Raikkonen - A Year After his Last F1 Win

It's been more than a year since Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen last felt the taste of winning in Formula One. The 2007 champion will return to the scene of his last win in the series this weekend, but reckons it will be hard for him to repeat his smashing performance in Barcelona last year. It was then an all-Raikkonen weekend in Catalonia, as the Finnish driver won the race from pole position and clinched the lead in the overall classification.

From that point on, however, “Raikkonen's brother replaced him in the Ferrari cockpit” (as company's CEO Luca di Montezemolo comically put it at the end of last season) and the Fin failed to win another race in F1. Unfortunately for the former world champ, his winless streak is about to continue this week, despite the new aerodynamic package announced by the Scuderia for their European debut.

Nonetheless, Raikkonen remains optimistic for the future, as he revealed the lack of wins so far has only fueled his hunger for another triumph in the series. He only looks as the Barcelona race as a first step in that direction.

“It's a bit more than a year ago that I won my last Formula 1 race. At Barcelona in 2008 I had my best weekend with Ferrari: pole position, victory and fastest race lap. Having said that, a driver never loses the lust for winning and I want to have that feeling again as soon as possible,” said Raikkonen in a preview for the Spanish GP.

“I really liked hearing from the team that the new aerodynamic package's first signs are positive. It will be really interesting taking the car out during Friday's free practice sessions. With the new aerodynamic package we'll have more downforce compared to the first four races, but also almost all of the others will show up with some updates. We'll see who has done better work,” added the Finnish driver.