“It’s not fun” but we’ll turn it around – Raikkonen

2014 German Grand Prix

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Kimi Raikkonen still believes he can bounce back from his disappointing start to the year but admitted he hasn’t enjoyed his season so far.

“Obviously it’s been a difficult year,” said the Ferrari driver in today’s press conference. “Hopefully it will turn around at some point – it must, it cannot go much longer like this. It’s not fun either.”

“But this kind of thing has happened to me before and we always manage to turn it around, so I really have a strong belief that it will turn around. But we have to just fix the issues and get things as I want and I’m sure we can be back where we should be.”

Raikkonen suffered a 47G impact in a crash on the first lap of the British Grand Prix. He said: “I had some pain but it’s all fine.”

“It was in my ribs, the most, that was why I didn’t do the test. It’s all gone away now.”

“It hurt a little bit but quite often when it can be a very slow accident and you can get badly hurt,” he added. “It was just an unfortunate thing and nothing serious happened. It’s part of the sport.”

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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24 comments on ““It’s not fun” but we’ll turn it around – Raikkonen”

  1. Don’t get the title. F1 is no fun? or rather his situation this year is not fun?

    1. I guess… both !

    2. I listened to the press conference and it sounded as the latter. He was not happy mainly with some issues in his car, so he hasn’t enjoyed it so far.

    3. I think it’s pretty obvious he’s talking about his poor form. Anyone who’s been following F1 this year on more or less regular basis, would assume he’s talking about his need to turn around his form.

      1. The title was changed, mate. Don’t rush on conclusions…

  2. OK Kimi, just try to make sure there are no other cars in the way when you ‘bounce back’.

  3. I would like to see a come back. I had high hopes for competition between him and Fernando.

  4. OmarR-Pepper (@)
    17th July 2014, 16:06

    age is affecting him maybe? As much his fan I am, he’s getting jut bad results lately. I hope he can really get better results.

    1. Last year he was performing quite well, so, i don’t think his age is an issue…

    2. Todd (@braketurnaccelerate)
      17th July 2014, 21:15

      The car is designed to Alonso’s specs, and its been a struggle to find something that works well enough to make Kimi comfortable in the car. If you watch any footage from this year, you can see he’s been fighting the car at every race.

      1. Yes, and the Red Bulls designed a car to fit to Vettel’s driving style and Riccardo is doing miracles…

        1. Todd (@braketurnaccelerate)
          17th July 2014, 22:41

          Vettel is struggling with the setup just like Kimi.

          Don’t blame Ferrari for being able to give Alonso what he wants, when RB can’t give Vettel what he wants.

          1. Don’t blame Ferrari for being able to give Alonso what he wants, when RB can’t give Vettel what he wants.

            @braketurnaccelerate

            Don’t blame the team of inefficiency when the driver cannot deliver.

            Maybe Vettel needs to be more versatile… and learn to drive without EBD / Coanda

  5. I hope, he turns things around, because he will be remembered as average driver, who did not deserve his title, whereas before he got title, he was considered one of the best drivers on the grid, who was a match to Schumacher and worthy of several titles. But now he is diminishing his reputation.

    1. @osvaldas31 he’s extremely popular so I don’t think anyone is going to remember him as an “average driver”. People will always remember the many good times he had, back in McLaren, his previous stint at Ferrari and Lotus.

    2. He would be a triple champions had McLaren been reliable in 2003 and 2005.

    3. In my eyes he has always been just about as good as Massa. 4 years of evidence to back it up.

  6. Raikkonen has had his best years, unfortunately wasted by McLaren through no fault of his own. He is not doing very well in yes, a crappy Ferrari, but he is nowhere near Alonso. Where is Kimi in the Drivers standings? 4th? 6th? 8th? No, 12TH! Whereas Fernando is 4th!

    1. I don’t think the McLaren years were even slightly a waste for RAI. He just joined the team in a period when the only team that mattered was… Ferrari… remember ? Then came Alonso/Renault. Every other choice than the winning teams would have resulted in the same way for him, even worse (= no wins, no poles etc). I think it’s quite harsh to blame all teams for poor results, when the truth in my opinion is that a certain team (Ferrari) found the magic formula to beat everyone kinda easy. Same goes to the 2010-2013 period: it’s more like RBR found a magic formula rather than all other teams failing to beat them. Same thing with 2014. But yeah, I agree his carreer is mostly over, he “lost it” a little too and also seems to be a sensible driver. Alonso looks like a more complete driver as the team can “throw” at him any car and still be competitive and consistent. Anyway, I hope Kimi will see better days in F1 from now on.

    2. We should be honest: twice Kimi did not finish a points race due to some frantic manoeuvres of his rivals. In Monaco he committed much better that Alonso until that incident, and was fighting for a podium finish.
      Besides, it would be interesting to see where Kimi would have finished in the last Gran Prix. Take into consideration that he was fighting for 11th place on the first half of the 1st lap! Incredible start.

      Yet, again, Kimi must raise his game. He lost too much to Fernando. I think it is due to difficulties with adjusting pull-rod front suspension. Nevertheless, Kimi must have changed his racing style.

      And let’s wait. Alonso was losing to Massa in the end of 2012 when after Malaysian race we all asked Ferrari to dismiss Felipe. Let’s wait and see.

      1. And let’s wait. Alonso was losing to Massa in the end of 2012 when after Malaysian race we all asked Ferrari to dismiss Felipe. Let’s wait and see.

        Do not know what you mean, but in the 2nd half of the 2012 season, Massa NEVER finished ahead of Alonso !! I’m not taking into consideration ALO DNFs from Belgium and Japan, of course, where Massa finished the races in points.

  7. I’ve never really been a fan of Kimi. I hope he will perform better though, at least to bring some good points for the WCC. Being crushed by Alonso was a bit predictable, but it’s not fun, actually.

  8. The problem for Kimi is that he is not getting the right balance in car setup. Ferrari should help Kimi sort out this for the current car & get the next years car with Kimi in focus. Kimi will win title with Ferrari again next year only if they get that problem sorted.

    1. He can be fighting for wins and podiums and stuff. But Ferrari will still be pretty one sided, after all, having four times less points than your teammate isnt down to the car not having “Kimi in focus”, afterall, Ricciardo, Hamilton, Magnussen and Kvyat show the struggles arent that huge.

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