Kimi Raikkonen addressed the media last night for the first time after his move away from Ferrari was confirmed, informing the F1 world that Ferrari had informed him of their decison during the Monza weekend and only then did he start talking to Sauber about a possible move.
Now, in the press conference today, Arrivabene has revealed that he had informed Kimi about the decision on Thursday during the Italian GP weekend.
“He was so unhappy he did a pole position on Saturday” Arrivabene said.
“The decision was taken by me… It was nothing against Kimi, he is a great driver and person. It was the right decision for us and for Kimi. We did a different style in the Press Release.. we broke the rules of Ferrari by using one line and respecting Kimi with it” Arrivabene said in the press conference.
Arrivabene also spoke about how he informed Kimi about the decision and how we was extremely professional about the entire meeting, not at once trying to ask to Arrivabene to change his decision.
“The relationship with Kimi is so good. My job was to take him through the process and explain it to him. And he was not trying to ask to change my opinion. This is a professional driver.” he said.
Now, according to what Arrivabene has just informed the media, Raikkonen was extremely civil about the entire procedure and not once did he ask Ferrari to reconsider their decision.
Also, Arrivabene didn’t quite mention Sergio Marchionne or any pre-contract between him and Leclerc, one that might have forced Ferrari into securing his services despite being reluctant of it.
In addition to that, Arrivabene confirmed that it was in fact his own decision to let Kimi leave.
