Raikkonen really wants Indy win

It was certainly not a happy Kimi Raikkonen, the one who left Montreal after the Canadian GP, which was, on the whole, a disappointing race for him and for the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro. "Once again it was a very difficult race for us. We did not get the result we expected, due to all the problems we experienced; you could almost say that in the end finishing fifth was not that bad," commented Kimi. "It could have gone much, much worse out there!"

Kimi Raikkonen, Scuderia Ferrari.

Photo by xpb.cc.

"The whole weekend was really difficult. We did not have a competitive package as we hoped for; we try as hard as ever to improve it for Indianapolis: for sure we will give it all! The race was very hectic with all the safety car periods. At the start I touched the rear wing of Felipe's car and the handling of my car was never 100%. After Kubica's accident, debris from his BMW got stuck in my front wing and I lost a lot of aerodynamic downforce and the car was really difficult to drive through the corners."

"Then I practically lost my breaks, that at a certain point I even lost one position to Sato. In the final phase of the race it was pretty difficult, not knowing when the brakes were working and when not. So in the end it was important that we got some points. While also Fernando and Felipe had some problems, I managed to reduce the gap to them. Sure, now I'm 21 points behind Hamilton, but I'm certain that there will be difficult moments even for him."

Kimi knows that this is not an easy situation for him: "The last three races have not been what I expected. We do our best to get back to the level of the first three races. I really want to win, because that would help us a lot."

In the afternoon the Finnish driver arrived in Indianapolis: "I was in Montreal for a couple of days and played some icehockey. The best thing in Canada for me over the weekend was the meeting with the kids at Coronation School arranged by Bridgestone: It was really nice answering all their questions and I really enjoyed talking to them. It was much less enjoyable talking to the journalists after the race."

"It's difficult to say what we expect from IMS. I enjoy the circuit and it has always been a good circuit for Ferrari. There is a very long straight, where you need to have a good speed, but at the same moment the infield section is very tight and there are some corners you have to take with the smallest gears. Fortunately you are able to overtake at the end of the straight."

Kimi's last thought was about his colleague Robert Kubica: "We were really delighted to see that he was not injured. This shows the high safety standards of a modern Formula One car. I really hope he can race in Indy."

-credit: ferrari