Why Raikkonen, Alonso were beaten by teammates
Turun Sanomat
HEIKKI KULTA, translation by Warwick
Bridgestone tyres divide F1 drivers in two camps – one in which drivers handle them without problems, while the drivers in the other camp are forced to learn a less aggressive driving style.
Drivers of the aggressive driving style camp are, for example,: McLaren’s Fernando Alonso, Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen, BMW’s Robert Kubica – and Renault’s Heikki Kovalainen.
“My driving style wasn’t so aggressive at the beginning, but when I got to follow Fernando Alonso’s driving, I started to drive the same way”, says Kovalainen in Auto, Motor und Sport –magazine.
Kovalainen got used to the style that Alonso used Michelin tyres while driving over
Fisichella’s style works
Known from his soft driving style, Giancarlo Fisichella got used to the new tyres much easier.
“Now I changed my driving style back to my previous style and got closer to Giancarlo’s tyre usage.”
Kimi Räikkönen was able to start the tests with new tyres and Ferrari as late as January 23rd. And bad weather hindered the Finn’s testing program.
Ferrari’s Aldo Costa knows Räikkönen’s problems.
“You have to brake in the curve as late as you can, just like before, but in a softer way than what Kimi was used to.”
Alonso has the same problems
Räikkönen tested for two days to prepare for Canadian GP at Paul Ricard, where he got the tyres to work at their best.
However, that doesn’t promise anything for the North American tour, because the testing track didn’t match to the Canadian GP’s accelerate and brake character. For what we have seen,
“After each visit in the car, I had learned more about the tyres. They are very different from what I drove on the previous season. And from what I heard and read, Fernando Alonso’s comments about the tyres have basically been the same as mine”. –said Räikkönen
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