Kimi Raikkonen’s manager has come out in defence of the Finn following suggestions he is already slipping into a number two role at Ferrari this season.
After struggling alongside former teammate Fernando Alonso, 35-year-old Raikkonen has been joined in red for this year by his friend Sebastian Vettel.
But Raikkonen is already 28 points behind his German teammate, while quadruple world champion Vettel has a win to his name and is nipping at the heels of Lewis Hamilton’s early title lead.
The situation moved former Ferrari team boss Cesare Fiorio this week to observe on Italian radio: “After two races, the hierarchy of the team is already established.
“If Vettel fights for the world championship, Raikkonen will only support him,” said Fiorio.
Raikkonen’s long-time manager Steve Robertson, however, hit back at those sorts of claims, insisting the 2007 world champion got caught up in troubles in Australia and Malaysia that had nothing to do with the Finn’s pace.
“I strongly believe that Kimi and Sebastian are very close to having the same level of performance,” he told the Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat.
“The most important thing is that Kimi is very happy with the car. The whole package is much stronger than it was last season,” said Robertson.
“Kimi was able to show that potential on Friday, which many competitors paid a lot of attention to,” he added. [Source: grandprix247.com]
FUCK ISRAEL 
I salute Robertson for being loyal to Kimi. yes, of course he is paid by kimi but I think his appearances and statements are timely and relevant.
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That’s rigth Kimi was faster than Seb on Friday and Saturday
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We will continue to see comment from doubter until Kimi starts out score Vettel. We just need to wait for the day to come patiently.
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I agree with his managers comments, these things happen all the time in F1 and usually balance theselves out over the season, but Kimi hehas greater strength and focus and has nothing to prove’ a good win will set him off on a great charge and he will ride the waves, I was dissapointed with the Q2 maybe his team could have realised the risk of rain and got him out earlier! and the pit fault were not his fault so overall these matters werent anything to do with him! The race on sunday in Malaysia shows what a true racer and pace he has not many people including seb could have pulled that off with such aplomb and excecuted with precision and great inner strength! Well done Kimi, Good luck in China, bashmanchester.
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I just wish he would hv a clean race fr China onwards.
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China was a different climate to malaysia and the cooler temperatures did effect the handling and downforce to the car and this became more relevant in qualifying I feel that even the minor details will become more crucial thats why Ferrari team have got to qualify on the second row to be within a few seconds of mercedes. I hope Allinson can change the set up to give greater grip and downforce so that the cars can withstand longer and faster stints on track,hopefully the upgrades and new parts can deliver the decisive edge to be front runners, I hope this is very soon. I believe kimi will improve and get better especially in qualifying he needs to really hook up the car in the free practice to not only match seb but he has got the inner strength and skill to overcome this issue and show hes still more than got what it takes! Inshallah Bahrain will be a good result Best of Luck Kimi!
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