Räikkönen: « Ferrari must still improve! »

The reigning world champion Kimi Räikkönen believes that Ferrari still needs to improve in terms of performance before the start of the season, despite the impressive number of hours of winter testing.

The F2008 has been on pace since it was unveiled last month. Räikkönen is living proof of this, as last week on the Bahrain circuit, he was two seconds faster with the 2008 car than the time set during last year’s pole position.

However, the Finn believes there is still room for improvement while acknowledging the performance of the new car deployed so far.

« The tests went well. This session in Bahrain also showed some small issues with the F2008. We want the best car for the start of the season, » said Räikkönen to Gazzetta dello Sport.

« It’s a good start for Ferrari. There have already been improvements. Obviously, reliability is not automatic, but two or three lap times have been interesting. »

He added: « We still have the willingness to improve our performances. We have improved in many areas, now, we are looking forward to the new aerodynamic package that we will test during trials at Mont Melo. »

« Obviously, we still have to improve a lot of things, but for me the situation is easier today than on the same date last year. »

« The decisive stage will be the next tests. And then Melbourne because we will be able to compare ourselves to the other teams, » concluded Räikkönen.