Raikkonen still has ‘lust' for winning

Kimi Raikkonen says his appetite for winning in Formula 1 is undiminished, despite the passage of a full year since his last race victory.

The 2007 world champion dominated last year’s Spanish Grand Prix but has not stood on the top step of an F1 rostrum since.

Patchy performances have led some to question his motivation, but Raikkonen insists he still has the hunger to win and is eager to end his drought as soon as possible.

“It’s a bit more than a year ago that I won my last Formula 1 race,” he said.

“At Barcelona in 2008 I had my best weekend with Ferrari: pole position, victory and fastest race lap.

“Since then I came very close several times – I’m thinking of Magny-Cours, Montreal and Spa – but for one reason or the other I could never make it.

“Having said that, a driver never loses the lust for winning and I want to have that feeling again as soon as possible.”

Ferrari has endured its worst start to an F1 season in nearly two decades, finally getting its first points on the board in round four with Raikkonen’s sixth place in Bahrain.

However, the Finn has been encouraged by the feedback on the revised F60 that the team will run in Barcelona, which will feature a double-decker diffuser for the first time, and is optimistic this will deliver significant performance gains.

“I really liked hearing from the team that the new aerodynamic package’s first signs are positive,” said Raikkonen.

“It will be really interesting taking the car out during Friday’s free practice sessions.”

With most teams bringing major car upgrades to Spain, Raikkonen says the form is hard to predict.

“We drove on this track back in March this year, but it’s always really difficult to understand from the tests who is really strong in the field,” he said.

“Furthermore many cars have changed quite a lot since then.

“With the new aerodynamic package we’ll have more downforce compared to the first four races, but also almost all of the others will show up with some updates.

“We’ll see who has done better work.”

Raikkonen believes grid and track position will be key to the outcome on Sunday given the difficulty of overtaking on the aerodynamically sensitive Catalunya circuit.

“A good qualifying will be important to avoid getting stuck in the field with all the risks coming with a situation like this at the start,” he said.

“We paid our price for that at Bahrain.

“Overtaking is never easy at Barcelona, but now we’ll see if the KERS can help to make it easier. On such a track it might make the difference, especially at the start.”

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