Raikkonen salutes 'easy transition' to smooth-running Alfa Romeo

Any doubts Kimi Raikkonen may have had about Alfa Romeo Racing were quickly dispelled by his smooth and easy transition to the Swiss outfit.

For many, Charles Leclerc's promotion to Ferrari for 2019, when it was announced last September, implied a natural end to the Finnish veteran's career in F1.

But the 39-year-old's motivation was still intact. When he conveyed that feeling to Sauber boss Beat Zehnder on the off chance the Swiss outfit might be interested in his services, a two-year deal was quickly struck between the two parties, much to the Hinwil team's delight.

• Alfa Romeo? 'More relaxed and less politics', says Raikkonen

It was a homecoming of sorts for Raikkonen who started his career with Sauber in 2001, but one that also entailed a big change of environment given the contrasts that exist on every level between Ferrari and its mid-field affiliated team.

"It's a different team but I don't think it's better or worse," said Raikkonen.

"We've been working for a while now and everything felt smooth [on the first day]. It's a very normal way [of working].

"When I'm driving I don't feel any different.

"There's always doubt, changing teams. It could be difficult to go and start getting things how you like, but so far it's been very easy transition.

"It's a great group of people. It's not as big as my previous team, but they are good people and everything is running nicely."

So far, Alfa Romeo Racing's performance in pre-season testing appears to place the team in the thick of the mid-field battle, but Raikkonen is keeping his head although he has no doubts about his outfit's potential.

"As long as we do the maximum we can all do, then I have no doubt the result will come," he said.

"What the end result will be is impossible to say.

"To see how well how they've been working on the car, and what they've produced over the winter, it seems to match well what we expected.

"Where that takes us, no idea. Nobody knows even, after testing, where everybody is."

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