Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsFerrari

Raikkonen disagrees with Alonso’s radio complaint

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Kimi Raikkonen disagrees with Fernando Alonso’s complaints regarding team radio, saying drivers know their messages can be broadcast on television.

Alonso was criticised by McLaren boss Ron Dennis for his outbursts during the Japanese Grand Prix, but claimed on Thursday such messages should be private between the team and driver. However, Raikkonen says drivers know when they can voice opinions in private situations and are all aware team radio is not such a scenario.

“I think it’s up to the team and the drivers to keep it private,” Raikkonen said. “We have meetings where we discuss many things and it stays private. We all know how it works out on the radios, sometimes they will broadcast it and if it’s good for them they will broadcast it. If we want to keep it private then we can easily keep it private.

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“It’s a simple thing that we’ve all known for years already. If it’s on the radio it usually ends up on TV, so that’s the same for everybody. It’s not like a secret, I think it’s good for spectators on the TV it makes it more interesting for them also when they can hear what’s going on.”

Alonso’s McLaren team-mate Jenson Button agrees drivers are aware radio messages are not private, but says they should be allowed to vent frustrations in such a way.

“It’s tricky, because we’re very emotional when we’re driving a racing car. It’s the place where we feel the most at home and when things aren’t going your way you maybe say something you maybe shouldn’t say. When you say it to the team it maybe isn’t a positive either but if its broadcast to the world it’s very different.

“We know it gets broadcast to the world but sometimes in the heat of the moment there’s so much emotion there you’ve got to let it out. Doing it in your helmet without the radio on feels a bit strange, you feel like you need to let people know how you feel.”

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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.