Raikkonen looks ahead to Barcelona

With 19 points on the board, Kimi Raikkonen heads to Circuit de Catalunya this weekend as leader of the championship, three points clear of Nick Heidfeld and five ahead of Lewis Hamilton. The defending champion is looking forward to the fourth round of the championship.

“I`ll come to Spain as the leader of the classification, while usually I was the chaser,” Raikkonen began. “If I can manage to keep all the others behind me in the race that would mean that I keep them also behind in the Championship.”

“My approach is the usual one: giving 100%, just like the whole team. The situation can change very quickly in Formula One. That`s why it`s very important to collect as many points as possible in every single race: There`s still a long way to go until the title.”

Despite the dominance of Ferrari in both Malaysia and Bahrain, the return to Europe should be closer the Finn believes.

“It`s going to be very close: all the teams have introduced updates ahead of the first European race, which makes it even more interesting,” he said. “We have won the last two races and that might make our competitors even hungrier to win.”

“I`m glad we`re back to race in Europe. We don`t have to travel so much and we can put all our energy into the race weekend. It`s a bit of a tradition: it`s almost as if the season starts now.

For me personally it`s a bit special, because it`s the first time that I start the European season as the leader in the Championship.”

Raikkonen won the Spanish Grand Prix in 2005, but as he points out, that is his only podium position at this circuit. “The Circuit de Catalunya is one of those tracks, where you have to find the exact set up for every single detail to stay ahead of the rest. All the teams have tested many times here at this circuit, so it will be difficult to have an advantage.”

“The set up is really crucial here, because the circuit changes according to the wind and the temperature. It`s hard to say how things are at the top after last week`s tests here, because the teams` test programs and the fuel loads usually are very different. We had our ups and downs over the first races, but now I expect Ferrari to stay where we were in Bahrain and Malaysia,” he concluded.

E.A.

23.4.2008   ▪ Formula One    ▪ Raikkonen    ▪ en.f1-live.com