08/07/2016
NEWS STORY
Ferrari team boss Maurizio Arrivabene has defended the decision to retain Kimi Raikkonen in 2017.
While there is no arguing the popularity of Kimi Raikkonen, the moody, verbose Finn being one of the sport's real characters, there was widespread dismay today when he was confirmed for a fourth season at Ferrari.
Despite the title, despite the fact that he is currently joint third - along with teammate Sebastian Vettel - in the standings, and despite his claim that if he didn't feel he was still competitive he would walk away, many feel that by retaining the Finn the Italian outfit sends out the message that it is settling in a comfort zone rather than attempting to take a serious step forward.
Speaking at today's press conference, Maurizio Arrivabene defended the decision, which, he revealed, came from Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne.
"We confirmed Kimi because first of all he deserves it," said the Italian. "Having said so we are looking for the interests of the team and the interest of the team was not looking for another driver but concentrating on car development.
"We have two good drivers so that was not an issue for us," he continued, "so we remove all the pressure from the shoulders of Kimi in taking this decision, that actually was confirmed yesterday in a phone call from the President, and a couple of hours later we are with Kimi. We turn the page and we look forward to work very hard where the problem is."
Asked to explain what he meant by the 'pressure on Raikkonen's shoulders', Arrivabene said: "Our main interest, our issue, was not related to the driver. We were very proud and very happy about the work of Kimi since the beginning of the season. He was asked to show his commitment, his results so he deserved the confirmation for next year.
"In the last three or four races every time that Kimi was sitting in a press conference somebody would ask what about his contract," he continued.
"I asked many, many times for a bit of respect for a driver that was a World Champion with Ferrari. I know that his nickname is Iceman but he's a human being. Sometimes in Formula One we need to be conscious that we are talking, not with cars because actually the computer talks with the car but the cars are driven by human beings so even the Iceman is a human being with his emotions and I think he could feel the pressure. That's it."
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