Kimi: I'll show my true pace in Spain
Kimi Raikkonen has warned his rivals that he will be 'considerably' faster in the Spanish Grand Prix than in the first three races of 2007.
Although Raikkonen shares the championship lead with the McLaren drivers, having won in Australia and taken third places in Malaysia and Bahrain, he was never entirely happy with his Ferrari's set-up in the opening rounds.
But after dominating much of last week's Barcelona test, Raikkonen says the car is now much more to his liking - and significantly faster.
"We were able to improve the F2007 considerably, because the new components work really well and the car is now much closer to my style of driving," he said.
"I'm much more optimistic now: we can attack the best way possible, as my friend (ex-rally star) Markku Alen usually says.
"It's true that you never know how competitive you really are compared to the other teams during the test sessions - obviously for that we have to wait for the qualifying and the race - but the lap times give us some hints."
Raikkonen is particularly keen to show better pace in qualifying, where he has been out of sorts so far this season.
"As I already said over the last weeks, we have to improve the performance in qualifying," he said.
"It was not really easy for me to get all the potential out of the car on a single lap, because we never managed to prepare it at the best.
"Now I'm really happy about the steps forward.
"Although it's really difficult to overtake another car, even when it's slower, it makes things a lot easier when you want to win, when you can start from the front.
"Last February we had a good test session and we managed to make the set-up even better now, also thanks to the new components, which give me a very positive feeling.
"All in all the car is much better to drive now."
Source: itv-f1
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