Kimi Raikkonen started from 31st in his maiden oval race, after running 30th fastest in both practice sessions early in the day. However he managed to work his way to 15th after several fullcourse Yellows.

“The racing was fun, it’s a new thing but too many cautions,” said Raikkonen “Every time when you start feeling that the car is working better then you have a caution and it takes a long time before the handling comes back.

“I hit in the beginning and then I hit much harder, thought I had destroyed the car. It ran really well before the pitstop and once we got the heat in the tyres it sent the pressures up but I think it cost a bit when I hit because we damaged the side too much. Handling was okay, but just with the longer … Read More »

Kimi Raikkonen says his rookie season with the Citroen Junior Rally Team has taught him a huge amount.

“For sure I have improved as a driver this season,” said Raikkonen. “Rallying is a lot harder than F1, certainly for me. If you can drive on some of the roads we did this year, you can drive anywhere.”

Raikkonen considered a return to F1, adding: “Of course I thought about it, because you think about everything. But I never really thought seriously about it, because actually I didn’t miss Formula 1 at all this season. Before the start of this year I thought it would be interesting to see if I missed it at all, and in fact I didn’t.

“On balance, this year has been pretty much as I expected. There have been good bits and bad bits, and on the whole … Read More »

Massa must be seething after having to ceed his position to teammate in today’s German GP. Credit though to Alonso who was faster, and tried to find a way past, in several attempts.

Unfortunately, Ferrari deemed it necessary to inform Massa that senor Alonso was faster, and that the unmentioned order was to be carried out. It was Austria 2002 all over again for Ferrari.

The post race interview was a gem. The glee on Vettel’s face said it all about the 2 Ferrari drivers discomfort at the quesions being thrown at them.

Massa now has been playing 2nd fiddle to Schumacher, Raikonnen and now to Alonso.

And Mark Webber though he had it bad.

Sebastien Ogier and Kimi Raikkonen secured the first ever 1-2 finish for the Citroen Junior Team after in the Rally della Lanterna in preparation for the upcoming asphalt events on the WRC schedule. The pair battled for victory in the Italian event, with Ogier eventually taking honours by less than six seconds.

“It’s always great to win a rally, but above all I’m pleased to have been able to test  a variety of different things on the car,” the Rally Portugal winner said. “I feel much better prepared now for the remaining rounds of the World Rally Championship, starting with the Rally Bulgaria that will be new for everyone.”

Raikkonen was also happy with the event despite missing out on victory.“It was a good experience,” the 2007 F1 title winner insisted. “The car was fun to drive and this day will be very useful … Read More »

Sebastien Loeb won his 3rd rally on the trot in  Rally of  Turkey today. Loeb took the lead after fellow Citroen driver Ogiers suffered a puncture on day 2.

“We decided to stay first on the road and it was a good choice,” said Loeb. “We maybe expected rain, and I knew if I lifted off and it rained, I was finished. I knew if it didn’t rain, maybe I could keep my lead.”

Meanwhile Kimi Raikkonen continued to impress, finishing 5th, building on his previous round result of 8th position.

“It has been a good weekend for us – no big mistakes and no problems with the car,” said Raikkonen. “Okay, we got two places because other guys went off, but that’s part of it and I think we improved.”

After finishing, AND scoring, in the Jordan WRC round, Iceman Kimi is hoping to build on that experience to score further point sin Turkey.  Unlike the previous rally where his rivals had some experience, the 2010 Turkish Rally will be on totally new stages, levellling the palying field.  Raikkonen naturally is relishing the challenge.

“I suppose it’s good that I like challenges, because this is going to be another big one for me,” he said, “I actually thought that Jordan was the most difficult rally we have seen so far, but I don’t really have any idea what this one is going to be like.

“In Jordan, we were able to find a safe pace, which might not have been the most exciting thing in the world, but at least it meant that we finished the rally and were able to score … Read More »

WRC 2010 begins today in Rally of Sweden with a Super Special.

Kimi Raikkonen will be makin his proper WRC debut, following on from last month’s Artic Rally.

He’ll be hoping for better results this time. Not hitting any trees would be an improvement.

WRC will be following F1′s points system for this year, where the top 10 finishers will score using the 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1 system that F1 has switched to for 2010. The idea behind this change is to reward Winners more than consistent runners. Last year Loeb could only clinch the title in the penultimate round despite winning 11 Rallies, no thanks to Hirvonnen’s consistensy keeping him in contention.