Q & A with Kimi Raikkonen

Kimi Raikkonen: I think France was a good race for us, and a good weekend. But here is another place, a different circuit. We had a good test here. We will do the best we can and hopefully we can have another good race. It will help a lot. Let's wait and see.

Q. What do you think of the track?

KR: It is a very good circuit, and our car seems to be good. The weather can be tricky so we will wait and see. But I think the package should be good.

Q. You've talked all season about getting comfortable in the car and comfortable with Bridgestone tyres. The pre-France test at Silverstone, was that just a case of finding speed improvement or did you get more comfortable too which explains the result in France?

KR: It is hard to say. I think the car got a bit better here at the test. Maybe in the last few races we have been getting the car more how I like it. It is not just that it was a little bit better in France. We had a good weekend, everything worked well, we had a good start so we could really use the speed we had. That is it really.

Q. Are you ready for the back-to-back?

KR: As ready as anybody. Like I said, we are in a new place. We had a good test but it doesn't mean that we are going to be as fast as in France. But I think we are going to have a good chance and we are going to do the best that we can.

Q. The fact it is so difficult to follow other cars, and the fact that seven times this season the guy leading at the first corner has won the race. Does it mean qualifying is even more important?

KR: I think so. It is the one part where we can still improve quite a bit. It makes your life easier if you can start at the front. But like we saw in the last race, it doesn't mean you lose the race if you don't start at the front. There are just many things that are involved.

Q. At what stage in Magny-Cours did you realise the race would come to you if you continued at the pace you were going at?

KR: You only know when you finish the race. But before the second pitstop we knew we were in a good position. Our aim was to keep closing up and to try and make something at the second pitstop. It worked out very well. Like I said, it is not so easy to be close to people.

Q. You lost some points in the first part of the season. Do you now worry that you cannot afford to make any more mistakes?

KR: Not really. We try to go as fast as we can and score as many points as possible. Sometimes you make some mistakes, sometimes you push to the limit, but I don't worry about it too much. We don't have much to lose. There are still many races to go and we only need one bad race for the other guys and it can turn around completely. So we just keep pushing, try and get good results like the last race and see where we end up.

Q. In a qualifying situation where a driver has to choose to take more or less fuel on board, what is your preference?

KR: I think it depends a lot how you feel in the car, how the weekend has gone so far. Every circuit is different. So it depends how fast the others are against us. It depends on many things, you don't do the same thing every weekend.

Q. The car is now better suited to what you want, so do you feel your season has turned a page?

KR: I hope so, but you never know really. We had a good weekend last weekend, but here could be a different story. We have a good basic understanding now so we should be quite confident for this weekend. I think it is getting better and better though.

Q. In your opinion, can McLaren be affected by the stories surrounding Nigel Stepney?

KR: I don't know.

Q. You knew Mike Coughlan and you worked with him. Can you describe what kind of man he was?

KR: I am sorry, I only met him three times when I was there. I am completely the wrong person to answer that question.