Japanese Grand Prix May 2012
Courtesy Of Luviceman
http://i.imgbox.com/aanTzvD5.jpg
http://i.imgbox.com/aamoHiSF.jpg
Da Luviceman
I read some good articles which is about Kimi in the magazine, and here I translated some...I didn't translate all the article, but picked up some answers from Alan Permane. you may already read the similar article...I don't know if it's something new, or not. but here it is. this interview was done before Bahrain. I am firstly sorry about my bad English
"Surprisingly, Kimi is doing really well. but we can say it as expected. we made a bit mistake at quali in Melbourne, but I think it's not a surprise if Kimi and Romain were at Q3 at all. we can say Kimi's potential has no problem after watching the first qualif of his coming back.""there were miscommunication at first, but we can solve this problem right away. Kimi's feedback is amazingly appropriate, and it's very accurate and understandable what he wants from it. I was quite surprised. there are people who say lots of thing about Kimi, but he is indeed superb in engineering point of view, and there is no problem at all.""for example, when he fit the seat, he took quite a long time and adjusting details. it should have taken longer time than other drivers. once a carbon seat is ready, most of the drivers request to change details after that, so it normally takes time to have perfect seat, especially young drivers. it took time to design Kimi's seat, but when a carbon seat was ready, he said OK on the first attempt and never complained about it at all. this kind of thing cannot be done by normal and rookie drivers. if you don't know what you want and how you want, it can't be like that. Kimi gives sensitive requests, but once it's fulfilled, he will never complain about them later. in fact, his early demand are appropriate and accurate. "Kimi's feedback is really great and he has lots of enough experiences. we did lots of mapping test right after the test start in Jerez, he has lots of experience, and his knowledge, understanding of engine mapping, engine breaking, etc are in depth, and he gives us really accurate feedback about all mappings. he is a real clever driver. "
"Kimi drives by feeling, engineering inferior, and not suit recent F1 because of his aggressive driving style which destroy tyres hard." this is not only media created Kimi, but also based on the information from people who really don't know or who look down Kimi. but, current Kimi is different than these opinion. he does not have any problem of the engineering, feedback, communication abilities at all. then, how about his speed. "although he was away from F1 for 2 years, he surprisingly showed his speed from the first test in Jerez. we didn't feel he was away 2 years at all. he could not show his speed in Melbourne due to the failure of quailf, but he finished at 7th from 17th grid. we can't say he does not have speed if you look at the result. in addition to this, he showed us how he can use the tyres in a long run test in Jerez. that information is also accurate, and he proved he can manage this year's difficult tyres. before Kimi is coming to our team, I heard "he is a type of driver who destroys the tyres soon," so I was quite worried about it, but once I see him running,
I understand his quickness of intellect of tyres, and he is superior in terms of tyre management.
Permane worked with top drivers such as Michael, Alonso and Kubica in the past. compared with them, how he sees Raikkonen... "each one of them are unique and all are different type of drivers. I don't know which one is better and which one is not. Michael is tactical for all the things and a clever driver as we know, Alonso is a type of driver who grew up with us. he really doesn't care about the detail which made me feel a bit lazy, and he leaves the job up to his engineers.( ) Kubica is opposite and he spends hours on watching computer and video, and thoroughly analyze things. Kimi is in the middle. As necessary, he gives his time for his engineers, and he also do analyze computer if it is necessary. it's Kimi's style, but he seems to be well-adjusted depending on the situation. Kimi is extremely blessed driver for us."
there is Slade's interview as well, but he said nothing new and giving usual Slade's answer.
there are interview of Kaj and Petter! and also there are comment from Mikko & Latvala they all gave so warm words to Kimi.
Kaj's interview from the same magazine
I think nobody knows real Kimi Raikkonen. He likes joke and talkative
Kaj said Kaj can't say since when he knew Kimi would return to F1, but Kimi didn't hide, but talked about the possibility to Kaj when he wanted to return to F1. and Kaj supported Kimi's decision. also, Kaj said he really think it was really good time and experience for Kimi being in Rally 2 years.
how did you see Kimi is driving F1 again?
"I saw Australian GP on TV. I was watching and thinking "damn he is really good at passing."
I could not see whole Malaysia GP because I flew from Italy to Finland. I was disappointed
because I could not see whole race."
what is the most impressive episode of Kimi ever you fought for Rally?
"I have lots of great memories. it was really fun to fought for Rally in high level with him.
I have lots of great memories. it was really fun to fight for Rally in high level with him.
I can't pick only one good memory from bunch of them. every single time of adventures
which I spent with Kimi are my treasures."
after all, Kimi has ended up his Rally carrier in 5th position in highest. do you think he could do better?
"Rally is not easy. he proved it in past 2 years. even if you are the world champion in any field,
you can't succeed in Rally easily. even if you can drive F1 well, you can't drive and control Rally car freely.
of course Kimi drove it well. there is no doubt about it. and he tremendously evolved in this two years.
but winning is a different story."
what was he the most struggling?
"a big difference between Rally and F1 is pace note. the driver has to make pace note by himself.
and to push hard, you have to trust your pace note 100%. Kimi's note has really evolved. andalthough it was sometimes, he showed me his reckless speed. if only he continued...that I think."
we heard Raikkonen had aggressively tried to learn Rally.
"I swan Kimi was a real professional in Rally field as well. when he didn't quite satisfy his time in special stage,
he kept silence in the cockpit and thought. he continued analyzing 'how I can drive faster?' Not for fun/pleasure,
he addressed Rally directly and seriously. from a fragment of his attitude and the communication, I always felt it."
does Kimi change in job and in private?
"of course it's a part, but there are two different Kimi. when he works, he is as work mode, and when in private time,
he is as free man mode. but I think the media doesn't know both Kimi. work mode Kimi is only in the cockpit. so
I think nobody really knows about real Kimi. I think all doesn't know even 1% of Kimi."
in private time, is Kimi easy person to live with?
"he is very fun to be around. I think he is really attractive guy. he loves jokes and talkative.
it was really fun to long plane ride and work with him in Rally week. he is really serious at work.
the media created image and Kimi created image in front of the media are not a real Kimi.
he is really normal guy in ordinary, he is not different than people around there."
does Kimi understand himself as the world super star and he is to be followed all the time?
"I guess he doesn't want to think about it. this is why he spends his most of time in Switzerland.
his home is in peace and no media who follows him. he can relax from the bottom of his heart.
it's really tough to be followed all the time. if he does something, immediately someone writes
"Kimi went to the supermarket!"
no fuss in Switzerland?
"he isn't so highlighted in Swiss. he can have fun as he wants. he has close people in Finland,
and there are places, so he also can go there. I think they are getting bored to write "Kimi
came here" every time in Finland
did you visit his home in Switzerland?
"not so often. we are not too so close to spend private time together all the time. but I wentthere a few times. when I went to Switzerland, I always stayed Kimi's house. for example,I was there few days before going to next rally after Citroen's test. I often played ice hockey with him."
is Kimi interested in the media writing?
I can say this clearly, I don't think so. he understands what he is doing, and he isn't
influence by anything. I think he let the media to write what ever they want."
why does Kimi take a distance from the media and cold to them?
"the media has been like bullying to Kimi for a long time. if Kimi says something to media,
the media picked up only a part of his words and cut all the backgrounds and make 1 page
article. in headline, you see "Kimi's exclusive interview!" but in the article, they don't even
write why and how he said it. if it continues, you are distrustful of the media."
will Kimi come back to Rally after finishing his F1 carrier?
"the possibility is not zero. he likes Rally like that, he will do it as hobby in any way.
Rally is the same as moto cross and snow mobile to him. he really loves engine controll
machines. but at this point, he does not talk about Rally."
how do you think Kimi can do in F1 this year?
"I think Kimi proves people wrong who are informed source of GP. he didn't have
good result yet, but showing impressive drive. if he runs distance and fill in 2 years
blank, he can be much faster. I strongly believe Kimi is the man who will be on the podium after rehab,
no...who shows wining."
Kaj, you are right, Kimi is already on the podium
Petter
"I talked to Kimi a lot in 2011 because we are both privater of citroen. Kimi didn't have his hospitality
for his team, so he always came to my team's hospitality and stayed relaxed. he make coffee, eat
snack and really relaxed. even if the guests come, even if the media comes and taking pictures of him,
he really didn't care about it but spent his time in his space. we often joked and laughing so hard.
Kimi was not a guy who was said difficult/moody guy or weird guy. He is just a normal guy next door.
of course his talent of driver was not usual, and his attitude to Rally was really serious. I think if he
continued, he could fight for win in near future. I welcome him back to WRC if he is away from F1."
Kimi
"it was a difficult/tough decision. if you see the race, you can know RB is doing good. but I just started my Rally carrier at that time. in addition, I wasn't ready to come back to F1. honestly, I was strongly feeling and wanting to know rally more. I wanted to challenge to WRC and to know how I could do and how difficult rally is."
according to the article, a half year past after Kimi started his rally carrier in 2010, RB offered RB seat in 2011 to Kimi. this was before they spoke to Webber to extend his contract. but Kimi decided not to come back to F1. and it mentioned reason is unknown, but Kimi and RB sponsorship ended. :hmm
Kimi also answered he doesn't want to move to US, so NASCAR couldn't be his option. that's why Kimi became missing F1 more and more. Kimi didn't take long time to return to F1 after receiving call from Ropez. He went to the factory and
talked and made the contract. the important negotiation was not money, but to know what the team is aiming and what
kind of machine they are making. "saw the factory and felt the atmosphere, I thought Lotus is ideal team for me considering all the condition. I knew Renault was 5th, so people don't expect me to win, so I thought I can have time for rehab."
AutoSprint 22 Maggio 2012
http://i.imgbox.com/aaxTy5Fk.jpg
http://i.imgbox.com/aal3EFac.jpg
http://i.imgbox.com/aaoy0Gac.jpg
http://i.imgbox.com/aagwzTJP.jpg
