More servicesWindows Live
HomeHotmailSpacesOneCare
 
MSN
Sign in
 
 
Spaces home  Kimi Räikkönen Space - W...PhotosProfileFriendsMore Tools Explore the Spaces community
May 16

Raikkonen Cautious on Friday Practises

From Autosport.com

http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/1636/43zp5.jpgChampionship leader Kimi Raikkonen believes a trouble-free first day of practice in Monaco will be key to his hopes of a strong showing at the principality.

The Ferrari driver has been hit by problems during most Fridays this year, with him well aware that his car was only perfectly dialled in at the Spanish Grand Prix - which he duly dominated.

In Turkey, Raikkonen hit trouble again during Friday practice with a gearbox problem, and the Finn was then unable to match the pace of teammate Felipe Massa in qualifying or the race.

With qualifying so important to have a good race in Monaco, Raikkonen is hoping he can stay out of trouble next week.

"No," he said when asked if the team had special plans for qualifying. "If we get everything working during the weekend, then we usually get the car right, but so far we've only had one weekend without problems on Friday.

"And every time you don't run on Fridays it hurts you, so hopefully we'll have a good first day at Monaco, get the car sorted, and it should be okay."

Ferrari failed to match the form of rivals McLaren last year at Monte Carlo, and the British squad are generally considered favourites to win there again.

But Raikkonen says his team have taken a step forward and he is hopeful the Italian squad will be strong on the streets of Monte Carlo.

"For sure we have improved from last year, so we'll see in Monaco where we are exactly," he said. "But I think it was not too bad. The feeling is pretty good with the car. We need to work more and then we'll see if we are in the same position as last year."

It's pretty straightforward then - no hiccups in practise at Monaco and Kimi should have a good weekend. Last year it was wet during Monaco practise, but Kimi was looking quite competitive, being faster than Massa, right up until qualifying . He'll have to be cautious during qualifying too. Without traction control, it's going to be one hell of a weekend!

Here's a video from the test yesterday, of an interview with Kimi on Italian television (thanks to TaniaS!)


Size - 11.8MB
Duration - 1.28mins
Download


May 15

Testing at Paul Ricard - Day Two

From Autosport.com

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/4188/40fc6.jpgKimi Raikkonen led the way on the second day of testing at Paul Ricard in France on Thursday, as teams completed their preparations for the Monaco Grand Prix.

The Ferrari driver eclipsed Lewis Hamilton's best effort from the first day to set a fastest lap of one minute 05.381 seconds - less than one tenth of a second ahead of McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen.

Robert Kubica, keen to get his team back fighting McLaren and Ferrari after a disappointing Turkish Grand Prix, was third quickest - just more than four tenths behind Kovalainen.

David Coulthard continued to show the improving form of Red Bull Racing's RB4 to set the fourth fastest time, ahead of Jenson Button in the Honda Racing RA108 and Sebastien Bourdais in the new STR3.

Scuderia Toro Rosso will have taken great heart from the performance of the STR3, which was able to complete a race distance in the afternoon ahead of its scheduled debut in the Monaco Grand Prix.

Jarno Trulli was seventh fastest, ahead of Nelson Piquet and Kazuki Nakajima. Force India duo Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella were at the bottom of the timesheets after sharing their car over the day.

The day marked one of those rare occasions when a test was not interrupted by red flags.

The test continues tomorrow using a different configuration of the Paul Ricard circuit that will simulate the low-downforce settings required for the Canadian Grand Prix.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time      Laps
1. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:05.381 102
2. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:05.471 89
3. Kubica BMW-Sauber (B) 1:05.905 135
4. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:06.001 82
5. Button Honda (B) 1:06.091 155
6. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:06.125 110
7. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:06.205 120
8. Piquet Renault (B) 1:06.355 193
9. Nakajima Williams (B) 1:07.080 129
10. Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:07.104 56
11. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:07.123 64

Kimi Raikkonen continued with preparations for the Monaco Grand Prix, again working on settings for the F2008 and on development of new aerodynamic solutions for high downforce circuits. The planned programme for these past two days was completed with no technical problems.

The day in figures is as follows: 102 laps completed, the quickest in a time of 1.05.381.

Testing at this circuit, with its configuration modified to replicate some characteristics of a track like Montreal, continues tomorrow, when Felipe Massa takes over behind the wheel.

It was another long day for Kimi, but finishing on top the the table this time! It looks good for the Monaco Grand Prix and they'll hopefully have some good data from the past two days. Now we'll have to see how they'll do on the track layout for the Canadian Grand Prix tomorrow, with Felipe taking over testing duties. I bet Kimi would rather be enjoying a lie in the mornings but he knows that there's a lot of work to do (and we support you through it!)

Here is another set of wallpapers from today's test - the best shots of Kimi for your desktop.

Click! >


p.s Apologies for the Chat area not showing over the past few hours. You can still post on it here. But feel free to leave comments in the news posts too! It's much appreciated.


May 14

Testing at Paul Ricard, Day 1

From Autosport.com

Lewis Hamilton set the pace on the opening day of testing at the Paul Ricard circuit, where all Formula One teams are working this week.

Hamilton was the only man to lap the French track in less than 66 seconds, posting a best time of 1:05.600 despite being the driver with the smallest number of laps completed.

The layout used today was the 3.593km 2D SC.

With all outfits focusing on their preparations for the Monaco Grand Prix, several new aerodynamic elements appeared today on some of the cars.

Championship leader Kimi Raikkonen was second quickest, albeit over four tenths of a second slower than his McLaren rival. The Italian squad were working with their regular nose for most of the day, but Raikkonen tried the 'hole in the nose' concept for his final run.

Ferrari have said they will use the nose again in Monaco after it skipped the race in Turkey.

BMW's Robert Kubica was third quickest after 124 laps, with Red Bull's Mark Webber, the early pace-setter today, finishing down in fourth.

Sebastian Vettel finally got his first taste of Toro Rosso's new STR3 car following its troubled debut in Spain. The car, which featured a shark-fin engine cover, is scheduled to race in Monte Carlo after its introduction was delayed following a crash by Sebastien Bourdais in testing.

Vettel showed promising form with the new car, setting the first fastest time ahead of Nico Rosberg, whose Williams team also introduced a new shark-fin engine cover today.

Rosberg was the busiest man with 154 laps completed.

Alex Wurz returned to Formula One action following his LMS outing in Spa last weekend, carrying out testing duties for his Honda team, who tried a new version of their 'Dumbo-style' front wing.

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/1631/13625843rz7.jpg

Toyota also introduced new aerodynamic updates - including a new rear wing - tested by Timo Glock.

Tonio Liuzzi was also back behind the wheel of a Formula One car for the first time in weeks, testing for the Force India team. He set the ninth quickest time, ahead of Renault's test driver Luca di Grassi.

Vettel and di Grassi caused the two red flags of the day, although Hamilton, Kubica and Glock also stopped at the end of the pitlane.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver        Team                       Time     Laps
1. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:05.600 84
2. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:06.089 103
3. Kubica BMW-Sauber (B) 1:06.177 124
4. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:06.348 93
5. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:06.372 91
6. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:06.571 154
7. Wurz Honda (B) 1:06.681 131
8. Glock Toyota (B) 1:06.935 93
9. Liuzzi Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:07.346 106
10. di Grassi Renault (B) 1:07.430 146


Kimi Raikkonen got on with preparations for the Monaco Grand Prix, running on a version of the track that simulates some of the characteristics of the Monegasque circuit. The Finnish driver worked on finding the best set-up and on development of new aerodynamic components.

Kimi's day in figures is as follows: 103 laps completed, the quickest in a time of 1.06.098. Testing at this circuit continues tomorrow, again with Kimi Raikkonen on track.

It's testing so you can't really take much conclusion from the times, but it's good to hear Kimi and the team will be using the 'hole in the nose' design at Monaco - especially after it's success at Spain where Kimi seemed to like the car's handling much better. And if you haven't seen the following image in the photo album, it's a great shot of Kimi on the Paul Ricard circuit against the coloured lines on the run off areas. I thought it was worthy of making into a wallpaper, so enjoy it! The second one of a more intimate Kimi was requested by a fan named 'peaces & cream' (just for you!)

Click! >
 

Charity Catwalk in Monaco from F1 Drivers

From Formula1.com

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/5340/2883782picturero4.jpgThe next port of call for the Formula One fraternity will be the Monaco Grand Prix later this month, and though glamour is never in short supply in Monte Carlo, this year it's set to get an even bigger sprinkling thanks to a charity catwalk show and auction.

Organised by Amber Fashion and raising funds for the Elton John Aids Foundation, the star-studded event will be held on the Friday evening, ahead of the Principality’s race on the Sunday.

Formula One drivers Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, Jenson Button, Nelson Piquet, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Mark Webber, David Coulthard and Adrian Sutil are all expected to grace the catwalk, as they try their hand at modelling FORM, Petra Ecclestone’s new luxury menswear collection, and there could even be a star turn by world champion Kimi Raikkonen.

The drivers’ wives and girlfriends and several world-famous supermodels will also feature, and with actress Elizabeth Hurley’s haute couture swimwear range, Jimmy Choo shoes, Chopard jewellery and Isabell Kristensen’s evening gowns all set to be modelled, those taking part will be spoilt for choice.

Following the catwalk event, guests will be invited to bid for a selection of luxurious lots to raise money for the Aids Foundation. Items on offer include a week on Force India co-owner Dr Vijay Mallya’s 95-metre yacht, the Indian Empress, and a piano used by Elton John to write and record the Grammy-nominated ‘Songs from the West Coast’, signed by 17 international musicians.

With legendary auctioneer Charlie Ross on hand to help boost bids, TV presenters Steve Rider and Tamara Ecclestone in charge of hosting duties and a Martini-sponsored party, Monaco’s glitterati are expected to be out in force. The event will be held at the Le Meridien Beach Plaza Hotel on Friday, May 23.


So Jenni could be possibly attending? I don't think Kimi would do it alone, but it's not the first time he's given charity by himself. And his wife also took part in his Tag Heuer 2008 campaign (picture above). I'd say the Iceman and his Ice Maiden would be the hottest pair to strut their stuff on the catwalk.


Kimi on track for 2008 title - Keke Rosberg

From F1-Live.com

Kimi Raikkonen is perfectly on track to win a second successive drivers' world championship in 2008, his countryman Keke Rosberg thinks.

Rosberg, the 1982 world champion, said that notwithstanding Raikkonen's lacklustre run to third in Turkey, the reigning title winner is plotting a solid course to another crown.

Reigning champion Raikkonen is seven points ahead of his Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa and McLaren's highest-placed challenger Lewis Hamilton, after winning in Malaysia and Spain and finishing on the podium at every other race except Australia.

"Kimi does not win every race," Rosberg observed to the Berlin newspaper BZ.Keke Rosberg said Raikkonen will not be too unhappy to have finished third at Turkey, a circuit at which his team-mate Massa usually excels.

"A champion is someone who scores well on his bad days and wins on his good days.

"For Kimi, everything is going exactly to plan," he concluded.

May 13

Kimi's Column: Post - Turkish GP

From KimiRaikkonen.com

Bogey from Turkey

http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/9407/138spd8.jpg We went to Istanbul leading the championship by 9 points. We came back home leading the championship by 7 points. You can count it any way you like, but for me it's more or less like the same it was.

I like to play golf. After Turkey I've got the same feeling like having a bogey, when playing golf.

Obviously I had a very difficult weekend. The one that starts with problems goes on with problems, but – thank Heaven – it did not finish too badly.

For sure we would just want to fight for wins. But this is racing. Sometimes it just goes wrong since the very beginning of the weekend while you are not able to get everything right, you try to focus on saving all you can.

To limit the damage – like we did in Turkey this time.

We finished third. Obviously, after having a look at all that happened – not the least in the first corner after the start – I cannot be terribly disappointed after walking away from there with six points.

Actually I made it home to Switzerland in the evening and I managed to see Finland beating USA in the ice hockey world championship tournament in Canada. After that also my own result felt even better.

The Turkish weekend began badly on Friday morning. We were on our first flying lap while something went wrong with the gear shifting. After that we had to wait until the afternoon to carry on the work.

The weather was good in the morning, but there was some rain in the afternoon so we were not able to get a proper picture of our car and the tyres. The Saturday morning was not that much better and we had to go to the qualifying without the best possible set up.

Obviously, at the end of the day, the car was pretty good with a heavier fuel, but I made a slight mistake in my lap and that cost too much. We got the fourth place in the grid and that that really hurt us.

My start was not good, either. I was side by side with Heikki. It was tight, but I thought I could go pass him. He turned quite early in and then there was no room at all. I slowed down as much as I could, but my front wing touched lightly his rear tire. I lost a part of the front wing. There were people passing us from the right and then we were sixth after the first corner.

The car was not working as I would wanted it to work, but there was no time to change the wing. It would have cost more time compared to the time we lost using it to the finish.

Afterwards it would be always easy to say what we could have done differently. I never do that. This case is closed.

So far Barcelona has been the only weekend we have had no problems at all. Hopefully Monaco will be the next good race for us and we can do what we want to. I have a good feeling; we'll have a strong car there.

Now we'll test a couple of days in France. The whole team is very, very motivated, preparing to go to the circuits, where we were not that competitive last year.


As Kimi put it best, I don't need to add anything other than - Monaco, here we come!!!


Ferrari Unhappy With Massa Despite Win
From PaddockTalk.com

180.jpg image by _KRS_Ferrari sporting director Luca Baldisserri has admitted to disappointment that the Italian team did not secure a one-two finish in the Turkish grand prix.

Although happy with Felipe Massa's Istanbul win, Baldisserri suggested that he would have liked to have seen the Brazilian driver prevent Lewis Hamilton - on a three-stop strategy - from overtaking him so easily on lap 23.

If Hamilton's progress had been slowed, Baldisserri believes Kimi Raikkonen would have managed to finish second.

"This victory is an excellent outcome, but I am not entirely happy, because if Felipe had kept Hamilton behind him for two laps moire then perhaps Kimi would have finished second," the Italian is quoted as saying by RAI.

26-year-old Massa, however, insists that Hamilton's light car made the Briton "very strong and I couldn't hold him".

Video replays of the pass show Massa defending the inside line as Hamilton set up his move, but in Ferrari's official post-race release, he is quoted as saying he did not take "too many risks" in his defence.

He said in a news conference: "I saw him on my inside and I thought 'okay, go, and we will see at the next stop how it is going to be'."

That's pretty shocking to hear from Ferrari (or maybe it's just media orders from Di Montezemolo...) If Massa did anymore defending than he did, no Ferrari would have won the race, it would have been irresponsible and he'd get the stick for that too. 

Felipe can't protect Kimi in these kind of situations. Kimi just didn't have a good weekend and it should be up to him whether he can win or not - he wouldn't have cared coming in second if he couldn't take the lead anyway. Maybe he wouldn't have lost 2 points to Lewis, but I mean come on! Ferrari better not speak like this again otherwise it really would spoil such a good relationship and the sportsmanship between Kimi and Felipe.


May 12

Istanbul 2008 Desktops

  As usual, here is a selection of fantastic and vividly coloured Kimi & Ferrari wallpapers from the Turkish GP weekend!




(Resolution in 1280 x 840 only)

Also, if you've been interested to download all the images from the Turkish GP* and previous races from this website and in the
Photo Extra HQ you can do so by clicking on the rar download links below. If you find that some are missing from the rar compared to the Photo Extra HQ, simply save the missing ones into the relevant folder.

{KRS Photos 1. Australia 2008 - 113MB
{KRS Photos 2. Malaysia 2008 - 29.88MB
{KRS Photos 3. Bahrain 2008 - 24.1MB
{KRS Photos 4. Spain 2008 - 44.26MB
{KRS Photos 5. Turkey 2008 - 27.17MB*

2008 Turkish GP Stats

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/8669/173sv8.jpg The world champion's performance at Turkey may have been lacklustre not only to most fans but in general. In hindsight, that's easy to say. But the hidden truths were not as easy to notice. Let's take a look at some interesting statistics on Kimi from the Turkish Grand Prix, some information courtesy of Autosport.com and Michele Merlino.

Kimi in particular is still having a tough time in qualifying this year - being beaten four times out of five by Felipe Massa this year. In Turkey, Kimi was fuelled two laps heavier than Felipe and despite admitting a messy final sector and it indeed was, he was just 3 tenths away from pole position.

If we look at qualifying throughout his career, he ended only two seasons behind his teammates in head-to-head comparisons: his debut year in 2001, when he was beaten 10 times out of 17 by Nick Heidfeld; and last year, when he ended the year just losing 8-9 to Massa. The consolation for Kimi is that last year after five races he had the same score he has now: one to four.

The best year for Kimi in qualifying was 2006, when he beat then-McLaren teammate Juan Pablo Montoya and the Colombian's substitute Pedro de la Rosa 15 times out of 18.

Kimi knows that qualifying has been his weakest point and will be determined to come back stronger in Monaco in 13 days time. After ending up on the grid 16th due to his unusual barrier contact last year, Kimi still showed overtaking was more than possible in the narrow and twisty circuit.

The number of fastest laps for Kimi rose up to 27 at Turkey, his second of this year. He also took the fastest lap during last year's race in Istanbul.

After the last race in Spain, Kimi took his 51st podium, passing the original 'Flying Finn' Mika Hakkinen in the most number of podiums. He now successfully passes that mark, taking his 52nd podium at Turkey.

In points scoring, Kimi ended his 12th straight race in the points and thus entered the top-10 sequences of all-times. Here is the chart:

Rank Driver String of races in points From race To race
1 Michael Schumacher 24 Hungary 2001 Malaysia 2003
2 Michael Schumacher 18 San Marino 2003 Spain 2004
  Fernando Alonso 18 Turkey 2005 Germany 2006
4 Fernando Alonso 17 China 2006 Belgium 2007
5 Carlos Reutemann 15 Belgium 1980 Belgium 1981
6 Michael Schumacher 13 San Marino 2006 China 2006
7 Jim Clark 12 Belgium 1963 Belgium 1964
  Mika Hakkinen 12 San Marino 2000 Italy 2000
  Rubens Barrichello 12 Japan 2003 Great Britain 2004
  Jenson Button 12 France 2005 Malaysia 2006
  Kimi Raikkonen 12 Hungary 2007 RUNNING

The Turkish GP weekend wasn't a good one by Kimi's standards, but if bad weekend results only for 3rd place then it's not a lot to worry about! If you're interested in reading the full statistics of Kimi's career, you can read them all in the KRS Archive here.

May 10

Grand Prix of Turkey

http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/991/turflagjw3.gif| Sunday Race Day - Massa Takes Victory from Hamilton Attack, Kimi P3

http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/9296/30001317oq9.pngFerrari's Felipe Massa overcame a bold challenge from Lewis Hamilton and McLaren to clinch a third consecutive Turkish Grand Prix victory.

Hamilton's unique three-stop strategy helped him pass Massa for the lead before half-distance, but he couldn't pull out enough of an advantage to beat the Brazilian after his additional stop, so had to settle for second place, just ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in the second Ferrari.

After outqualifying teammate Hamilton and claiming his first front row start, Heikki Kovalainen was badly delayed by an early puncture and finished a lapped 12th.

Both Kovalainen and Raikkonen got away slowly at the beginning of the race, allowing Hamilton to leap through from third and challenge Massa for the lead...

Classified:

Pos Driver Team Time

1. Massa Ferrari (B) 1h26:49.451
2. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) + 3.779
3. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) + 4.271
4. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) + 21.945
5. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) + 38.741
6. Alonso Renault (B) + 53.724
7. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) + 1:04.229
8. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) + 1:11.406
9. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) + 1:15.270
10. Trulli Toyota (B) + 1:16.344
11. Button Honda (B) + 1 lap
12. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) + 1 lap
13. Glock Toyota (B) + 1 lap
14. Barrichello Honda (B) + 1 lap
15. Piquet Renault (B) + 1 lap
16. Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) + 1 lap
17. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) + 1 lap

Fastest lap: Raikkonen, 1:26.506

Not classified/retirements:

Driver Team On lap

Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 25
Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1
Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) 1

That was a really good race, in terms of the spectacle - plenty of overtaking and the race for victory seemed uncertain with Hamilton's risky 3-stop strategy. Kimi did indeed pit last of the top 3, on lap 20 but he never seemed quick enough to be able to challenge for the win unfortunately.

161.jpg image by _KRS_The start of the race brought in the safety car with a big crash. Kimi had a poor start as did Kovalainen but seeing as they both started on the dirty inside of the track, this was no surprise.

Kovalainen took a rear tyre puncture from Kimi's wing and therefore had to climb his way throughout the field all day. Kovalainen did a fantastic job though, making no mistakes considering how many overtakings took place and some were rather tricky and needed second attempts.

Hamilton's job was giving Massa something to think about, but in the end Lewis's effort got him second place. Unfortunately for Kimi, Lewis has now taken 2 points out of the championship gap but Kimi is still comfortably on top with 35 points. 

160.jpg image by _KRS_ITV did not show Kimi's comment in the press conference yet again (annoying little b*stards) but I assume he isn't happy at all (no surprise, Kimi only wants to win). Kimi got close to Lewis towards the end during the last 8 laps but never seemed to go for a fight, maybe Ferrari told him to ease off but I admit I really wanted to see Kimi try and pass Lewis. It would have been pretty hard but I guess this is the safer and wiser Kimi we'll have to get used to at Ferrari. Nonetheless, we now head to Monaco, the tight historic circuit that Kimi didn't do very well on last year but he'll make sure he's on top form to keep his title and get the feeling of winning back as soon as possible.

So, the good points we Kimi fans can take from this race are: Kimi stayed close to the front two and he took fastest lap, with a damaged front wing. Until Monaco, keep flying Kimi!Come on Kimi!

http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/991/turflagjw3.gif| Race Quotes - Kimi Happy with 3rd After Difficult Weekend

"I didn't have a very good start," he said. "I got alongside (Kovalainen) under braking and got inside and tried to slow down. He turned in a bit and we touched. I broke the front wing and he got a puncture. It is racing.

159.jpg image by _KRS_"We chose to use the front wing all race as it takes too long to change it. It was difficult weekend but at least we got some points."

"It wasn't too bad, but it never helps if you damage the end of the wing," he added. "It's difficult to say how much better it would be with the proper wing but for sure it doesn't help you."

"I think it wasn't the best qualifying for me, and maybe our weakest point. We had a bit more fuel than the others, that is the reason (we were slow) but also the lap was not as good as we wanted. It all started on Friday when we had a problem.

http://img159.imageshack.us/img159/8765/170s2kk1.jpg"We had a difficult weekend and I'm happy to be third. I didn't lose too many points. We'll see what we can do in the next few races. The next two last year were not so strong for us, so we will see what we can do."

Press Conference

Q. (Livio Oricchio – O Estado do Sao Paulo) Kimi, after seeing Hamilton in front of you after the last pit stop, did you believe it was possible for you to overtake him?

KR: It's always difficult to overtake but we tried, we tried to push him but unfortunately we couldn't get close enough because we knew that we have good straight-line speed on the back straight but if you don't get close enough... I was always catching him but I was too far away, so there was nothing that we could do.

Q. Did you pretty much settle for third, one hoped you would have a go at Lewis at the end?

KR: For sure we tried to be in second place but we couldn't, so I would rather take third than anything else.

Q. (Michael Schmidt – Auto Moto und Sport) Kimi, you lost two positions going into the first corner, was it not such a good start due to the line you had to start on or was there a technical problem?

KR: The inside line is never going to be as good as the clean side but also, when I was side-by-side with Heikki and then he was turning in and I needed to slow down because otherwise we would have hit hard, so both of us were pretty slow in the corner, so I think people came round the outside. I think Kubica or somebody else came and passed us. I lost some places there but it all started to go wrong at that point.

Q. (Juha Paatalo – Financial Times Germany) Kimi, this was certainly a weekend where the nine point lead that you had coming here helped you. What are your thoughts about the championship, still having a seven point lead after such a problematic weekend?

KR: Like I said before, this race is early in the season and it's good to have a little gap to the others but we already saw today – or this weekend – that if you cannot get everything out of the car then you are going to lose some points. We've lost a few points now but it doesn't change too much. I don't worry about it too much. We go race by race and try to win and try to gain the points on the others, but sometimes you need to be happy with what you get and today was one of those days, so this weekend I was never really where I wanted to be but six points is still good.

Ferrari Team Quotes

Felipe Massa - 1st: "Its fantastic to have got the hat trick here in Istanbul: it might really almost be worth asking for a Turkish passport! It was a very tough race but the team work magnificently, giving me a great car... I want to dedicate this win to two people: to my mother on Mothers Day and to Stefano Domenicali whose birthday it is today."

Kimi Raikkonen - 3rd: "It was a difficult weekend for me but six points are definitely better than nothing. At the start, I was almost alongside Heikki but then he slowed and I had to brake too to avoid a heavy crash. We touched just enough to damage the end plate of the front wing on my car: it was not a very serious problem, but it definitely didn't help my race. My first set of soft tyres worked very well, but the second was not as good: for the rears, maybe it would have been better to switch immediately to the harder, but that's easy to say with hindsight... Now we must ensure we are as well prepared as possible for the Monaco Grand Prix, where we struggled in 2007."

http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/991/turflagjw3.gif| Race Videos - Press Conference, Race Start, Kimi Overtakes Alonso, Last Lap/Finish, Heikki VS Glock 

                 

           



http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/991/turflagjw3.gif| Saturday Qualifying - Massa Leads McLarens to Pole, Kimi P4

http://img160.imageshack.us/img160/9826/92le0.jpgFelipe Massa will start from pole position in Turkey for the third successive year after a dominant performance in qualifying at Istanbul Park.

The Ferrari driver, who is also chasing a third straight win at the track, was nearly half a second clear of the rest of the field after his first flying lap in Q3, and although the McLarens closed in, Massa improved on his second lap to claim pole with a 1:27.617.

Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton took second and third for McLaren, but championship leader Kimi Raikkonen could only manage fourth in the second Ferrari after getting caught behind Fernando Alonso on his last lap.

The McLarens had been over a second off Massa's pace in the first part of Q3, then made major gains on their second runs. Hamilton used the hard tyres to take third, while Kovalainen briefly knocked Massa off the provisional pole before having to settle for the outside front row position.

Robert Kubica completed the top five for BMW, four places ahead of teammate Nick Heidfeld.

Red Bull Racing got both their cars into the top ten for the first time in 2008. Mark Webber and David Coulthard then chose to save fuel and only do one run in Q3, taking sixth and 10th respectively.

Jarno Trulli maintained his record of reaching Q3 for every race so far this year and qualified eighth, while his Toyota teammate Timo Glock languished in 15th position.

Alonso was unable to repeat his astonishing Barcelona qualifying form, but did make it into the top ten again. He will start seventh.

Rubens Barrichello couldn't manage to claim a top ten start for his record-breaking 257th Grand Prix, but he did out-pace teammate Jenson Button, as the Hondas took 12th and 13th places, just behind Nico Rosberg (Williams).

The German squeezed into the top ten in the last seconds of Q2, then got pushed back to row six when Heidfeld recovered from a poor first lap to guarantee a Q3 position with his final run.

The demise of Super Aguri made it tougher for the midfield teams to secure a place in Q2, with only 15 rather than the previous 16 drivers now proceeding to the second qualifying segment under the tweaked format.http://img160.imageshack.us/img160/5576/93vh4.jpg

Williams' Kazuki Nakajima and Renault's Nelson Piquet were the drivers to lose out, with Nakajima spinning on the exit of Turn 7 on his first Q1 run and then only reaching 16th at the second attempt. He will start one place ahead of Piquet, who briefly got up to 15th then was edged back to 17th as others improved in the final seconds.

Sebastian Vettel impressively reached Q2 in the 2007 Toro Rosso chassis' last qualifying session, but his teammate Sebastien Bourdais was only 18th-fastest in Q1, albeit just 0.179 seconds slower than Vettel, who ultimately qualified 14th.

The Force India cars were slowest of all. Although Giancarlo Fisichella out-qualified teammate Adrian Sutil by half a second, he will start behind the German thanks to his penalty for passing the pit exit red light at the start of Friday practice.

Pos  Driver       Make                 Q1        Q2        Q3       laps
1. Massa Ferrari 1:25.994 1:26.192 1:27.617 16
2. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:26.736 1:26.290 1:27.808 16
3. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:26.192 1:26.477 1:27.923 15
4. Raikkonen Ferrari 1:26.457 1:26.050 1:27.936 17
5. Kubica BMW Sauber 1:26.761 1:26.129 1:28.390 17
6. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:26.773 1:26.466 1:28.417 17
7. Alonso Renault 1:26.836 1:26.522 1:28.422 18
8. Trulli Toyota 1:26.695 1:26.822 1:28.836 20
9. Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:27.107 1:26.607 1:28.882 20
10. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1:26.939 1:26.520 1:29.959 16
11. Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:27.367 1:27.012 13
12. Barrichello Honda 1:27.355 1:27.219 13
13. Button Honda 1:27.428 1:27.298 14
14. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:27.442 1:27.412 15
15. Glock Toyota 1:26.614 1:27.806 15
16. Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:27.547 9
17. Piquet Renault 1:27.568 7
18. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:27.621 8
19. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari 1:27.807 10
20. Sutil Force India-Ferrari 1:28.325 9

McLaren look in good shape for the race tomorrow, and they need to be after Ferrari's 3 consecutive wins of the season so far. Felipe Massa took his usual Turkish delight with a stunning lap, way ahead of McLaren and Kimi. Massa will have a lot on his shoulders going into the race tomorrow, as he's got an energetic Kovalainen and a desperate Hamilton.

Kimi though continued to struggle throughout the day and it looked like he would improve after going fastest in Q2, but we assume he's carrying more fuel into the race as he often does. He is quick of the line and his priority off the grid tomorrow will be to jump Hamilton into turn 1 and also fend of BMW's Kubica! It's going to be a fun race to watch therefore, and hopefully we won't be disappointed. Keep Flying Kimi! There are loads of cool photos from Turkey today and you can use them as wallpapers - take your pick here!

http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/991/turflagjw3.gif| Qualifying Quotes - Ferrari

Kimi Raikkonen - 4th: "Obviously, I would have preferred to have been further up the grid, but this position is definitely not the end of the world. What matters is the race when the points are given out. We are up against very strong opposition, which is no surprise to us.

"Of course, there's a question mark over fuel loads and we won't get an answer to that until the first pit stops tomorrow afternoon. I am a bit disappointed but I made mistakes on my second lap in Q3 and I have to accept that: I didn't go into the final corner before the pit straight quite right and lost a lot of speed.

"We can count on a car that is good over a distance and we will try and make the most of it, trying to get as many points as possible. Winning is never easy, but I'll give it a go!"

http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/991/turflagjw3.gif| Qualifying Video - Q2 Onboard lap, Kimi Gives Room in Turn 8, Pole & Last Minutes

                                                                                  








May 09

Grand Prix of Turkey, Practise Sessions

 

      

The F1 drivers introduce themselves for the 2008 Turkish Grand Prix @ Kanal D.com.  Turkey's Prince of Pop, Tarkan, will be singing the national anthem, and he'll also be hosting a special party for the F1 drivers and co.

http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/991/turflagjw3.gif| Free Practise 3 - Webber Fastest in Final Practise

http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/4851/73yi4.jpgMark Webber was fastest in the final practice session for the Turkish Grand Prix, the Australian resisting late challenges from Renault's Fernando Alonso and Red Bull teammate David Coulthard.

As has been the pattern this season, the title contenders appeared to work on preparations for Q3 in this session and carry heavier fuel loads, with Ferrari's Felipe Massa the best of the usual front-runners in fifth place, behind Williams driver Nico Rosberg.

Lewis Hamilton was the best of the McLarens in seventh, with championship leader Kimi Raikkonen 11th-fastest for Ferrari.

The session got off to a slow start as damp patches lingered on the circuit following a heavy shower earlier in the morning. After their installation laps, the drivers returned to the pits to let the circuit dry out fully, with no one setting a flying lap until Timo Glock (Toyota) ventured out after 20 minutes.

The German's time of 1:30.427 - just 1.6 seconds slower than his best dry lap yesterday - convinced the rest of the field that the circuit was ready, and a frantic period followed as drivers tried to make up for lost time on a track that was getting quicker with every lap.

Hamilton, Rosberg, Alonso, Nelson Piquet (Renault) and Raikkonen all headed the times within a ten minute period, before Massa hit the front with a 1:27.530.

As had been the case on Friday, it took the Ferraris several laps to get up to speed, with both Raikkonen and Massa setting their best times several laps into their stints, whereas their rivals had been on the pace immediately.

Massa remained on top for a quarter of an hour until Coulthard continued his promising Istanbul form by beating the Ferrari driver, lapping 0.190 seconds faster with eight minutes to go. The only man who could beat Coulthard's time was his teammate, as Webber beat the Scot by 0.3 seconds in the final two minutes.

Coulthard improved on his last run and closed the gap to 0.190 seconds, but the Red Bull duo were then split by Alonso, who beat Webber's time in the first sector but was 0.142 seconds adrift over the course of the lap.

A similar late improvement took Rosberg to fourth, ahead of Massa and Jarno Trulli (Toyota), with Hamilton, Glock, Jenson Button (Honda) and Piquet completing the top ten.

Raikkonen ran wide at Turn 1 on his last run and ended up 11th. His error was one of the few incidents of the session, along with spins by Kazuki Nakajima (Williams) at Turn 6 and Sebastien Bourdais (Toro Rosso) at Turn 10.

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time              Laps
1. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:27.030 16
2. Alonso Renault (B) 1:27.172 + 0.142 13
3. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:27.193 + 0.163 15
4. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:27.365 + 0.335 16
5. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:27.530 + 0.500 13
6. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:27.614 + 0.584 15
7. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:27.658 + 0.628 18
8. Glock Toyota (B) 1:27.733 + 0.703 22
9. Button Honda (B) 1:27.766 + 0.736 16
10. Piquet Renault (B) 1:27.781 + 0.751 14
11. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:27.837 + 0.807 14
12. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:27.849 + 0.819 13
13. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:27.899 + 0.869 18
14. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:27.946 + 0.916 14
15. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:27.948 + 0.918 17
16. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:27.971 + 0.941 16
17. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:28.301 + 1.271 14
18. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:28.573 + 1.543 18
19. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:28.655 + 1.625 19
20. Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:29.131 + 2.101 19
So, that's an interesting final session, as the track was a bit wet before the cars went out. It seems Kimi has been working very hard on the set-up today, hopefully he manages to get everything right for his last qualifying lap. We saw in Spain that he had to change something very shortly before taking pole position. He could do it again, as it pole there was amazing compared he was just a lap heavier than Massa. A long afternoon ahead...keep flying Kimi!


http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/991/turflagjw3.gif| Free Practise 2 - Kimi Fights Back!

http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/9068/40cd4.jpgKimi Raikkonen recovered from his problems in first practice to lead the way in today's second session in Istanbul.

The Ferrari driver beat McLaren's Lewis Hamilton to the top spot by just 0.036 seconds, with Raikkonen's teammate Felipe Massa third ahead of the impressive David Coulthard (Red Bull) and Hamilton's teammate Heikki Kovalainen.

Having lost most of the morning session to a gearbox fault, Raikkonen wasted no time when afternoon practice began.

He was one of the first drivers to take to a track still slightly damp after drizzle during the lunch break, and soon established himself at the top of the times. The world champion set a 1:27.543 laptime during his first run and it remained unbeaten for the rest of the session.

Hamilton got extremely close to snatching the top spot, though. He beat Raikkonen's first sector benchmark when he tried soft tyres for his last run, but lost time by getting sideways at Turn 8, crossing the line 0.036 seconds slower than the Ferrari.

Behind Massa - who was also within a tenth of Raikkonen's time - Coulthard beat Kovalainen to fourth with an impressive late lap, having earlier been as high as third when using soft tyres.

Robert Kubica took sixth for BMW after sitting out some of the morning session with a suspension problem. Toyota's Jarno Trulli and Williams' Kazuki Nakajima were next up.

The final top ten places were occupied by Fernando Alonso (Renault) and Kubica's teammate Nick Heidfeld.

Practice was briefly red-flagged after half an hour when Mark Webber crashed his Red Bull at Turn 6. The Australian ran wide on the exit of the corner, then lost grip on the kerb and grass strip, sending the car spinning back across the track and head-on into the opposite barrier.

It came to rest on the edge of the circuit with significant front-end damage, but Webber was unhurt and the marshals were able to clear the debris within seven minutes.

The crash meant Webber ended the session in 19th place, ahead of only Adrian Sutil - whose Force India refused to start for his planned final run.

Timo Glock had a less damaging incident when he ran wide at Turn 4 in the final minutes and broke his Toyota's front wing as he bounced over the kerbs and grass while trying to rejoin. Sebastien Bourdais was also fortunate to escape damage when he - like Webber - slid back across the track after running wide. The Toro Rosso snapped sideways on the Turn 9 exit kerb and ended up slithering over the grass on the opposite side of the circuit before rejoining unscathed.

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time              Laps
1. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:27.543 30
2. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:27.579 + 0.036 31
3. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:27.682 + 0.139 29
4. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:27.763 + 0.220 24
5. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:27.954 + 0.411 27
6. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:28.431 + 0.888 29
7. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:28.619 + 1.076 29
8. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:28.664 + 1.121 27
9. Alonso Renault (B) 1:28.681 + 1.138 26
10. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:28.817 + 1.274 31
11. Button Honda (B) 1:28.826 + 1.283 28
12. Glock Toyota (B) 1:28.849 + 1.306 26
13. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:28.907 + 1.364 29
14. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:29.008 + 1.465 35
15. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:29.024 + 1.481 22
16. Piquet Renault (B) 1:29.212 + 1.669 26
17. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:29.462 + 1.919 30
18. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:29.630 + 2.087 32
19. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:29.633 + 2.090 4
20. Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:30.832 + 3.289 9
That's a good attempt to get back to normal running for Kimi, but there's still some work to do. I suspect he is not close to the right set-up yet, and we'll find out what he says later, but he definately did a great job on his fastest lap compared to the rest. He told Sky Italia that the gearbox issue didn't help but the car was much better in the afternoon.

We saw a lot of drivers struggling and going off at turn 8, including Hamilton, so the racing looks like it will be a tough one this weekend! Check out a video of the first practise session, and check out cool shots from today in the KRS Photo Extra HQ.


http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/991/turflagjw3.gif| Friday Quotes - Ferrari

48.jpg image by _KRS_

Kimi Raikkonen - 1st: "Not the best of Fridays. This morning, I only managed one timed lap before a gearbox problem meant I could not go out for the rest of the session. In the afternoon, I struggled a bit to find the right settings on the car.

"One of the main problems today was getting the tyres up to the correct temperature, but I think that tomorrow, partly as the grip level on the track improves and partly as we work to improve the set-up, it will be a different situation. We lost valuable time this morning, but we still have enough data to analyse so that we can be ready to tackle the rest of the weekend."

Felipe Massa - 3rd: "Overall, this was a positive day. The track is very fast, even if it's still a bit dirty, which meant it was quite easy to make mistakes. The low temperatures mean it is difficult to get the most out of the tyres on a