Understandably, it got lost in all the excitement of Sebastian Vettel winning the opening race of the season for Scuderia Ferrari in Australia last month, but Kimi Raikkonen did a superb job in finishing third. It was arguably one of his most impressive performances since rejoining the Maranello team in 2014. The 2007 world champion out-qualified Sebastian Vettel and pulled away from his German teammate in the opening laps as he pushed Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes-GP hard. Such was Kimi’s pressure on four-time world champion Hamilton that when the Finn did pit it forced Mercedes to respond and bring their man in.
If Kimi will be able put in another strong display in Bahrain, both in qualifying and the race this weekend, then Ferrari very well look ahead with confidence, as the Italian side attempts to successfully challenge Mercedes in the fight for the 2018 Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship.
The Finnish driver took part in Thursday’s press conference and Kimi was in his usual charismatic style at the Bahrain Grand Prix, saying to one journalist that there was “no point” answering his question. Ahead of Liberty and the FIA revealing their latest blueprint for the sport, Raikkonen was asked first about what he would change about Formula 1 if he had the power to make the rules. A seemingly harmless question was given the trademark ‘Ice-Man’ response – “I wouldn’t change anything. I don’t have the power so what’s the point to waste the time and even think about it? I don’t understand. What’s the point for me? To give you a list but then I have zero power? We don’t make the rules. What’s the point in even telling and making a story out of it?” – Kimi explained.
The Finnish driver Kimi Raikkonen also said that he is not concerned about the detail of Liberty Media’s plans for F1 after 2020 as he doubts he will still be racing then. Formula One’s managing director of motorsport Ross Brawn will reveal his plans for future changes to the sporting rules, technical rules and income structure to teams tomorrow. Speaking in the FIA press conference ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix, Kimi said he isn’t interested in what the sport’s commercial rights holders have planned: “In the end it’s not our decision, it’s up to them. It’s their business, they make plans and decisions what they feel is correct. I don’t know what they are doing, I know very little about it and I’m not interested either. We’ll see tomorrow what they see. It’s in many years’ time anyhow and I doubt that I’ll be here so it doesn’t really both me at all.” – Scuderia Ferrari’s Finnish driver concluded.
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