Breaking news

Formula 1

Committed Raikkonen "easy to manage" for Alfa Romeo

Alfa Romeo Formula 1 boss Frederic Vasseur says the team’s relationship with Kimi Raikkonen is “working perfectly” and benefitting from “black-and-white” discussions.

Scott Mitchell

Edited: Aug 27, 2019, 3:26 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Kimi Raikkonen, Alfa Romeo Racing

Raikkonen signed a two-year deal with Sauber, which morphed into Alfa Romeo for 2019, after learning he would lose his Ferrari seat once the 2018 season had ended.

The 2007 world champion is eighth in the championship with eight points finishes in 12 grands prix, and has scored 31 of Alfa’s 32 points so far in 2019.

Vasseur told Motorsport.com: “The advantage with Kimi is before he signed last year we had hours of discussions, about the team, the positive and negative points, where we could improve, where we have to improve.

“We were very open about what is the real situation of the company. And I think now he is not surprised when we have issues because we knew that before.

“He’s fully committed on the project. I don’t know how he was last year with Ferrari, I was not there, but for us it is working perfectly.”

Raikkonen made his F1 debut with Sauber in 2001 and has spoken this year of the impact it has had to drive for a team where he is happy, closer to home in Switzerland and free of the politics of a leading manufacturer.

Vasseur said he could not predict the results Raikkonen would enjoy with the team but said in terms of how he has fit in, “he’s taken to my expectation”.

“The most important for me was to make sure he was committed,” said Vasseur. “Committed means he will be present at the factory, he will push the guys, he will be demanding.

“He is demanding, and I don’t want him to relax, that’s absolutely not the case. I want to have someone in the team pushing for results. It’s a good situation for the engineers also and it’s important.

“But he already understands that he’s not at Ferrari or Mercedes and everything can’t be fixed in two weeks.”

Raikkonen raised eyebrows earlier this year when he described F1 as "more of a hobby” since switching to Alfa.

That was a reference to the enjoyment he gets from racing again and Vasseur said this is playing a part in how well Raikkonen is driving.

“You have to do the job on Saturday and Sunday, and you have to be fully convinced everybody is pushing in the right direction,” said Vasseur. “The psychological side of this is very important.

“To me, he likes the atmosphere. We have discussions, it is straightforward, black and white, honestly it’s quite easy to manage with us.

“I’m more than happy with the current situation. He is doing a fantastic job in the car, he is coming to the factory every single week, he’s fully committed. It couldn’t be better.”

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Sainz: Not enough top F1 cars for top drivers

Next article Russell: Mercedes interest was "almost laughable" given F3 results

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

F1 Mexico GP: Charles Leclerc beats Kimi Antonelli to top FP1

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Mexican GP

33 min

F1 Mexico GP: Charles Leclerc beats Kimi Antonelli to top FP1

What Fernando Alonso is getting wrong about F1 driving standards

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Mexican GP

1 h

What Fernando Alonso is getting wrong about F1 driving standards

F1 Mexico GP: Follow FP1 with live timing

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Mexican GP

2 h

F1 Mexico GP: Follow FP1 with live timing

Sergio Perez to skip F1 Mexico GP fan forum due to illness

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Mexican GP

3 h

Sergio Perez to skip F1 Mexico GP fan forum due to illness

Feature

Discover prime content

What’s the state of play at F1’s smallest team?

Formula 1

By Jake Boxall-Legge

What’s the state of play at F1’s smallest team?

Is history really repeating itself? What Christian Horner’s Adrian Newey claim says about Aston Martin and Red Bull

Formula 1

By Ronald Vording

Is history really repeating itself? What Christian Horner’s Adrian Newey claim says about Aston Martin and Red Bull

The one aspect of the 2026 US GP that should be a blueprint for F1 2027

Formula 1

United States GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

The one aspect of the 2026 US GP that should be a blueprint for F1 2027

A strategic masterclass: How Kimi Antonelli put himself on the cusp of F1 title at the US GP

Formula 1

United States GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

A strategic masterclass: How Kimi Antonelli put himself on the cusp of F1 title at the US GP

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts