"Now, it is still open, but not looking quite so straightforward and we have to be careful not to make any mistakes. If you look at the recent past championships, sometimes we had two weekends better than
Renault and sometimes it was the other way round. The competition was very close right to the end of the season. This time, even if our rivals have been better than us over the past couple of races, I think we can fight back and that is what we have been working towards back at the factory. I think we have some good ideas for the next upcoming races which can change the situation."
Raikkonen looked more racy at Indianapolis than he has done for a few races, but it was only his team-mate that he was battling with. However, two days of testing at Silverstone and a vote of confidence from
Ferrari's top man, Luca di Montezemolo, has the Finn in good heart for France.
"Last week was a prefect week," he says, "We had a very good test in Silverstone as the car was much better than at the races in North America, and I'm really very confident for the race at Magny-Cours. We have new components, above all in the section of aerodynamics; and we have taken a step forward as far as the performance is concerned. If it is enough, we'll only know in France, but what we know for sure is that we think that we are competitive."
A fan of Magny-Cours from a driving point of view, the Finn is keen to add a victory there to his tally. However, he knows that Ferrari needs to raise its game on a Saturday afternoon.
"This year, it is fundamental to start from the front row, because it is very difficult to drive when you're stuck behind other cars," he explains, "Unfortunately, I've experienced that quite often, but I'm more and more confident with the F2007 now. We found a good set-up in the race at Indianapolis and in testing, so we have to transfer that to the next two grands prix."
Honda – Jenson Button (#7), Rubens Barrichello (#8):
While the majority of its rivals ran at
Silverstone, Honda joined engine partner
Super Aguri at
Jerez, determined to take further steps on the road to making the RA107 competitive for the return to Europe.
