Kimi Raikkonen will be making his 200th start this weekend in the Canadian Grand Prix. The Iceman is the oldest member of the current Formula 1 grid at 34 years old and has been in the sport since 2001 save a brief vacation from it in 2010 and ’11.
His return to the Ferrari team with whom he won his World Championship in 2007 hasn’t given the Finn much to celebrate leading up to start number 200 though. Raikkonen has sited some bad luck which has hampered his success so far this season but aside from Monaco he hasn’t really had the performance to compete with his Ferrari teammate, Fernando Alonso, never mind finding himself on the podium somewhere. He was poised for a third place finish in Monaco before he was hit from behind during a safety car period by Max Chilton. That resulted in an unscheduled pit stop, and combined with a late race tangle with rookie Kevin Magnussen it destroyed any chance he had of a podium; however, the hard charging Daniel Ricciardo might have overtaken him for the final podium position regardless of how much good or bad luck Raikkonen had.
Fernando Alonso has been outdriving Kimi in qualifying and in the races suggesting that it isn’t just bad luck that is keeping the Finn down. Could his age be catching up with him? Is it the growing pains of re-joining a team he hasn’t been with for five years combined with the new car? Whatever it is, Raikkonen is still determined to bring home some good finishes this year: aiming for the podium whilst being realistic considering the fact that both Mercedes cars appear to be untouchable at the front of the field.
Alonso remains optimistic about landing on the podium a few more times this season as well. Whilst it looks like the championship is out of reach for anybody but the Silver Arrows there is still a race brewing for the third position in the Drivers’ Championship. Alonso holds a seven point lead over Ricciardo, who has finished on the podium behind the two Mercs in the last two races. I think as long as Fernando holds that third position in the points Ferrari won’t be throwing in the towel on the 2014 season.
Alonso is very happy with the arrival of Marco Mattiacci in the role of F1 Team Principal after the departure of Stefano Domencali and believes Marco has a solid approach to the race weekend and that the team will be getting stronger and stronger as the season progresses. There has been a slight rise in performance since Mattiacci showed up with Alonso scoring his first podium in China and Raikkonen looking to have his best finish of the season in Monte Carlo before his misfortune. If they wish to hold their third place position in the Drivers’ Championship they will have their hands full in the Ferrari camp with Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo outperforming his World Champion teammate, Sebastian Vettel, and carrying a lot of momentum into the Canadian Grand Prix.
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