Raikkonen rules out a Ferrari win in Germany

With just 26 points and one podium after eight races, Ferrari have endured a difficult first half of the season and are 65 points shy of where they were this time last year. For driver Kimi Raikkonen the time has come to admit a win will be highly unlikely at this weekend's German Grand Prix and a podium finish will be his real target.

經過了八場比賽只上過一次頒獎台和拿到二十六分，法拉利經歷了一個艱困的上半季並且跟去年的此時相比，他們的積分落後了六十五分。法拉利車手Kimi Raikkonen承認要贏得這週末的德國站有些過度期望了，登上頒獎台會是他真正的目標。

“Realistically this year our objective can’t be a win,” said Raikkonen on Ferrari’s official website. “We still have to make up ground compared to the leaders as far as performance is concerned. It’s always difficult making predictions and promising something to the fans, but for us today a place on the podium is already a good result, considering that we’ve been there just once this year.

"事實上我們今年的目標已經不是鎖定贏得冠軍"， Kimi Raikkonen 在法拉利官網上表示。"就競爭力上來說，我們仍然有很多要改進來提升到領先者的水準，對車迷作出承諾或是預告一向是很難達成的，考慮到今年我們只上過一次頒獎台，所以對我們來說若能站上頒獎台就是很好的成果了。"

“There are still nine races until the end of this extremely difficult season for us. Our objective has to be to give it our all race after race, without thinking that the leaders are so many points ahead of us. I really trust the team’s work and its capacity to close the gap between us and the leaders.”

"這個極為艱辛的賽季還有九站，我們的目標就是僅所能的在每一場比賽發揮全力，而不去想領先車隊已經距離我們多少積分了。我完全的信任車隊的努力，這會彌補我們和領先者們的差距"。

At the previous round, June’s British Grand Prix, the Finn qualified in ninth and finished one place higher in eighth to score a point. But after crossing the line over a minute down on the victorious Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel, the Italian team had little reason to celebrate and have been back at their Maranello factory seeking to improve the errant F60 ahead of this weekend’s German event.

在上一場比賽、六月的英國GP，芬蘭人排位成績在第九位，比賽中進一位以第八名完賽取得一分，但是是在奪勝的紅牛車手Sebastian Vettel 衝線後一分鐘過終點線，讓這支義大利車隊沒有太多的慶祝的理由，並且在這週的德國站前，他們先回到Maranello 工廠尋找任何改進F60的方法“。

The team has continued to work very hard over the last weeks to bring some new solutions to this race,” Raikkonen continued. “The track should be better for the F60’s characteristics than Silverstone, but we’ll get a clearer picture during Friday’s free practice sessions. To be competitive you need a car with good traction, which is very stable while braking.”

"車隊持續的努力工作讓德國站能夠有些改進"，Raikkonen 繼續說，"這條賽道應該比銀石更適合F60，但是我們在週五的自由練習中會看的更清楚。要更有競爭力你需要一輛抓地力良好並且在煞車時很穩定的賽車"。

While his faith in his car’s suitability for the Nurburgring may prove well founded, Raikkonen’s record in Germany leaves a lot to be desired. Despite scoring pole on four occasions, he has never won on German soil, and with his declared objectives for this weekend's race, it doesn't look like he will remedy this in 2009.

當他相信他的賽車可以適應紐柏林賽道並證明賽車的良好基礎，Raikkonen 在德國站的成績一直都是很多的遺憾。儘管拿下四次竿位，他卻沒有在德國冠戰贏過，並且根據他對這週比賽的預期目標，看來今年他還是沒有辦法彌補這個缺憾。