Hamilton: I feel very free of the burdens I had last year

If Lewis Hamilton was his own worst enemy at times last year, the McLaren driver assured the world on Wednesday that he would be starting the new Formula One season very much at ease with himself again.

“I think it was just a fantastic winter where I got to spend time with friends and family and really was able to wind down,” said the 27-year-old, who complained last year about feeling burnt out.

“I let loose for the first week where I did a bit of skiing and then I ate pancakes and all that stuff that I said I wasn’t going to do,” he told Reuters after the launch of the new MP4-27 car at the Woking factory.

“I then got into quite an intense training regime and sat down in between times where I analysed the year and certain things in my personal life which weren’t as good as they could be and went about correcting those things. Today I just feel very fresh in my mind and very free of perhaps any of the burdens that I had on me last year.”

Hamilton’s 2011 season was punctuated by crashes and collisions, mostly with Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, and his on/off/on again relationship with American pop singer Nicole Scherzinger.

He said he was now fully focused on the job of being a grand prix driver, “What I have decided to do this year is just focus on the most important thing and that’s racing.”

“Of course I accept that my personal life is in the domain but I’d rather just focus on racing. But things are good. So I’m happy.”

Hamilton won three races last season but was beaten by Jenson Button, the first team mate who has ever finished a campaign ahead of him overall.

Despite that fact, bookmakers have already established Hamilton as 5/1 joint second favourite for the title along with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, behind Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel but ahead of Button on 7/1.

“I want to win every race. I think I can,” he said of the season that starts in Melbourne on March 18. I think I’ve got the ability to. I think if the car is where we hope the car is, there’s no reason why we can’t do that.

“The only thing that ever gets in your way is your own mind and your own insecurities or obstacles that you put in your way. But I think the most important thing is to put those things aside and to overcome them and I think I have.

“Standing right in front of you I feel stronger than I was a few months ago particularly, but even more so than I was last year at the start of the year,” he said.

Hamilton’s McLaren contract expires at the end of the season, but he said he would aim to clear that up as soon as possible to calm paddock speculation.

“That’s going to be a big topic,” he recognised. “At the moment the focus is just on the preparation we have coming up for the season.”

“I think probably after the first couple of races it’s something we will probably want to get out of the way so we can focus on the rest of the year without the team being concerned and without it being something that’s just hanging around for us so then you guys won’t be having to ask questions about it.”

Source: YallaF1

In Friday's Iltalehti: Räikkönen is wild and free

Iltalehti grilled Kimi Räikkönen

1. Kimi, what's on your mind?

- Nothing. Ask something for God's sake since you have come all the way here.

2. What do you expect from the next tests?

- Difficult to say. We'll see then what the new car is like. I don't think that it's terribly different. I don't know about the tyres. They say that they have changed a bit.

3. What kind of season would you yourself be satisfied with?

- I haven't really thought anything concrete. I see in the tests what the car is like and how good it is. That decides. How it feels, that's a thing you notice right from the first test. At least I have noticed it immediately earlier.

4. You are used to really big teams during your F1-career. Does it show in the operation of Lotus that it's slightly smaller than McLaren and Ferrari?

- No, it's just the same. We have all the same equipment here and hence we also have a chance to make a good car. The same gang who earlier won championships is still here. And physically the team is located in the same place. Maybe it's smaller in the sense that Lotus doesn't have a car factory behind them like Mercedes or Ferrari had.

What does Räikkönen think about the sport's dangers? Then what is Räikkönen's relationship to alcohol? Read all answers to these questions and to several other Kimi-questions in Friday's Iltalehti!

Courtesy: Nicole

Free Mr. Räikkönen is open to all offers

Kimi Räikkönen is known for not living in the past - still the 31-year old racer hasn't yet grabbed his future either.

At the eve of Germany rally Räikkönen managed to walk around every pitfall when interviewed by Turun Sanomat.

Räikkönen says he is satisfied with his development during the second year in WRC. He has five rallies behind him and five positions on WC-points.

– It has been a little more easier than it was before. We have lost a few positions when we had the tyre puncture in Jordan and crashed into a fence in Jyväskylä. The best is that we have progressed in time from last year, Räikkönen estimates.

How will the development proceed if Räikkönen drives WRC-rallies for the third season?

– Time will tell, he says.

Then how open is Räikkönen's next year?

– There are no plans.

Then is there something that you at least have ruled out of your options?

– Useless to ask, Räikkönen grins.

You aren't planning on stopping your driving career, are you?

– I don't know. It's useless for you to ask. Even though you would ask me in a hundred different ways, the reply won't change. When you don't know it yourself, then there aren't many others who know either, Räikkönen insists.

Then what would you still want to do - Le Mans 24 hours or perhaps the Dakar-rally?

– It could be really cool to drive Le Mans. But if you are going to drive it, then you also have to drive a few races as a test and the schedules can become tricky. If I would go for example with Peugeot to Le Mans, then I would have to drive at least three test races.

– I haven't even thought of something like Dakar. It could also be a cool experience but I don't have any urge to go there. I'm sure it would be very different, although I don't know since I haven't been there.

Lets go back to rally.

A year ago in Germany Räikkönen achieved his first rally merit when being the fastest on the last SS. This year that same 4,37 kilometer long Trier's Circus Maximus SS will give power stage points to the three fastest.

Räikkönen has been driving with his own Citroen DN3 WRC -car only a day on tarmac when testing. He doesn't start specifying his expectations.

– There could have been a little more testing. Now we more or less try out things here. We'll see soon how the rally takes off. There is a small bit of real tarmac too, although the surfaces are mostly somekind of beton.

A track driver's experience doesn't help in tarmac rallies.

– There is nothing similar in them. The normal roads are never like a real track, the car is jumping and flying here and there.

It's easy to determine that Räikkönen would take a F1-challenge if he would be given the right offer.

How much do you follow F1-races?

– Everytime when I'm at home.

What do you think about the multiplied overtakings in GP-races?

– Apparently it's easier in some races than in others. It depends upon how they decide about where the back wing can be opened. But it has nothing to do with the actual overtakings anymore. All you have to do is move beside and press a button and the one in front of you can't do a thing.

– I guess they have been trying to take it into the right direction. Maybe it looks more cooler in television but it's not any real racing.

– The tyre department again is a completely different thing. Those races where the tyre consumption have been decisive, they have been the best competitions, Räikkönen thinks.

Doesn't it tingle at all to get there and start overtaking?

– It doesn't change my attitude at all if they overtake there or not. It is always cool when you get to race. That's all it takes.

Räikkönen is not surprised that Sebastian Vettel's superiority has evened out a bit during the season.

– Often the situation always evens out every year if someone has been clearly leading in the beginning. And Vettel probably doesn't even have to win races in order to stay in the lead up until the end.

– That was the best in those Nascar-races. To just drive alone in a circle was boring but especially in the truck-race the feeling was great. It's great to race when you have cars all around you. It's racing all the time. The Nationwide-car didn't turn anywhere. That's why it wasn't as cool as the truck-race was.

Are we going to see Räikkönen in Nascar-races in the future?

– I don't know. Let's see. I could go there if I wanted to but like I said I haven't thought about next year at all.

Räikkönen was expected to go to the States again last weekend for the Watkins Glen's Nascar-race. Actually they tried to lure the him there very much after one Sprint Cup -driver was injured and his car was offered to Räikkönen.

– I just didn't want to go there. Besides the race was postponed by a day and I wouldn't have got here in Germany for recce then, Räikkönen said.

Turun Sanomat, Trier

HEIKKI KULTA

Courtesy: Nicole

Horner: Vettel can go to Ferrari in ten years

Red Bull Racing F1 boss Christian Horner does not take Sebastian Vettel’s headline grabbing flirtation with Ferrari too seriously and has said that a decade down the road Ferrari are free to have the reigning world champion.

Speaking to Reuters, Horner said, “I think any driver at some stage in his career would like to drive for the red team and we don’t hold that against him. But…for the foreseeable future we see him as a part of Red Bull, he’s grown up within the Red Bull family and hopefully for many years to come. Just before he retires he can go to Ferrari.

He added mischievously, “If he wants to go to Ferrari just before he retires, then that could be another 10 years away. Or in Michael (Schumacher)’s case 20 years away.”

Horner pointed out, “The Italians get very excited when world champions talk about Ferrari, so maybe he’s been dreaming about Ferrari but I think that’s about all. One of the things that we encourage is a freedom of expression and so on. Sebastian is his own person and he’s got his own opinions.”

“For the foreseeable future, and most importantly for the immediate future, he is very much committed to Red Bull and likewise Red Bull committed to him,” he admitted.

“It’s down to us to ensure that we are giving him a quick car and it’s down to him to ensure that he’s performing, and what driver in the pitlane wouldn’t want to drive a Red Bull at the moment?” asked the champion team boss.

“He’s an important part of what we do and an important part of how the team moves forward but that is more than a piece of paper or a contract. That comes down to relationships, down to trust, down to feeling comfortable in an environment. He’s grown up within the Red Bull family and all the success he has achieved within his motorsport career has come within that environment,” concluded Horner.

Source: YallaF1

Räikkönen free to return to F1 say Citroën

Kimi Räikkönen can pull out of the 2011 world rally championship to return to F1 if he wants to

That is the claim of Citroen’s rally chief Olivier Quesnel, amid reports the 2007 world champion is now contractually committed to rallying for this season.

The Finn and his management have not yet responded to multiple attempts by the formula one media to confirm rumours that Raikkonen, 31, is a candidate to replace the injured Robert Kubica at Renault this year.

After making his full-time world rally debut with Citroen last year, the former McLaren and Ferrari driver has announced he will drive a Citroen DS3 under the Ice 1 entry in 2011.

“If he wants to leave, I couldn’t say anything because he is a client,” Quesnel told RMC Sport.

“He has rented a car from us and drives with his own sponsors,” added the Citroen boss. “I suppose there may be considerable pressure from Bernie Ecclestone, the FIA and the whole world of F1 who want to see him come back because he is still an emblematic driver for the sport.”

However, Quesnel indicated that he doesn’t think Raikkonen is too keen to go back to F1.

“If he is taking phone calls, they would have to be very convincing to get him back there,” he said.

Source: YallaF1