Can Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen Improve His Qualifying Performances?

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: June 2, 2015

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Kimi Raikkonen is not a great qualifier. Despite the Finn's well-earned reputation as a quick driver, turning in that single fast lap on Saturday has never been at the top of his list of skills. Rather, it is his ability to perform on Sundays that has made his reputation.

Indeed, Raikkonen is the only driver on the grid to have been outqualified by his team-mate at all six races so far this year.

Following the Monaco Grand Prix, where Sebastian Vettel qualified third and Raikkonen was mired in sixth, Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene said, "If I have to give him some homework then he has to write 100 times 'I have to be better in qualifying'," per Autosport's Ian Parkes.



The only problem is there may not be much room for improvement.

The Iceman has started 218 grands prix in his career but only qualified on pole 16 times. Stirling Moss had the same number of poles in just 66 starts. 

Even in Raikkonen's two best seasons, 2005 and 2007, when he won a total of 13 times, he managed just eight poles. Nico Rosberg scored 11 pole positions just last year.

In those same two seasons, though, Raikkonen set 16 fastest laps during the races (and he has 41 over his career).

In Bahrain earlier this year, Raikkonen qualified fourth but set the fastest lap on his way to a second-place finish—his best performance since his return to Ferrari for 2014.



But why is Raikkonen a better racer than qualifier? He has often set the fastest lap during races, so why can't he just turn in quick laps all the time, including qualifying?

BBC pundit James Allen wrote on his personal website that, "Raikkonen has a conservative style as we know, which confers benefits in terms of tyre degradation in races, but quite likely the opposite when trying to find the peak grip in a slightly too hard or too cold tyre in qualifying."

Tha...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Formula 1

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