When you raced with Massa he sometimes was ahead of you. Are you surprised he had so many difficulties last year?
“Even in 2009 we had a difficult year. I don’t know if it was because of the tyres, for him or something else but sometimes it happens, even if you think to be as fast as before. For me Felipe is the same as he was years ago, there was just something that didn’t suit him well.

- In the end, were you bored at home?
“I had more time for myself, but rallying also took much time. And then I like staying at home in the freetime. But sometimes I missed travels, I had to go somewhere. It was nice to take a break, but now I think it will be all like before.”

Courtesy: _TaniaS_

Räikkönen almost got Hirvonen's grade from an Italian newspaper

Italian Auto Sprint -magazine's rally section goes through happenings in this year's WRC-serie giving grades to all drivers in Top 10.

Sebastien Loeb has won half of this season's rallies. He gets the grade 9,5.

– Once again the ruler of the season, Auto Sprint says.

Sebastien Ogier has won two rallies. His grade is 8,5.

– Successor who shows development when it comes to competitiveness.

Jari-Matti Latvala got the 3rd highest grade 8.

– Started with 3rd positions, almost won in Jordan and had a brilliant pace in Argentina. Has without doubt developed a lot and it will be exciting to see how fast he goes on tarmac.

Mikko Hirvonen is 2nd but the paper gives him only 7,5.

– Great start but hasn't found the way to win after Sweden. The only one who has stayed after Loeb when it comes to continuance of results but not because of his pace.

Auto Sprint praises Kimi Räikkönen's development and gives him the grade 7.

– He threw himself in it all to be the center of attention and he deserves positive gratification for his season so far. He has always scored points and proved that he understands how the DS3 WRC should be driven. We are expecting good results again starting from Greece.

Petter Solberg and Mads Östberg also got the grade 7.

The others had to settle for grades 4-6,5.

Turun Sanomat, Rooma

PERTTI LEPISTÖ

Courtesy: Nicole

Autosprint: Kimi in Nascar, Max Papis's suggestions

Max Papis's opionion about Kimi in Nascar. From Autosprint of this week



When people ask me: do you race with vans? I answer, no, I race in the NASCAR Truck Series. Raikkonen's arrival in our series is an opportunity to explain you my world. The top Nascar series is divided into three categories: Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Truck. All three have vehicles made with a similar chassis, steel hand-built tubular and covered with a body that must look like the road cars as closely as possible: saloon car in the NASCAR Sprint Cup and pick up in the Truck Series, the popular vehicles with rear body that are the most popular cars ever in USA along with the SUV.

The Truck engines are the same as NASCAR Sprint Cup: all 5.8-liter V8 with more or less restrictions, depending on the category, to produce 650 hp in Truck Series and 800 hp in the Cup (that's how we name the Sprint Cup Series in USA). All the cars share the transmission and the gear box that you can choose among different suppliers, but all with front clutch and 4 H speed gearbox . Now that you know that the Truck is not a sort of modified Ape car but “naughty racing beast” I'll tell you that in the Truck Series there are four manufacturers with many models: the Chevrolet Silverado, the Ford F-150, the Dodge Ram and my Toyota Tundra. The championship is of 26 races and is held the same weekend of the Cup and Nationwide, but we are not a lower category as the GP2 with F1, but a real all-in-one Nascar event. The races are broadcasted live on Speed TV with an audience of more than 800,000 listeners every race, much more than Indycar, so this makes the Truck Series the third motorsport in the United States. There are a lot different drivers, former Sprint Cup drivers like Hornaday and Bodine, now in the Truck, and drivers like me, who tired to drive a not competitive car in the Cup, decided to race in a top team in the Truck Series. And also young drivers, who are part of a development Sprint Cup team, and compete into Truck series to gain experience. All these ones are the 36 drivers who compete in each race, where 40-42 Trucks try to qualify and the first 25 have the place on the grid guaranteed. As normal in the U.S., all the 36 runners receive a race prize, from $ 8.000 of the 36th to 50-80.000 dollars for the winner.

The Truck Series is the most internationally NASCAR championship because like me, an Italian, there are Paludo and Piquet Jr. who are Brazilian, some Canadians and in May Raikkonen will also come, bringing even more attention to our series. I hope Kimi leaves the arrogance at home and comes in the U.S. with the humility of one who has to learn, because here everything is different, from the use of yellow flags, to the hardness on the track. There is much malice but not wickedness: here we say "rubbing is racing" as saying that leaning is part of the game. But this doesn’t mean to throw out your competitor; if you do it, next race you let him pass through or you're the one who doesn’t finish the race. Because in Nascar you pay your debts on the track, not in front of the stewards.

Kimi will certainly have much to learn even if he is a super champion with a great talent, because you can’t test on the tracks where we run in the race and because we don’t use any data system. This means that your reference will be seeing the others drivers in the race. That’s why learning to go fast in Nascar takes time. Raikkonen has never competed in a race on an oval and will be difficult at the beginning because the ovals are a strange “beast”. Each track is different, from Martinsville that is just 800 meters long with a banking angle of 8 degrees and where a lap can be covered in just 19 seconds, to Daytona, 4 km long with a banking of 33 degrees and a lap of 51''.

The experience that Raikkonen has gained in recent years in rallies will help him a lot more than if he had started in Nascar directly from F1, because you have to react, improvise, to adapt yourself to the car and to the change of the track and tyres grip.

And then the trajectories: you must learn to change them frequently, and there is not the ideal line but the line that best fits the setup of your truck. A good quality of the Nascar world is that if you don’t understand much, you can always go and ask people who are more experienced than you: and the more you will be sincere, the more the champions will open their hearts with you and give you a real hand, they will bring you on the track with the pace car to explain you the secrets of the circuits. Like Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin have done with me. And with that I welcome Raikkonen in the Truck Series hoping he will enjoy as much as I enjoy myself. And I hope that this is another step forward to bring the Italian fans in the special world of NASCAR, where everything is tailor made for the spectator, and not vice versa.

Source: Autosprint.it
Courtesy: _TaniaS_

FERRARI IN CRISIS - THE TIFOSI ALREADY MISS RÄIKKÖNEN

Ferrari-fans aka tifosi are disappointed in their team's drivers performances this season. According to Autosprint's bloggist Alberto Sabbatini, they have already started to scream for bringing Kimi Räikkönen back to Ferrari.

- Many have written to us telling that they miss Räikkönen but in reality the lack of strategy is missing from the pitwall. You can figure out his name yourself, Sabbatini writes and refers to Ross Brawn.

Sabbatini slashes hard at Ferrari's current race strategist.

- Chris Dyer has for a long time shown his limits: he has no imagination, he can't improvise or read situations and he always screws up the strategies.

He thinks that Ferrari blamed FIA unecessarily after Silverstone. Sabbatini reminds that Fernando Alonso could have avoided a penalty by letting Robert Kubica ahead of him again.

- The main responsibility is Alonso's and Alonso's only and the one giving him wrong advice from the pitwall. Everyone has to carry their responsibility for their mistakes, starting from the driver. He started like a rookie, ruined his team mate's race by causing a tyre puncture in the first corner and couldn't time his first pitstop with the pitwall correctly, Sabbatini critisised.

Even Italiaracing-magazine critisised Räikkönen's replacement in this week's issue. "Alonso screws up everything", was the head title and this was harsh to read for the Spaniard's fans.

- Alonso was supposed to be the superman who doesn't make mistakes. A man who's motivation was going to get everybody to forget the unwilling Räikkönen and who was supposed to give the right technical advice. They said that McLaren came back as a winner thanks to his advice in 2007 until the evil Hamilton ruined everything. Thanks to him Ferrari was supposed to start smiling again in each GP just like during Schumacher's era.

- Everybody said this during the winter. We have seen this smile only in Bahrain's opening race. After that all kinds of things have happened: failure in timing during qualification, jumpstart, bad starts, rude overtake of team mate when going to the pitstop, crashing team mate in the first corner, qualification never taking place because of crash in practice, ignorance about rules...

Italy's biggest sport magazine Gazzetta dello Sport asked on their website who's fault Ferrari's current crisis is. Of almost 11 000 voters 36,6 % blamed the pitwall's actions, 27,2 % FIA's bad decisions, 18,3 % the drivers mistakes and 17,9 % was unsure about the F10-car's development.

Source: MTV3 - Lauri Ouvinen
Courtesy: Nicole

Kimi bends but doesn't break!

Even after hitting a tree, Kimi Räikkönen hasn't given up and remained on the Arctic Rally

Source: Autosprint
Thanks: Tania S