Kimi Raikkonen revealed his unexpected choice of the favourite F1 engine in his career in the ‘Beyond The Grid’ podcast.
Despite his reputation as a no-nonsense, old-school driver and his achievements in the naturally aspirated era, Kimi choose the sophisticated hybrid V6s as his favourite engine.
Raikkonen made his debut in F1 back in 2001. At that time, the cars raced with a three-litre naturally aspirated V10s. In 2007, Raikkonen won his first drivers’ title powered by a naturally aspirated 2.4-litre V8.
After his return to F1, he again became a race winner again in the hybrid era by claiming victory at the US Grand Prix in 2018. Kimi is the only driver to win in the V10, V8 and the V6 turbo hybrid engine eras.
The Finnish racing driver said, “I actually enjoyed the [hybrids]! “Obviously, when the hybrid came [in 2014], at Ferrari we were not on the level where we should have been.”
“So in the beginning, the driveability probably wasn’t as good as we [were] used to and all these things. But let’s say, the second year onwards, they improved a lot,” he further added.
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Kimi Raikkonen did not notice much of a difference
The redolent noise of the V10 engine still evokes a feeling of thrill among the fans who cry out for a return to the outdated technology. But in Raikkonen’s opinion, v6s make for a much more pleasant working environment.
He said, “I like [them] because they’re not so noisy, honestly, because working is much nicer. When it’s testing or something, it’s not that crazy noise all the time, so we can [actually have a conversation].”
“Obviously at the beginning [of the hybrid era], it was a bit weird, but also when you’re driving it’s quite nice, actually.”
Furthermore, Raikkonen said that he never really noticed much of a difference. In his opinion, all the changes have not really resulted in any disruption to the pecking order.
“We have earplugs and everything, [it] was still noisy, but I think once they got to the level that we are today, the sound is different, but nothing else is really different,” he explained.
“But I think in a way we could still be racing the V10s. People would have just saved a hell of a lot of money on the way and the end result would not change. Sometimes the changes have not been done for the right reason.”
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