Last season, Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen finished the year 12th in the Driver Standings, with a total of 55 points. This season, after just 4 races, he has already racked up 42 points.
You don’t have to do too much research in order to find that Raikkonen had an abysmal season in 2014. Naturally, he wasn’t the only driver that underachieved, but where his ex-teammate Fernando Alonso managed to split the two Williams cars in the standings, Kimi couldn’t even outscore the likes of Force India.
Now, the script has indeed flipped and Ferrari have their “game face” on, looking to challenge Mercedes for the title.
New team principal Maurizio Arrivabene may be new at his job, but it seem that he’s very good at it. One of this first major decisions came late last year when he told his design team that he’d like more of the weight transferred to the front.
“I remember it was 10th or 12th December, I was speaking to [chief designer Simone] Resta and Rory [Byrne] and we were watching a picture of the car,” said Arrivabene. “I asked what can you do to transfer weight a bit more to the front? Because I said Kimi likes to feel the car this way and Sebastian [Vettel] is more or less the same.”
Raikkonen was also known to have preferred a light but precise steering feel, however, the reason why he likes a front-heavy setup is because he tends to turn faster into a corner, rotate slower than other drivers, and get on the power a bit later/smoother. It makes for a clean exit, with minimal oversteer, if any.
Alonso was pretty much the exact opposite and last year’s car was tailored more to his style.
This year, the team worked day and night in order to grant Arrivabene his wish and provide both of his drivers, but especially Raikkonen, with a machine capable of restarting his career.
So far, so good.
Story references: autosport
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