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Kimi's Column, Valencia GP Review: The Street Pain & Talk of Qualifying Problems

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 11:14:05 GMT

From KimiRaikkonen.com

Life would be much easier if you could always win. But sometimes it doesn't seem to go your way - whatever you try.

That's what happened to me in the last couple of races and it's not so nice. But it's not over yet. I'll keep fighting to get the results I want to achieve. One third of the season is still left and it's enough to fight back.

Obviously I would have never expected that all these street circuit races would so badly hurt our campaign to win the world championship again.

We had the first DNF in Melbourne, however we gained one point still. Then we hit that bump in Monaco and crashed into another car. In Montreal we had a good race pace but had to retire after the collision in the pit exit. This weekend we lost the engine in Valencia.

I went to the European Grand Prix with a good feeling. It's always great to have a race in a new place. Friday practise was good, I had a good feeling in the car. But Saturday was a little bit cooler and we struggled again in qualifying. We should have been more aggressive.

Obviously there has been a lot of talk about my qualifying problems. But in Hungary I just went wide in my final lap in Q3. Without that we would have easily been third. Then after that we got fourth place in Valencia, and after that I already knew the race was going to be difficult.

At the start you would need almost a miracle to get to the top from fourth place on the grid or further behind. We started from the worse side. Heikki had better grip and passed us. After that it was me against him for fourth place.

When you get stuck behind somebody, it's nothing but a struggle to try and attack towards better positions. The leader gains one second every lap - that's how it's been in the last few races for us.

We fought to get fourth place, but the only opportunity was, obviously, at the last pit stop. We went there one after the other, but I made a mistake. I left too early and one of our mechanics hurt himself. Of course, you hope something like that never happens. Luckily, Pietro is mainly okay. His toe was broken but it's not taking too long to heal. It's nothing serious and I hope that he'll be back at the track with us very soon.

After the stop we dropped to sixth place on the grid, and at the end of the day it would have been better than nothing, but then the engine blew. Without any warning. Suddenly we came from a corner and felt something was wrong. Then the smoke came out.

We knew we had to take a risk for Valencia and we did not finish the race. It's a shame, but it's useless to grieve over that. The result will stay and it's time to just look ahead. Now we have a test in Monza, and then comes Spa.

I love that circuit and, obviously, I would love to race there for the whole year long. Spa is the best of all the circuits and hopefully we can finally get the car working to the way I want it to work.

We go to Spa to win it again. If somebody has doubts concerning my motivation, let them doubt. One thing I can tell is, that right now I am more motivated than ever.

Wow! I'm glad you all thought my Valencia review was good, because Kimi's take of it is even better! Just as I said we should keep believing and be happy that he's still Kimi, he says he'll keep fighting no matter how many times he's being pulled down. It's just a pity Kimi has had to explain his qualifying because of the 'talk' about it. Don't worry Kimi, we know. And he sure told them! If you've got doubts about Kimi's motivation, go ahead. We're heading to Kimi's back yard next so I'd keep quiet.

In the latest gossip, McLaren boys Ron Dennis and Martin Whitmarsh had a few things to say about Kimi this week. Ron, having been Kimi's boss at McLaren for 5 years knows enough about the Finn to recognise his presence in the championships:

"Kimi is a fierce competitor, a highly-talented racing driver and I wouldn't levy any criticism at him at all," said Dennis. "The bottom line is drivers have good and bad races, and I'm sure he will forget this one, but he is more than capable of winning. So I certainly wouldn't discount him at this stage. With only six races to go, I wouldn't want to make any predictions about him. That's the worst thing we could do."

Martin, on the other hand, was asked about whether Massa's the key player for Ferrari: "He's certainly a contender," says Whitmarsh. "He has exceeded many people's expectation in terms of his reliability and I think that for sure we know Kimi better and he is a formidable competitor and he will be scratching his head. This isn't a highly technical circuit, you've got to be good on the brakes and I think Kimi will bounce back strong in Spa."

Kimi has won in Spa the past 3 times the race has been held (2004, 2005, 2007) and we all remember his joy from last year as he rarely displayed some strong emotion in wheel spinning his Ferrari towards the parc ferme. Kimi is a racing driver, racing to win. He wouldn't have early mornings, do testing or race if he didn't care about winning, the feeling of victory. I'm absolutely positive Kimi will be his rightful position again and that's flying high. Keep Flying Kimi!

This video, brought to us by TaniaS, is from Italian tv taken during the Valencia GP weekend, and it's a fun interview with Kimi. You can download it here. It's a good time to see Kimi happy and smiling!

Update at 16.35pm - An interview with Stefano Domenicali reveals some important and basic answers on the F2008 and Kimi's compatibility with the car, which seems to be an understeer issue. (Translation by AFCA of the Autosport forums)

Domenicali: "Massa's engine failed after 932 km, Raikkonen's after 968 km. The malfunction will not happen again."

Q: Are you sure of that ?
Domenicali: "The piston rods have been the same for three years now. Out of a hundred, two have have gone bust, with progressive identification numbers. The malfunctions occured in an area where there's no stress. It's a matter of dealing with the material. We can no longer afford to loose out on important results due to reliability problems. But at the same time it's also true that McLaren had 35 points more than we did last year, whereas now we're 16 points ahead."

Q: So what will Ferrari do to not throw away any more good results ?
Domenicali: "We have decided to toughen up the controls on all the parts of the car. We have 40 people working in the departments of quality control and metallurgy. What is going to start in two weeks time in Belgium is a sprint-championship of 6 races in which we can no longer give away any presents."

Q: You're like a football manager, do you feel confidence or scepticism around you ?
Domenicali: "The results speak in favour of Ferrari. I notice the confidence and I have confidence in all the 900 employees of the Gestione Sportiva."

Q: Schumacher's presence in recent races seemed like a distant supervision on behalf of Di Montezemolo and/or Todt. Now there are whispers that Schumi should no longer come to the races...
Domenicali: "I didn't feel supervisioned by him. Schumacher helps the engineering side of the team and he's a support for the drivers, Kimi included. Every single statement of his has been agreed upon by me. As far as his plans are concerned, I don't know anything."

Q: Let's talk about the great form Massa is in at the moment...
Domenicali: "I consider that as a continuous evolution from the Malaysian GP onwards. Massa does well, he's strong, wants to learn, has an eye for detail. And he will be even faster still, now he has 'acquiered' what he was lacking: a consistent race pace."

Q: Can he win the championship ?
Domenicali: "Certainly. We should give him a car that is always competitive while he maintain keep the aggresive attitude he has now."

Q: Will he cope with the pressure ?
Domenicali: "He's mature (enough) to do that and we help him with it."

Q: In compensation, Raikkonen isn't doing so well...
Domenicali: "And yet he has collected many points. For me it isn't a problem. He will react, he will soon come back strong, he knows how to get out of criticism and problems."

Q: When he was still at McLaren there were pictures of him in which he didn't exactly look like an athlete. Off track, what is the Raikkonen like we don't get to see ?
Domenicali: "His strong point is to discuss with us about everything, but I have never forced him to do anything with regards to his character. I don't think that the way he prepares for a GP has anything to do with certain situations. As far as the mental preparation for the races is concerned, we keep that a secret inside the team and he's aware of that."

Q: What's his problem ?
Domenicali: "He's not happy with the way the cars steers into corners. He would like to have it more aggresively. And this is having an influence on him. It's up to us to continue helping him out."

Q: Let's come to the point, would Raikkonen be ready to help out Massa if he needed to ?
Domenicali: "If it's necessary Kimi will help Felipe, we talked about this at the beginning of the year. But first let's see how things evolve."

Q: But if Raikkonen continues to pose a problem how are you going to manage the drivers' situation with regards to 2009 ?
Domenicali: "As far as his contract is concerned: it expires at the end of next year. We're not in a hurry to decide. At the moment it's the championship that counts."

Valencia 2008 Desktops

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:43:41 GMT

It's wallpaper time! And with it being the inaugural European GP at Valencia there were some great photos, especially of the bridge over water. Some sweet moments, some bitter, but I'm sure you'll find one you like from the 12 shown. For the Valencia GP Special wallpaper, it was tricky to make because it was such a disappointing weekend but I like to try and keep these special ones motivating and inspiring. So I made this one with quite a few ideas in mind, therefore you can take it's symbolism in any way you wish; for example, the ghost-like image of Kimi in his car is joined with him looking back at it, in what seems like the engine smoke but also like the sky and clouds that our Kimi flies in, and then walking away he's moving on from it. You would know the sky/cloud imagery from a previous wallpaper. I was going to have these words put on the design but decided the imagery speaks more for itself - "Through the highs and lows, I still am". Kimi is still Kimi, and he'll be back, right? Right. Cheers and enjoy!

Different Resolutions (Limited Selection)
Wallpaper 3 in 1680x1050 | 1280x1024
Wallpaper 4 in 1680x1050 | 1280x1024
Wallpaper 6 in 1680x1050 | 1280x1024
Wallpaper 9 in 1680x1050 | 1280x1024
Wallpaper 10 in 1680x1050 | 1280x1024
Wallpaper 12 in 1680x1050 | 1280x1024
Wallpaper Special in 1680x1050 | 1280x1024

If you've been interested in keeping all the images from the Valencia GP* and previous 2008 races from this website (as seen in the Photo Extra HQ), you can download them all by clicking on the rar file download links below.

{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
{KRS Photos 6. Monaco 2008 - 28.1MB
{KRS Photos 7. Canada 2008 - 33.1MB
{KRS Photos 8. France 2008 - 38.3MB
{KRS Photos 9. Britain 2008 - 23MB
{KRS Photos 10. Germany 2008 - 22.2MB
{KRS Photos 11. Hungary 2008 - 28.7MB
{KRS Photos 12. Valencia 2008 - 35.7MB* 215 images

2008 Grand Prix of Europe - Engine Blow For Kimi Please do read everything below!

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:36:40 GMT

| Sunday, Race Day - Massa Wins From Pole An Anti-Climatic Valencia GP

Felipe Massa took a dominant victory in the first European Grand Prix at Valencia, beating championship leader Lewis Hamilton into second place.

But a question mark is hanging over Massa's win, with the stewards set to carry on a post-race investigation into a controversial pitlane incident that saw the Brazilian nearly collide with Force India's Adrian Sutil as they rejoined after their second stops.

It was one of two dramatic pitlane moments that marred Ferrari's afternoon, as Massa's teammate Kimi Raikkonen pulled away prematurely at his last stop and hit a member of the team's pit crew, who has been taken to the medical centre for further checks.

Behind Massa, Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) and Robert Kubica (BMW) completed the podium ahead of Hamilton's teammate Heikki Kovalainen, with Raikkonen ultimately stopping with an apparent engine failure...(read full race report here)

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
 1.  Massa         Ferrari               (B)  1h35:32.339
 2.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  +     5.611
 3.  Kubica        BMW Sauber            (B)  +    37.353
 4.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  +    39.703
 5.  Trulli        Toyota                (B)  +    50.684
 6.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  +    52.625
 7.  Glock         Toyota                (B)  +  1:07.990
 8.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota       (B)  +  1:11.457
 9.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber            (B)  +  1:22.177
10.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  +  1:29.794
11.  Piquet        Renault               (B)  +  1:32.717
12.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault      (B)  +     1 lap
13.  Button        Honda                 (B)  +     1 lap
14.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari   (B)  +     1 lap
15.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota       (B)  +     1 lap
16.  Barrichello   Honda                 (B)  +     1 lap
17.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault      (B)  +     1 lap

Fastest lap: Massa, 1:38.708

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Raikkonen     Ferrari               (B)    46
Sutil         Force India-Ferrari   (B)    42
Alonso        Renault               (B)    1

First of all I give a massive grin and big hugs to my fellow Raikkos. There's no need for the full low down on what happened as I'm sure most of you have gathered it all by now. I apologise for the delay on this review (as I woke up at midday after a long journey home last night from a wedding) but the reason I grin is because of the saying 'shit happens'. What happened yesterday was totally shit, please excuse my language but I'm aware that far worse profanity were screamed throughout the vast Kimi community in the past 24 hours. Not only on Kimi's side of the story but the race itself. There we were, with that 3 week break and looking so forward to having a great race at this new circuit. What fools! Alas, it wasn't the first time we've been let down so you can be sure I won't be so optimistic ever again. I feel like an fool for being so confident after Saturday for Kimi. As Gandalf says in the Lord of the Rings "Fly, you fools" suits appropriately for the situation now. I also apologise for always being so sure and confident in these tough situations. I get a lot of thanks from you guys, on the forums, even on Facebook. But I feel even I've let you down with false hope so I'm sorry. I've learnt my lesson now but I guess I'll still end up being as positive as ever at the end of this post, I can't help it. We all feel pretty bad (not for ourselves but also for the Ferrari mechanic who was hurt in Kimi's premature pit stop exit) and no doubt slightely humbled (as it was indeed Kimi's fault).

Quick important points to make:

Kimi's engine which blew up was his second race engine just as Massa's in Hungary which blew up too. Both were believed to be a bad batch of produced components and eventhough Ferrari claimed no fears for Kimi's engine, they should have changed it to be safe. Kimi would have had a grid penalty but he would have most likely scored a few points. This was a bad call from the team which has now put Kimi 13 points behind in the title, a further 8 points back than which he was originally. Kimi will begin a new two-race engine for Spa so no penalty is required. FerrariWorld.com have now said:

Initial analysis of the engine fitted to Kimi Raikkonen's car, which arrived in Maranello this morning, confirmed the breakage of a con rod. Currently underway are further checks to try and understand what provoked the failure, even if it is easy to surmise that it could be a similar problem to the one that sidelined Felipe, three laps from the end of the Hungarian Grand Prix. Furthermore, the engineers were aware of a potential risk in general terms with the 056 engine fitted to Kimi's car, which was on its second race, given that the con rods were part of the same batch used on Felipe's engine. Changing the engine on Kimi's car would have seen the Finn start from far down the grid at a track where it appeared that overtaking was impossible, proving it's not enough to bring Formula 1 to a street circuit in a fantastic location to produce spectacular racing.

From tomorrow, the team is back on track. Andrea Bertolini will give the F2008 its first outing at the Monza circuit, using the second of four "joker" days available to the Formula 1 teams as part of the testing regulations. Felipe Massa will take over from the Italian on Wednesday and Thursday, with Kimi Raikkonen bringing this intensive test session to a close on the track that hosts the Italian Grand Prix on 14th September.

The final Ferrari pit-stops for Massa and Kimi were terrible and both were originally thought to be due to the pit-stop lighting automated system (which the team replaced the lollipop man with). Ferrari have been reprimanded and fined 10,000 Euros for Massa's pit-stop, however Kimi's pit-stop was his mistake and a common one in the pits by drivers and therefore no penalty is given. The mechanic hurt escaped any serious injury.
The photos and wallpapers for the European GP weekend will be here as soon as possible so don't worry and the race videos are posted further below.

The race was well prepared for by everyone, in that hardly any accidents or safety issues arose on this high speed street circuit. But it completely failed in the spectacle category, it was incredibly boring with hardly any battling between the drivers and most of all, no safety car that we expected. It was a huge let down and I'm not just saying it because of Kimi's race but the let down of which I'm sure the Spanish fans were given when Nakajima hit Alonso out of the race. It was a good race for the teams and drivers to continue showing off their steady improvement, such as Toyota and Vettel. But I repeat, it was such a disgrace to be the first new venue of the season after such anticipation and excitement. It just kept getting worse for Kimi, first the bad start. Grrrr. Then the first round of pit-stops for Massa and Kimi were terribly planned - Massa pitted and came out right infront of Kimi. Grrrr. Then the final pit-stop drama! Grrrrr!!!! Then the engine blow up! GRRRR!!!!! So, Valencia wasn't exactly what we were hoping for. I mean, okay maybe just one of those negatives would have been enough. But no, it just kept getting worse! I was actually relieved for Kimi to get his butt out of that place and go home. The European Grand Pix proves to still dislike Kimi, no matter where it is, but let's just hope it never comes to Belgium. And Michael 'Team Consultant' Schumacher is doing brilliant at his 'job', big thanks to him! He'll be commended to just Massa Consultant soon, why don't they just have two cockpits for Massa's car? Awesome idea! He'll win the championship for sure then with Schumi right in there, kind of like a co-driver. Perhaps the headphones Schumi wears are just for Massa's team radio! That's even better, less distracting. Let's hope Schumi keeps his butt away from Belgium too, consultant my ass.

Sorry sorry sorry, I'll put the jokes aside now. Kimi, as it was revealed, had 4 laps more fuel than Felipe in qualifying. That's a heck of a lot of fuel and no where as I expected (I predicted 2 laps maximum) so it was the first shock of the race. It explained the poor start Kimi had with Kovalainen passing, not helped with being on the dirty side of the track (which I also wrongly assumed was on the pole sitter's side prior to the change of decision). Massa did pit in the race earlier than expected though, and this shows more than anything that he was under-fuelled and Ferrari wanted to prioritise winning with Felipe. Kimi had a decent strategy however, carrying what we could call 'normal' race fuel but this normal race approach doesn't work because he's already suffering in qualifying. Also, the cool weather on Saturday actually had a big influence on Kimi's qualifying and perhaps the reason why it was as much 4 laps extra fuel to help warm the tyres. As our friend Mr Peter White has clarified, Kimi is still faster than Felipe in qualifying when fuel loads are corrected and Mr White has to say this:

...The first thing that has to be said is that Kimi Raikkonen was faster than Felipe Massa in qualifying once you correct for fuel. More than half the press corps do not understand the issue and the others cannot be bothered to think it through. But this was yet another qualifying in which Kimi started heavier than Massa and therefore ended up behind him on the grid in spite of having driven faster. As Kimi is suffering a hugely hostile reaction from the press, and accusations of ‘poor qualifying performance’ (which has an objective basis but is actually a rather complex technical issue), I have to say that it is just as well that he is such a phlegmatic Finn....

Clearly, Kimi has no option - yet - to help overcome his qualifying problem. He can't go lighter in qualifying because that simply won't help his tyres heat up, which is why he insists (and we all have to accept that it is Kimi who insists on this decision as well as with his engineer Chris Dyer) to sacrifice grid position for better race performance even when Kimi really is still faster than Felipe on pure speed! And look what else Mr White has to say regarding the engine worries Ferrari had after what happened to Felipe in Hungary might happen to Kimi in Valencia:

...Under these circumstances it would be perfectly logical to run Felipe light in an effort to capture pole in the hope that the race itself would then come to Ferrari as the weather improved on Sunday. No point in doing that with Kimi as he would have to conserve his engine on Sunday in an attempt to get the car home. This is what appeared to happen. In the race Massa set the fastest lap for the first time this season while Raikkonen was a whole seven tenths slower. This is what I have termed a “door-kicking” margin in an earlier posting. A gap of this magnitude can only be a car issue. As Kimi is actually faster in the races than Felipe, as well as faster in qualifying when you correct for fuel, the inescapable conclusion is that he had the suspect engine running on a very conservative ECU map...

Astonishing! And even I didn't think of this. Infact, I hadn't really noticed Kimi was that much slower throughout the race so the weekend in Valencia was always going to be a 'bad' one but none of us, apart from Mr White, noticed that it wasn't only Kimi's qualifying problem yet he still did a great job. Moving on, we know sacrificing grid position is ultimately costing wins but looking at the past races, as an article which rightly points out that consistantly scoring points is why Kimi is by no means out of the title fight, it's the only way Kimi is comfortable for the day that counts, the race day. Just because of this simple problem yet with complicated consequences, it's making Massa look extremely good. No offence Massa fans, but he isn't nowhere as good as the results say. The day Kimi is as comfortable as Massa is in that Ferrari, you'll know what I mean. Or maybe the days when Kimi has a shit before the race, then that's even better for performance! (Sorry! I can't help the sarcasm. The professionalism of KRS can be put turned off for a day I think.)

The point is, Kimi is trying. He said before last the Valencia GP that he's going to try and improve qualifying. He only had to say it to the media and us because of the difficult situations in Hockenheim and Hungary. That doesn't mean he suddenly realised qualifying is important. He knows more about his situation than we do. And I think we should respect his job before claiming he isn't 'performing' or he should 'change'. He's performing the absolute best he can given the circumstances. If he changes, we won't be supporting the Kimi we accept and adore, we'll be supporting a completely different driver. He won't change to Massa's set-ups or go lightly fuelled in qualifying (France pole was a one off because somethings have changed in the development process) as his whole driving system or 'talent' can't be nurtured for a different home. His home, as we saw in the McLaren/Michelin combination is different to his Ferrari home. His natural ability surpasses way beyond Massa's, Hamilton's, Kovalainen's and excetera. But it's being seriously restricted. And it will take time to fix, unfortunately, if that's even possible right now. Which leads me to another point.

Ferrari and Kimi joined forces in 2007. Kimi won his first world championship in his first season with Ferrari, a completely different environment that he was used to. It wasn't easy at all. Granted, McLaren and Hamilton's mishaps helped last season but it works both ways. This season Kimi's 'mishaps' are helping Hamilton and ultimately, Massa. As the teams world champion, their No.1, Kimi has the right to be given equal equipment. Above all, equal treatment. The equipment being the car, the developments, the determination of his mechanics to help. It can't be the same as what Massa is receiving because they're both very different drivers. One asks for something else, the other likewise. The team give them that. Inside Kimi's camp, I assume there's a difficulty in understanding and therefore giving. Kimi has been more uncomfortable than content with his machine in the time spent at Ferrari. Yet, he won the title beating Massa last year and was only 5 points behind Hamilton in the championship now up until his engine blew up. This is by no means a disgrace, it's still not bad. But by Kimi's potential and ability, he might as well be put in some sort of FIA Prison because he can give so much more! Ferrari feel they need to stress their support for Kimi with Domenicali doing a good job with his talking, saying the team are behind Kimi 100%:

"It's easy when things are going well, that everyone close to you puts your arms on their shoulders to say you are number one, number one, number one and then suddenly when you have a difficult situation, then you see, ha ha, this is already a boiled driver. That's not the case."

"He's the world champion, we are a team, and of course we will support everyone of the team, and above all, of course Kimi, because we trust him 100 percent.

"It's in the difficult moments that the team has to stay together. We don't have any doubt at all about Kimi's performance and I'm pretty sure he will come back from here up to the end in Brazil."

"When you're a driver, first of all you are really able to look inside and understand what things are going well and the things that are going wrong, and for sure, at this moment, we - because I want to stress and underline the fact that we – have to work together and understand how on our side we can improve and help.

"And I'm pretty sure that as I said before, once again, that he's totally committed and you will see up again in the end because he wants to show and we want to show that he's the world champion, believe me."

All nice words, of course. But people will still wonder whether this support is just moral support or the support in giving the goods and preferation to perform. Kimi won't give up though, he never does and so why should we? He'll continue trying his best and at the end of the day what more can we ask? If it's Massa who ends up being champion, I won't accept him as being better, faster, stronger than Kimi. Not for a split second. Obviously, he'd have to be faster and stronger to get there but due to straight and undeniable competiton with Kimi? Has it been straight? Have we seen Kimi and Felipe in equally good positions for the win and racing eachother? Let's see...the last time we really did have this, at Malaysia (Kimi qualified 2nd behind Massa on pole) and France (Kimi qualified 1st ahead of Massa in 2nd), Kimi was the victorious. On both occasions they were very close in qualifying. And it's in competitive qualifying that I speak of. Not when Kimi is qualified 6th and Massa on pole that we can call it a straight competition in the race. Obviously when Massa is way ahead of Kimi, then he can whup Kimi's ass. Otherwise? Not a chance. Unless it's Turkey and Bahrain, surprisingly Monaco now but even Massa couldn't believe that he took pole there! Being bemused and shocked when Massa and his engineer Rob Smedley get pole - what does that really mean? It means they didn't expect to be there, and that they didn't really believe it was possible. That's because of Kimi, he's supposed to be there, they know he's a more complex, consistant and faster driver. I rest my case. Races are actually less important than qualifying it seems and all the things that allowed Kimi to be so fast in qualifying at McLaren aren't consistant now, in Ferrari. Nothing suggests to me that Kimi has lost his touch or is becoming slower. He still manages to qualify decently and score points well despite such a restricting issue. Just imagine Kimi when that Ferrari and it's tyres are working as well as they do for Massa. We'll need a whole new Formula series for Kimi, guys.

The thing that hurts me most, is that Kimi is struggling with himself in the car. Not losing to Massa, not Hamilton, not losing points, not even the championship. Supporting Kimi obviously has a point to winning and winning championships, but when I see Kimi flying nothing feels better, even if he was in a Sauber or a McLaren but he really out-drove it and did his best. Can you imagine how great it feels for him? I don't want to look back and turn this into a whole philosophical and soppy essay but, when he was at McLaren he could always show his potential in the sense that nothing held him back (apart from the bad reliability of course). And therefore, you should be happy knowing that you're able to do it. He wasn't totally happy with McLaren in the personal life but his life inside the car was great when it would take him to the finish line. Here at Ferrari it's the complete opposite. He's happier in the team, the atmosphere, but he's suffering in the car. What would you rather see? That he's happy with both of course, but the point we're fans of Kimi is because of his talent and what we watch on tv on the track, not what we watch behind the scenes. Because he's a racing driver. And that's our focus here at the KRS. And when he's down in the dumps, we are too. We had a high moment in Malaysia and Spain, got kicked back down in Monaco and Canada, then mixed feelings in France and Silverstone, then we felt slightely good towards the end in Hungary, but now we're hit back down again. Shit happens. You can't let it hold you down though, which is why I'm smiling and I'm sure Kimi will have to brush this off with a smile. He already managed to smile after the race yesterday in an interview so he's already past it, saying he's fine. If Kimi can win a title in a new team on his debut and still be in the championship fight despite not being up to his own standards then I'm even more impressed by him! Remember that.

Or if you want to sulk and be miserable about Massa being the No.1 now in Ferrari and that he's become 'better' than Kimi, then go ahead! Just please don't bring it here. Because here at the KRS, we have God as our witness when we state that Kimi is the fastest and the most talented speedster out there and we accept him as just that. Not someone who has to change his talent to be like someone else just because it's helps to win. It can't change! It's fixed, it's his heart, passion, and mind melded together to create what he gives. You can't change that. What can change though is the Ferrari. It changes almost each time they touch it and that's the battle Kimi is having, the car. Let Massa enjoy his good times, he also has a lot of critics and it's only fair that he had days where he can overcome then. Just don't forget Malaysia, Spain and France and Silverstone this year as like last year Kimi was the man. This time however luck bit Kimi in the butt and Massa benefitted in France and in Silverstone...well you saw it, Kimi was challenging Lewis for the win and Massa was right in the back spinning all over the place. It's just a matter of getting to the sweet spot again. It's just really complicated for Kimi unfortunately. Spa Franchorchamps is next - Kimi's playground we call it, having won there 3 times consecutively in 2004, 2005 and 2007. Highs and lows have passed, highs and lows still come but more highs will arrive and then Kimi does what he's made for - Flying! So to end how we started with a grin and I was right - I can't help it, so, Keep Flying Kimi.

| Race Quotes, Kimi - "Still In Title Fight Despite DNF"

Kimi Raikkonen - DNF: "Not much to say after a day like this. It was definitely not the weekend I was hoping for but I do not believe that, despite this negative result, I am now out of the running for the title. There are still six races to go and sixty points up for grabs. We have seen that the situation change really quickly, even if I realize things are now more complicated.

"Today, I lost a place at the start and I was stuck in traffic for all of the first stint. Then, when I had a clear track ahead of me, I was able to push and was doing good lap times. At the second pit stop, I made a mistake and left before I should have done. Fortunately, Pietro (Timpini) is not too badly hurt. I wish him all the best and hope he gets better soon. In any case, it would not have changed anything as then the engine broke. Now we must concentrate on preparing for the next rounds and on improving our qualifying performance."

Post-Race Q&A with Kimi
From Autosport.com

Q. What can you tell us about the pitstop?

Kimi Raikkonen: There is not much to say. I left (the pits) a bit too early. It was my fault and unfortunately I ran over the guy who was refuelling. We need to look and see what really happened.

Q. Did you feel anything before the engine broke?

KR: No, it was just in the last corner. Unfortunately I don't know what happened, but we need to investigate what was wrong with the engine - but maybe it is similar to what happened to Felipe in the last race.

Q. There was a lot of traffic in the race wasn't there?

KR: Yeah, I knew that already before. We didn't have the qualifying that we wanted, so we started behind people again and then you cannot do much. But whatever we would have done we wouldn't have finished the race, so that is the sad thing. But we know what the issues were and hopefully we can fix them.

Q. How do you feel now?

KR: I am fine. I was not a nice weekend but it is not the first time. We are in a bit of a worse situation in the championship but if we get all the things sorted then I think we still have a chance to come back. We just need to get things as we want and try again.

Q. You seemed to be so optimistic before the weekend though...

KR: It is not great if you don't finish the race, but for sure we didn't have the qualifying as we wanted. When you start behind the people you cannot get past them. The speed in the races is not too bad, but when you are behind there is nothing you can do. I had a problem in the pit stop but in the end we would not have finished the race anyhow. It is not the best weekend but there is nothing we can do.

Q. How do you rate your chances in the championship now?

KR: We need to get things sorted in qualifying. I think we still have a good chance, but we do the best that we can in the next races and then we will see where we are.

Q. It is eight events now since you won a race. Does that worry you with your championship defence?

KR: It wasn't the best weekend. We didn't score any points so we dropped more behind. I am not worried about not winning the race, but losing the points we could have got today is not very good. But hopefully we get the things as we want, and we still can then fight for the championship. There are still many races to go and it can change quickly, but there is no doubt it won't be easy. We need to see what we can do in the next race, for sure we need to start wining again – otherwise there is no chance.

Q. Are you able to explain what the problems are you are having in qualifying?

KR: We know what the issues have been, but unfortunately we haven't been able to sort them out. Hopefully now in the next test we can work a bit and try to find the solution for it. If we get the qualifying right it will help a lot.

Q. Is it a tyre issue, a team issue?

KR: We are one team. I haven't been able to get exactly what I want from the car, so we try to work with it. We were in a very similar situation last year, so hopefully we can find a solution and get back to where we should be.

| Race Videos: Start, Alonso Out, Massa/Sutil Pitstop, Kimi's Pitstop, Kimi's Engine Failure

Post Qualifying Q&A with Kimi

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 19:02:07 GMT

From Autosport.com

Q. What happened in qualifying today? And is there a relation between what happened today and in the last few races - as you seem to have a problem in the last 10 minutes?

Kimi Raikkonen: The lap wasn't probably what I wanted exactly, but I cannot change it any more. It wasn't very easy, but that is life. We are still in fourth place. It is not exactly what I wanted but I think we have a good pace for the race.

Q. Is there a reason for the problem in sector two, where you seem to have a problem?

KR: I was slow and that was it. I don't need to start telling you what happened on the lap. We were not fast enough.

Q. You targeted an improvement to qualifying form as key to the championship. Felipe is obviously on pole position, but do you feel you have made a step forward or is there still much more to do?

KR: It wasn't what we wanted today, so it wasn't exactly an improvement. That is nothing new – it hasn't been an easy qualifying for me this year. I am not surprised that it didn't go exactly the way we wanted. But of course I think we improved the situation but we are still not where we want to be yet. We try to do better again next time. It is not the end of the world, so we will see what we can do tomorrow in the race and go from there.

Q. Can you give us an impression about how much fun it is to drive on this track? Do you like it?

KR: It is a nice circuit. They have done very well when they prepared and made the circuit. For a street circuit it is a very nice place to come and of course I hoped we would do a little bit better today.

Q. Do you see an advantage in the race for Ferrari?

KR: I don't know. We will see what we can do. I think we have a good car so as long as we get everything going well we should be okay. It depends a lot on the start what happens in the race, but we try to win it for sure.

Q. The FIA has swapped the side of pole position, so you are on the other side now. How do you figure the start of the race?

KR: I think where we end up now it would have been better to have it the other way around, but it is fairer for the guy who is on pole to be on the cleaner side. It is not clear either side because we seem to go between the two starting grids. We will see what we can do at the start. There is a lot of space but there is quite a tight corner at the end of the straight, so it will be interesting to see what happens.

Q. What is the trickiest part of this circuit?

KR: There are many tricky places, and if you make a small mistake you lose a lot of time as it is so slippery off line. If you go a little bit wide then you lose a lot of time.

It will indeed be interesting to see what happens, all we can hope for is that Kimi has a clean race and is able to show his potential - because his potential is BIG in the races, and eventhough qualifying is holding him down he still manages to keep up there. He's being quite modest I think, considering the fuel I assume he's carrying. You can watch the qualifying videos here or just further below (and a cool onboard lap with Kimi from free practise 3).

2008 Grand Prix of Europe, Qualifying - Kimi Goes Along With 4th

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 13:33:39 GMT

| Saturday Qualifying - Massa On Pole Ahead of Hamilton, Kubica

Felipe Massa beat Lewis Hamilton to pole position for the first Grand Prix to be held at the Valencia street circuit.

The duo battled fiercely in Q3, with Ferrari driver Massa initially taking provisional pole by a commanding half a second after Hamilton made an error in the final sector.

Undaunted, Hamilton (McLaren) tried again and on his second run he was able to edge ahead of the Brazilian by 0.2 seconds, only for Massa to find even more time and leap back to the timesheets in a 1:13.989.

After topping final practice, Robert Kubica again showed very strong pace as he grabbed third on the grid for BMW - forcing Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari and Heikki Kovalainen's McLaren down to fourth and fifth.

But the real star of qualifying was Sebastian Vettel, who was fastest of all in Q2 and then claimed a superb sixth on the grid for Toro Rosso, with his teammate Sebastien Bourdais reaching Q3 for the first time and taking 10th...(read full qualifying report here)

Pos  Driver        Team                 Q1        Q2        Q3       Laps
 1.  Massa         Ferrari              1:38.176  1:37.859  1:38.989  19
 2.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes     1:38.464  1:37.954  1:39.199  15
 3.  Kubica        BMW Sauber           1:38.347  1:38.050  1:39.392  18
 4.  Raikkonen     Ferrari              1:38.703  1:38.229  1:39.488  21
 5.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes     1:38.656  1:38.120  1:39.937  18
 6.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1:38.141  1:37.842  1:40.142  19
 7.  Trulli        Toyota               1:37.948  1:37.928  1:40.309  21
 8.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber           1:38.738  1:37.859  1:40.631  19
 9.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota      1:38.595  1:38.336  1:40.721  18
10.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1:38.622  1:38.417  1:40.750  18
11.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota      1:38.667  1:38.428            15
12.  Alonso        Renault              1:38.268  1:38.435            12
13.  Glock         Toyota               1:38.532  1:38.499            14
14.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault     1:38.559  1:38.515            15
15.  Piquet        Renault              1:38.787  1:38.744            15
16.  Button        Honda                1:38.880                       6
17.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault     1:39.235                       9
18.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari  1:39.268                      10
19.  Barrichello   Honda                1:39.811                      10
20.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari  1:39.943                       9

Wow! What good fun those qualifying sessions brought (apart from Piquet hitting what seemed like a bird on the qualifying first run) - it clearly shows how much a new track can change and will change especially tomorrow during the race. Kimi didn't get pole but he definately looks very fast despite what the results showed throughout Q1, Q2 and ultimately Q3. Kimi still remains prefering the harder tyre for qualifying and the start of the race - he also looks like a couple of laps more fuelled than Massa but Kimi likes this as it helps his tyres work better. Before they pitted, Kimi and Felipe were very close on pace (Massa one or two tenths quicker) eventhough Kimi wasn't on the harder tyres that he prefers. So this is clearly a sign that Kimi is still truly really fast! It's funny how it's always a surprise to get pole in Massa's camp, they always seem a little bemused. And it's bloody irritating! Congratulations to him anyway, taking the first pole at this amazing circuit is an honour. Vettel, Trulli and Alonso also did amazing work today and a pity for them that they're not higher than they have qualified. Alonso made a mistake to miss out on Q3 but he's one to look out for tomorrow, unless there's chaos on the first lap. With Hamilton behind Massa, I'm sure he'll be eager to give Massa a hard time on the start, after what happened in Hungary (read what they have to say in the press conference). And we predicted a BMW in the mix at the front, and Kubica made sure of that by getting infront of our Kimi. That's not a good thing, but at least Kimi, unlike Massa, starts the race on the more grippier side of the track. This should definately help him on the start. Kovalainen looks like he's gone back to basics and isn't really in a position to challenge much unless of course something goes wrong in the front. All in all, it's a good line up for the race but slightely disappointing as we'd have loved to see Kimi right in the middle of the Massa/Hamilton saga. Kimi will be giving them something to think about tomorrow, nonetheless and if there's a safety car situation and I'm positive that there will be, all won't be lost so perhaps it's good that Kimi's isn't on pole as the pole sitter is the one who'll be penalised most. So for this inaugural Valencia GP there maybe slight hesitation in the start but the Iceman will get into his groove right on time. I can't wait! Keep Flying Kimi!

| Qualifying Quotes, Kimi - "Could have been higher but for wheel-lock"

Felipe Massa - 1st: "It's great to be on pole position, especially after the great disappointment of Budapest, but I'm well aware the race is tomorrow and so there is still a long way to go. My first run in Q3 was very good and on the second I made a good improvement in the first sector and that's where pole came from...The team did a great job in preparing for this event and I want to thank them for giving me such a strong car. I hope we can have a good race tomorrow."

Kimi Raikkonen - 4th: "Fourth place is not what I was looking for, but it's definitely not the end of the world. I could have been higher up the grid but on my last run in Q3, I locked the wheels at a few points and lost valuable time: it was nothing dramatic, but at this circuit, a small error is very costly. I still think I can be in the fight for the win, especially if I manage to get a good start. We have a good car, which should be especially competitive in the race."

Luca Baldisserri: "A good qualifying session, very close and made even more uncertain because of the weather. A first and a fourth place is a good outcome, even if it could have been better. Felipe did two great laps in Q3, while Kimi missed out by a whisker on being able to start from the clean side of the track. In fact, the start will be one of the decisive moments of the race...

| Videos - FP3 Full Onboard Kimi, Last Mins of QLF, Kimi Interview

Grand Prix of Europe, Practise Sessions 1,2 & 3

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 10:13:40 GMT

| Free Practise 3 - Kubica Tops Final Practise

Robert Kubica waited until two and a half minutes from the end of the final free practice session at Valencia to become the first man to break into 1:38s bracket this weekend, and go fastest of all in the hour.

As ever, the final few moments of the session were frantic, but for much of practice it looked distinctly as if the Scuderia Toro Rosso pair of Sebastian Vettel and Sebastien Bourdais might sweep the top spots.

Eventually, the Frenchman ended the session third, behind Nico Rosberg, who produced an inspired lap to take the chequered flag second.

And as if to prove the Williams team's pace this weekend, Kazuki Nakajima was fourth.

Felipe Massa was fifth for Ferrari, having been tumbled by the late carousel of times, which also dropped Vettel to sixth.

Lewis Hamilton, who completed the least amount of laps of the runners without problems and was seventh after an error-strewn session that saw him spin through 360 degrees at Turns 4 and 5.

Nick Heidfeld was eighth, ahead of David Coulthard, while Nelson Piquet completed the top ten having been fastest four minutes before the end of the session.

Jenson Button did well to recover to 12th, behind Mark Webber, after an early hydraulic issue, while home hero Fernando Alonso could only manage 13th after his late flyer was ruined by a lock-up.

Heikki Kovalainen and Kimi Raikkonen never really featured in 14th and 15th. The Toyotas were disappointing too; Timo Glock was 16th, while Jarno Trulli's troubles continued as he completed just two laps with what is believed to be a gearbox problem.

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time              Laps
 1.  Kubica        BMW Sauber          (B)  1:38.754           15
 2.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:38.877 + 0.123   18
 3.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:39.009 + 0.255   16
 4.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:39.270 + 0.516   17
 5.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:39.276 + 0.522   18
 6.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:39.300 + 0.546   16
 7.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:39.314 + 0.560   13
 8.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber          (B)  1:39.335 + 0.581   18
 9.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:39.421 + 0.667   16
10.  Piquet        Renault             (B)  1:39.452 + 0.698   20
11.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:39.597 + 0.843   17
12.  Button        Honda               (B)  1:39.628 + 0.874   10
13.  Alonso        Renault             (B)  1:39.652 + 0.898   17
14.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:39.802 + 1.048   14
15.  Raikkonen     Ferrari             (B)  1:39.810 + 1.058   20
16.  Glock         Toyota              (B)  1:39.919 + 1.165   22
17.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:40.019 + 1.265   21
18.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:40.059 + 1.305   21
19.  Barrichello   Honda               (B)  1:40.512 + 1.758   20
20.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  no time             2

The Ferraris' usually work on race related set ups in the final sessions and this time they worked mainly on the brakes and tyres, as this circuit is very hard on them in certain areas. As long as Kimi is happy and has no major problem then I think fighting for pole/front row will be possible today! It will definately be down between the Ferraris and McLaren, and perhaps a BMW and Renault may join them.

Bridgestone have said that Ferrari in particular have made good progress with their tyres especially in heating them up over one lap - that's good news as Kimi's main issue is qualifying and heating the tyres quickly!

| Free Practise 2 - Raikko Beats Alonso to P1!

Kimi Raikkonen beat home crowd favourite Fernando Alonso to the fastest time in the second free practice session at the new Valencia street track.

Until Raikkonen's last gasp lap, Alonso looked set to end the day at the top of the timesheets, having leapt to the front of the field on the supersoft Bridgestones with four minutes remaining, only for the reigning champion to pip him by 0.020 seconds in the closing moments.

Jenson Button took a shock third for Honda, having also put in a last minute soft tyre lap. Felipe Massa (Ferrari) and Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) completed the top five.

After McLaren had led the way for much of first practice, this time it was Ferrari who proved superior for the majority of the afternoon, having put in soft tyre runs relatively early.

With 15 minutes to go, Raikkonen and Massa sat first and second in the order, just 0.001 seconds apart. Alonso and Button briefly disturbed their command of the session, before Raikkonen restored Ferrari's advantage with his final lap.

McLaren had a more conservative afternoon, with Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen fifth and sixth...

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time              Laps
 1.  Raikkonen     Ferrari             (B)  1:39.477           30
 2.  Alonso        Renault             (B)  1:39.497 + 0.020   39
 3.  Button        Honda               (B)  1:39.546 + 0.069   35
 4.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:39.678 + 0.201   31
 5.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:39.712 + 0.235   31
 6.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:39.954 + 0.477   30
 7.  Glock         Toyota              (B)  1:39.967 + 0.490   32
 8.  Kubica        BMW Sauber          (B)  1:40.149 + 0.672   35
 9.  Piquet        Renault             (B)  1:40.439 + 0.962   32
10.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:40.500 + 1.023   23
11.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:40.585 + 1.108   24
12.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:40.607 + 1.130   34
13.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:40.696 + 1.219   23
14.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:40.742 + 1.265   34
15.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:40.877 + 1.400   32
16.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:40.982 + 1.505   36
17.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:40.999 + 1.522   32
18.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber          (B)  1:41.084 + 1.607   35
19.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:41.246 + 1.769   38
20.  Barrichello   Honda               (B)  1:41.377 + 1.900   31

The Iceman was flying in this session, I could feel it coming in the air since yesterday! Though he only just beat Alonso, he kept good pace throughout the session and threw some nice slides around here and there. Friday's done and dusted now, let's keep our fingers crossed for this kind of momentum to run through to qualifying tomorrow! You can check out videos from practise here.

| Friday Quotes, Ferrari - Kimi Warns There's More Speed To Come!

Kimi Raikkonen - 1st: "I like driving this track: it is different to other street circuits we have known. Yesterday, when I walked the track, I thought it would be fun and today confirmed that impression. There are some very quick parts and almost everywhere there's a lot of room, maybe similar to some of the North American circuits used in the past. They have really done a good job. Today, our weekend got off to a good start, but obviously it is far too early to say where we are compared to the opposition. Overtaking? It will be difficult, as always: I hope I don't need to by getting the best position in qualifying. The setup we have found today is not bad, but there is still plenty of room for improvement."

Felipe Massa - 4th: "They were two enjoyable sessions with the lap times tumbling bit by bit as the drivers lapped and got confidence in the track layout...Today, it was important that we find a good base setup immediately and we managed to do that."

Stefano Domenicali, team principal: "...From what we could see, given the usual unknowns on a Friday, we can say we are competitive. Whether we will be competitive enough to reach our target will only be revealed starting with tomorrow afternoon's qualifying."

Luca Baldisserri: "Overall, a good start to this Valencia weekend. It was important to get off on the right foot and we did. We had prepared a baseline set-up for the F2008 and it seems to be about right, which meant that right from this morning we could work on improving it. Both drivers are reasonably happy with the handling of the car..."

| Video - FP2 Kimi Slides

| Free Practise 1 - Vettel Leads Massa, Hamilton, in Valencia

Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel set a shock fastest time in Friday morning practice for the European Grand Prix, as the Formula One teams began their exploration of the new Valencia street track.

Felipe Massa had to settle for second for Ferrari, while Vettel's teammate Sebastien Bourdais continued the team's stunning morning by taking fourth between the two McLarens.

With the brand new circuit still extremely dusty, the times improved by a full nine seconds over the course of the session, and can be expected to get faster still this afternoon.

The major contenders left others to clean the circuit before beginning their work, with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen the first of the usual front-runners to move to the top of the times after 28 minutes with a 1:43.948...(read full report here)

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time              Laps
 1.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:40.496           29
 2.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:40.654 + 0.158   27
 3.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:40.822 + 0.326   14
 4.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:41.099 + 0.603   31
 5.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:41.163 + 0.667   23
 6.  Kubica        BMW Sauber          (B)  1:41.281 + 0.785   24
 7.  Raikkonen     Ferrari             (B)  1:41.317 + 0.821   27
 8.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:41.329 + 0.833   26
 9.  Alonso        Renault             (B)  1:41.385 + 0.889   31
10.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:41.706 + 1.210   22
11.  Barrichello   Honda               (B)  1:41.830 + 1.334   27
12.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:41.930 + 1.434   27
13.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:41.951 + 1.455   23
14.  Glock         Toyota              (B)  1:42.036 + 1.540   27
15.  Piquet        Renault             (B)  1:42.107 + 1.611   32
16.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber          (B)  1:42.453 + 1.957   23
17.  Button        Honda               (B)  1:42.460 + 1.964   29
19.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:43.075 + 2.579   25
19.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:43.312 + 2.816   23
20.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:43.524 + 3.028   24

Kimi's not fastest but look at the times! There are quite significant gaps between the drivers and obviously it's variable due to learning and set ups. Let's just hope Kimi has a productive day for tomorrow's qualifying. Session two starts at 1pm local time. Enjoy the new track Kimi!

And it's also worthy to note that the F1 drivers and leading figures held a 3-minute silence, after the opening practise session in Valencia, as tribute for the lost lives in the Madrid plane crash earlier this week. May the victims rest their souls in peace.

| Video - FP1 Onboard with Kimi

Q&A From Valencia, Robertson & Whitmarsh On Kimi

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 19:23:58 GMT

From Autosport.com & FerrariWorld.com

Q. We saw you walking around the track this morning. What is your first impression?

Kimi Raikkonen: "It looks pretty nice. It's very wide and the surface looks very smooth. It looks pretty fun, so we will see tomorrow. It looks nice when you walk it, but it is a different story when you go 300km/h around it. But I expect to have good fun when we drive around."

Q. How difficult is it to learn a new track?

KR: "It takes a few laps when you know where to go, but you learn and learn all the time small things and small lines. But I would not say it is too hard."

Q. Are there any special things here, like the bridge where there is a small gap?

KR: "There are a few bumps because I guess they need to turn the bridge sometimes. That is the only place where I found any bumps on the circuit, and one of them is in the middle of the corner. So, that might affect things a bit. But apart from that the circuit looks very smooth and very well done. We will see tomorrow how good it is in the end, but I expect to have quite good fun."

Q. It has been eight races since you last won in F1. Do you feel satisfied with how the season has gone?

KR: "Definitely we would rather have won more races, we had some chances but in the end we couldn't win them. But we are still in a good position for the championship, although the season could have been much better. It could also have been much worse.

"Overall, I am happy where we are right now. Lately, the races have not been exactly what I was expecting, so hopefully we will get some good races now and get back where we should be. The biggest issue is getting stuck behind people after having a bad qualifying, so if we can sort out that then we should be fine. We just need to work on some things and hopefully we will get back to winning some races."

Q. What are you confident about for the rest of the season, and what worries you?

KR: "There are some circuits coming that I enjoy. Hopefully we can get things sorted out so that we can really fight for wins. We have the good speed, as long as we can use it in qualifying, in the race we should be fine.

"I don't really worry about anything, there are many races to go. It is easy to lose points, but also easy to win. We will try to do the best every weekend and hopefully after a few races we are still in a good position and then we can try and win the championship."

Q. From now on every race is crucial for the championship. Do you like the pressure that this brings?

KR: "More or less there is pressure every race, so it doesn't really change anything. When it gets later in the season, when you have the chance to win the championship, it is more crucial not to make any mistakes but that is normal all the time. Like I said, we will do the best we can every race and then see where we end up."

Q. Have you been able to go through the qualifying issues you have had recently and are you confident you can get it fixed for this weekend?

KR: "We will try at least. At the last race I ran off the circuit, as the handling was not what we expected, I just ran wide. It is always easy to say that I have fixed this or that, but we should be fine.

"We know when we get everything as we want that we have the speed, but it hasn't been easy. It is a similar situation to last year so it's not the first time to be in this position. Hopefully, we can fix it now and have better qualifying and better races after that."

Q. Qualifying is crucial at Monaco. How crucial will it be here?

KR: "Every race is crucial, it's not just Monaco. The last race, if you look, you could not get past anybody if they did not make a mistake, so, it is the same here. The circuit is very wide and there are some long straights, so here there are some better overtaking chances than in Hungary.

"But still, if you are not in front then you are going to lose many seconds stuck behind people, even if you get past them in the end. It is always crucial to be at the front."

Q. Why do you think Felipe Massa is getting more out of the car than you in qualifying? What are the specific problems you've been having?

KR: "There is no one issue. Sometimes it goes right, sometimes not. At the last race I ran off the circuit, which doesn't help. But, like I said, we haven't been exactly happy with the handling and it easily makes it look worse than it is.

"The problem is that it is very close between everybody now and if you are one tenth slower you lose three places. We would have fixed it if we knew what to do, but I think we will find a solution. We just need to put more effort in and try to get it right."

"Q. Do you think the summer break was a help for you, allowing you to recharge a bit?

KR: "I really don't know. We will see tomorrow and over the weekend, but I enjoyed it, I had a good time. We haven't had good races lately, for many different reasons, but we know we have the speed if we get things right so I'm not too worried about it. The main thing, like I said before, is the qualifying. After that, we have good speed when we get it right."

Q. What did you do during the break?

KR: "I was mainly home, just doing different stuff, seeing my friends and family. And just enjoying it. I've been watching a lot of the Olympics, enjoying whatever sport was on, and for me the highlights have been the sprint races, the one hundred and two hundred metres especially."

Q. Can you tell us what the car is or isn't doing that you want it to do in qualifying?

KR: "Well, what can I say? I haven't been fast enough, that is the first point. Without going off in the last qualifying we could easily have been in third place, so it is the small things that when it goes wrong you lose a lot of time, and it looks much worse than it is.

"It can be just a small issue and it makes you go off the circuit and run wide, and you lose a lot of time. Since we changed to these tyres, even last year I wasn't exactly happy in qualifying, even though in race conditions we are much happier with the car.

"It is not a new issue, sometimes we get it right and sometimes we don't. More often, unfortunately, we don't get it right. So we will definitely try to find a halfway solution in qualifying, to have maybe a car that is not exactly what we want, but is maybe a bit easier to drive and doesn't have the issues that we don't want.

"But we are still looking for it and it depends a lot on the circuits. At some circuits it is easier to get it right, at some it's very difficult. Hopefully we have found some halfway solution where we are fast but can still be happy with."

Q. Do you feel you are back on form here? Do you think you can bully Lewis a bit here, because he has got a lead and he needs to protect it?

KR: "I don't see any point to do anything silly. We are as hard as we can be, we try to overtake when we have a chance. But it is not so easy to get in the position always. I don't see any point to be harder to any one of them, we are hard to anybody and we try to win.

"The difference is only five points, but every time we are behind him we are going to lose more points so definitely we will try to be in front of the people who are ahead of us. I don't think I am driving better than before, I don't think I drove badly before, we just could not get it right, so we'll see what we can do this weekend and go from there."

Kimi seemed like he was in a great mood today, seeing from the pictures and this interview. Smiling a lot, I guess he's really excited about racing at this new cool track. It just looks awesome. And he seems pretty honest about his qualifying 'issues' so it can't be all that bad after Hungary. Keep flying!

P.S - Autosport.com's Weekly Journal written by Adam Cooper speaks with Martin Whitmarsh and Kimi's manager Steve Robertson. It's definately a good read and worth the time so if you're registered at the KRS forum, go and check it out now. If not, please do join our forum as you're missing out! Here's a snippet:

... It's easy to suggest that Kimi has somehow lost the plot, but that would be a little short sighted. Just a few weeks ago in France, Raikkonen started from pole and left his teammate Felipe Massa in his wake before an exhaust failure slowed him. In the Silverstone rain, he was catching Hamilton until his team scr*wed up their tyre strategy. And few noticed during the low-key outing in Hungary that he actually set fastest lap, having spent the first two-thirds of the race stuck behind Fernando Alonso.

And let's not forget that in Canada, Ferrari got him out of the pits in front of Hamilton, and we'll never know how that race would have unfolded had he not been hit by the wayward McLaren On the other hand, Monaco was not exactly great - a nudge with a barrier followed by a spectacular spin into the back of the unfortunate Adrian Sutil. And while he didn't fare quiet as badly as the hapless Felipe Massa, he made hard work of Silverstone after that botched tyre choice.

However, the bottom line is that despite his roller-coaster ride, Kimi has still been quietly stashing away the points - a fourth here and a sixth there - and if his luck changes over these next seven races, he could yet win that second title.

"I think if you look at all the drivers, they've all had their ups and downs," says Kimi's co-manager Steve Robertson. "If one of the top four drivers had a bad day last year, they would be fourth on the grid still. F1 is so close now that if you have a bad day, even one of the top boys can be seventh or eighth on the grid, if they don't nail the set-up and get everything perfect. It's closer than it's ever been before."

It would be McLaren or Ferrari last year, depending on which type of circuit we went to. Clearly that's not the case this year, and you can have a top driver finishing sixth or seventh in a weekend."

Robertson agrees that you need to take a closer look at Kimi's performances to truly judge his form.

"He hasn't won for quite some time. But the last two races aside, if you look at the three races before that, he was very unlucky. At Silverstone, OK it was a wrong call for the tyres, but for the six laps prior to the pit stop he caught Lewis up at a second a lap. McLaren had only one call to make because they couldn't keep Lewis on the same tyres anyway, as Kimi was much quicker....

... So is Kimi doing a bit of soul searching?

"I'm sure he's concerned about the last two races, that would only be natural. But as I've always said before, he won't dwell on it. He realises that things have to change, and he'll do his best with the team to change the things that are obviously not suiting his driving style. But Kimi's never the sort of person not to sleep at night because of it."

Indeed, having won from so far behind last year, Kimi knows that there is no need to panic just yet. Rivals McLaren know him well, and the team certainly haven't discounted him.

"By observation from the outside, Kimi has not had a straightforward season," says Martin Whitmarsh. "He's a great competitive driver, a great racing driver. In Hungary everyone was starting to write him off. There was some fortune involved in his third place, a puncture for Lewis and an engine failure for Felipe, but nonetheless that's what these great racing drivers have - a habit of being there when others suffer misfortunes, banging the points in." ...