Kimi targets podium at F1's second Monaco

Kimi Raikkonen believes this weekend's Hungarian GP could be his best chance of fighting for another podium finish this season.

The Hungaroring, home to the Budapest race, is one of Formula One's slowest, twisty circuits, putting it in the same category as the Monte Carlo street circuit that the drivers raced on back in May.

And as that Monaco GP yielded Raikkonen's best result of the campaign, his one and only podium finish, the Ferrari driver is hoping for a similar result - if not better - this weekend in Hungary.

"They say that Hungary is somehow similar to Monaco: true, the corners are very slow, but the Hungaroring is definitely more 'forgiving' than the track at the Principality, where the tiniest slip will almost certainly make you end up in the barriers," he told the team's website.

"Having said that the next race will definitely be the most similar one to the one at Monaco. This year we gained a place on the podium at Monaco and this is our objective for Budapest: we were able to fight for the pole until the last moment and I think that if we had gained it, the race would have gone in a completely different direction.

"We'll retry in Hungary, but it will be difficult.

"The F60 should adapt pretty well to the track, but we know that all the other teams have improved their cars considerably after the race at Monaco, so there will be fierce competition: we'll get a better picture of the situation on Friday morning after the first free practice."

Because of the nature of the track, Raikkonen admits qualifying will be vital to any chance of a solid race result around the Hungaroring.

"The qualifying's result is really important at Budapest, because overtaking is even more difficult than usual: if you don't start from one of the front rows you risk transforming the race into a long hot and difficult afternoon, without any hope for a good result."

As for his chances of winning the World title, or at least improving on his current tenth place in the standings, the former World Champ admits it won't be an easy task as not only are Ferrari's rivals also improving their cars but the Scuderia may also turn their attention to 2010 in the upcoming weeks.

"We're at the tenth race of the Championship, which has been very difficult up to now. We've been working hard to close the gap we had since the start between us and the leaders; naturally also all the others have been improving their cars," he said.

"Furthermore with the fact that we can't test this year during the Championship it's even more difficult to make up ground.

"How the season's second part will go also depends on the decision of how to use the resources, because the work on next year's car is now already in full swing."

pf1.com

Ferrari finally made a good choice.. This years down the drain anyways.

Yeah,but i need to see at least few victories for the Maranello....Doent want a season like 2005 at least..Want to see Kimi regaining the Spa at least

Spa would be like home ground for him.. lets see

Originally Posted by SoMxNemesis

Spa would be like home ground for him.. lets see

Yeah.....4 consecutive wins @ the vintage of F1

he did pretty well today too.

Originally Posted by SoMxNemesis

he did pretty well today too.

Looking at the fuel weight,,he can well challenge for the podium tomorrow provided Heikki & Loser crash out earlier