Current world champion Kimi Raikkonen is looking forward to a fun season and believes he will be even stronger in 2008.
“Without a doubt I ll become much better because now I know what the team wants from me†the Finn said during Ferrari s car launch on Sunday. “But as long as you re not racing, you don t know what will happen.â€
When questioned over which teams he thought would be the main rivals for the title Raikkonen replied, “Ferrari and McLaren will be there. Renault had a difficult year last year but it might be a completely different story this year but nobody really knows after the first couple of tests and we get some kind of idea where everybody is. And then there s BMW.
“It will be a difficult year it s my second year at Ferrari and I can feel that everything is going really well. I know the people I am working with and I really like the team. We need to always look at what others are doing but the main thing is that we keep pushing hard as a team and we keep improving and we should be in good shape.â€
Raikkonen was then asked about his F1 future. “That’s quite difficult to tell now,†he replied. “I have still two years left and if I go on having fun, I’ll stay here. I really like Formula One and I have a brilliant team. We’ll see. We want to start really well into a great season. We want to win again the world titles and we want to avoid retirements. This is the main feature to win against McLaren. That is how it was and that is how it will be in the future.”
Raikkonen believes that the lack of traction control will bring the fun back into F1 for the spectators. “Now traction control is not going to help you but for me it will be a lot more fun. I think there will be an easier chance to overtake as people will make more mistakes.
“The sport is dangerous anyway. It doesn’t matter if you have traction control or not. If you think it is too dangerous you probably shouldn’t be in the sport. It is more tricky for sure – you need to be awake more of the time.”
Menawhile, Felipe Massa is not so positive on the TC ban. “We had an email exchange but we haven’t tested the car yet. The GPDA has for sure been trying to increase safety levels. This is a very important change. It will have to be a smoother driving style.
“My expectations are very high. When you first look at the car it is a special moment. It is like seeing a child being born. Now we have to let this child grow and grow as quickly as possible.”
