Kimi Raikkonen has compared the Monaco Grand Prix to a tight rally stage through thick trees, and therefore believes he will adapt to the circuit quickly.
It will be his first time he has driven the tight and twisty circuit, which is like no other on the calendar, since he left the sport in 2009, but that doesn’t concern the Finn.
“I don’t think it is any different to driving a rally in the middle of the trees,” Raikkonen said on Wednesday. “It is a bit more tricky here but I know the circuit.
“Luck is important but you can’t push your limit too much at the beginning because the circuit changes and it doesn’t matter if I’m 15th or first in the practices. We need to understand how the circuit is changing to get the car right and we only need a few fast laps in qualifying, and in the race every lap, but in practice it doesn’t count.
“You have to make your own luck and do things right and even if you are leading there might be an accident in front of you that you can’t avoid – that is just Monaco. I don’t think I am a very lucky guy and I never counted on that.”
The Lotus driver is looking for his first win since his return after finishing second in Bahrain and third in Spain, but he understands that Monaco is somewhat of a lottery.
“We always try but if we don’t win, we don’t win and we weren’t fast enough. We will try again this weekend but this place is definitely not easy to win. We will keep trying though.”
