The Tifosi will all be breathing a sigh of relief today after Ferrari announced that Kimi Raikkonen will now not have to change his engine prior to the Malaysian Grand Prix.
Since claiming victory at the season-opener in Australia, the press have speculated over whether the engine would last another race distance, after water bled from a pipe in the engine cooling jacket during the closing stages of the Grand Prix. However, following three weeks of testing and simulation, the Italian team have decided to run the engine, thereby avoiding a 10 place grid penalty.
“We are going to keep it, as there is no reason to change it. That is the situation right now,†said an upbeat Raikkonen.
Meanwhile CEO Jean Todt appeared somewhat bemused by the news stories.
“Rather than talking about technical issues, it is a sporting matter. Since last year it is one engine for two weekends, we just completed the first race in Australia and we are going to keep both engines for Malaysia,†said the former rally driver.
“The rumours started from speculation. It is true in the last laps of the Australian Grand Prix, Kimi had a problem with a pipe and he lost some water, very little water.â€
“We did some more checks and if it did not happen then Kimi simulated the problems during the free testing here in Malaysia and nothing demonstrated that we should change our programme which is to keep the same engine for Malaysia.”
Nevertheless, the opposition, along with team-mate Massa, will likely push the Finn hard this weekend, just in case the engine isn t as strong as the Italian team suggest.
