Kimi: “A hard championship but my motivation is intact”

Posted: 28.05.2014
Source: Ferrari

Rakkestad, 28 May – Kimi Raikkonen spent today in Scandinavia. The Finnish driver was indeed the star of an event organised by Scuderia Ferrari sponsor Santander, which saw him competing against some journalists in a kart race on the Rudskogen track. Kimi was second after agreeing to start at the back of the grid, having been involved in a lot of battles on the track. After lunch the driver from Espoo presented the prizes to the fastest journalists and met the Managing Director of Santander Nordics Customer Bank, Michael Hvidsten, who introduced him to other guests with whom he talked about his time in Ferrari and well over a decade of Formula 1 experience.

Before he took them on the track, the Scuderia driver met the journalists to answer some questions. Kimi was extremely realistic when they asked how he saw the 2014 drivers’ championship. “I think it is very difficult for anyone to battle with the Mercedes drivers but you never know. I would like it to be us even if that will be hard, especially for me personally, given the position in the championship. But I have always been used to fighting and together with the team, which is still hard at work on the development of the F14 T, I hope to be able to get some good results. As I’ve said, we are doing an incredible amount of work and I think we will sort out our problems, but you need time. If we manage it before the end of the season the results will come because my motivation is intact.”

Kimi also confirmed that he doesn’t think he has changed in comparison with his championship year in 2007: “I have more experience compared to when I won the title and I am a few years older but I don’t feel it and I still have a great desire to race. As for rallying? Certainly I would like to do more of it but for now I’m completely focused on Formula 1.”

 

Fernando hard at work

Posted: 27.05.2014
Source: Ferrari

Maranello, 27May – Fernando Alonso is having a busy day in Maranello, following on from the Monaco Grand Prix, working with the team on the development of the F14 T for the coming races. In the morning, the Spaniard attended various meetings with the engineers to hear what developments have been planned since the start of the season to cover each race. In Maranello, everyone is working hard to make the F14 T more competitive, while bearing in mind that any improvement can only be seen in relation to what its closest rivals are doing. Although he’s realistic about the team’s current situation, Fernando is still very much motivated and has made it clear to the engineers that he has no intention of giving up, asking everyone to pull together to try and close the gap to rival teams as much as possible. In the afternoon, Alonso was strapped into the simulator, working on preparing for the next two tracks in Canada and Austria, the latter returning to the Formula 1 calendar. In fact, Fernando is one of only three current drivers to have raced there before, having done so in 2001 and 2003. Work in the simulator focused mainly on improving the power delivery and identifying a base-line in terms of mechanical and aerodynamic set-up for both circuits.

 

Allison: “Two platforms for development”

Posted: 26.05.2014
Source: Ferrari

Maranello, 26 May – Scuderia Ferrari personnel are now back at base after the Monaco Grand Prix, convinced the team could have come away with something more in terms of the actual result. Kimi delivered a great performance and he was unlucky not to get a well-deserved podium finish. As for Fernando, he brought home more valuable points, thus preventing Red Bull from pulling too far away in the championship classification. The engineers have returned to work today in Maranello, looking at two distinct platforms when it comes to development: a short term programme to close the gap that separates the Scuderia from its closest rivals and work on improving its methodology, with a plan aimed on the long term. Technical Director James Allison summed up the situation on www.ferrari.com: “In Monaco, we continued to analyse the areas in which the F14 T can be improved and now, we are looking ahead to the next race in Canada, where the package we will use there is a good step faster than the car we raced last weekend. While our development programme has progressed well in recent weeks, it is hard to predict exactly what this will mean for the competitiveness of the F14-T, as we do not know what steps our competitors plan to bring to Montreal. So any improvement has to be seen in relative terms, hoping that the track will deliver an answer worthy of all the efforts we have made so far.” The other area of development on which the Scuderia is working, relates to the management of the team and its working methods. “We must be able to make the most of the creativity and originality of our engineers,” continued Allison. “We know there is no magic wand, but there is a wealth of talent at Ferrari and we are working on an implementation and an approach to the work which allows it to emerge.”

 

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