Ferrari and Räikkönen “better prepared” in Bahrain

After a relatively difficult first race for Kimi Räikkönen in Melbourne (7th, and struggling with issues at the front of his car), the Finn couldn’t really demonstrate the potential of his Ferrari F14-T in Malaysia where, in the early laps, he suffered a puncture following a collision with Kevin Magnussen.

However, the 2007 world champion claims that his car was more performant than in Melbourne: « The car was similar to the previous race, but the circuit layout was better for our overall situation. We did much better [in Malaysia]. »

« Obviously, the results did not show that, but it’s good to be moving in the right direction. I felt that we made a step forward in understanding the tools we need to work with, so I think we will be better prepared [in Bahrain]. »

Better prepared? This isn’t really the opinion of Fernando Alonso, who believes that the situation is unlikely to change much. Räikkönen, on the other hand, explains that new features will appear on the Scuderia’s car which should improve its handling: « For the next race, we should have new parts. »

We should be more satisfied with the front and able to ride the way I want. The front should be nicer after that, but we have to wait and see how we do on Friday and go from there.

By returning to Sakhir, the Finn revisits the grounds that hosted the second and third sessions of the winter testing of the season. He already understood that his early season problems would trouble him: “Since the [winter tests], I know there are some difficulties with the handling, but I hope that with a few new parts we can fix that,” he says.

Then, for Autosport, he concluded: « I think we have a very good understanding of what we want to do and where we want to go to make the car better, and we can go much faster if we achieve that. That should allow us to achieve better times and better results. »