Raikkonen, Alonso and Hamilton take questionsThe second part of the FIA press conference from Albert Park with
Kimi Raikkonen,
Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.
(Salvatore Zanca – Associated Press) Kimi is this just another win or is it special because it is your
first win for Ferrari?
KR: Of course, it is a special moment – with a new team, everything new and we can win in the first race so, it is ideal. At least people will not ask when you are going to win. I am happy because it is a new season and to win straightaway so that is good also. I am really happy with the team, and how things are going with the people, how the car is so it could not be better than it is now.
(Tobias Holtkamp - Bild) Kimi, who was on the phone that Jean Todt gave you?
KR: I think it was Michael, but the line was pretty bad so I couldn’t hear him.
(Phil Branagan – Motorsport News) Fernando, your first stop was a little longer than Lewis’s… Was that a change in strategy to give you two extra laps?
FA: I don’t know. I think the first stop is quite fixed because you qualify with that fuel and the second stop is quite open. I think they didn’t decide on lap 15 or 16 so I don’t know… There was nothing on plan. They decide that.
(Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, is this the payback for your bad luck here in previous races?
KR: No, I wouldn’t say that.
It was just a perfect day for us -- or not perfect because we still had some problems, but at least they didn’t cost us anything and so we can always improve, but at least we got the result we wanted from the first race of the season and it is a good place to start the season and hopefully we can keep it up.
(Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Kimi, did you have any problems in the race?
KR: Like I said, the radio broke before the start. That was the main issue we had. And in the race, nothing major really.
(Georg Nolte - Bild) Kimi, how did you and Michael work together in the last month?
KR: I have seen him twice -- when they launched the car and I think at one test. He came, but I left at the same time almost. So, we haven’t really been spending time together.
(Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Fernando, Ferrari seemed to have a bigger gap in the race. Is that a worry?
FA: Well, yes it is. We are here to win the world championship and we know that the race is the most important part of the weekend. Qualifying is good, but it is just only maybe 40 per cent of the race and it is true that in qualifying we seem to be quite competitive with no big problems and then in the race I think we are not as quick as the Ferrari in the long runs so I think it is the area in which we are trying to improve and where everyone is trying to improve compared to Ferrari. As I said, (in) qualifying I think two or three teams can fight with Ferrari, but in the race no-one.
(Bobby Arifin - Bola) All three of you – Malaysia is a bigger track, hotter place. What do you think your chances are there?
KR: I will try to keep it up, like I said, but it is a completely different circuit, different weather that usually makes it much more difficult to get the car right because the tyres are not working as well in the hot conditions, probably. We will just see how we do in the testing next week and then we will work from there.
FA: Same thing, I think. Keep scoring points; keep finishing on the podium... Like I said, for the world championship I think you cannot have any mistakes in these days so in the first four or five races I think the most important thing is to finish all of them and if possible on the podium and then from then on, depending on how the car develops, you start fighting for victories or whatever. I think Malaysia can be interesting. I have been always very good there and I have great memories from Sepang. So, hopefully, it will be a good weekend for us.
LH: I’ve not been to Malaysia before and I don’t know the circuit either. But I have seen it on TV obviously, watching it the last few years and I am extremely excited to get on the circuit. It looks quite good and I have good things about it. But obviously we are going to be trying to close the gap between us and Ferrari -- we are going to develop the car more and we have got three days testing so we going to make sure we push and maximise the test and make sure we are at the front again for the next race.
(Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) A question for Alonso, was your pit-stop strategy decided by the team during the race or before the race?
FA: As I said before, I don’t know. I think first stop is fixed by the qualifying fuel that you have and the second stop they do calculations and they believe what they believe. And I think anyway for the second stint I think I saved quite a lot fuel because I was running behind Lewis and I don’t think it was planned to have two extra laps. It was planned only to be one lap so thanks to the fuel saving we had another lap and maybe it was enough to overtake.
(Salvatore Zanca – Associated Press) Fernando what can you do to reduce the gap to Ferrari or is it only in the hands of the engineers?
FA: No, it is in the hands of everybody. For sure the engineers will come with new pieces in the car to improve the car and its performance especially on the long run as we said so I think I believe in their job and I believe very soon the car will come quicker and quicker and I am sure there are more in my hands in terms of driving and we keep learning about these new Bridgestone tyres and it is completely different so it is difficult the tyre in the race and in qualifying and myself I hope I will improve also day by day.
(Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Kimi, are you surprised at how easy it was today?
KR: I think we were expecting this, but we were not 100 per cent about what would happen and even today we did not have to push 100 per cent so we are in a good position right now but in the next race it could be a completely different story so we need to push and improve the whole package and go from there.
(Niki Takeda – Formula PA) Kimi was the car close to perfect today?
KR: No, of course, you can always improve, but it was very good today. The biggest problems were with the back-markers to get past and it took ages for them to know you were there. The car was working well all the time so no complaints.
(Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) For Alonso, what is the difference for you in having a team-mate who really pushes you for the first time in your Formula One career?
FA: I am not agreed with you on that. I think I have had difficult moments with Trulli in 2004 at the beginning he won the Monaco race and he had more podiums than me. Fisichella normally started better than me the season and in 2005 he won the Australian Grand Prix and last year he won in Malaysia as well. So I have more or less similar to what I had today. Hopefully we can keep this level of competition inside the team all through the season.
(Ed Gorman – The Times) Lewis we saw your joy at the finish. Can you talk us through the last few laps as you were heading towards that podium?
LH: I think for the last five laps I could see – although I had a bit of a problem on my second set of tyres I was having some graining on the front left tyre – that I didn’t have the pace to keep up with Fernando and so I knew that enough space behind me. The key was to bring the car home. At the end of the day, I knew I had done enough for my first race. I was pushing as hard as I could, but I wasn’t able to keep up, or close the gap between me and Fernando; and so that was that. But, again, going into the next race, we are extremely strong and being here, third place is a great feeling.
(Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Kimi, when did you realise that this was your race?
KR: When I passed the finish line, of course, but you know anything can happen even in the last lap. We knew that if everything worked we should be okay after yesterday. It all depends if you get a good start and you have the speed. We had the speed and everything kept going right and we thought it could be our race and that is what happened.
(Phil Branagan – Motorsport News) There are about a million kids in the world who dream of driving in their first Grand Prix, and I guess that until a few days ago, you were one of them… How does the dream compare to the reality?
LH: I think this is probably beyond my dreams. To be in Formula One was obviously a dream, but to come into your first race and have such a smooth start is something you don’t expect, but something we had been working towards... I’m loving it...
(Joe Saward – Grand Prix Special) Lewis can you talk us through the first corner? You must have gone ooh!
LH: Not really... It is only the first corner of the race so you can’t get too excited about it. I lost a place to Robert and I needed to get it back and that is what I did. But I gained another place because I think Fernando was held up behind Heidfeld. So that was a positive for me and I took it with me.
(Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Kimi did you see the accident involving Wurz and Coulthard on the big screen?
KR: No. I saw just a little picture of it. I didn’t have time to look too much. But luckily enough, with the problem with the radio that we had, if the safety car had come out... so, it was good that it didn’t.
(Kevin Garside – The Daily Telegraph) Lewis how much confidence does it give you that you were running second with the double world champion behind you for so long?
LH: Of course, it gives you confidence every time you finish a race. You gain a bit of confidence in the car. You know you can finish and what you can do with it. In terms of me as a driver, as a whole, I don’t think it has made much of a difference. I am confident I know what I need to do and I know what to do so it is good to have that sort of… that first race under your belt, over and done with. Now I can go and let my hair down and look forward to the next race.
(Juha Paatalo – Financial Times Deutschland) Kimi, since you made a mistake because you were looking at something else, did you have a lot of boring moments during this race?
KR: No I didn’t, but sometimes if you don’t push 100 per cent you can have one of those things if you decided to do something that you shouldn’t do but I was just a little too late on the brakes and locked a wheel, but I knew I had enough time so I didn’t have to hurry up too much.
Source FIA
