Abu Dhabi: Former world champion Kimi Raikkonen remained bullish of his chances proceeding into next year’s Formula One season.
Winner of the Abu Dhabi race in 2012, Raikkonen will take his 270th Grand Prix start on Sunday snug with the thought that he has never been out-qualified by a teammate on this track and won. And his 2012 victory for Lotus was one of only two wins for Raikkonen during this decade alongside his triumph in Australia in 2013. Ironically, Raikkonen also ended his Lotus career here with a first corner retirement in 2013 — the only retirement of the race four years back.
The Finn is fully aware that his teammate Sebastian Vettel and Mercedes’ world champion Lewis Hamilton have made the Abu Dhabi race their own while claiming six of the eight races so far. Ferrari’s German driver and his opponent from Mercedes have also taken five pole positions while leading 323 out of the 440 laps — accounting for an amazing 73 per cent domination. Hamilton was also leading the 2012 race when his car broke down and Raikkonen went on to win.
Raikkonen, however, is adamant about his chances. “I am here to try to win races and championships. I am far from my goal, but this is how it turns out to be and I can live with it,” Raikkonen told media at the team paddock.
“We will start again next year. We will try to be where we should have been. We had too many DNFs (Did Not Finish) and we have never really recovered from that. We are sometimes where we should have been and I am also here to try to recover,” he added.
At Ferrari, Vettel and Raikkonen remain separated by 102 points with the German ace arriving in Abu Dhabi in second place with 302 points while his teammate is fifth with 193 points. “There is one race to go and we will try to make the best out of it. Obviously, we will try to make the best out of it and we will start next year. Once the season is over we will start testing. There were some good races and some races that we have not finished. But this is how it goes,” he said.
Born in Espoo, Finland, Raikkonen — popularly known as ‘The Ice Man’ for his stern exterior especially while dealing with media — still has a year left on his contract with Ferrari. And despite a fluctuating season, the 38-year-old has no laments about the car. “I think we have had a good car, probably not the best car always. But it has been strong almost everywhere. But even when the championship has been decided it does not change anything to our preparation and we will work all day tomorrow to prepare for the weekend,” he said.
And he didn’t want to look too far ahead either. “Let’s see next year if the cars will improve. May be they will. May be the
cars will go faster. I don’t know at this point. We will see next year where we end up. It is not necessary to speculate. It is a lot of small things that eventually matter,” he noted.
“There are quite a lot of cars out there that are also progressing, and whoever had the most points made the best out of the whole year,” he shrugged.
