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Kimi
Raikkonen and Felipe Massa will be amongst the drivers
that will take to the ice lake at Madonna di Campiglio
today at 5:30 pm behind the wheel of a fleet of specially-prepared
Fiat 500 racers for a what promises to be a spectacular
no-holds-barred demonstration race. Also in the thick of
the action will be official testers Luca Badoer and Marc
Gené while Tifosi legend Michael Schumacher is
also expected on the snow.
The four star
Scuderia Ferrari drivers will be piloting the Car of the
Year award winning Fiat 500 in the event that has become
the traditional climax to the Wrooom event, held in
the famous ski resort in the Dolomites. Last year the same
event saw a fleet of Pandas fulfilling the same role.
Meanwhile
yesterday (Thursday) at Wrooom 2008 it was the turn
of the drivers to address the media at the Ferrari and
Ducati press ski meeting at Madonna di Campiglio in Italy.
Both drivers will be taking to the snow today but for the
moment, Felipe Massa covered subjects from married life to
his future racing prospects. "Last year was very good," he
began, "and it ended with a very nice celebration for the
championship and my wedding, a really special day for me, so
I was really happy."
But is he under more pressure this year? It was a mixed
reaction. "I don't feel any pressure. It's going to be more
or less the same, but we were under pressure to win because
we had not been winning for two years and we won. We
continue to have the pressure to be in front because we won
last year, so the pressure is going to be the same. When you
race for a team such as Ferrari, you are always under
pressure but one thing is to do your job and even if what
people say, it's what counts when you drive. What counts is
the mentality of the team."
That mentality also affects Felipe's view of the arrival of
Stefano Domenicali as team principal. "I've known Stefano
for a long time already. I've known him since the first day
I went to Ferrari. Jean Todt is still there and will be part
of the team this year. Stefano will operate to different
rules, just as Jean has done until now. But Stefano has
great potential. In the past, Ferrari has changed people but
the mentality has always been there, it's the same mentality
as a group."
Felipe was also asked how he develops as a driver. "A driver
always learns, especially as in Formula One the regulations
change by year; maybe tyres change, and the electronics
change, so there is always something to learn, so every year
there is something new, which means that we start again from
scratch every year. This is because of the regulations. We
also will have to focus on what we did wrong the previous
years and what we did right, and draw experience from that
for the new season, improving on what one didn't do right
the previous years."
So what worries him about the car in 2008? "Well, the starts
are going to more human, let's say, because you don't have
the electronic control so you have to do the electronic
control for the car at the start. So at the start, the
driver is going to count more. Up to last year, the
technicians did the starts for us, in a way. Now all of us
are going to have the cars on an equal basis - it is going
to more fun for us.
"In terms of traction control, let's say we have to take
over what the electronics did in the past. That doesn't mean
that it's going to be something from another planet, we
simply have to learn and be softer on the pedal. I see that
the lap times are more or less the same as against lap times
with traction control at the end of the season. So it hasn't
been that difficult to come to grips with the new
regulations.
"These regulations are going to lead to some changes in how
we are going to have to tackle the car for a start, for
traction control, but also how we are going to have to drive
the car during the race, because if you one is too
aggressive, you may destroy the tyres more quickly. So I
think that during the races, we are going to be a bit more
careful so without traction, we are going to have to drive a
bit differently so as not to wear out the tyres. Of course
we have to learn this, we have to learn to optimise this."
Reliability, it seems, is also at the forefront of Felipe's
concerns. "We have the new car and we're going to have see
how reliability it is. Last year we lost many points due to
problems with reliability which ended many races, so this
year, this season, we're working a lot on the car to
understand if problems exist so that we can start the
championship with a car that we hope is going to be 100
percent reliable.
"As for extracting performance, OK, the car is new, there
are many new things in it. Personally I think the car is
going to be ready just before the start of the championship,
so we have to develop the car, even if in Jerez should the
lap times not be that far from the lap times of the last
season, that's going to be that we are working on it for
quite some time.
"The numbers we have seen, the data in the wind tunnel are
positive but of course we have to see what the others are
going to do because even if our data is incredible, if
others go faster then perhaps they have improved more than
us, they have worked more on their new car, so we are going
to have see this on the race track and we are going to have
some conclusive data with the first race of the
championship."
Kimi Raikkonen
also addressed the press on Thursday. The World Champion was
happy to be back in the snow, feeling more relaxed than he
did a year ago when he made his debut wearing the red of
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro.
Did he ever think he would be returning as World Champion?
"For sure we were hoping for it but you never know. We try
to do all our work as well as we can and hopefully to
achieve what everybody wants, every year, to win the
championship. We won two championships last year so I'm very
happy for that and it's much nicer to come back here now,
one year later, than it was a year ago when I didn't know
the people, I didn't know the team, but now it's much easier
for me also."
And that's going to make the start of the 2008 season easier
as well, even if the man himself is the same. "I don't think
I have changed myself too much. Sure, I have achieved what I
wanted in my life, so it's a nice thing, but I wouldn't say
that winning the World Championship has changed me as a
person. Coming to this new season, it's hopefully going to
be more easy-going, the first part of the season, than it
was last year. It's a new season but it's with the same
team, so it's going to be much easier for me and much easier
for the team, so I wish we can have a slightly stronger
start to the year and then we will go from there."
Already Raikkonen is buoyed by the car's performance in its
shakedown, which will be followed by a Jerez test next week.
"I think it's going to be a normal test for us. The car ran
very well in Fiorano but of course the conditions were not
ideal. It's hard to say exactly how you feel about the car,
but for me the feeling was very good so that's the only way
I can tell. I think we are going to see next week in Jerez
when we take the car on a normal circuit and then we see.
Hopefully the weather will be good. We will have two cars so
we hope to have good running and a lot of laps so then we
will see."
Kimi explained the test situation within the team,
especially with reference to Michael Schumacher's recent
tests. "I think that how the testing is now it's very
difficult for the test drivers to have many laps, many days,
because we don't have such a lot of testing. We drivers do
most of the testing just purely because we test what we get.
If we are not able to test, it's good that Michael's doing
it and for sure it's not going to hurt us. He has good
experience of Formula One, he knows what he's doing. For me
it's good that he does the tests if we cannot do it."
Kimi was asked about his future with Ferrari, and his status
at the start of the season. "I have a contract for two more
years and then I always said before that I'm not in a hurry
to make any new contracts. For sure, if I want, I could make
a new contract tomorrow but I will when I feel like it, I
will see what it feels like and then I will finish my
contract and before I finish it I will make a new plan and
then we will see what happens. So far I enjoy Formula One,
I'm very happy with the team, I like to work with the people
but we will see what happens in the future.
"I think that it's been the same for me as before," he said
concerning his situation within the team. "We drivers start
the season at the same level, everybody, and we do the best
that we can. We try to win races. There's a point in the
season when the other guy's in a better position, you need
to make sure that he can get all the efforts from the team
and all the chances so I don't really worry about whether
I'm number one or number two. I always do my best. That's
the main thing."
And what could he improve for this year, in comparison to
last? "I think we want to improve everywhere. The car - we
know where we have the most difficult time in certain areas
in races and on certain circuits, but also I improve my
driving every time I go in the car so as a team we are
pushing forward and hopefully we can improve in those areas
where want."
Ducati's MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner had been very
complimentary about Kimi; did he watch MotoGP also and what
do he think about Casey as a person and his achievements?
"For sure I enjoy watching the MotoGP because there are a
lot of things happening and the racing is usually very
exciting, plus being in kind of the same team, I watch most
of the races. But Casy's a nice guy, we've met in some
events which we've done together. He's achieved a lot this
year and I think he's going to be there for many many years,
winning the championships. He's a nice guy. Compliments back
to him. It's nice to hear he says good things."
Kimi was less forthcoming when asked about his former boss
Ron Dennis. "I don't really want to get involved in things
about other people. It's better not to say anything because
otherwise people start thinking differently about us. I
think he's a nice guy, seriously. There are many different
ways to look at the whole situation. Everybody has their own
ideas."
Finally, Kimi's excited about the two new races this season,
on the streets of Valencia in Spain and Singapore. "I like
street circuits a lot. I enjoy Monaco. It's maybe not the
nicest thing for the spectators and maybe on TV it doesn't
look the most exciting, but as a person, when you want to go
fast, it's good fun there. It will be interesting to see how
they (the new circuits) do. We are going to have two new
street circuits and how they are going to come, how they are
going to look and what they are like to drive. I enjoy it
for sure."
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