Kimi Raikkonen has disclosed that he did struggle to stay motivated at times during 2008 after a trying season.
The Finn struggled to match the pace of his Ferrari team mate Felipe Massa in 2008 and was forced to support the Brazilian in his championship endeavour against eventual victor Lewis Hamilton in the closing stages.
Raikkonen’s apparent lacklustre performances triggered speculation not only that he had lost his motivation for Formula One, but also that he could be replaced by Fernando Alonso in 2009.
Now Raikkonen has confirmed: “That is the way it is; if you know you are fighting only for third place then you maybe don’t have the same speed for the whole race as normal.”
“If you have no chance to overtake or improve your position, it is definitely not very interesting,” he told the Finnish broadcaster MTV3, according to GMM.net.
But Raikkonen has vowed to fight for the championship next year: “When you are driving for the title, naturally things are completely different,” he said.
