Raikkonen: hard to say with Monaco

Kimi Raikkonen has said it is difficult to say how Lotus will perform next weekend at the Monaco Grand Prix. The Finn has done well since returning to the sport and notched up his second podium in as many races at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya less than seven days ago. Despite doing so well though, and despite being a strong contender for victory in Spain and Bahrain, the 2007 F1 world champion is refusing to get carried away. “To be on the podium twice already is good. Unfortunately you're not always going to get there. If you get the chance, you should take it because it's not every race that you will be able to fight for that position,” he warned. “Hopefully we can keep doing what we're doing now and at a certain point I'm sure that things will go exactly right and we'll get there. So far we've made good steps forward and the car has been strong everywhere.” “Monaco, however, is a little bit different, and it's hard to say how it will go there,” he added. Indeed, while F1 2012 may have been massively unpredictable thus far, Kimi reckons one thing is certain going to Monaco and that is the importance of qualifying, given the tight and twisty nature of the circuit. “We have to focus on qualifying. It's a difficult place to race as it's so narrow and passing is nearly impossible. I was stuck behind Rubens [Barrichello] in 2009 and we had KERS then, but you just couldn't get past,” he added. “We'll have to see how the tyres perform and if there are any good strategies to be made, but the most important thing is qualifying well. It's difficult to know how good the car will be in Monaco as you can't simulate its characteristics, certainly not at any of the circuits we've visited so far this year. “We can say the E20 has been fast everywhere else though so let's hope it's also fast at Monaco.”