(Scuderia Ferrari SpA via Twitter)
The Ferrari F1 Team head to this weekend's Italian Grand Prix in Monza looking to on the momentum that they gained last time out at the Belgian Grand Prix at the Spa Francorchamps circuit where Kimi Raikkonen scored his best result of the 2014 season when he finished the race in 4th place narrowly missing out on his first podium finish of the season. The Iceman also finished ahead of team mate Fernando Alonso for the first time this season. Speaking ahead of this weekend's Italian Grand Prix the Finn said:
'We had a pretty okay feeling in the races before Spa, but something always happened, being hit by another driver, or other small issues, It’s very hard to get a good result when you have problems like that. In Belgium, the race itself was probably the first one where we had no issues at all and the result was a bit better. We can have a good race here. We need a clean weekend, so that we start by running our normal programme on Friday.'
Raikkonen went on to say:
'We expect to have a little bit more difficult race here because straight line speed is what we are lacking a bit, not so much in qualifying but in the race, where we have a bigger disadvantage, We expected that situation in Spa, but it turned out to be surprisingly good for us, so hopefully we will find something similar here, but we need to wait and see tomorrow. So it should be difficult, but hopefully we are wrong!'
The Finn was asked about the changes to Parabolica corner:
'It’s a pretty fast corner, easy to run wide in the final part and you can have a nasty accident there, when there is just gravel and so tarmac will help a lot. But then we can start getting complaints if people have four wheels over the white line and whether or not they gained an advantage. It’s better because you don’t damage the car and if you go off, you just lose one lap in free practice or qualifying and your race won’t be over, but maybe you just lose a place. So, there are two ways of looking at it.'
Kimi was also asked about the team's aims for the rest of the season to which he replied:
'Our aim is to be nearer the front because we are not where we should be as a team and we are working hard on that,” he concluded. “If it’s not for the end of the year, then it will be next year, because it will be hard to make big steps from now to the end of the season. We are improving little by little and hopefully we can be in the fight for podiums later in the year.'
Fernando Alonso heads into this weekend's race having stated that the speculation surrounding his future has irritated him and he will be staying at Ferrari next season after rejecting an offer to return to McLaren.
Speaking to the official Ferrari F1 website he Spaniard commented:
'This is definitely one of the most important races this year for us in front of the tifosi,” began Fernando. “We want to give them a good result on Sunday, but it will be very hard to repeat what we did the last four years and this will be one of the toughest races for us this year.'
Alonso spoke about the increased competitiveness of the Ferrari from the Hungarian and Belgian Grand Prix saying:
'There were signs we were more competitive in Hungary and then we nearly got a podium with Kimi in Spa.”
“I don’t know why I’m getting all these questions about them,” said the Ferrari man with a smile and a shrug of the shoulders.
“All we can do is watch their beautiful battle from the outside. The problem they have is a good problem – they are fighting for the world championship!'
Ferrari head into this weekend in third place in Constructors championship, ten points ahead of the Williams Martini Racing Team who are currently third in the championship while the Italian team also hope to close the gap to the reigning world champions Infiniti Red Bull Racing who are currently in second place.
© Ben Johnston 2014
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