Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsFerrari

Raikkonen praises Ferrari’s equal approach

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Kimi Raikkonen says Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene has taken the right approach to let him race Sebastian Vettel as equals this season.

Ferrari has previously allocated priority to one of its drivers at a certain point in a season, with former president Luca di Montezemolo previously saying the team did not want “two roosters in the same hen house”. However, having paired Raikkonen with Fernando Alonso last season, Ferrari now has two world champions again as team-mates who are allowed to race each other and Raikkonen says it is the best approach in his view.

“Every team boss is different and you can have a different feeling or relationship with a different guy, a different boss,” Raikkonen said. “I know Maurizio from before and we had a good relationship but yes it’s different how the team is being run this year, how things are being done in the team and I think it’s only good changes. It’s the only way how it should be run and it will be good for the team.

“In the end in the team there is two cars, yes we fight for the world drivers’ championship as drivers’ but the team wants to win the manufacturer championship and you need to have two cars for that, to be able to fight for the title.

“Ferrari will give us both the same chances and fair treatment, so it’s up to us. We try to behave as well as we can against each other if we have to race. We try to beat each other but in a good way and with the interests of the team in mind. Everything works and how the team is being run is really good for all of us.”

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.