Raikkonen Speaks Out On Schumacher Return

Raikkonen
Speaks Out On
Schumacher Return

Kimi Raikkonen has spoken out about Michael Schumacher's return to the Formula 1 world, though his thoughts are somewhat mixed as to whether or not he supports his predecessor's involvement at Ferrari. Kimi does indeed appreciate Michael's involvement with the team and respects his input with regards to team operations. The Finn does not however appreciate that Schumacher will be stealing the spotlight, nor does he think that Michael should have a substantial amount of input at the Scuderia. This is what Kimi had to say:

"Michael is still very much part of the team. He is involved with what we do and so it is natural for him to be here.

I am sure he will be useful for us this weekend. Certainly he will be able to give us some good advice, but at the end of the day, I am the one who drives the car.

We had a good test here and found several things that seem to make the car more suited to me, but of course you never know until you have experienced it in a race weekend, even if I am pretty sure it really is better. The new parts, particularly aerodynamic ones, have made the difference and the car now does what I want it to do. We got a better understanding of what to do in terms of tyres for the one lap qualifying situation, whereas in the races tyres had not been a problem so far."

It would be a bit silly to think that Michael Schumacher is trying to take over the Ferrari team, and it is likely that Raikkonen knows this. Kimi simply wants to maintain that he is the driver at Ferrari now, not Michael Schumacher. No disrespect is likely intended.