Räikkönen hopes for a clean weekend at Monza
Author of a solid 4th place at the Belgian Grand Prix of F1, Kimi Räikkönen hopes for another trouble-free weekend to repeat this good performance at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza.
After two challenging thirds of the season, nonetheless highlighted by a notable performance at the Belgian Grand Prix where he finished in a solid 4th place – his best result of the season, Kimi Räikkönen still believes that his difficulties are not over but that they can be overcome with a calm weekend.
The Finn primarily believes that having experienced a trouble-free weekend was the key to his strong performance at Spa: « The important thing is that we had a clean race without any issues, and we were able to push. There were always difficulties with the car’s handling, but we expected that. There are things we need to improve, but the feeling has been there for a long time; it was just compromised by mistakes or things that happened to us. »
« We need to make sure we can have a clean weekend, that we can try things and execute our program as we should in all sessions. […] A clean weekend would help us and make things simpler and the results better, » he explains to our colleagues at ESPN F1.
The next Grand Prix, in Monza, will be an opportunity for the Scuderia to reconnect with its fans and its high expectations after a challenging first half of the season, marked by two podiums for Fernando Alonso: « Obviously, we hope to do well, it’s a home race so there are a lot of fans for Ferrari: we hope to do very well, » says Iceman. « But we try to do our best at every race and if we have a clean race, if we position ourselves well after qualifying, we can do our own job and not worry about others and then get the best result that our speed deserves. »
He builds on the good race at Spa – a speed circuit – to anticipate a good weekend in Italy: « Let’s hope we can be surprised with our speed there. As I said, [Belgium] and [Monza] seem difficult for us but it doesn’t look so bad. »
As a reminder, Kimi Räikkönen is in 10th position in the drivers’ standings with 39 points, which is 82 points behind Fernando Alonso, who is 4th. Scuderia Ferrari is in 3rd place in the constructors’ standings, with a 251-point deficit to Mercedes, 94 points behind Red Bull, and 10 points ahead of Williams.
