Athough Raikkonen is regarded as the fastest driver on the grid, he is known to enjoy a drink and he can be a stubborn character who is resistant to advice from others. He is also not a noted communicator. This season is going to be tough on him, with high expectations from the Italian public and media and a team-mate in Felipe Massa, who is determined to be Ferrari’s No 1.
Every year Ferrari decamp to this charming resort in the Dolomites (where snow is a precious commodity but where bears have been spotted on the piste in recent days), to introduce their drivers for the season ahead. With Schumacher trying to come to terms with retirement, this was Raikkonen’s turn to take centre stage.
Last season, the “Kimster” displayed poor body language and unconcealed boredom at McLaren press conferences, but he looked more upbeat as he made his first appearance in the red and white of the Scuderia, who are thought to be paying him in the region of $60 million (about £31 million) over the next three years. He even tried an Italian “hello” to his future friends and foes in the local media, but there was nothing over the top from a man succinctly described by Martin Brundle as “low voltage”.
For the most part, in his appearance in the resort’s convention centre, Raikkonen kept to his usual clipped style. He spoke of his hopes that things will go well for him — although he was not rash enough to promise a title in his first season with the team — he talked about a friendly relationship with Massa and how he looked forward to working with Schumacher, who has an advisory role in the background.
Shortly before the session ended, he was asked about his attitude, his approach to training and suggestions that “some at McLaren” believe that Raikkonen’s way might not fit in with how Ferrari do things and that he may have to adjust his style. Raikkonen’s ears pricked up and the PR-speak was put to one side as the Finn seized the opportunity to get a few things off his chest.
“I don’t know what McLaren has said or what they think,” he said. “I don’t know how they can say things about things they don’t know about, about how things are at Ferrari. In general, I’m not going to change my way. It’s been working well enough — it’s the way I want to do things.”
Then he tackled the insinuation behind the question head on. “I don’t think even if I had changed my style to the way they wanted to do things it would have changed the results because the problems weren’t really about how I did my training or what I do in my private life,” Raikkonen said. “It was much more the car not lasting the race or it wasn’t quick enough. So, in that way, I don’t really mind what they say.”
There is no love lost between Raikkonen and his erstwhile employers, for whom he drove for five years and scored nine wins. One suspects that he will get more pleasure out of beating McLaren this season than any other team. Raikkonen finished his exposition by saying that he sees no problems in his relationship with Ferrari — he implied the team are much easier to work with than McLaren — and he is not daunted by the prospect of taking over from Schumacher. “I’m not Michael Schumacher and the team don’t expect me to be,” he said.
