Raikkonen: There’s much more to come

Qualifying in eighteenth position wasn’t quite the plan in Australia, but a storming drive through the field to seventh showed that the Iceman is back. What will Sepang hold?

Given your performance and where Romain managed to qualify in Australia, how much potential do you feel the E20 has?

The car feels very good. In the race I was stuck in traffic a lot so it didn’t show so much, and who knows what might have happened if we had a better grid a slot. There is a lot of speed in the car.

Sepang as a circuit is quite different from Albert Park as a track?

You still need a good car and that looks to be what we have. Hopefully we’ll have a smoother weekend than we did in Australia with no mistakes. We won’t know how the car will perform until we get out on track, but it’s been good everywhere else so far. Hopefully it’ll be the same in Malaysia.

What are your main memories of Sepang as a circuit?

Malaysia has been good and bad for me in the past; I’ve had a few bad races there but I’ve also won three times at the circuit including my first Grand Prix victory so it’s nice to go back to where it all began. It’s hot and humid which makes it a challenge for the drivers, but it’s the same for everyone.

With two long straights forming part of the circuit layout, is this a track which will lend itself to overtaking with the DRS and KERS systems?

I haven’t used the DRS here before so I’m not sure how much use it will be, but our car is good in a straight line so hopefully it can help us out in the race. We’ll have to wait and see.

Do you feel like you’re getting the most out of the E20 at this stage?

There’s much more to come. We’re learning about the car all the time and the last race didn’t really give us the chance to use its full potential. Hopefully Malaysia will be a bit more straightforward.