Ferrari boss Maurizio Arrivabene insists that Kimi Raikkonen can deliver this season – but he has to feel that he has the full support of the Italian team.
The Finn finished fourth in China after passing both Williams drivers on the first lap, and he was running close behind team mate Sebastian Vettel when the safety car emerged.
“They have different characters.” Arrivabene said of his drivers. “Seb is a kind of strong guy, very committed, etc. Kimi, he needs to feel the support of the team around him, and especially the team principal. I mean in Malaysia I was talking with him after the practice, and he knows me, we’ve known each other since many, many years. I said, ‘Kimi, if you’re attacking for nothing, expect me to react.’
“But Kimi likes this kind of relationship, when you talk with him straight into the face. He’s called Iceman, but actually apart from this image of Iceman he’s a guy who is very sensitive. If he feels that the team is around him and is pushing for him as it’s pushing for Seb, then Kimi can give us very good results and perfect performances.
“The race in Malaysia, I mean we were jumping like kangaroos – even if it was Malaysia not Australia – for the victory, but actually if you look back and look at the race of Kimi it was wonderful. The new news in Ferrari is that we have a team now, and we have two drivers, two very good drivers.”
Adam Cooper F1 
Kim rox. Gr8.
Iron Maury’s perception of Kimi as sensitive shows his own caring hands on approach as Team Principal.
Smart management was totally missing from Ferrari in the years 2008 to 2014 …. the years of failure under Domenicali and Luca.
After Todt left Kimi was sidelined, and we had the years of “Not One Single Trophy For Drivers Or Team”.
Happily that era is now over, and we should thank Mattiacci for pulling the plug on failure.
well said!
There is not doubt the entire team looks like a happier place to be this year. Love seeing Kimi back on the pace.
The moment I heard Jean Todt would leave the Ferrari F1 team, I feared this is not going to be good for Kimi. Todt was the man who made sure the politics in the team wouldn’t disadvantage Kimi who is perhaps the most apolitical driver of all.
As Todt was gone, a relatively weak man Domenicali taking his position, and the extremely political Montezemolo interfering more and more, Raikkonen was without shelter for vultures to attack and to blame him for everything.
What happened in the years 2008 and 2009 confirmed my fear was warranted. Kimi was pressured in dishonest ways by his own team so much that he decided to cancel a valid contract for 2010 and walk away.
I had a hard time believing that especially the Chairman of the Board of Ferrari, Montezemolo would from his high-level position resort to disgusting behaviour to smear Kimi in public to make him go away from the team.
After the hiring of Alonso had been made public, Montezemolo and Domenicali both sang a beautiful song of how Alonso is going to lead the team and to develop the car, and it’s especially great because he’s Latin too.
I thought all of that just sounded too good. And it sounded like the management of the team admitted their own incompetence as they expected a driver to come and take the lead of the team.
I could see it was a mistake especially by Montezemolo to talk like that in public. He set the tone for an inevitable failure, which has now resulted in the sacking of Domenicali, Montezemolo, Alonso and in the re-hiring of Raikkonen.
Ditto Brenda.
very political way to say Ferrari screwed Kimi on the first 2 races!
Kimi is the coolest of all. Go Kimi go!