2017 F1 Review: Is Kimi outstaying his welcome?
Formula 1 is inherently a very political sport: so much money and power cannot coexist in the same paddock without a certain degree of political fallout. And yet, in this strange world of smoke, mirrors, cloaks and daggers, there remains a man with no agenda whatsoever.
He is a man that enjoys driving an F1 car but is unapologetic in his abject disdain towards the other garnishments of his job. In a sport that is so generous at repaying its stars with wealth and power, it is refreshing that a man is so earnestly in it for the love of driving above all else.
That is the appeal of Kimi Raikkonen. Whilst his rather brusk manner doesn’t make for the most informative interviews; and one infamously graphic description of his pre-race routine – as Martin Brundle will never forget – there is a charm in his gruff, anti-social honesty. Strikingly, he told Brundle during a Sky Sports feature that he would not have changed anything about his career; even an uncompetitive two seasons in the World Rally Championship.
That is Kimi in a nutshell. Nothing matters, so long as he is in his happy place: behind the wheel. He may not have enjoyed many successes on his rallying venture, but he unquestionably clicked with the more apolitical, nordic rallying bubble.
The fact that Raikkonen can be as much at home in the comparably spartan surrounds of rallying as he is in the midst of F1’s flagship team is a mark of the Finn’s nonexistent ego. Indeed, his straightforwardness as a man has never seen him involved in anything other than minor disputes with his team-mates and has solidified his standing with the most prestigious outfit in the pitlane.
It is telling that, in 2013, when on the cusp of signing the up-and-coming Nico Hulkenberg, Ferrari instead opted for the familiar face of Raikkonen, knowing that he would immediately reintegrate into the team.
It is just a shame that Kimi hasn’t been able to repay that faith with results. His second stint with the Scuderia is now a year longer than his initial title-winning tenure, and yet Raikkonen is still yet to win a race on his return. He may have lodged some fourteen podiums since re-joining Ferrari, but his team-mates have racked-up some 35 podiums – and scored an eye-watering 372 further points.
Yes, his team-mates have been none other than Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel, but for a team trying to take the challenge to the might of Hamilton and Mercedes, that is the nature of the challenge. The team needs to be confident that is has a pair of drivers who are equal to such an imposing nemesis.
Kimi can surely no longer be inspiring confidence within Ferrari? Especially when 2017 has so starkly borne-out his deficits to the top drivers. The Russian Grand Prix was the epitome of the frustrating pattern that not only defines the Finn’s season, but of the deeper constraints that have held Kimi’s results back in recent years.
He was quickest in the opening practice in Sochi, was imperious in the long runs in FP2, kept pace with Vettel through the final practice and through the opening salvos of qualifying. Tantalizingly, he was quickest after the first runs in Q3, looked set to improve further, but made an error in the final corner that almost certainly cost him pole. Small errors in the crucial moments have cost Raikkonen dearly in 2017, and look ominously indicative of a waning reserve of instinctive ability.
However, perhaps more worrying is the manner in which Kimi cannot deliver his best performance level when it matters most. This was most starkly apparent by the way Raikkonen allowed himself to lose the win in Monaco to an ‘overcut’ from Vettel. Fans and pundits may have viewed the episode with a healthy dose of championship cynicism, but the fact remains that had Raikkonen been faster through the all-important in and out-laps, his team-mate would not have been able to deploy the ‘overcut’.
Similarly, whilst Kimi had been clearly the faster Ferrari in practice at Spa and Interlagos, there was a certain sense of inevitability about the way Vettel found a extra gear for Q3 and the race. Raikkonen has delivered painfully little of the speed and potential that he routinely promises in practice.
More broadly, if there was a season that exposed the shortcomings of Ferrari’s historically one-sided driver policy, it was 2017. Not having “two roosters in the same henhouse” is all very well, but versus two teams fielding four established winners, there is no guarantee that your second driver won’t be overtaken by the chasing pack, rather than being the prescribed distance from the lead driver’s gearbox.
Before Daniel Ricciardo retired from the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with a hydraulic failure he was on course to finish the season ahead of Raikkonen in the standings, and unquestionably both Red Bulls would have relegated Kimi to sixth in the standings had the team not endured such virulent unreliability.
Raikkonen is a man not bringing home the results, clearly not on the pace of the front-runners and showing telling symptoms of abating driving instincts. He may outperform Vettel on the badminton court, but Raikkonen’s deficit to the German is such that Ferrari start will start the 2018 season with one hand tied behind its back, knowing that a constructors’ title charge is unlikely before the season has even begun. The Scuderia cannot allow itself to remain in this blinkered holding pattern any longer; it cannot pretend that the Finn is not holding back Ferrari’s title aspirations.
But what should Ferrari do? Who should the Scuderia draft in Raikkonen’s stead? There are probably four feasible candidates: Daniel Ricciardo, Charles Leclerc, Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez. Of the four Ricciardo would probably be the faster, but could potentially destabilize frontman Vettel, and whilst Perez and Bottas would be effective support-acts for the German, the pair would probably result in the same prevailing onesidedness.
Ferrari Driver Academy graduate Charles Leclerc would be a risk, but promoting from within would be more in keeping with Ferrari’s rather familial approach to its drivers. If he can impress in his rookie campaign with the newly Alfa Romeo twinned Sauber Team, Leclerc will surely be a clear favourite for the seat.
It will certainly be asking a lot of the well-accredited Monagesque to be on the pace of the front-runners in just his second season in F1, but an impressive young driver with the headroom to improve serving an apprenticeship alongside a driver of Vettel’s experience is surely an ideal scenario.
What Ferrari simply cannot do is use Leclerc’s inexperience as an excuse to extend Raikkonen’s contract further still. If Leclerc struggles to make an impression in 2018 the response must be to appoint one of the other highly credible candidates rather than trying to stage a dynastic handover.
Leclerc may be starting to enter into the calculations of the Ferrari grandees, but they don’t know how he will perform under the intense scrutiny of the F1 paddock. However, they do know that far from upholding di Montezemelo’s historic ‘henhouse’ mantra, Raikkonen is simply costing the team much-needed points. He is a driver clearly on a natural downward ebb, and there need never be any shame in stepping aside once age becomes a factor, especially when the driver in question has won a world title.
Surely, it is ultimately disrespectful to Kimi’s legacy as a driver to keep him on out of familiarity, because of his undemanding and monosyllabic manner. Indeed, Raikkonen and Ferrari should announce his retirement from the outset in 2018, and give the Finn the farewell tour he deserves.