Coluna do Campeão

Desculpem, acabei não postando a coluna de Kimi da semana passada, mas hoje, a atual está aqui. Sinto muito ler este texto e perceber que o ano todo se foi de uma forma tão melancólica. Sinto por Kimi, que realmente demonstrou imensa sinceridade sobre tudo, como sempre. Cada vez mais tenho certeza de que há muito sentimento neste piloto que costumam chamar de Iceman.

Talvez a maioria dos brasileiros não entendam o que se passa com Räikkönen, há uma diferença cultural tão profunda entre Finlândia e Brasil que fica realmente complicado entender alguém como o Kimi. Mas eu não tenho este bloqueio, e sei que muitos também não. Eu vejo em Kimi algo que a maioria não vê. Sinto também pelo ano de 2008 que não foi o que eu esperava. Tinha certeza de que ele brigaria pelo título, mas não deu. O que importa para mim é que ele continua sendo o melhor.

Quando Kimi fala que sente por sua equipe é porque ali, depois de tantos anos na F-1, na Ferrari, foi o lugar onde ele se sentiu respeitado como pessoa e não apenas como piloto. Por isso ele sempre fala nós e não eu, por isso ele ficou tão arrasado depois da perda dos pontos em Cingapura.
Mas Kimi é forte, aprendeu a duras penas a perder, esta foi a única coisa boa que a McLaren deixou para ele. O finlandês vai lutar, como ele mesmo disse na coluna, e nós, seus fãs, estaremos lá. Sempre.

"Not my year"

It's difficult to find the right words: racing at night or during the day, this is definitely not my year.

I hit the wall when there were just a couple of laps left. True, I wasn't racing for the win, but for some very important points for the Team; and then it ended like at Spa, with another DNF. It seems as if the more we try to improve the situation the less we get in the end. At this point I can just hope for a weekend where everything goes in the right direction.

Once again we had the right speed at Singapore, but not when it was really necessary. The fastest race laps aren't worth anything, if you don't combine them with the situation when they really count.

Obviously I'm really sad about this situation. I can't explain this dark period and there's nothing I can do to change what happened. We have to look ahead, to the last three races.

Singapore is a wonderful place for a GP. The night race was organized very well. I was a bit surprised to hear all that chat about the time of day and the visibility: when the lights went on it was bright day at the track.

The car went really well on Friday morning, but in the afternoon we decided to change the set up and it didn't go in the right direction. In the third practice session we had a problem with the steering wheel and I lost a lot of precious time, because I couldn't try the harder tyres on the fast lap; obviously this was not the perfect way to prepare myself for the qualifying.

At the start of the race I couldn't find my rhythm, because the tyre pressure was too low; I needed some laps to make them work properly. When they were alright I started to fly and I could easily catch up on Hamilton.

When the safety car was deployed I understood that my chances were destroyed, because when your second at a double pit stop there's hardly anything you can do.

I managed to gain position five and then, with a faster car, I was right behind Glock. I was waiting for the right moment to overtake him, but then I hit a very high kerb and the car literally lifted off and I couldn't keep it under control. I hit the wall and my race was over.

I'm very sorry for the Team, because they've done some great work to improve the F2008. It hurts loosing these points. But we know that we've got what it takes to fight for victory in the last three GPs. Let's hope that I'll finally have a smooth weekend, from Friday to Sunday evening.

Quem quiser ler o resumo do que Räikkönen falou, é ler esta matéria do Grande Prêmio, é da coluna dele.

Beijinhos, Ludy