Kimi Räikkönen’s manager Steve Robertson arrived from his home Dubai, which had 28 degrees of heat, to the arctic cold Lapland. He got a cold ride also from his protégé’s initial difficulties in Lapland-rally.What did it feel like when you heard that Kimi had driven out?
- We have to remember that this is Kimi’s first day in his rally-career. When you go to an entirely new class – like from F1 to rally – everyone certainly understand better after this how different it is – from driving style onwards.
- Kimi knows how much work it is to understand notes and make them in the best way. It’s a map where he now navigates. He has all the experience from F1 but it doesn’t help when you must suddenly do notes to places which experienced drivers have gone through already thousands times. It is not easy when there is no baseline to compare with.
- Kimi is certainly a natural talent in every way but it takes its time that he starts to understand the rally-world completely. And it doesn’t help that he’s a F1 champion. That’s why he is all the time in the spotlight and he can’t hide anywhere when he’s trying to adapt to these challenges. Kimi needs time but let’s wait when he adjusts his own things. I’m certain that he will become super-competitive by the middle of the season and he is an entirely different Kimi than he is now, Robertson assured
But what if these kind of crashes happen again?
- Everything doesn’t always to according to plans. It’s not easy for Kimi, but the learning phase has to be gone through. But it’s certain that this kind of set-back does not make Kimi any less determined about the fact that he will become very competitive also in WRC-rally, Robertson concluded.
Source: Turun Sanomat
Courtesy: Leijona Planet-F1
