RAIKKONEN: Interview About German GP Results

(from autosport)

(this should give a little clearer idea to some of you that want to chop off heads what both drivers were dealing with at Hockenheim)

World champion Kimi Raikkonen is urging Ferrari to go through every detail on their F2008 to understand why they were so slow at the German Grand Prix.

The Finn is baffled about why he could not find a good balance on his car at Hockenheim last weekend as he limped home in sixth place - losing ground in the title chase to Lewis Hamilton.

And with no immediate answers for the lack of pace, Raikkonen believes only a detailed examination of what happened will bring forth an explanation that will help them ensure there is no repeat of their troubles.

"It's obvious that the situation has changed," Raikkonen said. "I'm seven points behind in the standings, as I was after the Canadian GP.

"We have to check and analyze every single detail we've done during the preparations for Hockenheim and find out why we went so slowly, because there has to be something that didn't work properly.

"Sometimes these things happen, when you want to improve the car. I'm confident: we'll have a F2008 that can fight for the win again soon."

He added: "The situation is quite complicated, but nothing is lost: We have to stay calm and react the way we know how to. The desire to win hasn't decreased at all: last year I had a period of six consecutive races without a success and the same things is happening this year. Let's hope that seven is my lucky number also this time, and that I can get back to success immediately."

Raikkonen said that the Hockenheim weekend was his hardest of the season, and he remains at a loss to explain matters.

"I left Germany after a race weekend with the same feeling I had many times in the past: the best thing is that the weekend is over. It was certainly the most difficult weekend of the year: a horrible Friday, an even more complicated Saturday and a very bad Sunday.

"During the tests on this track the week before the car went pretty well, at least that was the feeling we got. In the race it seemed as we were in a different place. We never managed to find a good set up and the car had absolutely no stability.

"You need good grip to drive good lap times at Hockenheim, but the rear went all over the place for the whole race. It's true that we had some problems at the beginning of the season to set up the car as I wanted, but we never had problems like we had at Hockenheim.

"When you're lacking grip in the rear you can't go fast enough to fight for the top positions. For a couple of laps, especially in the end, the situation seemed to improve a bit, but it never went as it should have."

 

I can't believe that they haven't gone over the car completely even before Hockenheim. I'm more than a little worried for the rest of the season.

 

It's easier to say Mclaren are cheating..

 

Oh no worries, things keep going as they are then I'll start saying that

 

+1

 

If you watched friday practice from Germany, both Ferraris suffered from corner entry understeer and snap oversteer on exit of the corners. They improved by qual, but both cars still looked tail happy. This was similar to the condition that Massa had so much trouble with in Silverstone, (car exiting the corner, to snap oversteer) which many attributed to Driver error. Kimi also had this issue, but to a lesser extent due either to greater talent or a softer suspension setup. My opinion would be that aero changes that have been made over the past few weeks may be working against them in terms of balance front to rear or through the movement of the center of pressure across the car.

Differential development, very important now that TC is gone, would be another good place to look.

 

I think everyone here has a firm grasp of your stance relating to McLaren and Hamilton.

 

I rate LH highly yes, I love Ferrari and the brand, I have never had a car that gives me such a buzz, in F1 I try to be realistic not blinkered and thats it..however its like walking on a tight rope on here..

 

It seems like the rest of the team is trying their best but can't figure out the perfect formula. They need a wizard in control which it doesn't seem like they have. I noticed Schumi's hanging around again in the pits but that doesn't seem to be doing it either. F better get their shlt together and fast.

 

+1 It usually takes a couple of seasons before the effects of losing key people is felt. Look at Williams although Adrian Newey left in the middle of 1996, it still retained its crown in 1997 and started going down from 1998. Nice job Luca.

 

as they say, the devil is in the details. and when championships are hard fought, you win or lose in the details...the 'little' things...

 

I know this is FerrariChat, and theorhetically most of us are supposed to be fans of the Ferrari F1 team (hear that Ted?). Yet I do not understand the panic when things go bump in the night with the team.

Do you really expect that one team, even Ferrari, will win, or better yet, should win every race, every season, and every championship? What's the purpose of the other teams showing up after spending millions to lose?

If it were not for the issues at hand, we would have nothing to talk about, there would be no excitement in the series. The F1 championship would be dull, boring, and viewership would go away, sponsors would question their expense, and the competition will become even less with less sponsor money to spend on development.

Certainly I would like to see Ferrari win the WCC this year, I have no regards for Ron Dennis and McLaren. Piss on them. And certainly I would like to see Massa win the WDC this year because he is the underdog so to speak, everyone's whipping boy. In an ideal world, Kimi and Felipe would stay teammates for another 3-4 years, win a couple more WDC's between them, and Alonso would stay at Renault, where he would win another WDC before retiring in 2012.

But this is not an ideal world, teams have problems, and sometimes the bad guy wins. Ferrari could lose the WCC this year, and possibly one of their drivers will not be the 2008 WDC. Alonso will likely end up at Ferrari, Massa will take his WDC to Toyota, and Luca's greed will cause the team to have 3 years of bad karma.

Of course, I would like to see Kimi win the WDC if Massa does not. I am of the belief that if Hamilton wins the championship this soon in his career he will become a megalomanic ego as never witnessed before in this sport. If he only drove for any other team than McLaren. He will be a WDC, of that I can be sure.

Anyway, the point is, yes I want Ferrari to win every race, but then, I want to see F1 stay viable for many years, and if Ferrari wins every race, and if we did not have Ron Dennis to dislike, what's the purpose?

 

Yes good post, so let's all be thankfull to Ron Dennis and Mclaren...

 

I think I will stick with respectfully tolerant.....

 

Nah, drop the "respectfully" - Much more fun

All joking aside, while we know he's a lying, cheating POS and in charge of the other evil empire (The first being Micro$oft of course) the vitriol and out and out *hatred* that's directed at the man herein sometimes is alarming to me..... At least he's "self made".......

Cheers,
Ian

 

Said the man with 666 posts!
While I am not a fan of McLaren or Ron Dennis, I do respect them as a formidable competitor. I think the Gordon Murray designed F1 roadcar was brilliant and the companies CanAm era was fantastic. Love him or hate him, Dennis has been as important to sport of F1 as Ferrari, Chapman, Williams with P. Head, Brabham and to a certain extent one B. Ecclestone. There is a lot of history there with McLaren. That said, I still would like to see Ferrari pound McLaren in Hungary.

 

+1 Aha LOL 666 !!!

 

Good spot! I hadn't noticed.

Steady on now! - I didn't go that far!.... And, being pedantic, the CanAm era was way before RD got involved - Nothing to do with him - That was back when people actually *liked* Mclaren as it was still Bruce's outfit. [those were the days.....]

I also don't agree that he's close to the Old Man in "importance" to F1. And he's not a designer, so Chapman and Sir Frank/PH are ahead there as well. And you can't put him in the same *league* as the evil pygmy! To borrow your quote, "love him or hate him", Bernie IS "the man" [Who got them where they are today.... I'll concede RD's important *today*, but not in the overall history of F1.]

Cheers,
Ian

 

+1
Tis true, oh you spoilt it now !! 667...

 

You are correct of course that RD had nothing to do with McLaren back in Bruces day, but he has been in the racing game since the 1960's beginning with John Cooper.

I guess what I was pointing to was that each of those I mentioned have been at this sport for most of their lives, (Ferrari going back the farthest) and all started from average beginnings doing something that they loved doing. They have each done it well, some as designers, as CEO's and businessmen, as racers, and some as a bit of all of the above. Certainly one could rank them one over another and argue those relative positions. I "love" some, "hate" others, but respect all mentioned and am appreciative of the history of F1. RD is and has been an important part of that.

 

+1

He was, basically, the only competition SF have had on many occasions.

and I'm now safely off 666.....

 

But HEY look on the bright side, everyone in charge is now Italian!

 

Hey Vino at lunch!