Ferrari preview the Australian GP

Previews

Wednesday 25th March 2009

Ferrari's Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen can't wait for the 2009 Formula One season to get underway.

Felipe Massa: "It was a long wait, longer than usual, as the Australian GP's date had been moved, but now we're ready to race and I can't wait.

"Last week everybody spoke about the classifications and the point system with changes introduced and then recalled. I think the best idea was the one presented by the teams, where the GP winner would have taken a lot more points than the second. If the FIA didn't like this idea I think it's better to remain with last year's system. I'd say that the rule to assign the title to the driver who wins the most races is not correct. A driver might win more races, but might be very inconsistent in his performance, not gaining many points; in this case I think he wouldn't deserve the title. In case the difference in points for the winner and the second-placed would be bigger, there would be a bigger stimulus to fight for the win, but one would still have to be consistent during the season. We've 17 races in these Championships, this is not a 100 metres sprint at the Olympic Games where everything happens in under 10 seconds. And I'm really not interested in the fact that with such a system I would have won the title last year. I'm interested in what's right for our sport.

"I'm going to Australia with great confidence and optimism, but also with some caution: the test results are not always repeated during the race weekends. We've seen during the tests that there are also some other very strong teams, especially in the last sessions the Brawns. It seems that they've got the fastest car at the moment and I think that their pace is real; maybe they found something that makes the difference. We'll see in Melbourne; but I think they've got a good car and they did their tests with the right weight.

"There are many new elements this year we've got to work with from a technical point of view. We've worked very hard during the winter tests and now we can say that their use is normal. For example the possibility to adjust the front wing's flap via a button and the manettino on the steering wheel: I don't know yet if it will help to facilitate overtaking due to the lower downforce on the front when driving in a slipstream; during the tests we couldn't really try that out. As far as the KERS is concerned I have to say that it's a very important device for us and it will be also very helpful. I'm enjoying working with all these new solutions: they make driving much more interesting. The most important change and also the most enjoyable one are the slicks. When the tyres are used the car skids much more compared to last year, but that's not a problem, because due to the higher mechanical grip it's easy to keep them under control. With last year's tyres, when you had a little bit of oversteer, the car suddenly skidded, while with the slicks it's somehow more progressive and easier to correct the movements.

"I'm 100% ready, perfectly in shape and I think that this also applies to the team. We made some mistakes last year and we've been working hard all winter long to improve where we weren't perfect.

"Everybody worked hard, analysing the mistakes, trying to find solutions. I think we're very well prepared and that we've done some great work.

"My team-mate is still my strongest competitor and I think that Kimi will be very strong - as usual. My goal is very simple: I want a season like in 2008 and to reach that goal I have to stay concentrated and work very hard. The first race is always a bit like a leap in the dark, but I can't wait. As the race starts at 17:00 let's hope that it won't also end in the dark!"

Kimi Raikkonen: "I enjoyed this winter break more than usual. I spent most of the time with my family and friends in Switzerland and Finland, but I mainly trained very hard and in a different way to be ready for a very demanding season. Amongst other things I've taken part in two rallies in Finland with Fiat's Grande Punto S200: I really had a lot of fun, but it also was a good training for the upcoming races. And now it's time to get serious.

"It's difficult making predictions, considering the many rule changes this year. Ferrari was very competitive during the tests; but we'll do the F60's countercheck at Melbourne, when we'll all meet in the race with the same fuel at the same time. Only then we'll see how strong we are and maybe we've got to wait for a couple of races to have a clearer situation. Albert Park is a very particular circuit, just like the city itself is very special: maybe we've got to wait until Malaysia to see which teams will be ahead.

"As usual I can't wait to start a new season. Putting on the helmet and racing is something worth living for. The number of tests has been limited, but I had fun anyway to work on a completely new car. It seems that a really long time has passed since the last race in Brazil, also considering all the changes of the car: it will be really interesting to see how its development will evolve. When things go well you're having more fun, but we still haven't raced this year, so it's really a bit too early to say anything. We hope that everything will be the way we expect it to be. There's a lot less of aerodynamic downforce than last year, so we'll be slower in the fast corners, but the car will have much more grip in the slow ones, due to the slicks. Therefore the lap times haven't changed a lot. I can confirm that I like the F60 more than last year's car. It's much more fun to drive and it reminds me more of the cars I was used to some year ago.

"The KERS is something very interesting and easy to use: I hope that it will make overtaking easier. From the first test the whole Team was positively surprised by how well the KERS works. Everybody is expecting more overtaking now, but I think it's still a bit too early to say what will happen and if the lower downforce will help when you're in a slipstream. It's always a good thing for a driver and a team to have a good start into the season, especially when we remember how the last two seasons ended as far as the Drivers' Championship is concerned: I won with one point in 2007 and my teammate was one point short in 2008. That means that every point counts. Two years ago I won in Australia, while we had several problems last year. Our goal is to immediately gain some good points."