Raikkonen: This is definitely not a crisis

FELIPE MASSA

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Monday 21st July 2008

Kimi Raikkonen has dismissed suggestions Ferrari are currently in the middle of a crisis.

For the second successive race Ferrari endured a wretched weekend and were comfortably out-performed by bitter rivals McLaren.

Lewis Hamilton swept to his fourth victory of the year, and eighth of his career to open up a four-point cushion over Felipe Massa at the top of the Drivers' standings.

Massa could only manage third behind surprise runner-up Nelson Piquet in his Renault, with reigning World Champion Raikkonen sixth, leaving the Finn seven points adrift of Hamilton.

In the Constructors' Championship, McLaren now trail Ferrari by 19 points, slashing the deficit by 14 in the last two races.

Raikkonen, who was off the pace all weekend at Hockenheim, said: "This was definitely not the kind of race we had been hoping for.

"We have struggled all weekend and we have to try and understand why.

"Usually, our race pace is always good, but here that was not the case because I almost always suffered with a lack of grip.

"Only in the final stages did the situation improve a little bit, but it was never enough to be competitive.

"We have a test in Jerez this week, where we will try and improve the car so as to arrive in Budapest in better shape.

"But this is definitely not a crisis. We have to study carefully the handling of the car to understand if we have taken the right road in terms of development."

All within Ferrari were criticised following a woeful British Grand Prix display two weeks ago by president Luca di Montezemolo who is sure to be far from happy with this latest performance.

Team boss Stefano Domenicali knows the pressure is on, and he is eager to get to the root of the problems, but in a calm way.

"This was not a good day, and there's no point denying it," stated Domenicali.

"Our rivals were stronger than us and we have to work out why, without getting caught up in nebulous and superficial analysis.

"For the first time this season in a race we did not have the pace we had expected to run at, both with Kimi and Felipe.

"We suffered constantly from lack of grip, and in the final stages, Felipe's brakes were also overheating, complicating further the management of his car.

"We now have to work well over the coming days to react in the right manner to return to the level we were at just two races ago."

Massa, meanwhile, believes his team has taken "a step backwards," since he and Raikkonen enjoyed a one-two finish in France.

"It was a difficult race," said Massa.

"Right from the beginning Hamilton's pace seemed unbeatable, and I understood it would be very hard to beat him.

"We must try and understand why we have not been a match for our rivals this weekend.

"They have definitely improved, but I think this was more a case of us having taken a step backwards.

"However, we are still confident. We have the ability to get out of this situation, right from the next race."

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