Kimi: Six points is better than no points

FERRARI

Monday 12th May 2008

Kimi Raikkonen made a hasty exit from Istanbul last night grateful to still be holding a comfortable lead in the Drivers' Championship.

Raikkonen was at his home in Switzerland by midnight, just under nine hours after the chequered flag had fallen on the Turkish Grand Prix, in order to watch a close friend play for Finland in a televised ice hockey game.

The reigning Formula One king had earlier come home third at the Istanbul Park circuit, with his championship lead cut by two points to seven.

Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa and McLaren's Lewis Hamilton are level on points and within sight of Raikkonen after they finished first and second following an enthralling duel.

Raikkonen, though, was counting his blessings after a first-corner incident with compatriot Heikki Kovalainen almost robbed him of his front wing.

"I didn't have a very good start," assessed the Finn.

"I got to the side of him on braking, but then I got a little bit squeezed on the inside.

"I tried to slow down and get behind him, but he just turned in a little bit, and the unfortunate thing for both of us is I broke the front wing and he had a puncture.

"I knew pretty much what had happened, that the end plate had come off, and although it's difficult to say how much difference it made, it didn't help.

"So we chose to use the front wing for the whole race because it takes too long to change it, and it wasn't too bad.

"Overall, the weekend was a little bit difficult, but I am happy with third and at least we scored some good points.

"Now we have to make sure we have a better weekend at the next race (Monaco)."

Despite dropping points to Massa and Hamilton, Raikkonen was not too concerned, with the championship still having a long way to go.

"This race is early in the season and it's good to have a little gap to the others," he added.

"But we saw this weekend if you cannot get everything out of the car, you are going to lose some points.

"I've lost a few points now, but it doesn't change too much and I don't worry about it too much.

"We go race by race and try to win, try to gain points on the others, but sometimes you need to be happy with what you get.

"This was one of those days because this weekend I was never really where I wanted to be, but six points is still good."

A potential concern for Raikkonen and Ferrari is that, last year, McLaren were very strong in the next two races, with Monaco followed by the Canadian Grand Prix.

"Last year, those races were very difficult for us," recalled Raikkonen.

"We need to see just how strong we can be, and hopefully we can challenge for wins and go from there."

Post to del.icio.us