Raikkonen: Good people working flat out

Kimi Raikkonen’s Malaysian weekend officially got underway in the FIA press conference today, where he began by denying that all his difficulties in Melbourne had been down to the brake by wire system. “What I need is a set-up that means the car is more how I like it and the team is working on that. Hopefully when they get that for me, it will make things easier and give me more feeling, although this will take a little while” maintained the Finn.

Kimi was his usual candid self when it came to assessing the Scuderia’s Australian performance. “Obviously, it was not the ideal start to the year for the team, not what we wanted to achieve,” he said. “However, after all the small difficulties we experienced in many areas, at least we got something out of it in terms of points. It’s going to be a long year. Hopefully, we can now build on it. We have plenty of good people working flat out as a group to improve things. I am sure we will keep making progress.”

As for the coming race weekend, the Ferrari man had no crystal balls to help him. “Obviously, every circuit is different, it’s very hot and humid here and we have different tyres for the first time. It will be very hard on the cars. So I have no idea what to expect, but even in the past that was the case that it was difficult to say from race to race. Hopefully, we will have a bit better feeling and with the experience we gained at the first race, things should run more smoothly and we can aim for a better result.”

Raikkonen’s usual laid back approach meant he had no startling revelations regarding what these new cars are like from the cockpit. “From a driving point of view I don’t think it’s awfully different to last year’s cars, apart from some small details,” he revealed. “For me the bigger difference is being in a different team, as each team builds a different car.”

Nor were there any fireworks when it came to his relationship with Fernando Alonso. “It is good and it’s always been good,” affirmed Kimi. “Our joint aim is to work together to improve things and get the team where we want to be.”