Domenicali: “Raikkonen is more mature”

Stefano Domenicali, Ferrari team principal, said that in his opinion Kimi Raikkonen is more mature than in his first experience at Ferrari.
After leaving Ferrari at the end of 2009, Raikkonen raced in rallies before returning to F1 in 2012 with Lotus. In 2014 the Finn will team up with Fernando Alonso at Ferrari.

“Raikkonen is more mature, more experienced, closer to the team” Domenicali declared to Gazzetta dello Sport. “He has already been to Maranello often, he comes almost every week. He knows what he is capable of doing. He knows this is a major challenge for him. He knows what he has to do with a champion with Alonso, with whom he has to work in an integrated way. He is extremely motivated and has the experience to manage a difficult championship, like this year's will be. He knows that he will have to manage the pressure of driving next to Alonso and of driving for Ferrari, which is always in the spotlight and for which finishing second is a tragedy."

Although for Domenicali a second place for Ferrari in the Constructors' Championship is a failure, the Italian admitted he had no idea of ​​Ferrari's current position after the first winter tests.

“In a very different context compared to previous years, we had to have confirmation of certain fundamental parameters and so it was. It is a sign of the robustness of our project and gives us hope. But we must be careful. In terms of performance we haven't seen anything from anyone yet. We will only know where the teams are after the second test in Bahrain. From a reliability point of view, Mercedes has started very well, their customer teams have also put in a lot of kilometres.”