Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Raikkonen: Diffusers could decide title

Kimi Raikkonen says the FIA's ruling on the diffuser regulations ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix will have 'an enormous impact' on the outcome of this season's title battle

Ferrari scored no points in Australia or Malaysia and the Finn does not think the F60 can keep pace with the likes of Brawn GP, Toyota and Williams - the three teams that have been protested - with the current levels of downforce.

"The FIA's Court of Appeal will decide about the diffuser and this decision will have an enormous impact on the championship," Raikkonen said.

"We're missing grip and downforce. You just need to analyse the performance in the three sectors at Sepang to understand that we're losing a lot compared to the best cars. You could see it especially in the middle sector where downforce is really crucial.

"We need more downforce and we're working very hard on it. We still don't have any points after two races and this is a very difficult moment. We've seen other moments like this, but we know how to react and we'll do it already at Shanghai."

Raikkonen believes KERS is one area where Ferrari can make up time to its rivals, but warned that the team is still having issues with the system.

"At the start KERS works really well, as we could see last Sunday. It can give much more on this track [China], but at the moment we've still got some teething problems - I could see that myself in Malaysia.

"On Friday the cockpit filled with smoke, while on Sunday water infiltrated the KERS which lead to the destruction of its insulation and I had to stop."

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article The Weekly Grapevine
Next article Sutil: Improvements will take time

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe