There will be enough testing
Räikkönen had time to test for three days with Citroen before the races start. If there is need for it, can you test as much as you want?
– Of course there are some limitations. It depends on so many things, what kind of contracts who has and who pays what. I'm not even sure what the regulations say but I think you can test pretty freely in WRC. Other teams test, others don't, Räikkönen said.
Räikkönen denied many times the claims that he wouldn't have been motivated in F1-tests.
– Everyone can have their own view even if I wouldn't even know about the whole thing. The truth is that I have never had anything against any test where you try new parts and new things. It's a different thing if you just drive 600 km per day just to try and see if the car can take it without breaking.
兄弟将成为对手
Big brother Rami Räikkönen will drive in Tunturi in Kimi's old car Fiat Abarth Grande Punto. Now the brothers compete on rally paths for the first time.
– It's still my car but when Rami wanted to try rally and has been doing it for a longer time as a hobby I thought why not?
Own pace notes to polish
So at what stage will the widely discussed Räikkönen's practice to make pace notes take place? How much do you trust the notes Kaj Lindström gives you?
– I trust in them because I have made them myself. There are many things. Of course I trust what Kaitsu says when I have made them myself and he has so much experience that if I would have made them totally senseless, he would have mentioned about it already when we made them. There won't be that kind of a mistake. It's more about the driver listening properly to the notes so that he doesn't make an error because of not listening.
– There is a lot to learn so that you can make good notes in a good place and precisely understand how fast you can drive there. Easily it goes so that if you can't describe it well enough it means that you can't drive as fast as you should.
A year in rally is not an obstacle for coming back to F1
Did you look at Ferrari's new F-10 -car from internet?
– I have seen the car. It's hard to say anything based upon pictures. I guess they will start testing it next week. You see it then. It looked a lot like it looked last year ago too. Nothing terribly different, Räikkönen summed up.
Do you still have a burn for a comeback to F1?
– I have no contract with anyone for year 2011. Of course a lot depends on what happens and where. I guess I have a long year ahead of me and you can never know what is going to happen.
Will this year be wasted if you decide to go back to F1?
– It's not wasted in any way. I always do my best. In the final games this was the best option of all options for this year. That's why I drive rally now.
Turun Sanomat, Rovaniemi
HEIKKI KULTA