Kimi Raikkonen, who is celebrating is 300^th Formula 1 Grand Prix over this weekend, affirmed that Montecarlo has lost the magic of the past. The Finnish driver believes that driving skills are not as important as in the past to succeed in the street race he won in 2005 with Mclaren Mercedes.

“It might be a nice place to watch, but honestly I don’t like Monaco at all”.

Kimi  remarked that in comparison to 2001, when he contested his first race at Monaco with Sauber, the circuit has become less and less challenging, with the barriers moved back in several places enlarging the track.

“It’s not the same Monaco that I drove the first time,” said the Alfa Romeo driver. “It was much more tricky. There was Armco inside turn one, the Swimming Pool was a lot tighter, the last part was a lot tighter. It has changed a lot from that.

“Also with the cars, a long time ago: A good car goes well here, a bad car, it doesn’t matter who drives it, it’s not going to go suddenly fastest and that’s the fact. The car still plays a massive role.”

Accordingly, Raikkonen underlined that Monaco could even amplify the difference between cars.

“In many ways in a place like this it can be an even bigger difference because if things are not right here you cannot push. You can push, but you end up in a wall. You choose from those two but obviously it’s a balancing act.”

The 2007 world champion, who finished both the first practice session in P9, added that the Alfa Romeo performance in the street circuit looks better than he expected.

“We”ll take it , there is still work to be done,” he told reporters.

“Probably it is a better start than we expected.”

Kimi concluded that, despite heading to its 300^th grand prix, he is not interested in celebrating anything.

“I don’t want cakes, drinks, nothing. It’s just a number that means nothing to me.”


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