Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel share a healthy relationship with one another, one that has helped Ferrari catch up with Mercedes this season.
Surely the engine has helped Ferrari a great deal, but when you are in tense fight with a fierce rival, it helps if all your energies go into fighting the opponent, rather than resolving issues within your own team.
Kimi Raikkonen is the last man to have won the world championship for Ferrari but doesn’t really have a problem playing second fiddle to Sebastian Vettel.
Raikkonen believes that if he has to play the no.2 role for the team, it doesn’t really matter to him, as in the end it is the team that matters the most.
“At a certain point in the World Cup, the team takes precedence. That is already clear to me. I’m not just since yesterday. ” Raikkonen said, as quoted by Sport Bild.
The Finn is pretty comfortable in his relationship with Vettel, one that has no ‘bullshit’ around it.
“Definitely better than saying that I’m an idiot. He says so, but rarely (laughs). Seriously, we’ve always got along well. With him there is no politics or other bullshit, but a normal male friendship.” Raikkonen said.
Raikkonen is pretty comfortable with Vettel and like his personality. He recalled the 2017 Singapore Grand Prix when the duo had a crash and how Seb handled it later, not creating any fuss around the incident and behaving normally.
“He is very straight forward, and has not changed by his success. Even if we drive into the box, that is no longer an issue after a conversation. Even after our crash in Singapore in 2017 there were no discussions or silence. He’s a guy who can say it was his mistake, and I’m the same. It is much better to work in this nice atmosphere. That also makes the car faster. ” Raikkonen said.
When quizzed about his future, Raikkonen confirmed that he wanted to stay, but the decision was upto Ferrari.
“Of course I would like to stay, but that’s Ferrari’s decision alone. I’ll wait just as much as you do. ” Kimi said.
Currenlty though Kimi is focussed on helping Ferrari win the world title, which he singles as out as the biggest goal for Seb and himself this season,
“We both have the same goal: to make Ferrari World Champion. And we complement each other very well in our way of driving the team. ” Raikkonen concluded.
