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Kimi Raikkonen plays down his vital role at Alfa Romeo

Kimi Raikkonen plays down his vital role at Alfa Romeo

09-05-2019 15:32
2

Kimi Raikkonen believes he's "just a driver like in any other team" despite helping his younger teammate, Antonio Giovinazzi, grow and pushing Alfa Romeo further up the grid. He talks about the differences between Alfa Romeo, and Ferrari

Raikkonen has scored 100% of Alfa Romeo's points in 2019 lifting them into sixth. When asked about his influence on the team, Raikkonen played down any important experience elements he adds.

“I don’t think so. In the end, I’m just the driver, like in any other team. As a team I think we’re not as big as some other teams I’ve been with, but we have the tools," Raikkonen said in an interview on Crash.

The 39-year-old dropped from Ferrari to Alfa Romeo during the winter. Rather than competing for race wins, the Finn is now fighting to score points.

Having been inside the Alfa Romeo cockpit for four Grands Prix now, Raikkonen can give some sort of conclusion.

“It’s a bit different because we don’t produce the engines and the gearbox, like in Ferrari. If you purely take how many people we are, compared to the big teams, we have less, but if you take the gearbox and engine people out, I think we have quite a lot of people," he adds.

“In certain areas, we probably need more but I think the team is still growing up. It’s not many years ago that they were in a pretty bad situation and it’s quite impressive how far they’ve moved forward in a short period of time."

“It’s all learning and I think my position isn’t any different than any other year. Maybe with my experience, I can help them in some areas but I don’t feel less or more important than I was before.”

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