Formula One’s Kimi Raikkonen on his Ferrari season: ‘It’s not fun’

The much-heralded return of Kimi Raikkonen to Ferrari’s Formula One team this year has turned out to be a disappointment, as the former champion underlined Thursday.

“It’s been a difficult year,” Raikkonen told reporters at the Hockenheimring track in southwest Germany, site of the German Grand Prix on Sunday.

“Hopefully it will turn around at some point -- it must, it cannot go much longer like this, it’s not fun,” he said.

Raikkonen, 34, is mired in 12th place in the Formula One championship standings and he’s yet to finish in the top five through the first nine races this season.

The Finnish driver also suffered a hard crash in the British Grand Prix two weeks ago that left him with sore ribs. But Raikkonen said that he’s back to 100% health.

“Nothing serious happened,” he said. “It’s part of the sport.”

It’s been rough sledding overall this year for Ferrari, which hasn’t won a Formula One championship since Raikkonen did so in 2007.

His teammate, two-time champion Fernando Alonso, is fourth in the title standings but a distant 78 points behind leader Nico Rosberg of the Mercedes team.

Alonso, meanwhile, was quoted on the Ferrari team’s website as saying he’s not speaking to other teams about leaving Ferrari to drive for them.

“Every year now I get asked this question in July,” the Spaniard said. “I haven’t talked with any other team and it’s not my priority.”

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