Ferrari Formula 1 boss Maurizio Arrivabene believes Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen are the “perfect combination” for the Scuderia this season.
Four-time world champion Vettel and 2007 title winner Raikkonen have become team-mates for the first time in their respective F1 careers in 2015, following Vettel’s switch from Red Bull.
Arrivabene reckons the two have contrasting personalities, but that the combination is the right one to aid Ferrari’s competitive recovery.
“They are two different characters,” said Arrivabene, who described Vettel as a “Ferrari enthusiast”.
“Kimi the kind of person who doesn’t like to talk about stupid things; he likes to talk serious.
“Either you find after a couple of minutes he stops talking and gives you the hand, or after a couple of hours he’s hugging you!
“The guys said this is strange. Drivers are strange. But he’s a very good guy and a good driver.
“Seb is different – super professional. He reminds me of another German guy… [Michael Schumacher].
“I was impressed with the concentration and how he works on detail on the car. He’s taking notes and talking about these notes at the briefings. It’s great.
“We have two different drivers but they are both really committed.
“Sebastian is fully integrated into the team, he’s 120 per cent part of the family.
“He’s also a funny guy. He’s a super person with his feet on the ground; very simple but I’m not surprised he won four world titles.
“After Michael, Kimi was the only world champion for Ferrari.
“We have the perfect combination.” [ Source: autosport.com ]
RECENT STORIES ON KIMI
Domenicalli: “I never regretted to have brought back Raikkonen in Maranello. It was the right thing to do, and I’ll do it again. 2014 was an horrible year, but Kimi is always Kimi,and I think he’ll give many satisfactions to Ferrari tifosi thi year.” [translation via LorenzoDL83]
Leo Turrini recalls when Kimi struggled to enter the F1 Paddock on his F1 debut at Melbourne 2001: “I’m an F1 driver, I forgot my pass in my team garage. My name is Raikkonen, Kimi Raikkonen”
Maurizio Arrivabene: “I love Raikkonen and Vettel, they’re fantastic, they are my drivers. And they are at the service of Ferrari. That’s why there will never be a difference in treatment between Kimi and Seb” [translation via LorenzoDL83]
Mika Salo: “Ferrari dare not say that Alonso focused completely on himself. He made [Alonso] himself look good while giving Kimi a really bad time with his dirty tricks. Anyone can read between the lines that Alonso did not want to leave Ferrari; he was removed from there. [translation via FansofKR]
If #Raikkonen can reach the level of performance of his best years, he could give #Vettel a real hurry-up #Autosport pic.twitter.com/1jjY9a8PmR
— Gianlu D’Alessandro (@Gianlu_DAle) March 6, 2015
#Vettel: “I was surprised by the fact that Kimi showed respect to me since my 1st moment in F1 and over the time he has not changed” — Gianlu D’Alessandro (@Gianlu_DAle) March 5, 2015
KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN SPACE 