Ferrari – Räikkönen: “If I wasn’t motivated, I wouldn’t be here”
After a Chinese Grand Prix finished in 8th position, nearly a minute behind his teammate, Kimi Räikkönen once again had to face questions about his motivation, which he dismissed. He also addressed the causes of his difficulties.
Again behind his teammate in the race, Kimi Räikkönen does not escape the unsettling questions about his return to Ferrari. The Finn, who finished the Chinese Grand Prix in 8th place, nearly a minute behind Fernando Alonso, had to reaffirm that he had no motivation problems.
Thus, when he was questioned on this point, he did not hide a certain annoyance: “I don’t know why you always come back to motivation. If I wasn’t motivated, I wouldn’t be here answering these kinds of questions. It has nothing to do with that! We have had bad races, and it’s an unfortunate thing, but that’s how it is sometimes. Our goal is to progress and be where we want to be,” he explained to our colleagues at Crash.net in particular.
Simultaneously, Fernando Alonso’s results are relatively good, with the Spaniard managing to climb onto the podium at the Shanghai race. Does Iceman find this result encouraging? « We are improving things with each race. If we take between Australia and here, we’ve made a lot of progress. Obviously, sometimes it’s hard to see from the outside, but we know it ourselves, and it seems to be working. I was very happy with the car during the last race [in Bahrain]; obviously, the race didn’t go as I had planned. »
« Here, overall, I had some problems and I couldn’t run [during free practice], so that didn’t help and then it was just a difficult weekend. At least I got some points, not the ones we wanted, but for the team, overall, it was a better weekend and, of course, it gives them some good feelings because we have worked hard to improve things. We know we are making progress, not as much as we want, but of course, this podium for him is a good thing for us, » he explained.
When he reflects on the reasons that may explain his difficulties, he points to several factors: « It’s probably more related to my driving style, in addition to the cool conditions and the fact that the tires don’t work […] and the circuit configuration. I don’t think I’m very aggressive with the tires, especially when the conditions are cool and wet: it’s been like that for years […]. Today, it seems that when you have new tires, it works well until the grip decreases, then you struggle and have to go slower, and the tires cool even more: everything spirals and you can’t correct it. »
« It’s something everyone hates, but there’s nothing magical and I can’t change everything in my driving. We just have to work and find some solutions when we have [these problems] and hopefully not end up with similar issues. Once you’re caught in it, it’s hard to get out, especially in a race, » he concluded.
In the drivers’ championship, Fernando Alonso is 3rd with 41 points and Kimi Räikkönen is 12th with 11 points; Nico Rosberg, currently the leader, has 79 points. Ferrari is fourth in the constructors’ championship with 52 points while Mercedes, in the lead, already has 154 points.
