Motivation to determine Kimi Raikkonen future - Alfa Romeo

Alfa Romeo

Motivation to determine Raikkonen future - Alfa Romeo

The 40-year-old is out of contract at the end of the year

Ian Parkes

Saturday 29 August 2020 14:00

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Alfa Romeo team principal Frederic Vasseur believes Kimi Raikkonen's motivation will determine whether he continues in Formula 1 into 2021.

Raikkonen has already revealed that family life is beginning to tug at him and that he is undecided on whether to continue for what would be his 19th season.

Crucially, Alfa Romeo has struggled this season, with Raikkonen embarrassingly qualifying last at the recent 70th Anniversary Grand Prix at Silverstone, although the car improved for the Spanish GP last time out.

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Assessing what is required for Raikkonen to remain with Alfa Romeo, Vasseur said: "I think the most important thing is the motivation, the motivation on the driver’s side first because I think it’s difficult for Kimi to struggle with the pace when we are at the back.

"Now that we did a good weekend in Barcelona, the pace was much better. We have to continue to improve and to do small step by small step and to be back into the fight.

"This is the most important thing but not just for Kimi, but everybody in the team. The main motivation in a racing team is coming from the results and nothing else, from the drivers to the mechanics, to the engineers, to myself and we need to get results."

Vasseur insists he has no issues with Raikkonen's performance so far this year which has failed to yield a point from the opening six races for the first time in his career.

Asked whether he was impressed with the job Raikkonen had done, Vasseur replied: "Yeah, yeah! Honestly, Kimi is far from being the biggest issue. He’s doing a good job.

"We saw in Barcelona that the pace is there. We have to continue to push and to get the last tenth [of a second] on every single topic and I think that Kimi is pleased when we have this kind of motivation."

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