Räikkönen took a test-nap

Räikkönen took a test-nap 

F1 | Turun Sanomat 23:31 

Kimi Räikkönen worked hard last season by beating his Lotus through all 20 GP-races and hence collecting 6081 race kilometers. 

This year's winter tests haven't begun as brilliantly. During four days in Jerez and Barcelona Räikkönen's new Lotus has collected only 948 kilometeres - in other words only half of what was scheduled. 

The opening day in Barcelona was screwed up due to the new computer system coughing when transmitting telemetry. On Wednesday Räikkönen spent his most frustrating day so far on the paddock when the team had to fix the leaking gearbox in his car. 

But Kimi didn't stress about the situation. 

– If you remember last season then now we have two more testing days than last year, when we lost the whole testing week in Barcelona. 

– Of course this isn't an ideal situation. No driver likes to fart around the paddock and watch how others drive. Now the gearbox broke down and since the car is new we didn't have a new gearbox to get it replaced. It had to be fixed and it took almost the whole day before it was fixed. 

Räikkönen took a nap and when he finally got in the car he immediately put in Wednesday's 3rd fastest laptime. 

Räikkönen was 0,8 seconds behind McLaren's Sergio Perez. 

– We hardly got anything done that we had planned for beforehand. I would rather drive 150 laps in a day, but sometimes it goes like this and to be frank it's better to take something like this now than in the first races. 

Räikkönen praised the car's speed and emphasized that the team knows how to improve it before Australia GP. 

Amount of testing doesn't decide the result 

– Hopefully we have a good weather next week, get all the new parts in the car and can drive good testing days. The feeling inside the car is good and it's a good sign. Although the car is new and the parts are new, we are still in a better position than a year ago and don't have to go through everything from the scratch, Räikkönen thinks. 

Not even the small amount of driving affects Räikkönen negatively. 

– It it's required then you can go to the race without any testing and still do well. The result doesn't depend upon the testing laps. But one can't say anything about those things beforehand. We strive to do our best every time and we did learn something new from these days also. Every time we drive we learn new things about the car. 

Räikkönen doesn't agree with the general opinion about of Pirelli's new tires being consumed fast. 

– It's yet too early to say anything about them. If I remember correctly the approach was similar last winter during tests when the weather was cold and then in the races the tires worked differently when it was more summery, Räikkönen thinks. 

Turun Sanomat 

HEIKKI KULTA 

Fonte: Turun Sanomat / Tradução para o Inglês: Nicole

É tanta informação para ler ao final de um dia de treino quando Kimi está na pista que acho que não vou ter mais comentários a fazer! rsrsrs...

Mas sempre reservo umas palavrinhas para comentar sobre o que Heikki Kulta escrever porque ele está lá e gosto muito de tudo o que ele fala.

Sendo a mais sincera possível, depois de tantos anos de testes coletivos, já nem me estresso mais com os problemas. Ano passado, como Kimi disse, a equipe ficou uma semana inteira sem treinar por causa do problema no chassi do E20. Este ano, os problemas impediram de fazer mais quilometragem? Sim, mas isto não é motivo para desanimar.

Obviamente, esta questão do software que ajuda na coleta de dados do carro em stints mais longos precisa ser resolvido, mas a equipe ainda tem dois dias de treino com Grosjean e a parte final dos testes no final de fevereiro e início de março. Então é trabalhar duro.

O importante é saber que Räikkönen está se sentindo bem com o carro, que o E21 parece competitivo.

Beijinhos, Ludy