Dec.1 (GMM) Kimi Raikkonen’s improvement in 2016 was nothing short of “amazing”.
That is the view of the 2007 world champion’s manager Steve Robertson, when discussing Raikkonen’s performance this year with the Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat.
“It’s amazing what difference a year makes,” he said.
“If you think back to a year ago, I don’t think many people would have argued that Kimi would beat Sebastian Vettel 11 to 10 in qualifying,” Robertson added.
“Ferrari is not where everyone would like them to be, but Kimi did a very good job, and next year, the dream continues,” he smiled.
Raikkonen’s 2015 and 2016 race engineer, Dave Greenwood, agrees that the Finn has stepped up his game this year, even though Vettel beat him on points.
“In my opinion, statistics do not lie,” Greenwood said.
“I know Kimi says that nothing has changed, but I personally think Kimi has been better in qualifying than in 2015.”
But Greenwood said he also shares Raikkonen’s view that if Ferrari is not winning, little else matters.
“We share Kimi’s view that winning is always the goal,” he said. “If we do not win, we have missed the target. The whole team, every individual, only wants to win.”