Kimi Raikkonen says his belated contract renewal with Ferrari has not changed his approach ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa.
Raikkonen stands as one of the four most successful grand prix drivers to race at the undulating Spa-Francorchamps layout with another victory to move him level with the great Ayrton Senna.
The Finn has captured four wins at Spa, equal with the late Jim Clark, and who are only bettered by Michael Schumacher (six wins) and Senna (five).
Raikkonen’s continuation at Ferrari for 2016 will be his sixth, in total, with the Maranello marque after leading the Prancing Horse to its last World F1 Championship in 2007.
“It doesn’t change anything. I mean we still try to do the same as every other race,” Raikkonen said in the regular pre-event F1 press conference.
“So, that contract thing, it’s not going to change our approach for the weekend or the end result.
“Hopefully the end result will be good but no, we will do the same things as in all the other races.
“Hopefully we can have a good weekend, no problems and see where we end up.”
Raikkonen has played second fiddle to Ferrari’s 2015 signing, Sebastian Vettel who has lead the Italian maker to wins at Malaysia and Hungary.
The 35-year-old Raikkonen is optimistic that a renewed and unified Ferrari will be able to supply him with consistently strong results in future.
“As a team, as they are now, I really feel that we are going in the right direction and we can do great things in the future,” added Raikkonen.
“We keep working and believe in what we’re doing so I’m sure we will get there and we will have many happy days in front of us and a lot of good results.
“Hopefully (we can) challenge for championships for next year and I’m sure we can produce even a quite bit better car than this year next year.”