Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene narrows down Kimi Raikkonen’s current race woes to so-so qualifying performances and urges the Finn to improve his Saturday form.
The 2007 world champion has been struggling in qualifying this year and is yet to beat team-mate Sebastian Vettel. Last weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix confirmed the trend with Raikkonen lining up a lowly sixth on the grid after finishing nearly six tenths adrift of third-placed Vettel.
The 35-year-old was quick to admit his Saturday showing was a disaster. While Arrivabene thinks his driver needs to work on this aspect of his game, the Ferrari team principal is adamant Raikkonen’s pace remains very strong on race day.
“The problem with Kimi is qualifying,” said Arrivabene. “Because during the race you saw, at a certain part of the race, he had the same pace as Sebastian.
“So if he improves in qualifying then he will have no problems in a race because we know Kimi in a race is super and he can do a good job.”
“If I have to give him some homework then he has to write 100 times ‘I have to be better in qualifying’.”
Arrivabene also concedes that the whole Ferrari team needs to raise the bar in qualifying if it wants to genuinely challenge Mercedes. The defending champions have already locked the front row four times of six this year, with Vettel only breaking the Saturday juggernaut in Malaysia and Bahrain.
“Since the beginning of the year, and also last year, Mercedes are very quick in qualifying, very strong. This is an indication for us on where to focus our attention for the future to work. If you are going to start in a good position on the grid then the race is going to be easier.
“When you have air in front of you, and not other competitors before you, it's good for you and the tyres. Because if you are very close to another competitor the consumption of the tyres goes down very fast. So for us it's something we have to work on.”
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