Q&A with Kimi on Thursday May 10th 2012

Galina, Russia

" Kimi, it is already hard to imagine Rally Finland without you and your car! How much do you want to come back there (this or next year) and how hard Lotus is against that?" Thanks!))

Answer:

I miss rally now as much as I did miss F1 while I did WRC. It’s not a must, but I still like a lot driving rally.

Nicole:

Do you still write your Finnish columns?

Answer:

Not anymore.

Rich Eklund:

I was just wondering is we will see the ICEMAN documentary that was supposed to be released in 2011?

Answer:

No decisions made yet.

ketcayu:

Kimi, i heard that you share your driving data with Romain

Answer:

It’s quite normal in every team. Every team shares all the data between the drivers. There is nothing to hide away, because it would not be useful for the team. We check the set-ups, and look, if the other likes something in it, or not. During qualifying I’m not that interested in his telemetry, while I just focus on my own.

carbonfiber diet:

Hey Iceman, Since your return, what changes have been the toughest to adjust to? CFD?

Answer:

Must be the tyres. It’s about learning them, not just getting used to them. It depends on circuits. Somewhere it goes smoothly, sometimes there is adjusting to do.

Atlanta, GA:

Hei Heikki, could you ask Kimi his expectation towards the WCC/WDC standings this year? And on which circuit will Kimi/Lotus have better chances this year? And upon what aspects (aero, engine, ect) do Lotus have advantages over other teams?

Answer:

We don’t think of the championships, we focus on getting the best possible result every time. The results have so far been going like in crossroads, so being consisten, getting 4th, 5th places, you can suddenly end up high in the standings, while the points are nowadays that big. Our car has so far been quick in every circuit. It’s a question getting everything right and not hurt ourselves like we have done in a few weekends.

Claudia:

I´d like that know whether Kimi is already to 100% confident with the car and his driving (compared to the last time he drove in F1) or whether there is still some room for improvement (hehe okay he will say that you can alway improve)

I´m just asking because I noticed that his pace on the softer tyres compared to Romain or other drivers is better than it´s on the mediums or hards. Of course my observations could be totally wrong =D

Answer:

I feel confident as always. As usually, there is room to improve, but my driving is what it is, and it’s not going to change from that.

About soft tyre, I don’t know. Some tyres have worked better than some others. Propably in comparison my soft tyres were working better than the hard ones in that race, while it was more tricky to the hards working. It depends on driving style, too.

Andrea:

How many hours a day to you train? I heard that you like to sleep until noon! So when does your training session usually start? Do you always just train with Mark or do you also do some stuff on your ownn or with friends?

Answer:

It depends on the day. We usually start at 11.00, if we do mountain biking, it’s 3 hours or something, then we do gym etc. Yes, I train with Mark according to his programmes.

Celine:

I heard that you always beat Vettel at Badminton. Is he that bad or are you that good? Do you often see each other when you are not at the races? Are there some other drivers you like to spend time with?

Answer:

Seb has never won me. Last time we played was in Kuala Lumpur - and I won.

Do you prefer to spend your time in Switzerland or in Finland?

Answer:

I love both, but it’s more peaceful in Switzerland.

Heni:

Hei Kimi! When you meet Sebastian just talking about Formula 1?

Answer:

We talk all kind of things, but, of course, about F1, too.

Ingrid:

Are you still in contact with Kaj? Are you planning to do Rally Finland?

Answer:

Yes, I keep in touch. He’s now rallying with Pajunen. No, I’m not planning Rally Finland.

Kriss:

Do you think that driving in rally for 2 years made you a better F1 driver?

Answer:

Rally and F1 are completely different sports. They don’t have anything in common. I like to drive them both, but two years of rallying were two years of rallying, nothing else.

Melina:

I´d like to know whether Kimi watches some starts prior to some races to prepare himself. Or whether he does watch the race again after it is over to analyse his driving.

Answer:

No, I don’t watch the starts, I did previously, but some how it stopped. And why do it? If I would watch ten starts from the others, it would not mean our start would be similiar to them.

Joy Chan:

From the bottom of your heart, which one do you love more? WRC or F1?

Answer:

I like them both as much. I have done racing more than 25 years and rallies for 2 years and my career is not finished yet.

Dean:

Kimi before the start of the season you complained about DRS and that it´s not that difficult to overtake nowadays.

Do you still think like that or do you like it now?

Answer:

DRS is just a bottom in the steering wheel. In some circuits it’s still very difficult to get close enough to overtake. That has not changed.

Piotr:

During your Nascar races and rallys we often heard you swearing (really I think Kaj was more of an Iceman than you were);D

Do you also often swear to your team at the F1 team radio?

Answer:

You swear, while it’s not going in the way you like.It doesn’t not have anything to do with iceman status.

One question concerning the team. Do you already get on well with them? I mean do they already understand what you want? Is there a blind trust?

Answer:

The relationship has been good since the beginning. Now we just know each better. The atmosphere is something I like very much.

icemaid:

If you win your 2nd WDC this year or in 2013 will you continue to race in F1?

Answer:

I have a contract for 2013. But you never know what happens in this sports.

whatever:

Q. What was going through your mind being back at the podium after so long?

Answer:

I was not that happy, while I knew it could have been better.

Anonymous:

Are you interested in the history of F1? If you could drive any legendary Formula One car of the past, which car would you choose?

Answer:

I would pick the the age of those ’cigarboxes’ back in the sixties.

kuttan:

You can only go as fast as your car is capable of. How many tenths extra’ can a driver bring purely from skill. ( if there are ideal lap times calculated by the computer, how often do u go better than that)

Answer:

You never beat the ideal lap time. First it’s measured by a computer, and if I break it, the new ideal lap is then my time. I think, you never get a 100% perfect lap so in fact there is not ideal lap time at all.=

Courtesy: Nicole

Ice cream eating and other strange Räikkös-questions

Kimi Räikkönen's press conferences in Jerez have interested the international reporters really much

During a couple of days they had already asked him about many things. MTV3.fi collected some of the strangest questions:

- Have you talked with Ferrari's employees like Massa for example? an Italian reporter asked Räikkönen.

- I said hi to him and he said hi to me when I saw him in the hotel this morning, Kimi replied.

One reporter wanted to know if Räikkönen had missed the reporters in F1-paddock:

- We missed you but did you miss us?

- I think you missed me more, Räikkönen said and made the reporters laugh.

Kimi was asked to compare if the atmosphere in WRC was different than in F1?

- Yes. In many ways. It doesn't change anything by talking about it. It's a different sport. They have a different way of doing things. Those all make the atmosphere different and give a different feeling between the teams and the drivers. The drivers aren't racing each other the same way as in F1 so that alone is a big difference. It changes a lot how people treat each other, Kimi said.

An American reporter wanted to know Kimi's thoughts about Nascar:

- You drove in Nationwide and truck-series. How seriously did you consider a career in US?

- If I could still live in Europe then I would probably had continued there but I would have to live in US and I wasn't very interested to move there. I had fun when testing and racing those cars. They have laidback but professional people there. The cars maybe don't look so good but they are well built. Who knows, maybe I will drive there more some day, Kimi said.

This week's most strange Räikkös-question was presented to Eric Boullier when he was asked: Do you have your ice cream storage filled for Kimi?

The question referred to Kimi's ice cream eating after he retired in 2009 Malaysia, but Boullier didn't understand the context.

- Does he like ice cream? Boullier asked before the backgrounds of the question were explained to him.



Courtesy: Nicole

Ten Questions to Kimi Räikkönen

Kimi Räikkönen, known as 'The Iceman', is famous for giving very little away when it comes to interviews. But in the searing heat of Greece we managed to make him melt. A little, at least...

What is your favourite rally?
“There are still some rallies that I haven’t tried yet, so I don’t know. But it’s always nice to go home to Finland, so I’m looking forward to that rally.”

What was your favourite Formula One race?
“I like Spa as it’s a great track but my personal favourite race was Brazil 2007 when I won the championship. It was a crazy race and I just had to go flat-out.”

How tricky was it coming back into the rally car after missing two events?
“That wasn’t so easy because I still don’t have a lot of experience and the last car I drove was a NASCAR truck, which was quite different!”

How’s the NASCAR going?
“It’s good fun actually. It’s another completely different style of driving, but it went quite well and I’m going to do some more later on this year.”

Is rallying still your main priority?
“Yes, rallying is still definitely the main focus. I’m enjoying myself and I think I’m making progress: now we do most of the rest of the season.”

What have you learned most this year?
“That you need experience in rallying to do well and there is no short cut. And also that you need your pace notes to be exactly right. It’s a bit like Formula One: it’s always the last little bit that makes the difference but that last little bit is always the hardest one to find.”

What do you do to relax at weekends?
“Just relax with friends and go on my boat. The boat is perfect as nobody can bother you.”

Who were your heroes in racing and rallying?
“I don’t really have heroes. But looking back in the past, I always liked the character of James Hunt in Formula One and in rallying Tommi Makinen is a really good guy.”

What are the most important things that you pack to go on a rally?
“My computer and my mobile phone so that I can stay in touch with people and watch some videos.”

What’s your favourite vegetable?
“Potatoes. But I eat most things.”

Source: WRC

This is how Lewis Hamilton replied to MTV3-readers questions

Readers from MTV3 were offered a chance to send questions to McLaren's F1-driver Lewis Hamilton and the British team's technical department in May

Hamilton replied to two questions from the readers and McLaren's technical manager Indy Lall also replied to two questions.

Do you ever get bored in a F1-car? I don't mean races, I mean for example the 2nd practice session when you test some small changes in setups by driving on a long straight. Have you ever secretly yawned for example at that time?

Lewis Hamilton:
I don't think that one can ever get bored when driving these cars because driving them is so much fun. I have drove tests on long straights, which starts to repeat itself very much but that isn't still boring at all, because we are talking about driving a F1-car (nevermind if it's on a repetitive track). You don't fall asleep behind the wheel but the day can get long. It's never boring to drive during GP-weekends.

Which similarities and on the other hand differences are there between F1- cars and NASCAR-cars?

Lewis Hamilton:
I think that it could be a little more easier to overtake with a NASCAR-car. It's really difficult with a F1-car and they always change the regulations to make overtaking easier, but when you are driving it is really difficult to get near another car so you can overtake. In NASCAR again it's a bit easier for the drivers to get closer to each other and get a chance to overtake. I think it would suit me too, I would probably enjoy it very much! I believe that there is a certain way by which you have to drive a F1-car so you can get out all possible grip from the downforce. When driving with a regular car again you look more for the mechanical grip. It was really much fun to drive again with a real transmission and a car that had a clutch. The car had immense powers and also quite good brakes. They belittled it to me by saying "you probably won't like this as much as...", but I was all smiles the whole time.

(Hamilton recently tried out a NASCAR-car in a car-show in US)

Do you think aerodynamics has a too significant role in F1 (compared to NASCAR's approach), although it does enable a superior performance ability?

Indy Lall:
Well, in F1-regulations they allow taking advantage of aerodynamics and you have to operate within those rules. All teams use it and as a matter of fact the smart designers and engineers create revolutionary changes. In NASCAR it's much more restricted. NASCAR is actually an equal playfield for all teams and there is a difference of less than half a second between the pole and the last grid. In F1 the difference is naturally much bigger. This bigger difference is the result of how the best teams can squeeze out everything possible from the regulations.

What kind of technical changes will be needed in F1-cars for season 2013 if the four-cylinder turbo engines will become true?

Indy Lall:
Changing into a smaller engine will immediately affect the car's weight, and I believe the changes will depend upon what the engine's fuel consumption will be. If the engine consumes a lot, naturally there has to be more fuel in the car. It's quite a challenge to fit in a smaller engine so that the solution offers the engineers new possibilities to develop the car aerodynamic. That's why I believe that the most revolutionary changes will take place in aerodynamics and reliability, which again is achieved due to new parts, like the engine.

Source: MTV3
Courtesy: Nicole

Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton square up on GMTV

Source: GMTV