Raikkonen: Flourishing

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Kimi Raikkonen believes he is taking a more relaxed approach to racing with a world championship title safely in the bag.

The Finn took the title by a point last year and feels that the pressure is off so far as winning again is concerned.

"Whatever happens, if I do not win the title this year then it is probably not going to hurt as much if I had not won it at all," said Raikkonen.

"Last year nobody really expected us to win, yet we still did, so even when we've had bad races this year I've not been too worried.

"That's because you can see how quickly the situation changes this year.

"Right now we are in a pretty good position, so it's up to us. We just have to do our best and hopefully it will be enough."

He added that he has taken on a more philosophical approach knowing that he will always be known as a world champion, and that his mental calmness could give him the edge in what is turning out to be a thrilling battle for this year's drivers' championship.

"I think everybody has a pretty good idea of how they should go about trying to win the title," remarked Raikkonen.

"Some people are stronger in the head in many ways and some not. As for me, I know I am pretty relaxed.

"I don't really think about anything too much. If I have a bad race I'll worry about it for a while, but it's not going to end my life.

"There are far more serious things to worry about than just races."