Raikkonen is annoyed by questions about his motivation

Kimi Raikkonen has been facing many problems since returning to the Ferrari team. The biggest is the design of the car itself, which is still based on the philosophy of suspension with a towing bar, which makes the car less oversteer, which does not suit Finčec's driving style, while preventing rapid changes in settings that Raikkonen needs to tame his car.

In addition, the Maranello team is also struggling with technical problems, which make it impossible for the racers to get everything they can out of the car. Interestingly, the problems are more severe with Raikkonen. “We have electronics problems on both race cars, among others, especially with Kimi, who doesn’t have all the engine power available,” explained Pat Fry. The Finn had to miss two of the three free practice sessions in China due to problems, and the problems continued in the qualifiers and in the race itself.

The former Sauber and McLaren racer explained that his headaches were caused by an unpredictable race car that was "stable on some and completely unstable on other parts of the track."

"The weekend is behind us. Why it was so exhausting I don’t know the best yet. I hope we find the answers and the “cure” for them as soon as possible. I was simply slow in the race. Overall, I lacked grip, both front and rear. We cannot determine exactly what is causing us the problem. During the last tire change, we put an unused set of wheels on the car. The race car was good for a few laps and then became difficult again.

It is most likely a combination of my driving style and the weather, ”explained Raikkonen, whose hidden trump card last season was a driving style that was very forgiving to the tires. “I don’t think I load the tires enough, so they haven’t worked optimally for a few years when the track is cold or wet. The feeling on the new tires is good until they wear out a bit, but then I have to drive slower, which causes the tires to cool down even more and I get caught in a vicious circle that only increases the problem and we can’t solve it. I think the rabbit is in this bush.

This is something that no one likes, because there is no miraculous solution to change your style of racing, ”explained Finec, who, despite poor results, is always faced with journalistic questions about his motivation, which this time, despite all the problems, with the race car she made me even angrier: “I don't know why you always take everything for motivation. If I wasn’t motivated I certainly wouldn’t be here answering such questions. For you, it all revolves around motivation. We have bad races behind us, which is not good, but the main goal is to improve and get where we want to go. ”

 

Example of two of Raikkonen's problems at the Chinese GP (from 4:25)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NImumEW7QvI#t=282