Video: Interview with Fernando Alonso after Qualifying at Abu Dhabi GP 2012

Fernando Alonso described Ferrari's qualifying session as 'perfect' despite his fastest time seeing him start Sunday's race seventh on the grid



Source: SeventySevenBucks

Video: Kimi Räikkönen talks to The National

Kimi Räikkönen speaks about the track and his expectations for the Lotus team ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2012



Source: TheNationalNewspaper

Video: BBC Singapore GP - Lewis Hamilton 'really happy' with pole

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton says he is "really happy" to continue his recent strong qualifying form by claiming pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix.

The result is Hamilton's third pole in the last four races, while his team-mate Jenson Button ended the session in fourth place on the grid.

Button admits he has struggled to put together a fast lap so far at the Marina Bay track, but hopes for better in Sunday's race.



Source: SixtySixBucks

Video: Sky Sports - Italian GP - Kimi - Car performed to the max

Lotus' Kimi Räikkönen believes he and the team performed to the max at the Italian Grand Prix - The Finn moves into third position in the World Championship standings



Source:  SixtySixBucks

Video: Sky Sports - Italian GP - Räikkönen's Lotus at maximum

Kimi Räikkönen admitted his Lotus was at it's maximum capability during qualifying for Sunday's Italian Grand Prix, but was not surprised about ending the day in seventh position on the grid



Source: SixtySixBucks

Video: Sky Sports - Belgian GP - Hamilton clear about crash

Lewis Hamilton says it is clear who caused the crash at Spa but is refusing to name names

 

Source: NinetyBucks

Lewis Hamilton: Vettel, Alonso biggest threat

Dan Thomas catches up with Lewis Hamilton a day after his victory in Montreal



Source: ESPNUK

Video: BBC - Spanish GP - Kimi Räikkönen enjoying racing at Lotus 2012

Source: FiftyFiveBucks

Video: Kimi Räikkönen misses out on top three at Spanish GP

Kimi Räikkönen was disappointed to have missed out on a top three position after finishing 5th in qualifying



Source: F1ARAB

Bild am Sonntag: Kimi Räikkönen Interview

Kimi Räikkönen is notorious. He is considered a daredevil on the track, an unrestrained party beast and a talented man of few words. After two years as a rally driver, the world champion from 2007 is once again mixing up formula 1

Bild am Sonntag met the Finn for an interview. He greets us with his now obligatory sunglasses. Excuse me, Mr. Räikkönen, can you take them off maybe? Shruging, answer: "No." Well, then ...

Bild am Sonntag: After 952 days of rest last Sunday, you are finally back on the podium. And then there was instead of champagne only rose water at the awards ceremony. Still disappointed?

Kimi Räikkönen (32): Whatever that was, what we had to drink there for sure it would have tasted better from the top! Hopefully there is real champagne soon for me - and then not again for a second place.

You were two years completely out of Formula 1 and now with Lotus placed 7, 5, 14 and 2. Do you think your comeback is successful?

It's not gone bad. I like what I'm doing, that's enough. I do not care if someone says I do it well or not. However, it is disappointing when you still only get second. After the race in 14th place in China has not gone the way we wanted, we first have to be happy with the result in Bahrain.

Will the second place soon be a first? Do you believe you can be at the top with Lotus?

That's the goal. I do not like second places. This also could have happend in the first three races. The basis is good, and who knows what will happen in the next races.

You are known for excessive partying. What happens when you're first time at the top of the podium?

No plans. I always look on the next day and try to make the most of it. Life can change so quickly ...
You have returned to Formula 1 because you missed the fights. On Sunday you found Sebastian Vettel a hard nut to crack

He was faster. I hope that I will once again come so close to him. Then it's his turn.

Sebastian is also a friend of yours ...

He's a nice guy. With him you can make good jokes. But on the track he is my enemy.

Did you miss anything during your time off other than the battles on the track?

No. I'm only here for racing. The other bullshit I can do without. If you would take away the cars of Formula 1, I would not be here. All the trappings, that fame and stuff, I'm not interested.

You are supposed that you often can’t sleep the night after a race because you are still upset

Believe me, I can sleep anywhere, wherever I want. And whenever I want! This is a job for me, and when I go home I am not taking work with me there. Formula 1 plays no role in my personal life. I have a real life! I think for many people Formula 1 is their live. For me it's not.

Formula 1 is your job, not your passion?

If I did not like it a bit, I probably would not be here. You certainly too, right?

Have you earned enough money in your career, to quit work tomorrow?

It always depends from which perspective you look at it. The work at the moment is fun, so the question does not arise for me.

Why don’t you take your wife Jenni Dahlman with you like many other drivers?

Because it would be boring for her to sit around here all day. The time she can certainly use better.

Source: Bild am Sonntag
Courtesy: miezicat

Video: Kimi Räikkönen: I should have won - F1 2012 Bahrain

Kimi Räikkönen was disappointed not to win the Bahrain Grand Prix but was pleased for the Lotus team



Source: F1ARAB

Video: Especial Interview with 6 WDC CCTV 5 at Chinese GP 2012

Interview with Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Räikkönen and Sebastian Vettel from CCTV 5



Source: AnneCarvalho78

Interview with Kimi Räikkönen for the Motorsport-total

Question: "Kimi, are you satisfied with your fourth place?"
Kimi Räikkönen: "In a way yes, because it was not too bad, but because of the gap to the top I'm a bit disappointed. Overall I think we were stronger in the last race. However, the position is quite okay. "

Question: "How do you explain the gap? Was there a problem with the car?"
Räikkönen: "We are just improving in some areas but in others not, we are in a learning process."

Question: "So on your lap no problems occurred?"
Räikkönen: "The car could not have been much faster. We have tried everything, but it has not worked."

Question: "Were there more problems in the slow or the fast corners?"
Räikkönen: "More in the slow corners. Otherwise the handling of the car was right except in the final qualifying when it was cooler, it got worse a bit."

Question: "Are you generally satisfied with the handling of the car?"
Räikkönen: "Overall I was more satisfied with the car at the last race. There are a few areas where we have problems and the gap to the top is slightly larger than expected. But one must say that the times are very close. I think we could have even further ahead. "

Question: "How do you rate your chances for the race starting fourth?"
Räikkönen: "I don't know. Usually our car is good in the race. Tomorrow it will be hotter than today, which is better for us. Hopefully the other teams then have problems. We have to wait and see what happens."

Question: "If you compare the soft with the hard tires - you realize there is a big difference?"
Räikkönen: "No. On one lap maybe, but then it depends on the temperature."

Question: "What areas do you think you can improve your car?"
Räikkönen: "We could further improve the downforce. Then the tire would work even better."

Question: "Regarding the updates on your car: Is it true that you still drive with the old rear end here?"
Räikkönen: "No, that one didn'T work. We use the one we have used the last race. We had tried the old again, but then changed back to the new one."

Question: "Are you surprised of Kamui (Kobayashi, editor's note) performance?"
Räikkönen: "No. The Sauber were fast all season so far. Both drivers were quick, so I'm not surprised that he is in front of me.."

Question: "How do you assess the durability of your tires in the race?"
Räikkönen: "I don't know. We were not able to simulate a race distance. Like I said, it depends much on how hot it is. If it is really hot, we will make advantage. If it is cooler it will be difficult for us to get temperature into the tires. Then the others may have an advantage. "

Question: "How do you assess the situation when it rains, there is little chance that it will rain tomorrow?".
Räikkönen: "No matter what happens, we are simply trying to achieve the best possible. The situation will be the same for all. It makes no difference for us. But it would be nicer to drive a race in dry conditions. But we can't change the weather. "

Question: "IYou were the fastest in sector 1. Because of the car and you like the sector specifically?"
Räikkönen: "Actually I was not so happy with the first sector, so I'm surprised that I was the fastest there, the car does not feel so good there.."

Question: "Do you think that Mercedes will not be as fast tomorrow as it was today?"
Räikkönen: "Usually not, but if it should be cooler, it could be advantageous for them. They seem to have a greater tire wear than others in the race, so cooler temperatures should be better for their tires."

Question: "You've already used all the soft tires, do you?"
Räikkönen: "I have not driven my fastest lap on my last set of tires, so I have another one."

Question: "In Malaysia, you were at the end of the race very fast. Do you think that here in China it will be the same?"
Räikkönen: "We are always fast Usually at race end the times are faster overall. We will see how it will be tomorrow."

Question: "Are you surprised from Sebastian's (Vettel, editor's note) performance?"
Räikkönen: "I don't know what happened. Maybe he had a lot of traffic. Such things can."

Question: "Do you expect the two McLarens of Button and Hamilton at the start?"
Räikkönen: "Yes, because they have always been very fast."

Source: Motorsport-total
Courtesy: Miezicat

Kimi Räikkönen – “Hopefully We Can Move Forward in the Race”

Despite achieving his best qualifying result of the season so far, Kimi feels that the E20 could be further up the order here in China; the Finn gives us his thoughts on qualifying at the Shanghai International Circuit this afternoon

Kimi, today saw your strongest qualifying result of the season to date; how are you feeling after that performance?
Qualifying in P5 is ok but overall our pace is not as good as we had hoped. We’ll start in P4 after Lewis (Hamilton) takes his penalty so the result isn’t bad, but the time could have been better. I tried to improve after my first lap but got a bit wide through one corner, so maybe we could have been a bit closer to the front but really I think we got the maximum from the car today. In a way it’s not too bad, but we’re disappointed with the gap to Nico (Rosberg). Anyway that’s how it goes sometimes; hopefully we can at least keep our position at the start and try to move forward in the race.

You’ve mentioned that the car hasn’t quite lived up to expectations so far this weekend; where do you think improvements need to be made?
We seem to be losing time on the straights and through the corners, but the main thing we’re lacking is downforce. More downforce means more grip, and although the handling is fine we can’t push as hard as we’d like. The colder weather didn’t help us, and the temperature dropped quite a lot in Q3 which made a difference to our speed. It should be warmer tomorrow which will help, but then again it will help some of the other teams too. So far our car has had good race pace, so hopefully we’ll see that again tomorrow. Of course, if it rains then we have a level playing field as everyone will need to start from scratch.

How much of an effect do you think the upgrade package brought in for this weekend has had on the car’s performance?
We’ve tried some new parts which unfortunately haven’t worked as we expected, so the car is now more or less back to the set-up we ran in Malaysia. Hopefully we’ll get the updates working soon so we can keep moving forwards; we don’t want to get into a situation where the others are improving and we’re staying where we are. Our pace is not as good as it was in the last race, but I’m sure we’ll get there once we find how to get the new parts working.

Tyres seem to have been the big topic of the weekend, with high wear at the front and difficulties getting the rubber up to temperature being a common complaint in the paddock; what are your thoughts?
I didn’t have any major issues with the tyres. There is clearly a difference between the compounds, but it’s the same for everybody and again the weather will affect this. It’s hard to say how the tyres will perform during the race as we haven’t done any particularly long runs. Again it depends on how hot it is; when it’s cooler we can’t quite get them working how we would like, but once the track warms up we’re fine. A positive from qualifying is that we didn’t set a timed lap on the last set of tyres so, while they’re not brand new, they have very little wear which should help us at the start.

You set the fastest time in the first sector today; despite not being entirely happy with the car, does this give you some optimism for the race?
I’m surprised we were fastest in the first sector as it didn’t feel particularly quick. In a way we can look at today in a positive light; the fact that we qualified in P5 even though the car isn’t performing as we’d like is actually quite encouraging, especially as we’re not as strong around this track as we were at the previous circuits. Not counting the pole time, we’re not far behind the cars in front of us either so we can be pleased with that. I’m not sure we’re in such a strong position as in the first two Grand Prix – which is strange to say when we have our highest grid slot so far – but we’ll see what we can do.

Source: LotusF1

Video: Kimi Räikkönen interview after practices at Chinese GP 2012

Source: F1ARAB

Exclusive Q&A with Lotus’s Kimi Räikkönen 24 Mar 2012

The Australian event probably wasn’t the welcome back to the sport Lotus’s Kimi Räikkönen would have wanted. But after starting down in 17th and eventually finishing in seventh, Raikkonen made the best of a bad situation and left with a well-deserved haul of six points. In comparison, the Malaysian weekend is already looking a lot better, even though a five-place gearbox penalty will see him drop down from fifth on the grid to tenth. Räikkönen discusses the Melbourne race and looks ahead to Sunday in Sepang…

Q: Kimi, is racing again in Formula One as much fun as you had hoped?
Kimi Räikkönen: It is all the same as before. It hasn’t changed. But the car is good and that always makes it a bit nicer. If you are in 15th place, then that of course is never nice. Okay, in terms of the paddock, I really didn’t expect it to be any different from when I left, but the team is nice so I feel very comfortable.

Q: So things haven’t really changed. You initially left for a reason so can you stomach those reasons now?
KR: I like the racing. And if you do so then it is inevitable you must accept the rest. Sometimes you discover that on your second try.

Q: How would you sum up your first race? Was it business as usual or did you have to warm up first?
KR: I made a mistake in qualifying so I put myself in a very bad position, but at least in the race we got something out of it. I took it quite easy as I didn’t want to get overly excited and throw it away. As for this weekend we’ve got a five-place penalty which means I will start from P10 tomorrow. But I’m used to penalties; I’ve got so many during my career! (laughs)

Q: Was it painful seeing your team mate, Romain Grosjean, start from P3 in Melbourne?
KR: No - we knew that we botched it and that we never gave ourselves a real chance. But that’s racing. Sometimes you are fastest and sometimes you are slower in qualifying. But it’s the race where you get the points.

Q: So were you angry about botching it up?
KR: We did it ourselves so we are the ones to be blamed. So what’s the point in crying over spilt milk now? I have been long enough in the business to know about the ups and downs of racing. It’s not the first time that I had to stop after Q1 - it is what it is.

Q: Today went better though…
KR: It was of course much nicer. The car felt really good. So maybe I am a bit disappointed as I very well could have ended up in P3 - or even on pole position. But I made a small mistake and there you go. And then with the penalty, of course that costs us even more. But sure it is day and night compared to Melbourne. Here the race should give us a very real chance. P5 would have been easier as P10 already means you have a ‘crowd’ in front. But after the first three corners I should be fine.

Q: You said that you missed the direct competition with other drivers when you were rallying. But there wasn’t too much direct competition in Melbourne…
KR: Ha! If I had been further at front the competition would have been much less. But again, the race went nice and smoothly.

Q: There have been rumours that your nickname could change from ‘ice man’ to ‘nice man’. How do you like that?
KR: It’s all just a rumour. It is the media who make up these kinds of things in the first place. It’s all rubbish!

Q: How do you feel seeing your former team Ferrari struggling so much?
KR: I don’t care. We try to beat all the teams and they are just one of them. If they do poorly it is bad for them but as we are ahead of them I could not care less. And if they become better than us then it’s a sign that we have to improve.

Q: What is your strategy for the race?
KR: I will try to get through the first corners without any accidents and then go on from there. There is not a plan or manual of what to do in the first lap. As I said at the beginning, the car feels good and there should be some options for me tomorrow.

Source: Formula1.com

Video: Kimi Räikkönen Relaxed And Ready at Australian GP 2012 - Sky Sports

Kimi Räikkönen says it's important to avoid any major issues in Melbourne



Source: FiveeNil

Video: Top Gear: Behind The Scenes With Kimi Räikkönen

Courtesy: kimiisland

Kimi Räikkönen on Top Gear 2012

Kimi Räikkönen on Top Gear 2012 Series 18, Episode 7



Source: BBC
Courtesy: duaxecongthucmot

Video: Räikkönen in IL-TV's interview: Are you scared, Kimi?

Iltalehti met with Kimi Räikkönen at the Geneva Motor Show

Kimi Räikkönen sits behind the wheel of formula car within a couple of weeks to compete first time since 2009. After spending two years in WRC, return to F1 does not shake Räikkönen much.

- I have driven more formula races than rally. I know what's going on and what the circumstances are. Rally was completely new to me, says Raikkonen in IL-TV's interview in Geneva Motor Show.

Räikkönen has been asked about differences between rally and formula in several interviews, but what does motorsport's multi-talent think which is more dangerous.

- In any sport something can happen. Speed does not have to be high, if you're unlucky. In formula they have invested a lot to security and run-off areas. In rally it is usually trench, tree, stone or such [which you collide]. If you consider it only by eye, the result would be that rally is more dangerous, 32 year old driver says.

How about does the fear sneak into mind on the track?

- It is probably wrong sport, if you think that, Raikkonen points out briefly.



Source: IL
Courtesy:reppo