Source: Autosport | Courtesy of YiNing
By David Evans
AUTOSPORT rallies editor

——现在有没有开始怀念F1？
——到目前为止，没有。能得到这样的挑战我很兴奋。一切都是全新的。我在F1呆了很久，现在还不会想念它。至于未来，谁知道呢？

——今年最大的挑战是什么？
——学习所有的一切。有太多的东西需要学习，需要获得不同情况下的经验。制作以及聆听路书也很困难。

——Olivier Quesnel说 如果你今年成绩好的话，明年就能成为Loeb的队友，你有啥感觉？
——这种传闻总是有很多。我只是想学习拉力，尽力做得最好，然后看看会发生什么。

——长期来说，想成为WRC冠军吗？
——那太棒了，不过我们只跑了一场比赛，下周在瑞典会开始WRC的征战。让我们拭目以待会发生什么。（又来了……Let's wait and see what happens.）

——你对Michael Schumacher重返F1作何感想？
——对我来说无所谓（果然是爷的风格，拇指！）。我在报上看到了一些报道，也许他开始想念F1，而现在他有了很好的选择。这对他来说很好。

——有没有关注昨天的（F1）测试？
——没，我只是像平时那样读读报。如果在报上，就能看到。我不在网上看这个。现在我有新的挑战，我对这个更感兴趣。即时我还在F1的时候，如果我不去测试，我也不会去关注成绩。

——同红牛的合同……
——一年。

——拉力比F1难麽？
——在你刚开始从事任何运动的时候都是挺难的，但是这里有很多东西你改变不了，赛道条件一直在变化。但是F1赛道每一圈都一样，在拉力里面，每一个阶段都会发生巨大的改变，很多东西都会改变，而你是无法对此造成任何影响的。

——拉力比F1有趣麽？
——拉力当然更放松。至于是否更有趣，那取决于你怎么看。我喜欢拉力，因为每个弯角都不一样。有许多挑战，最终你是和自己在战斗。打滑的时候，你有更多的边路可以走，但那很可能不是最快的方式——前进才更快。这是完全不同的运动。

更多原文内详。

Kimi Raikkonen's World Rally Championship campaign begins with one of its biggest tests, Rally Sweden, this weekend. AUTOSPORT's David Evans talked to the Finn during his preparations for the event

Q. When did you decide you wanted to go to the WRC?
Kimi Raikkonen: Last year. I always had the passion for the WRC and I wanted to try and see how it is. After whatever happened at the end of the year we found the solution to race with the great team and Red Bull helping with the sponsorship. In the end it wasn't so difficult choice [to come to WRC].

Q. Have you missed anything from F1 yet?
KR: So far, no. I'm excited to have this challenge now. Everything is new. I was in F1 for a long time and I don't miss it now. In the future, who knows?

Q. Which rally are you looking forward to the most?
KR: Any rally really. Apart from Jyvaskyla [on Rally Finland], where I know it a little bit, everything is new. I don't know the places or the stages or anything. It's always exciting to go to a new place and see how it is. In Formula 1 sometimes there is a new place, but usually the testing and everything is the same. Now everything is new, so it's exciting.

Q. What's the biggest challenge for you this year?
KR: Just to learn everything. There is so much to learn and to get the experience on all different conditions. Making the notes and listening to them right is also tough. I need to learn everything.

Q. Which is the most difficult part, learning the notes?
KR: You can make them, but to try and make them exactly as you want – and to drive on them at full speed is not so easy. You can make the notes, but if it's not exactly like it should be, then you can't drive as fast as possible.

Q. Olivier Quesnel has already said that if you have a good year this year, you could be Sebastien Loeb's team-mate for next year. How do you feel about that?
KR: There are a lot of stories, always. I want to learn things and be a good as we can be and then see what happens.

Q. Long term, do you want to be World Rally champion?
KR: It would be great, but we have done one rally with the car and we start next week in Sweden. Let's wait and see what happens.

Q. What about podiums later in the year?
KR: I don't really know what to expect because it's such a new thing. I know it's difficult and I want to get in the points in the beginning. Later in the year when we have some more experience, we can be a bit faster. Let's wait and see.

Q. What about on asphalt?
KR: Overall, this should be a bit more easy. Okay, it's a different car, but the feeling is much more easy to find. Comparing the surfaces, the snow is the most difficult to be fast and get everything right. I did only one gravel rally last year and that surprised me that it's much more similar to asphalt than the snow. It should be easier, but I haven't driven the car on asphalt, so I don't know yet.

Q. There's a natural assumption that you'll look forward to asphalt rallies more than gravel. Is this right?
KR: Yes. I know more about driving on asphalt than any other surface. It definitely helps to find the right line and to find the braking point. In that way, it should be easier, but until we do the first test or rally, it's impossible to say.

Q. What do you think about Michael Schumacher's return to F1?
KR: For me, it doesn't matter. I have seen something in the paper, probably he started to miss it and now he has a good option. Good for him.

Q. Did you follow the testing yesterday?
KR: No. I see just in the newspaper, like every day, if it's in the newspaper, you see it. I didn't follow it on the internet. I have a new challenge now and I'm more interested in this. Even when I raced in Formula 1, if I didn't do the test, I didn't look for the times.

Q. How have you found the other WRC drivers?
KR: I know some of them, I met some in earlier days. They're very nice. It's more open here than Formula 1. The teams are friends together more than F1. It's great and people have been very helpful. It's a more warm feeling here, people are more together. In Formula 1 you race each other, here you race the clock – it's slightly different, but the people are nice.

Q. Have you turned your back on F1 completely now?
KR: I already kind of did it, so we see what happens in the future.

Q. What's your deal with Red Bull.
KR: It's [for] one year.

Q. What did you think of your performance on the Arctic Rally? Was it what you wanted?
KR: Of course we went off on the first day and got stuck in the snow bank for a long time. But I don't really feel I have the good feeling with the car like I want it. I brake three times in one place where you should be braking once. There are still many areas where I can improve.
We were not so far away from Dani [Sordo]'s times. I need more experience, more running and more time with the people running the car. I was pretty happy in the end.
Purely the rally was for me to get used to the car and to try some different things. It was quite difficult conditions with the fresh snow and things like that. It was good practice and it definitely helped me for the next one.

Q. What's the aim for Rally Sweden?
KR: We're hoping for a good clean rally without any mistakes and then we see where we are. I have no idea where we will be. I want to try to do the best I can and have a good rally.

Q. Any more snow testing now?
KR: No. Just the shakedown before the event.

Q. What about gravel testing? When do you drive the car on the loose?
KR: It's after Sweden sometime. I don't know the date, but it will be before Mexico.

Q. Is it possible for you to do more smaller rallies this year?
KR: I don't know, we will have to see.

Q. But you will get a lot of testing on gravel – enough time in the car?
KR: I will get something around 10 to 15 days. I have no idea how many the others are doing, but this is pretty okay.

Q. Is rallying more difficult than Formula 1?
KR: Every sport is difficult when you start, but there are so many more things you cannot really change, the condition changes: it is what it is, but in Formula 1 you go to the same circuit and lap by lap you know it's going to be the same. But, in rallying, you can go from one stage to the next and it can be completely changing. There are many things that can change in rallying and you cannot affect those areas.

Q. Is rallying more fun than F1?
KR: It's more relaxed, definitely. More fun, it depends what you like: I like it because every corner is different in rally. There are a lot of things which can challenge you and in the end you are driving against yourself. Okay, you can go more sideways when you are sliding, but it's probably not the fastest way – going forward is faster. It's just a different sport.

Q. What's the feeling for WRC among the other drivers in Formula 1?
KR: I don't really know because I don't know how many F1 drivers know the sport that well. [Robert] Kubica has definitely done it for fun and [Heikki] Kovalainen knows the rally side. But I don't think the other drivers really have so much knowledge of what is rallying compared to Formula 1, so it's a bit tricky to say.

(Read Kimi Raikkonen's diary of his Arctic Rally weekend, exclusively in this week's AUTOSPORT magazine)

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