McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh admits Kimi Raikkonen is a top class driver – Formula 1
McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh has admitted that Kimi Raikkonen has had an impressive return to the sport.
The Finn won the world championship as a Ferrari driver in 2007 but he was also very successful as part of the McLaren team between the years 2002-2006 by winning nine grands prix in that period.
The Finn retired from the sport in 2009 to join rally racing but has returned for the 2012 season with the Lotus team.
There were talks of the Finn not being able to make a fruitful comeback citing reasons of motivation and rustiness to make his return an unsuccessful endeavour.
“I think he is one of the fastest men on the planet,” he added. “People tend to underestimate Kimi, because of how little he talks. But he is a very intelligent and impressive driver. The Lotus is a good car and so, put together, they’re a real threat.”
“I’m sure you’ve noticed that Kimi does not make many mistakes; he always does a good job. So I’m not surprised and I think he has the ability to improve even more throughout the season,” he added.
Raikkonen is still looking for the win in the season that has eluded the former world champions so far in the season. Raikkonen said that the team is not a winning team yet just because it has not been able to win any races yet.
“Well, it hasn’t won any races, so it’s not a winner,” Raikkonen insisted.
Whitmarsh said that Raikkonen is one of the fastest men in the world today and not just fast he is talented as well. He added that people tend to underestimate him because of the way he is and talks, but in reality he is very intelligent and an impressive
driver.
Whitmarsh added that Lotus have a world class driver in Raikkonen and with the E20 proving to be more than capable of competing in the season the team has a strong chance to contend for the title championships.
It will be interesting to see how Raikkonen fares as the season progresses into the second phase of the year.
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