Interview with Kimbo (Sport Bild)

"Schumi didn´t have that much luck"

Mr. Raikkonen Lotus is a quick car. Is it fast enough to fight for wins against Vettel?
I do not know. The car is good but I don´t know if it's good enough for victories. At least we are not far away from the top!

You and Vettel once have been good friends. How do you estimate his rise to a double world champion?
We´ve been living close to each other in Switzerland until he moved away and we didn´t see each other that often anymore. But we already talked to each other again since my return. It has been like it used to be. He didn´t change at all.

In the past you often played Badminton. You used to win most of the times.
I still do. If I lose it´s only on the track. Sebastian became a great race driver but he is still a nice guy.

Does it make a difference to drive against him compared to other drivers?
No. There is no difference whether you drive against a friend or not. I want to win against all the drivers.

You are also known as the Iceman because you are always that cool. Do you ever think about your public image?
I don´t care about my image. It doesn´t change my live. For me it´s important that I´m happy with the things I´m doing. I´m not here to play a role I´m not happy with.

But are you really that cool?
There is no reason to freak out under normal cirumstances. I can´t understand why sometimes people get so emotional even though nothing has happened.

Earlier this year you took part in a snowmobile race and broke your wrist. You also kept your cool.
Sometimes you get injured sometimes not. Of course my boss was not amused. But I wouldn´t drive in F1 without those liberties.

You didn´t suceed in WRC. What was the reason?
I wasn´t used to listen to somebody else. But the trust in the pace notes and your co-drive is the thing which makes the difference in rallies. If one would drive a stage a few times there wouldn´t be much time difference between the drivers. In the second year I had less difficulties as I knew most of the stages.

Watching you driving one does get the feeling that nothing has changed since your retirement.
It indeed hasn´t changed. We got older but the cars are still the same. And the tires are not so different this year compared to 2009.

Can you explain why it took Michael Schumacher longer to feel well inside of the car?
It only depends whether you have a good or a bad car. It´s much easier when you have a fast car as I do have. In this light he didn´t have much luck.

You´re also much younger.
Actually I don´t want to compare us. He does his stuff and I do my. That´s it.

Do you to remember what you told to a TV reporter before Michael's last race in 2006? You went to the toilet.
I was just being honest. The reporter asked a stupid question so he got a stupid answer.

Kimi Raikkonen - 5th: "It was a bit difficult today. It was my first time on the wet weather Pirellis and I didn't know how the intermediate or wet tyres would react - I had only completed one installation lap on them before. I just tried to stay on the road and push as much as I felt comfortable with. When I changed to the dry tyres it took a couple of laps to get heat into them, and my visor was pretty dirty so seeing the dry line was difficult. Once I found my way I could push much harder. It was difficult to have another mixed weather weekend. The conditions changed a lot today so it was always a case of adapting and looking for grip. Overall, we seemed to have a pretty strong package again this weekend, so I'm relatively happy. A fifth today was okay, but we're always looking for better results."

Romain Grosjean - DNF: "It felt like a perfect start off the line; I got a good jump on the others and with the KERS I managed to weave through the cars in front without touching anybody. Coming out of the first two corners I was up to third, which was an amazing feeling. In turn four Mark (Webber) managed to carry a bit more speed through the corner and edged in front. Michael (Schumacher) tried to follow him through but there was not enough space so we touched and I spun. From there things became really tough. The visibility was so poor I couldn't see anything in front of me. We made the decision to stay out on the intermediate tyres but the rain got heavier and there was far too much water. I had massive aquaplaning into turn five and unfortunately ended up going backwards into the gravel."

Eric Boullier, Team Principal: "Today's result is a bit frustrating. Whilst it's good to have a car finish in the top five after starting from tenth in conditions which were very tricky, we can't help thinking that we could have achieved more from this race. Obviously, it's disappointing for Romain, as it's another DNF for him in the early laps of the race. He had never driven in the rain with these intermediate tyres so we have to take that into account. He had a very good start off the line, but the contact with Michael ruined his race. At the restart, we recovered well from our position and on the plus side, the car looked strong again. Kimi had a flawless race. He was very consistent in all conditions and his best lap shows what could have been without his grid penalty. I'm sure when we have a 'standard' weekend - without bad weather, penalty or interruption – we will do very well."

James Allison, Technical Director: "What we would give for a normal race! We had to fight back from a grid penalty for changing the gearbox on Kimi's car. We also had two drivers learning Pirelli's wet tyres for the first time today. This made for a difficult time here at Sepang. Our pace at the end of the race on dry tyres looks extremely promising from the perspective of both degradation and pace. Give us a normal race, with two clean getaways from the good qualifying positions of which we have shown we are capable, and I think we'll be able to collect a good reward."

Ricardo Penteado, Renault Sport F1 Team Support Leader: "Another points scoring finish for Kimi here. Again it was a shame for Romain but over the course of the weekend we confirmed the pace seen in Australia of the Lotus-Renault package. The changeable weather made it very difficult to manage fuel consumption. We burned a lot of fuel at the second start, which allowed us to be lighter towards the final laps. This played out well as Kimi set the fastest lap of the race on lap 53. Overall the engine has worked perfectly and we're now looking forward to China, which presents a very different challenge."

The Australian Grand Prix probably wasn’t the welcome back to the sport Lotus’s Kimi Raikkonen would have wanted. But after starting down in 17th and eventually finishing in seventh, Raikkonen made the best of a bad situation and left with a well-deserved haul of six points. In comparison, the Malaysian weekend is already looking a lot better, even though a five-place gearbox penalty will see him drop from fifth on the grid to tenth. Raikkonen discusses the Melbourne race and looks ahead to Sunday in Sepang…

Q: Kimi, is racing again in Formula One as much fun as you had hoped?
Kimi Raikkonen: It is all the same as before. It hasn’t changed. But the car is good and that always makes it a bit nicer. If you are in 15th place, then that of course is never nice. Okay, in terms of the paddock, I really didn’t expect it to be any different from when I left, but the team is nice so I feel very comfortable.

Q: So things haven’t really changed. You initially left for a reason so can you stomach those reasons now?
KR: I like the racing. And if you do so then it is inevitable you must accept the rest. Sometimes you discover that on your second try.

Q: How would you sum up your first race? Was it business as usual or did you have to warm up first?
KR: I made a mistake in qualifying so I put myself in a very bad position, but at least in the race we got something out of it. I took it quite easy as I didn’t want to get overly excited and throw it away. As for this weekend we’ve got a five-place penalty which means I will start from P10 tomorrow. But I’m used to penalties; I’ve got so many during my career! (laughs)

Q: Was it painful seeing your team mate, Romain Grosjean, start from P3 in Melbourne?
KR: No - we knew that we botched it and that we never gave ourselves a real chance. But that’s racing. Sometimes you are fastest and sometimes you are slower in qualifying. But it’s the race where you get the points.

Q: So were you angry about botching it up?
KR: We did it ourselves so we are the ones to be blamed. So what’s the point in crying over spilt milk now? I have been long enough in the business to know about the ups and downs of racing. It’s not the first time that I had to stop after Q1 - it is what it is.

Q: Today went better though…
KR: It was of course much nicer. The car felt really good. So maybe I am a bit disappointed as I very well could have ended up in P3 - or even on pole position. But I made a small mistake and there you go. And then with the penalty, of course that costs us even more. But sure it is day and night compared to Melbourne. Here the race should give us a very real chance. P5 would have been easier as P10 already means you have a ‘crowd’ in front. But after the first three corners I should be fine.

Q: You said that you missed the direct competition with other drivers when you were rallying. But there wasn’t too much direct competition in Melbourne…
KR: Ha! If I had been further at front the competition would have been much less. But again, the race went nice and smoothly.

Q: There have been rumours that your nickname could change from ‘ice man’ to ‘nice man’. How do you like that?
KR: It’s all just a rumour. It is the media who make up these kinds of things in the first place. It’s all rubbish!

Q: How do you feel seeing your former team Ferrari struggling so much?
KR: I don’t care. We try to beat all the teams and they are just one of them. If they do poorly it is bad for them but as we are ahead of them I could not care less. And if they become better than us then it’s a sign that we have to improve.

Q: What is your strategy for the race?
KR: I will try to get through the first corners without any accidents and then go on from there. There is not a plan or manual of what to do in the first lap. As I said at the beginning, the car feels good and there should be some options for me tomorrow.

过去两年间Raikkonen参加的所有业余活动中，得到媒体最多关注的要数NASCAR。芬兰人决定最大限度的利用2011年约旦站与希腊站之间九个星 期的休息时间，接受了参加NASCAR比赛的邀请。得到了Perky Jerky[貌似是生产含咖啡因牛肉干的厂家，别问我什麼叫“含咖啡因的牛肉干”]的赞助，芬兰人打点行装飞往了北卡罗来纳州。
 
在向 NASCAR车手资格审查委员会递交履历之后，Raikkonen被允许参加纳斯卡卡车系列的夏洛特200英里比赛，Speedway是长约1.5英里的 椭圆形赛道，这是他在NASCAR的处子赛。对于缺少在椭圆形赛道比赛经验的车手来说这个开端并不简单，但考虑到Raikkonen获得过F1世界冠军， 在WRC比赛中也经常能拿到积分，这足以使他获得参赛的资格。
 
芬兰人在比赛中受到了热烈的欢迎。很多媒体都十分关注，而当他最后来到赛 道的时候发现他的前F1队友Juan Pablo Montoya正等着他。为了让他觉得像在家一样放松，Montoya在第一次练习赛休息时间一直陪着他，一直到正赛开始。被问及在NASCAR未来的期 望和打算时，Raikkonen很明确地说：
“如果我彻底搞砸的话，就没有理由再来了。”幸好他没有让自己失望。
 
比赛日——两 次练习赛、排位赛和正赛在同一天进行——开局不利。要操控Kyle Buschder车队为他准备的Perky Jerky Toyota 15号车十分困难，赛车极端的转向过度。冰人过弯时几次侧滑，但他一直都没有失去对赛车的控制，对一个拉力车手来说做的不错。然而，在排位赛名列31之 后，比赛就进行的顺利多了。
 
比赛充满了事故——出现了十次警告，平了2005年的纪录——其中一些事故就发生在Raikkonen的车 前。最后芬兰人以15名完赛，他对赛车的操控技巧令人印象深刻。另外，Raikkonen是参赛的三位前F1车手：Kimi、Nelson Piquet Jr和Max Papis中成绩最好的。走出赛车，Raikkonen看起来很开心，似乎很享受比赛。事实似乎也的确如此，因为他马上做出了一个令人惊讶的决定，他要在 夏洛特多呆一周参加下周举行的NASCAR全国系列赛——这又比卡车系列赛高了一个档次。
 
在全国系列赛第一次练习赛之 前，Raikkonen并没有测试过赛车。但至少他了解赛道。在这种情况下，他驾驶了Joe Nemechek的87号赛车。如同前一周那样，这次依然是Kyle Busch车队为他准备赛车，Perky Jerky提供赞助。这次的排位赛要顺利得多，他排在了更具竞争力的22位。他在比赛中节奏非常好，而且大部分时间都没有被套圈。尽管如此，似乎只有对我 们这些听到他车队广播的看客来说比赛是充满乐趣的，对于Raikkonen来说就没那么享受了。由于没穿带绝缘底的鞋子，冰人差点就融化了。
 
“最 大的问题就是我的脚。他们都烧起来了。”以及“我搞不懂这车怎麼能那麼热。我的屁股都烧起来了！”我们在无线电中听到的都是诸如此类的内容。但是 Raikkonen很有一套，当再被问到那些问题的时候，他已经找到了解决方法。“他们（脚）还是烫得要命，但我把他们抬起来了，感觉好多了。我要喝 水。”
 
当然，很热的时候，水是非常重要的。但事实证明要给芬兰人提供充足的水分比想象中困难得多。
 
“我要喝水”
“我要我的水瓶……嘿！给我我的水瓶！”
“我又没水喝了。我不知道，瓶子太小了。”
“告诉Mark他得关心一下水瓶是不是满的。瓶子太小了。”
“下次进站给点水。”
 
“要 水门”让车队工作人员鸭梨山大。有一次进站，他们犯了错把一个空水瓶给了正在融化的冰人。当工作人员发现这个失误后，Kimi已经开始在无线电中喊着要换 一个有水的瓶子了。Kimi：别-在-我-进-弯-的-时-候-跟-我-说-话-除-非-你--是Kaj Lindstrom。Raikkonen从不在无线电中掩饰自己的不满：
“你TMD在无线电里吵什么？”
 
更糟的是赛车操控性非常差。这次变成了转向不足，或许和Kimi蹭了几次墙也有关系。
 
“我们真TMD烂，简直难以置信。”
“你看见这车有多TMD烂麼？我都没办法让车转弯……还有记住，我要喝水。”
“这车实在太TMD烂了。”
“这车太TMD烂了，我没办法让它转弯！太杯具了！我没办法让这见鬼的车转弯！”
“别在车队无线电里说别的事情。”
 
现在还有人说Kimi不会给车队反馈吗？[我了个去，这是哪门子坑爹的反馈啊﹁_﹁]
 
除 了滚烫的脚、缺水和赛车转向不足，Kimi还因为在维修区超速受罚——NASCAR赛车里是没有维修区限速的按钮的。他还从另一辆赛车上掉下来的散热器碎 片上碾了过去，在NASCAR就算一张热狗包装纸或甚至是一个看不见的危险[这个绝对是我瞎扯的，invisibris是invisible和哪个词的合 成？]”都要引起足够的注意，可能会让引导车出动。
 
在经历了这么多事故后，Kimi最终以27名完赛。之后他乘上飞机，第二天跑到了摩纳哥大奖赛，在他的游艇上和他的朋友们开起了派对。尽管如此，在美国的两周被证明是十分重要的。Kimi承认NASCAR唤醒了他对短兵相接的比赛的渴望。
 
这 段时间Raikkonen参加的另一场比赛是用两个轮子跑的。这位F1世界冠军和四次WRC冠军得主Tommi Makinen以及七届世界耐力赛冠军Kari Tiainen组队参加了2010年Karme Kustaa耐力赛[Business Class是神马等级？]。他们给自己起了个队名叫“Mestarit ravassa”，翻译过来就是“泥巴王”[我去，这都神马品味啊！]，最终获得了第8名。赛后在接受芬兰报纸Iltalehti的采访时，冰人被问及在 比赛中是否遭遇了什么困难。他回答：
“没什麼问题，就撞了几次车。”
 
这场比赛后不久，Kimi和Kari Tiainen宣布建立ICE1RACING车队，以帮助那些年轻车手。2011年，车队有两个车手参加了FIM摩托越野赛，六名车手参加了芬兰MX联 赛。在不影响他自己比赛的情况下，Raikkonen经常出现在赛道上为他的车队加油。
 
众所周知，Kimi最近参加的另一场比赛是不用 轮子的。那就是雪地摩托[于是我才知道雪地摩托是木有轮子的，囧]。这位F1世界冠军最近参加了在奥地利萨尔巴赫举办的斯沃琪雪地摩托赛[图2]。他和摩 托越野车手Michael Staufer、Frank Kostner、自行车越野车手Senad Grosic、土耳其女拉力车手Burcu Cetinkaya以及她的领航员Cicek Guney一同组成了红牛车队。但是Raikkonen并没跑多远就因为进弯时速度太快滑出了赛道，还弄伤了手腕。没什么严重的，但是新东家的那些家伙们 肯定紧张了好一阵子。
 
然而，赛车并不是生活的全部，测试不同的车子也是很有乐趣的。Raikkonen从不掩饰他对勒芒24小时耐力赛 的兴趣。由于芬兰人在WRC驾驶雪铁龙赛车，他自然得到了测试标致LMP1-class的机会，因为雪铁龙和标致都属于PSA集团。今年8月，他在西班牙 Aragon测试了标致908。在接受F1Racing采访时，冰人坦言，尽管赛车需要适应，但他还是很享受这次测试。
 
“勒芒赛车很有意思，但是老实说，转向太烂了，而且风挡很奇怪——通过风挡你看到的东西都是扭曲的……可能是因为他们太圆了。”他说。“我无法想象赛车跑完那麼长的比赛之后满身油污的样子。但是我很享受这次经历，而且赛车感觉很好。”
 
另外，这位2007年度F1世界冠军还参加了几次赛车表演赛。今年夏天他有机会驾驶拉力赛车与四驱车和勒布一起参加了赫尔辛基的路演，就在他的家乡父老面前。
 
2010年6月他在Erzberg Rodeo参加了一场表演，向极限摩托耐力赛冠军Taddy Blazusia发起了挑战。芬兰人开着他的C4 WRC跑了13公里，波兰人则骑着他的KTM摩托车。输的人得给赢的人洗车。幸运的是Raikkonen赢了。
 
活 动之后，Raikkonen留在奥地利接受ServusTV“Sport und Talk aus dem Hangar-7”节目的采访，这个频道是红牛车队老板Dietrich Mateschitz赞助的。采访期间，主持人爆料芬兰人从悬崖上跳进湖里。被问及这次经历时，Raikkonen一如既往的言简意赅：
“水很冷。”他说。

In 2009 Ferrari built a pretty poor car for the new KERS era, and neither driver had much chance. More to the point, from a very early stage the team made it clear that Alonso was coming on board in 2010. It was in a three-into-two don’t go situation with Kimi and Massa also contracted, so much effort went into persuading Raikkonen that he should take a pay-off and walk away.

Everyone knows that a driver needs everything to be just right to be able to perform at his best. Getting into a car – a bad one at that – knowing that the team is working feverishly behind the scenes to turf you out would be tough for anybody.

The team was then turned upside down by Massa’s accident in Hungary, and Kimi was once again the main focus. He responded with a superb win at Spa – just what a good job he did with that car was demonstrated by how hopeless Luca Badoer and Giancarlo Fisichella were when they stood in for Massa.

In the end, Kimi took Ferrari’s pay-off. The way it worked it was better for him to step out for a year than drive another F1 car, as that would have compromised his severance package. There was even talk of a return to McLaren, but not surprisingly, Kimi preferred to walk away – and that tallied perfectly with the chance to pursue the interest in rallying that, as a Finn, he had inevitably held since he was a kid.

The appearance of Red Bull sponsorship on his rally car indicated that he still had a foot in the door in F1, and at one stage there was definitely a scenario whereby had Mark Webber stopped at the end of 2010, Kimi could have replaced him. Indeed I discussed that possibility with Kimi when he showed up in Monaco last year.

The snag was that on that very weekend Webber scored a second GP win in eight days and made himself into a title contender – and after that, retirement was never an option. And again earlier this year the Aussie added a further year to his deal.

So with the likes of Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne on the horizon, Kimi’s chances of a getting into a Red Bull began to recede. Not only that, but a third year out of the game would have made it proportionately harder for him to convince anyone to take him on. So he had to get back in 2012, in something, and possibly put himself in a position to step into a better car at a later stage.

It’s no secret that Kimi’s rallying ambitions didn’t quite pan out, but at the end of the day he wasn’t far off in a sport that is very different from the one he was brought up in. I understand that he also made quite an impression in the NASCAR world.

The point is he has not been lying on a beach, he’s been enjoying the cut and thrust of competition, and at a very high level. The style of driving might be very different in those disciplines, but it can’t hurt to have gone off and done something different – it will certainly be interesting to see how much his wet weather skills have improved after sliding around on ice and in muddy forests!

Kimi was obviously disillusioned when he left F1. Let’s not forget he was a kid when he signed for Sauber, with very little experience of the world at large. Within a year he was driving for McLaren, where not only was he in the spotlight, he had to deal with the quirky management of Ron Dennis. Then he was thrown into the cauldron at Ferrari, where initially he appeared to have thrived – only for the Alonso scenario to make him surplus to requirements. To someone who simply enjoyed the pure pleasure of driving, and preferred a quiet life, all the BS and double talk around F1 simply become too much.

He’s now had two years to clear his head, and in between the WRC and NASCAR commitments he’s doubtless found time to do other stuff, things that he never had time for within the relentless constraints of an F1 driver’s schedule. He’s also lost his father, and that would cause anyone to take stock and maybe change focus a little.

He didn’t have to come back – he doesn’t need the money, and one assumes he’s earning rather less than he did at his previous teams, possibly with a heavy accent on bonuses for performance. He’s coming back because he missed the racing, and it was intriguing to hear that, for all the joy he got from driving an WRC car on the limit, running with other cars in NASCAR reminded him of what he’s been missing.

He’s stayed pretty fit, he’s been driving all the time, and he – we assume – has pretty much got his head together. He’s also found a team that really wants him, and which one assumes, will shield him from the sort of PR duties that he always abhorred, and which helped to curtail any discussion of him going back to McLaren after Ferrari.

He’s also still only 32, an age when Damon Hill was only just starting his F1 career. He’s starting from scratch on the Pirellis, and inevitably, F1 has moved on in other ways. But he had KERS in 2009, and a button for the front wing which has now become a button for the rear wing.

He’s a far smarter and switched-on person that you might think, and he would not be doing this if he wasn’t confident in his abilities. Underestimate him at your peril.

And if he does show that he can get the job done, consider too where he might end up after Lotus. Given the long term deals all the big names are signing, not many drivers of his caliber will be free agents in a couple of years. Or depending on his contractual arrangements, possibly even in one...

Adam Cooper notched up his 26th season as a racing journalist in 2010. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.

Kimi's Column: Rally Jordan Preview
Source: KimiRaikkonen.com | Finnish translation courtesy of Nicole

Desert is Calling

Let's see what we have ahead of us now. We are going to a new place again and to a new country where I have never been before. It's the first place where Kaj hasn't raced either.

We know already that we are in for a really big new challenge again but we just have to get used to it. It's the name of the game in rally. No matter where we go the place is always different from the place where we rallied before.

It's been like this all season. All these three rallies have differed from each other massively. Compared to them Jordan is like from a different world. There you have to learn everything from scratch once again. We can't do more than try our best - and collect as much experience as fast as we can.

In the final games we cannot at least complain that this would be boring. We knew beforehand that this is what rally driving is. New driving surfaces, roads changing just like that and we have to work at full speed all the time.

I haven't regretted for one moment that I took this challenge. Each kilometre with the car is important to me and the more I drive a real rally with the car the better it feels.

Mexico is in the past. It went like it went. We have been learning rally the hard way. Every time we got some other program. But when we have been able to go forward it has felt good.

The car is strong. That much we know. If we can only stay on the track then the equipment will last.

After last rally we took a break and it did good for my body. After that we had the first tests on gravel and now we are going with positive feelings to drive in Jordan's rally.

There's no trees, no mountains. Only sand and dust - and the breaks are somewhere on the Dead Sea's beach. It's 100% sure that making the notes to this rally will be completely different from what I have done elsewhere. They have to be more in place than anywhere else since there are no real landmarks.

That's what this still is, us trying to get into the right rhythm with this equipment on gravel surface so that we wouldn't have to drive with stiff wrists all the time.

My goal is to finish the rally. If it doesn't fall in place then there is no other goal to achieve.

Let's see how fast the lead is taking it and what our ride in that bunch is.

❀ ❀ ❀ ❀ ❀ ❀ ❀ ❀

WRC Kimi's blog - GOOD LUCK KIMI!

Source: WRC.com

Okay, so I never thought that a rally could be like holidays, but I have to say that so far here in Jordan it’s been pretty nice.

After the shakedown I had a bit of a chance to relax on the terrace at the hotel and look at the view over the Dead Sea. It’s such a hectic life that it’s nice to empty your head sometimes and think of nothing much. And what’s the point of going to all these different places if you don’t take the time to look at them occasionally? My life used to be a blur of airports and circuits and hotels but I’m determined to enjoy myself this year.

Jordan is a completely new experience for me, but that’s normal as more or less everything this year is new to me. Let’s just say that the whole atmosphere and way of working here is quite different to Formula One, but the challenges are even bigger for me.

I was thinking about that this morning when I drove the shakedown: I still have so few kilometres in the Citroen C4 WRC; basically a couple of hundred and that’s it. And now I’m starting a gravel rally that even the real experts say is quite tough. So I think it’s going to be an interesting few days. The main thing is to learn: you don’t suddenly find a load of time from out of nowhere in this game.

I have to say that I really like the world of rallying so far. It’s impossible to compare it to Formula One as it would be like comparing a square to a triangle, but everything seems just a bit more relaxed and friendly. Everyone has been very welcoming, but there’s still room for me to be myself.

The shakedown this morning was quite rough, but I think we could see some parts of the rally that are like this too, so it was good preparation. For me the main thing is going to be reaching the finish, as on an event that is as specialised as this one, you really need to see every stage. We had a good recce, although it was a bit warm as the air conditioning wasn’t working in the recce car. Strangely, it was actually cooler in the rally car at shakedown - as you have a huge air scoop in the roof that gives you a pretty good supply of cool air once you’re moving.

I’m still at the stage where there’s more time to come out of me than anything else. But if it all comes together - and even up to now, there have been a few moments where that has started to happen - I’d like to set a few decent times. Wish me luck..."