You tell 'em, Kimi

This is clearly one of the horsemen of the apocalypse -- Kimi Raikkonen did an interview. He must have had his vitamin B yesterday (that or Lauda's comments touched one of his few active nerves):

Raikkonen: Don't write me off

Eurosport - Wed, 20 Aug 15:33:00 2008

Ferrari's reigning champion Kimi Raikkonen has said he should not be written out of the World Championship battle just yet as Formula One heads into the final seven races of the season.

Former world champion Niki Lauda - who won two titles with the Scuderia and one with McLaren - had suggested that the Finn was not a contender for the 2008 crown, despite his second position in the drivers' standings.

Raikkonen indicated that he believes he is close enough to points leader Lewis Hamilton of McLaren to launch a title assault. He is only five points adrift but his form is suffering whereas the Briton is performing well.

Raikkonen's team-mate Felipe Massa lies third, three points behind the Finn.

"We haven't lost anything yet, but we need to get consistently better results," Raikkonen said. "I think the championship will be very tight, with Ferrari and McLaren very close together in terms of performance and three drivers in a position to win the title.

"I need to have at least one point more than my competitors after the last race of the season - this is the sole aim. The rest is [simply] details."

He acknowledged that he has to hit top form to pip Hamilton again in 2008.

"From now on every single race will be extremely important," he said. "Every single point will have great value. The less there are to be won, the more important they become.

"This season shows that you should never give up. There were some races where things didn't go well for us but, for one reason or another, I was able to collect precious points.

"My position after Hungary is better than before the race."

Raikonnen added that he was looking forward to racing at the new Valencia street circuit.

"We have to start well at Valencia, where it's more important than in other places to drive with continuity from Friday onwards," he said.

"I've only seen the new track from the position of an on-board camera, but it seems to be very fast for a street circuit.

"I always love to drive on new tracks and I am always very quick to get to know them, so I can't wait to race at Valencia.

"I just hope I'll have a trouble-free weekend to try to set the car up in the best way possible, especially for the qualifying lap.

"Qualifying will be extremely important, although I think that there are several possibilities on the track to overtake."

Crash.Net / Eurosport

I can't imagine being the one to have to transcribe the tape. "IjusthopeI'llhaveatrouble-freeweekendtotry tosetthecarup inthebestwaypossible especiallyforthequalifyinglap."