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Motorsport: F1

Resurgent Kimi tops test times

Joint world championship leader Kimi Raikkonen believes he has made the breakthrough he needs to get his title bid back on track

By James Foxall

10th May 2007

Although the Finn won the season opener, in rounds two and three, he struggled to get the best out of his car in qualifying and was eclipsed by team-mate Felipe Massa.

But during testing in Barcelona last week, Raikkonen discovered a set-up combination for the Ferrari that he thinks allows him to exploit it more – starting with Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix. Ferrari topped the time sheets throughout the test, yet significantly, Massa failed to beat Raikkonen’s best.

“The car seems to be handling the way I want now. I think we are in a much stronger position,” said the Finn. “The championship is very close and nothing has been lost so far, but it’s important to have better races from now on. We have a good package, I have a stronger set-up and am much happier than in the first three races.”
In its efforts to draw ahead of Fer­rari, McLaren tried out a radical new front wing. The device features a third element attached to the end plates which goes over the nose cone.

Team supremo Martin Whitmarsh believes developments such as that could be the key to who wins the 2007 titles. “It is now very clear that this year’s championships will be as much decided in the race to develop the car as the racing that occurs on Sunday afternoons,” he said. But the upgrade didn’t enable McLaren to bet­ter its arch rival. Lead driver Fernando Alonso could only post the fifth-fastest time when he tried it.

Meanwhile, Red Bull Racing showed that it’s starting to get to grips with its car. In the hands of Mark Webber, the RB3, designed by former Williams and McLaren technical director Adrian Newey, ended up second fastest to Ferrari on two out of the three days.

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