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Raikkonen can't compete with Hamilton or Alonso: "He can't adapt."

16:25, 30 Mar 2020

byGPblog.com

According to former Formula 1 driver Pedro de la Rosa, world champion Kimi Raikkonen is a lesser driver than two other world champions: Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton. De la Rosa can speak from experience because he has worked with all three men at McLaren.

In conversation with the Finnish website Iltalehti the former driver of Arrows shines his light on three world champions. According to De la Rosa all three are very fast but there is a difference between Raikkonnen, Hamilton and Alonso. "Kimi is very fast, he's a champion for a reason, only he depends on a certain type of car."

The Finn needs a car that suits his driving style: "His car needs to be stable at the front. If he doesn't have that, he can't adapt", the Spaniard says. That doesn't apply to the current world champion and Fernando Alonso: "Give Fernando a car and he'll show speed. Lewis can do that too. Here lies the difference with Raikkonen".

Kimi was very fast

By the way, the former Formula 1 driver does praise the qualities of the Finn: "In 2005 and 2006 we worked together with Michelin at McLaren. Juan-Pablo Montoya and I both had problems but Kimi was very fast". Still the Spaniard thinks Hamilton and Alonso are a bit better.

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3 Comments

TrulliNick 30 March 2020 at 17:16+ 86

This is not exactly even what Pedro said. Kimi was the fastest driver since Senna in the tyre war period, while Alonso was losing to Trulli in 2004...
The fact is at McLaren, on the Michelin tyre, Kimi was easily the fastest driver in the world. Kimi is just suffering from the new regs especially the tyres having tyre pressure and camber limits, which cause understeer, but in fact, Kimi is the ONLY driver who can compete with those two, if he likes the front end on the car. If F1 allowed some freedom in setup again, Kimi would fly. He remains the quickest driver I have seen this century - a legend. 2014 was a total fluke because he didn't like the car and the car was built more for Alonso's driving style as anyone could see.

TrustF1 30 March 2020 at 22:55+ 2

Thats exactly what Pedro is saying. With Alonso and Hamilton, it is never a case of oh this wasn't built for them and they didn't like this, etc, etc. They just adapt. Raikkonen is more in the Jenson Button category. Everything has to be perfect for them to fire. They are no-where if the car isn't perfect. If 2014 was a fluke, so was 2007.

Masqare 31 March 2020 at 24:28+ 4

2005 was more of a fluke than 2007. Alonso did not deserve that 2005 title at all. It's not about the car being perfect, it just needs a strong front end. Give Kimi a slow car, but if the front end is there, he will outperform it more than anybody on the grid.

Kimi had 6 wins to Lewis and Alonso's 4, and had a massive 9 podiums in the last 10 races, totally peerless on race day and consistency in 2007. All this with 2 DNFS while the Mclarens were bulletproof. If anything Kimi deserved to wrap it up in Fuji.

Jenson, never in his best dreams, could drive like Kimi can at his best. Different class of driver. Raikkonen is superior on all fronts from feedback to raw speed (insane) and racecraft. Are you new to F1, respectfully? Kimi is like a musician with perfect pitch.

Raikkonen's peak performance in the Michelin tyre war was so absurdly high, I don't think anyone could match that driver.

In fact, the regulations now favor drivers who simply overwork their front tyres. This isn't skill for Lewis and Alonso, this is actually a bias in the regs. For example, in 2004, Alonso LOST TO TRULLI because he couldn't stop overheating the super soft Bridgestones of that year. Permane told Alonso he didn't need to change his driving style because luckily, the tyres were going to be made harder in 2005.

In 2013, Lewis had the same issue, until Pirelli CHANGED their tyres after Silverstone, at which point Kimi started to have massive handling problem.

Kimi, at McLaren at his peak, for half a decade was a better driver than Alonso was, and would have won the 2003 and 2005 WDC easily without mechanical failures.

In summary, Raikkonen is a god-tier driver. Peak Kimi > Alonso. I'd bet my house on it. And for that reason I totally disagree with DeLaRosa, he is obviously mistaken here, despite praising Kimi quite a bit on the podcast.

Keep in mind, I'm a Prost fan. Not a Kimi, Lewis or Fernando one. I just know greatness when I see it. 2014 was a total fluke, circumstance of Kimi's rookie race engineer, (who was eventually let go) and the sudden loss of front downforce due to 2014 being the first year of hybrid regs combined with rock hard tyres. Few people realize, Alonso actually praised the handling of that car numerous times (??), which ties into Leo Turrinis comments that Alonso has terrible feedback.