How does the car feel now in Barcelona compare to Jerez?
Kimi Räikkönen: Beside the facts of all the issues we had, it was pretty much what I thought it will be. It did OK. Then it started to rain, and we didnt have the rain tyres. We should have still some parts coming for the first race. Than we are on a different surface, different conditions, but the feeling is more or less the same. We didnt get that much done today. Tomorrow we will try things that we know if we dont try it now we will not have the time to try it in the whole year – because it takes a long time to change it. I try to get some understandings on those few things, so at least there will be the knowledge why we are not in the races.

Do you have any personal objectives for Australia?
Räikkönen: We try to do what we can and see where we end up. As with the first race always, you just try to get the good way and come out without any problems.

So, Q3 would be a good starting point?
Räikkönen: I dont know now where we are gonna be. Nobody knows. If you look at the lap times, everybody is close to each other. But then the fuel load makes a big difference. So we will know in two weeks. I think from Melbourne in the practice you get some ideas. After Qualifying everybody knows exactly where they stand…

How is the work with the engineers, are you already comfortable?
Räikkönen: We are still learning, everything goes in small steps – but we have no problems. It is what it is, you have to deal with it. At least the first week we had three good runs. And I dont think we have any major reliability issues in the car, and thats the good thing. We had one problem last week. That is fixed, and its no problem anymore. I am pretty confident, that we do alright when its time.

Your teammate is very fast. Does that give you hope that you can be close to the top teams?
Räikkönen: As I said, I dont know. There is no point in guessing here if we can or cannot. We might be last, or we might be first. Who knows? If you look at the times today, I dont know who is gonna be the fastest, nobody probably knows. I am not worried about that. We try to do our things and in Melbourne everybody will see who is where.

What are your impressions of your teammate?
Räikkönen: He’s a nice guy. I didnt know him before. We raced against each other a few times. For him its also a long time ago, since he raced in the Formula 1, I think it will be good.

How are your feelings, thinking that in two weeks you are back in the race?
Räikkönen: Well, its nice! I mean everybody is here for racing, its the main thing. If you ask the testdrivers – they wanna race, they dont wanna test. I mean racing is the thing that people like, I dont think that any of the guys will tell you that testing is more fun than racing. Of course, my racing has changed a bit, since I was there at that time. But its not completely different from the sport. It will be exciting.

Are you already comfortable with all the new procedures, the start, the DRS system?
Räikkönen: Sometimes you push the wrong button, but that happens. Its not gonna change the world. Sometimes you press it too light, or too early, but its not gonna change an awful lot. Pitstops are a bit shorter than before, but not so different. Like I said, it wouldnt hurt to have more time to test, but this will not happen. It will be OK in the first race.

Kimi, have you set any personal goals for this Formula 1 season?
Räikkönen: No. We will see where we are in the first races and go from there. We do the best that we can.

Click here to listen to the audio stream: Kimi-Raikkonen_F1-Barcelona

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