Malaysian Grand Prix winner
Kimi Raikkonen has insisted he never questioned
Ferrari's potential in spite of the
Scuderia's Melbourne disaster – and after getting champagne in his eye during the Sepang podium ceremony, he suggested drivers should drink the post-race bubbly rather than spray it.
The defending world drivers' champion suffered a torrid weekend Down Under during the opening round of the 2008
Formula 1 campaign, being left well down the starting grid by a fuel pump failure in qualifying before lucking into a single point at the end of the race after twice going off-track and suffering an engine failure five laps from home. The turnaround just seven days' later, he acknowledged, could not have been more marked, even if he did suffer a minor ‘incident' on the rostrum following his imperious victory…
“We should put it [champagne] in the mouth, not in the eye,” the 28-year-old joked afterwards. “Things go wrong sometimes, but anyway it was a perfect weekend.
“The car was good all weekend. Of course we had a small problem in first practice on Friday [and] the car was not exactly what we wanted in qualifying, but we knew that we should have good race pace and it worked out perfectly. We are struggling a little bit in qualifying, but in the race we have a very high potential.
“I am very happy with this win, for me and for the team. It's a shame that Felipe [Massa – team-mate] was unable to let us bring home a result that was within our grasp. The car was perfect; I was able to control the situation without having to stress the car or the tyres.”
Raikkonen added that despite Ferrari's Australian misery, he had never lost confidence in Maranello's ability to fight back – and fast – though he cautioned against reading too much into either of the first two grand prix weekends with 16 more still to come over the balance of the campaign.
