Kimi Raikkonen Has No Regrets Over Alfa Romeo Switch

The Scuderia Ferrari team and the Alfa Romeo team managed to complete a swap between Kimi Raikkonen and Charles LeClerc back in 2018.

It later transpired that Raikkonen was the one who initiate contact with Alfa Romeo. Speaking to Swiss newspaper Blick, the Finnish veteran said, “Finally no more politics. I really enjoy driving. Here everything is about the sport again. The bullshit is gone. That makes it easier for everyone. Otherwise the media are usually only interested in negative stories.”

The 2007 World Champion will partner Antonio Giovinazzi for the coming season. Already, Giovinazzi views Raikkonen as a mentor figure and he is eager to learn from Raikkonen.

“Kimi is really motivated this year and it’s something really good to have,” said Giovinazzi.

“For me he can not only be a teacher but also a reference during the year. With the results and everything the important thing in the end is to work really well together, going on the same direction with the car, and achieve the best result for the team.

“[Raikkonen] is a good target I would say. He’s a World Champion driver, he’s a driver who won a Formula 1 race last October, so yeah, I think he can be a really good target.”

During the first pre-season test, Raikkonen proved to be very quick right off the bat. According to his testimony, early signs from the car looked pretty promising.

While he has not done any qualifying laps in the C38 The team elected to simply run with different tyre compounds. Overall, Kimi Raikkonen is reasonably satisfied with such a well-balanced car.

According to him, it even has pretty good grip. He admitted to holding back as they wanted to get a feel for the car first but once they commence pushing Only then can the Alfa’s full potential be unlocked.