Planet-F1

Kimi won't hit the panic button

Wednesday 9th July 2008

Kimi Raikkonen is refusing to press the panic button after a string of disappointing results.

The World Champion was forced to settle for fourth at the British Grand Prix after Ferrari kept him out on his old tyres during wet conditions at Silverstone while in France he was almost certain of victory when his exhaust broke. Before that he was taken out of the Canadian Grand Prix by Lewis Hamilton and in Monaco he crashed into Adrian Sutil.

The Finn insists he is more than happy with the points he picked up over the weekend because it keeps him on top of the Drivers' Standings.

"The five points and the fact that I'm leading the Standings with Felipe (Massa) and Lewis (Hamilton) give me satisfaction," he told the Ferrari website.

"If I'm in such a position after four races where everything happened, my confidence can only be strengthened."

Raikkonen is confident the Scuderia will bounce back.

"Now we are looking ahead to the next race and react without panic," he said.

"We know that we have a winning car; we just need a weekend without big problems.

"As of today we are at Hockenheim for two days of testing, [and] Felipe will be on the track on Thursday.

"It's my first race with Ferrari on this track, so it's a new experience for me.

"I'd say that we'll be competitive, because the F2008 has proved itself to be competitive wherever we are.

"So we can fight back."