Raikkonen welcomes 3-week break

After getting trounced by his teammate Felipe Massa lately, Raikkonen welcomes the 3-week break

After a couple of difficult races, World Champion Kimi Raikkonen is happy that the three-week summer break has finally arrived. The Finn hopes that Ferrari can turn the tables around at the European Grand Prix in Valencia in three weeks time.

Kimi Raikkonen said: "This short break comes at the right time. We have to recharge our batteries after six months of giving it all, racing and testing, so we're ready for the next race and for the finale of the season. The situation in the Championship is not too bad: obviously one can always improve and this is exactly what we want to do.

"The Hungarian weekend was quite disappointing for me: the only positive thing is the result. Whenever you're able to narrow the gap to the leader it's very important. I gained more points than any other of my direct competitors, which is pretty positive as well before this short break. I'm going to Finland to chill out a bit, although the weather forecast is not really good.

"I don't want to deny that the last races didn't go as I wanted. Every time something strange happened and we didn't manage to find the best possible set up for the car. We tried to find a good compromise, but it didn't help. We've got to solve that problem now for the upcoming race at Valencia. The Qualifying was the decisive moment also at Budapest, in a negative way. In my second try in Q3 I couldn't keep the car on the track: that was my fault. You can't pretend to win the title if you're always starting from the sixth position. You can even drive one second faster per lap than the one ahead of you, but if you start from behind you can't use the pace you've got.

"At the Hungaroring I was stuck behind Alonso, who had a really good car for the last sector, which was maybe the only point I could have tried to overtake. Again I had confirmed that it's impossible to overtake at Budapest.

"After the last pit stop I could push hard, because I had a free track. On the first lap I drove eight tenths of a second faster. The car went really well and was easy to handle, but by then it was too late. I managed to catch up to Glock in the end, but I had a mechanical problem and I had to slow down.

"Felipe had a great race and demonstrated the potential we have. Unfortunately for him and for the Team he had to stop in the final stages of the race. That's the ugly face of motor sports; and I've experienced that a couple of times myself in the past.

"Ferrari has been leading in the Constructors' Championships for several races now: this shows that we've a better car and lots of potential.

"Congratulations to Heikki Kovalainen for his first win in Formula 1: he had his share of bad luck and now it's his turn.

"The next race will be held at the new street circuit of Valencia. I like to discover new tracks: since I was a child driving in a kart I always learned quickly to drive on unknown tracks. It will be hot, just like it was in Budapest, which is something we like, because it seems that our car adapts easily to the high temperatures."