quotePetr Hlawiczka @hlawiczka #F1 #Shell #Kimi #Raikkonen stayed one hour in #Ostrava, filled up full tank, patiently signed autograph to everyone. It was cold, -2 °C.
Hungarian paper Nemzeti Sport did an interview with Kimi when he was in Ostrava
Nemzeti Sport 23.1.2016.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)
my translation:
quote Back to the top!
Czech girls or Czech beer?
Unfortunately I didn’t have much chance to look around the country - said Kimi Raikkonen in Ostrava, where Shell has organized media conversations for Central and Eastern European journalists and Hungary was represented by the Nemzeti Sport. - All of these events are going on quite fast, this time too, I arrived late in the evening, the next morning started the sponsorship program and now I'm sitting here with you and from there immediately I leave to the airport... Like an F1 race weekend - because even we go around the world mostly we only move between the airport, hotel and track. People think, as we travel around the world we see a lot of things but the reality is completely different.
You are used to that wherever you go, are followed by dozens of journalists and reporters?
Formula 1 is one of the world's most watched sports, it is clear that there is a greater interest in the media. This treatment, however, has its specialists within the team, so I have no problem with it. With the job this kind of obligations comes but this is natural. I have long been racing in F1, at the Grand Prix are more or less the same journalists so the media events are already pretty average to me.
How did the winter break go?
Like an ordinary winter break. In that time, fortunately, we get some time - even if not too much... - outside of racing. It is good that I can do what I want, there isn’t exactly assigned every minute of my life and I can spend more time with my family.
Now as a father for almost a year, life changed much since the birth of your child? According to the president of Ferrari you have become much more mature.
In everyday life, of course, much has changed, but this has no effect on the racing. At home we live quite eventful days but I really enjoy, it's fun time. My son is getting bigger, more and more he starts to do everything, so it is really good fun to be with him. Fortunately, his health is okay, and that's the most important.
Soon, however, the focus will be on racing again.
Well, the break between the two seasons is not very long but it's always such an exciting time. A lot of designers' work and energy are invested in the new cars, they are also anxiously awaiting to go on track and see how the car performs. As a driver it can also feel good to take the first laps with all-new car but the test next month does not provide a realistic picture of power relations, they only come to light in the first race. Of course I hope that we will be there in the lead but it does not make sense to speculate at this early stage of the year.
Is there not too much pressure on Ferrari for making such a huge step forward last year, many expect the same amount of jump from you?
The 2015 season record was much better than we expected in the majority but I do not think that because of this there is pressure on us. We will continue the work we started last year, we are trying in every way to develop, hopefully it will be enough to get to where you want, to win races and fight for the championship.
The first time spent at Ferrari you did it all the way but the Italian team has long been only the challenger at best. This is more frustrating or gives you extra motivation?
I would not say frustrating. Of course, all of us, we are here to win races and championships but F1 has its own characteristics. If a team built a better car and did a better job, you cannot do anything other than try to catch it and sooner or later defeat. However, it never moves from one day to the next but the development that we introduced in 2014 to 2015 is very encouraging and indicates that we are moving in the right direction. We have to continue down this road, I'm sure that we get to the top, but it also takes time.
But still you have to deal at Ferrari with your team-mate, four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel...
That's right, but despite the fact that on track we will always try to beat each other, our relationship is a great benefit for Ferrari. We get along well, we have known each other a long time and we know how the other works. Open, nice personality, and it is important that during the joint work we are very honest with each other, which is a great help to the team. Together we try to boost Ferrari, we pull in the same direction in the garage, and that's good for everyone.
Is there a race which you are waiting for this year in particular?
Lots of very good tracks, but Spa is probably the one I enjoy the best. I like when we go to new places and a completely new strip of asphalt ahead of us, but if you only need to name your favorite sites, I would say Spa. But for me always the most fun races are where I can fight for the win.
In technical terms, one of the biggest changes in recent decades was the comeback of turbo engines in F1. On the street which is your favorite among the turbocharged Ferraris?
There is no favorite. Each is unique in its kind, has a different appearance, a different feeling to drive them, they have different engines. The driving experience otherwise is very similar as for the non-turbo models, differing only slightly in the sound. But I say, you hardly feel the difference while driving, there is no turbo lag and nothing like that. In F1 now comes the third year with the turbo, it starts to become more mature technology, more power, less of reliability failures. At first, the change was enormous and not everything worked as we hoped but now we are much better. Each engine has its own advantages and disadvantages, now are those rules and we have to adapt. I do not really care whether turbo or not turbo, in racing all that matters is to maximize the car's performance.
On the eve of his sixth season with Scuderia Ferrari, Kimi Raikkonen admits he hasn't changed his approach to racing since the Italian outfit's own internal revolution at the end of 2014.
The 2007 World Champion endured a difficult campaign last year, having been dominated in both the speed and performance department by Sebastian Vettel, to the point where even his future at Maranello was called into question.
In the end, the Finn was awarded another year on his contract and is still aiming for outright success in Formula 1.
"I don't think it [the arrivals of Maurizio Arrivabene and Sebastian Vettel] changed my behaviour or driving but obviously it changed a lot the team," Raikkonen said during Ferrari's online team launch.
"Since Maurizio's arrival there has been change, which has been working very well with a change of atmosphere.
"We work as one unit, as one team and with Sebastian we have a good relationship. Obviously we try to beat each other, but it's been a very pleasant to work with both of them."
In typical Kimi restrained style, Raikkonen expressed his hopes of achieving success with the team's new SF16-H.
"It's a new year, a new car. It’s always exciting for the team to introduce a new car but more exciting for us as we get to drive it first.
"Obviously for myself, I want to do well, and win races and fight for the championship. But it's very early days as we haven't run the car yet. We'll see how we do in testing and go from there but I'm sure we'll be ready for the start of the year."
Quote: Jalumi wrote in post #23Time is running! Happy 1st birthday little Robin
Cute little fella!
"Walk on, through the wind, Walk on, through the rain, Though your dreams be tossed and blown. Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart, And you'll never walk alone, YOU`LL NEVER WALK ALONE!!!"
I'll give it a try without Google translate, here it goes...
Part I
quote His personality, by: who knew him best
THE RAIKKONEN ENIGMA: THIS IS NOT FUC... POSSIBLE. WHY DID IT HAD TO HAPPEN TO YOU?
Doctor Aki Hintsa is one of the people who has been closest to Kimi Raikkonen. In his book "The Core" he unveils some of the hidden keys that define the Finnish driver.
Images circled around the world at that time. It was McLaren's time and Kimi Raikkonen appeared completely wasted in a Canary Island hotel. He had a inflatable dolphin under his arm. As if the images didn't already represented heresy enough for Ron Dennis' personality, McLaren was sponsored by a famous alcoholic beverage that promoted a responsible consumption in their campaign.
Ron Dennis called the Finnish doctor Aki Hintsa, who was responsible of all of McLaren's medical services and who eventualy became a great personality in Formula 1 (with Hakkinen, Hamilton and Vettel under his sight and now also Carlos Sainz). "Hello, I'm Ron Dennis, McLaren's maximum authority presented himself in his phonecall, "I got your message, but don't understand how could you guess, in such anticipation, what will happen with Kimi".
Hintsa was the first doctor responsible for the mental and physical training of Kimi Raikkonen in F1, a relationship that intensified itself during the Finnish driver's time in McLaren. As one of the people who has had one of the closest and better relationships with the driver, in his book "The Core", he offers some of the hidden keys for the enigmatic Finn great audience.
"The team atmosphere was poison"
Kimi Raikkonen's personality was put to the test with McLaren's dinamic and corporative values, totally dominated by the singularity of Ron Dennis' ideas. Discipline and control were the house rules. Every step was formalized and drivers were no exception. To the sporting pressure you could add the total availability to McLarens' multiple PR activities. "For Raikkonen, such a regulated atmosphere was poison".
Since the first time they met at the Hesperia Helsinki's hotel, there was chemistry between Hintsa and a very young Raikkonen, about to make a Formula 1 debut. He got in contact with the doctor through his previous relationship with Hakkinen. The Finn also quickly recomended Raikkonen for the team to Ron Dennis.
Hintsa started to see that something was changing in the driver's personality. "At his arrival to McLaren he was someone balanced, concentrated in winning and doing what was needed for it". The Finnish doctor soon understood that "the best way to break his balance was to impose strict discipline".
"A strong attitude against authority"
Hintsa tried to pass on the message to Dennis through a letter, but it was filtered in fear of his reaction by it. Then it came the dolphin episode and it triggered all of McLaren's alarms. In Dennis' call, he was asking for an interview in a couple of days at McLaren. The doctor couldn't because of his professional commitments. So Dennis took his own private plane and showed up in Helsinki. After the interview in which Hintsa explained his personal filosophy (about which we will talk soon in "El Confidencial" ), he offered to personaly take care of Raikkonen and all of Mclaren's team.
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Sat Jan 16, 2016 10:02 pm
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miezicat 
thanks
