Raikkonen: Pressure is the Same in Front of Tifosi

Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen believes that the pressure of racing in Ferrari’s home race is like any other race.

The Italian team come into the Italian Grand Prix on the back of a win at the Belgian Grand Prix. Now, they aim to stamp their authority on home turf at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.

Predictably, the Italian team are favourites to take victory on home soil. Lead driver Sebastian Vettel is aiming to grab his fourth win at Monza. This will also be his first win in the scarlet overalls. Interestingly, Ferrari has not won in Monza since 2010 with Fernando Alonso.

Even Raikkonen himself has not triumphed at the circuit in his career. But, he admitted that he enjoys coming to Monza and seeing the Tifosi’s passion for Ferrari. At the same time, he said that the pressure racing in front of them is like any other race on the calendar.

“I enjoy coming to Monza”, said Raikkonen. “it’s a great circuit, a lot different from many others. It’s a challenging track even if on paper it’s only a few chicanes and a few corners; it’s not easy to be fast here.

“I have a lot of mixed memories from racing on this track; on some occasions we have been fast, but we never really got it together.

“There’s a lot of passion here from our tifosi, they give us a lot of support. Ferrari is Ferrari and our fans are loyal, in good and bad years, no matter the results we have. It’s Italy, it’s special, it’s our home grand prix. But the pressure we have here in Monza is the same that we have in other places. It doesn’t matter how the last race has gone, good or bad, it doesn’t guarantee anything for this weekend.”

The Finn knows that it’s impossible to predict the weekend will bring in terms of the condition.

“We are in a different circuit and with different conditions; it will be a bit tricky over the weekend again here. It’s impossible for me to know now what will be the end result, it’s pure guesswork,” Raikkonen continued.

“The further you are up in qualifying the less you risk to end up with an issue. We ‘ll see how the weather will be tomorrow and how it goes . We’ll do our normal job and we’ll see what it brings”.