MONACO GP: Kimi: I am pretty sure that we are going to disappear from F1 - FORMULA 1

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Wednesday, May 20, 2009

MONACO GP: Kimi: I am pretty sure that we are going to disappear from F1

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Q. We've seen the car is much quicker now, so what can we expect in Monaco?

Kimi Raikkonen: It was definitely better in Spain. We made a step forward but this race is always a little bit different compared to normal circuits. I think we will do the best we can and see how it goes tomorrow. It is too difficult to say where we are going to be.

Q. Ferrari is going to use KERS this weekend. How helpful can it be in Monte Carlo?

KR: It should be helpful, otherwise we wouldn't have put it on the car. It is the same story as at other circuits we have been using it, but maybe it is not as big a help here as it was compared to the last race.

Q. How would you describe the mood inside Ferrari at the moment?

KR: It is as good as before. Of course, when you have not such good results as you want, it is always not as good a spirit as normal because everybody wants to win and wants to push hard - so sometimes there is a bit of tension. But, overall, the people are the same. It is the same kind of work and we want to get back where we should be.

Q. And what about yourself? Do you feel 100 per cent comfortable?

KR: Yes. There is no reason why I shouldn't. The things are the same for me as they were before.

Q. So what about the rumours that Fernando Alonso is replacing you?

KR: I've always said the same answer. I don't even need to say it again – we can wait until next year and then we will find out. I know what I am going to do, so I cannot even be bothered to talk about all those stories. So you can decide yourself and then we will wait and see what happens.

Q. The courts in Paris rejected the injunction attempt by Ferrari. What is your personal opinion about this situation for F1 and Ferrari?

KR: For me, first of all, it is not good for F1 on any side to have this sort of thing going on. For me, if Ferrari is not in F1 nor any other big team like BMW or McLaren, it is not good for F1. They are the teams that make F1 and if you change the teams for other teams, new teams that come from GP2 or somewhere else, then it is not the same any more.

For me, I am 100 per cent behind the team and whatever they choose to do, I will go with them. Hopefully everything will get sorted out, but I am not the guy there working closely with them, so you need to ask the team for all the details – and probably also the FIA.

Q. Do you feel more a Ferrari driver or an F1 driver in this moment?

KR: I work for Ferrari and we are one big family. So it is my work and it is the place where I want to race. Whatever they do, I will do the same with them. We are one family and we do things together.

Q. If you in the future are just a spectator of F1, would you go to the races and spend 500 Euros on a race with small teams competing?

KR: Like I said before, F1 for me is all about the big teams. We race together and try to be the best. That is my opinion, but everybody has their own ideas – and probably when I stop in F1 I will not come to races anyhow. I will stop when I have had enough and then I will have no interest to come and see it.

Q. The car was quite good at Barcelona but because of strategy problems and reliability the result was not so good. How frustrating was that?

KR: Of course it was even more disappointing because we saw the car was fast and we could not get the results we wanted. That is how it goes in racing, but at least we know we have made the first step forward. We still have work to do, but we are coming back and that is always nice – even if we didn't get the results we wanted.

Q. Is there too much pressure on Ferrari for making mistakes?

KR: Probably it doesn't help, but like I said we made some silly mistakes, we will try to learn from them and try to make sure we don't repeat those things. Unfortunately sometimes it happens, but we will get it right – although it is taking longer than we want.

Q. Jenson Button has won four grands prix. Is he unbeatable, and who could beat Brawn GP?

KR: There can be many drivers who can do it, but of course they look very strong right now. I am sure there will be other teams winning races later this season, but with all the different rules people have, and different situations with cars, they definitely are ahead of people right now. We could see already at the last race that it is getting closer again.

Q. They say there is no margin for error in Monaco, so where can you make a difference?

KR: You make the laptime around every corner, so you need to be fast in every place. The most important thing is to get the car right and then just build up the speed – but you need to have a strong qualifying and it is pretty difficult. Usually you get stuck behind people and can only follow them and unless something goes wrong you cannot do anything to use your own speed.

Q. Last week you were in Maranello for an important technical meeting and to analyse the performance of the car, and mistakes. How was the meeting?

KR: It wasn't what you are thinking. I was there, but it wasn't the reasons that people were talking about – it was just a normal visit I decided to do there. By many different things it happened to be at the same time, so it is normal that we go over sometimes and see people and go through things, what we did in the past races. We just analyse and try to improve.

Q. Ferrari has said it will maybe not participate in F1 next year, and you are doing a rally next week. If they retire from F1, will you split immediately to rallying?

KR: I am pretty sure that we are going to disappear from F1. But I don't know, but I cannot be 100 per cent sure. For sure they will find something to do for me, I will still have a contract with them – and they are racing in many different categories. So, I think they will find something for me.

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