Kimi Raikkonen says he needs to increase his tally of wins to close the gap on Sebastian Vettel in the championship.
“I am now back in second which was a good way to enter the summer break,” said Raikkonen ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix. “I finished ahead of Seb in Hungary so obviously scored more points than him there.”
“To beat him, we need to be winning races and if we keep finishing second like we’ve done many times this year it’s probably not going to be enough for the championship, but you never know what might happen.”
Raikkonen won the first race of the season in Australia but hasn’t visited the top step of the podium since. He’s finished second five times including at the last two races in Germany and Hungary.
The Lotus driver said he must raise his game in qualifying to stand a better chance of taking the fight to Vettel.
“Obviously I keep making my life difficult on Saturdays in qualifying so then we pay a price, but we still have a good car in the race.
“Now we have tyres that are a little bit different we have to understand exactly how to use them. We made progress in Budapest so it should be easier in Spa, but that will be the same for everyone. To win, it’s always better to be starting near the front.”
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Image © Lotus/LAT
Maybet
16th August 2013, 12:21
I think its ridiculous to change the tire in the midst of title fight.
Obviously Ferrari was handicapped as well as Kimi. I hope they can sort out their issues from Spa onwards
The winner of all these seems to be Merc.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
16th August 2013, 18:47
No, after what happened at Silverstone it would have been “ridiculous” to leave them as they were.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
17th August 2013, 10:38
+1 Keith
Poul Winther (@poul)
17th August 2013, 19:19
Totally disagree – was different issue – didn’t require compound change – only used as an excuse.
But it has been discussed to death already… don’t even want to flare it again. Just disagree.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
17th August 2013, 21:51
@poul Pirelli are the ones who make the tyres and they believed they needed changing. Unless your name is Marco Tronchetti Provera I don’t see how you could know better than them.
Aditya (@adityafakhri)
16th August 2013, 12:23
if he could win more, obviously we have strong contender against Vettel, otherwise it would be like 2003.
Chris (@tophercheese21)
16th August 2013, 12:26
I’m surprised they haven’t won any races since Melbourne, as they have arguably the best race car in F1, they probably could have and should have won at least one additional race on top of the round 1 win, but ‘should’a, could’a, would’a‘.
And whilst Kimi and Lotus want to win more than anything, they’d probably be content with coming second in the races, as long as Sebastian is not first.
victor (@genevene)
16th August 2013, 12:35
Best race car?? That should be Ferrari that was more often than not 5 tenth faster than the rest but the team failed to maximize it during the first few races of the season. With Merc sorted out their tire issues, they are the emerging force.
I think the team made mistake by pitting him for 6 laps old option in nurburgring. Judging by Hungary, kimi could well manage to keep Seb behind. He got 10 sec gap in Nurburgring, unlike in Hungary when he had Seb cornering him for 10x laps.
Radio issues meaning he couldn’t relay the message to his team.
victor (@genevene)
16th August 2013, 12:40
Monaco, Canada and Silverstone cost him dearly.
Monaco obviously by Perez.
Canada, the team struggle to get the tire heat up and generally slow. A rear brake issues for Kimi just made it worst.
Silverstone, thanks to the retirement of Lewis and Seb, kimi has a firmly secured 2nd place. However, the team’s inability to react or generally lack of knowledge that under SC, it only required 10 sec for pit stop, means an easy 2nd place was lost.
Nurburgring, the team didn’t gamble on their strength which was tire durability instead opted to pit for old option tire. An easy win was gone.
David Margono (@woshidavid95)
16th August 2013, 12:45
Remove Vettel from the WDC and you’ll have a very close 3-way battle… I personally support Vettel but I hope Raikkonen/Alonso/Hamilton can catch up, a 4-way battle for the WDC like 2010 would be pretty awesome, especially if they’re all from different teams.
victor (@genevene)
16th August 2013, 12:53
hehe, abit unfair to Vettel. But the season would be much more exciting for sure.
L. Martins (@xusso)
16th August 2013, 13:23
“To win, it’s always better to be starting near the front.”
Apart from driving, Kimi has other talents!
Seriously though, he’s currently the only one out there at the moment in a good position to oppose Vettel.
Let’s hope all this Kimi going to RBR talk doesn’t condition his driving attitude.
Matthijs (@matthijs)
16th August 2013, 13:31
With the new tyres, I’d say less chances for Kimi en more for Lewis in challenging Vettel.
oliveiraz33 (@oliveiraz33)
16th August 2013, 20:02
I wouldn’t say good position… RB is the faster car still, so kimi’s not in a good position, but maybe one of the “less bad” car to be in
Roger Camp (@rogercamp)
16th August 2013, 13:57
Let’s see what happens at Spa. If Mercedes still in a good shape as it was in Budapest, then they indeed have a chance to catch up Vettel. I believe Lotus still has the car capable of win more races. It doesn’t seem the tyre change hurt them that much. I hope Kimi can win at least the next race.
Aish Heydrich (@aish)
16th August 2013, 20:19
First place isn’t enough – Vettel.
Second places aren’t enough – Raikkonen
Third place isn’t enough- Ferrari
Point finishes aren’t enough – Force India
Finishes aren’t enough – McLaren
Money isn’t enough – Sauber
Nothing isn’t enough – Ecclestone.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
17th August 2013, 10:40
@aish a bit of stating the obvious there with Ecclestone? ;)