When it comes to listing the most stoic and composed individuals in F1 history, Kimi Raikkonen’s name would be somewhere at the top. The 2007 world champion has rarely spoken about being afraid of a challenge or appeared to seem overwhelmed by it. His former performance coach Mark Arnall, however, revealed the one time Raikkonen let doubts creep in.
Arnall, in the Pitlane Life Lessons podcast, spoke about his time with Raikkonen at Ferrari. He told host Marc Priestley that the Finn was wary of outperforming his then-teammate Felipe Massa. “So when we were in Ferrari, Kimi did question, can I actually beat Felipe? Maybe I can’t.”
“I think his self-belief was there, but it’s a question mark,” Arnall added.
Because Massa had a closer and longer association with the Italian outfit, Raikkonen was unsure about how he would stack up against the Brazilian. Priestley asked Arnall about his efforts to boost the #7 driver’s confidence, to which he stated that it was very difficult to get Raikkonen‘s confidence up.
Kimi Raikkonen (McLaren-Mercedes MP4-21) vs Felipe Massa (Ferrari 248 F1) 2006 Catalunya #F1 testing pic.twitter.com/mEXEJfSukv
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However, once Raikkonen saw that he could beat Massa on the track, “it was fine,” Arnall said.
The Finn won the world championship in his maiden season at Ferrari, while Massa dropped out of the title fight a few races before the season’s end. Raikkonen still faced a stern challenge from the McLaren duo of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. However, their intense rivalry benefited Raikkonen win his maiden and only F1 title.
Arnall elaborated that Massa and Raikkonen were still rather close on performance. In 2008, the Brazilian got back in front to lead Ferrari‘s championship charge. While he seemed to set win the championship, he suffered a heartbreaking loss in Interlagos on the final lap as Hamilton pipped him to his maiden championship.
Raikkonen could only finish third that season and eventually had to leave Ferrari in 2009 for a while, with Alonso coming in for 2010. The Finn still had a bigger legacy at the Scuderia relative to Massa, who stayed with the team till 2013.
Raikkonen returned to Ferrari for a second stint in 2014 and later formed a formidable partnership with Sebastian Vettel. To date, he remains the last drivers’ champion for the Maranello-based team. Meanwhile, Massa is currently fighting a controversial legal battle to claim his lost 2008 championship.
