Kimi Raikkonen says he hopes Ferrari looks beyond just pure race results when it comes to deciding his Formula 1 future.
The Finn was set to deliver Ferrari’s first 1-2 finish since the 2010 German Grand Prix at the Hungarian Grand Prix until he was hit with an MGU-K problem which slowed him down and eventually forced him to retire.
At a time when Ferrari is wondering whether it should replace Raikkonen or not, the car failure has delivered further frustration after a season where it’s all gone wrong for him.
Team-mate Sebastian Vettel has scored more than twice as much points as Raikkonen (160-76), Raikkonen hopes that Ferrari takes his speed and potential into account.
Raikkonen told media in Hungary that he had no doubts he has the speed to deliver for Ferrari, but said ultimately that it was down to his bosses to work out if that was enough.
When asked if it was fair that he lost a result that could have swung his future, through no fault of his own, Raikkonen said: “It is not a question of being fair or not. It is not my decision, it is up to them. They do what they want.
“Obviously it is disappointing. I have had disappointments last year and this year, and I am sure this year we have had pretty good speed all the time.
“We just keep having issues here and there, and mistakes here and there and we have struggled to show the real results because of those.
“But if I did not have the speed I would not be here. I would stop if I didn’t feel I had the speed or the passion. I would not come here, I would stay home.”
Although the Finn has not been able to deliver the results he believes he is capable of, he thinks the team appreciates how different the situation is to 12 months ago when he was struggling.
“When you only see the end result it does not look like a great thing but we have been far away from disaster like last year – even with problems and mistakes.
“We will keep pushing and hopefully we can put our bad luck behind us. I am sure we can get great results and great races, but we have to make sure that we don’t have many issues and any problems with it.
“It is a big key point for us, we know we have to improve – but things go wrong sometimes. When it goes wrong with us, with the car or with me, it is just the end result is not good.
“It is part of the game, an unfortunate thing, and not a nice thing to have, but what can you do?
“You just have to keep trying and pushing and I am sure we can have good results this year. Who knows what happens next year? It is not in my hands really. It is in the team’s and that is it.”
Image courtesy of Scuderia Ferrari
