Kimi Raikkonen believes it’s hard to know where Scuderia Ferrari stands in the 2016 Formula 1 season if their judgement is based on winter testing.
Pre-season testing in Barcelona for Ferrari was successful as both Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel topped the time-sheets throughout the testing. Only Williams Martini Racing, Mercedes AMG PETRONAS and Sahara Force India were able to knock them off the top spot.
New regulations have come into force this season by the FIA regarding communication between drivers and their engineers. With the governing body hoping this will force competitors to be better prepared for a race, leading to a more challenging season for the drivers. Raikkonen believes with this change the Maranello outfit we’ll be different.
“It’s hard to know where we are standing if we base our judgement on the winter tests, because we don’t know what the other teams were doing,” said Raikkonen. “I think we’ll get a better idea here during the weekend.
“What I do hope is that we are stronger than we had been in the last couple of years. Time will tell, and at last on Sunday we’ll have an idea. The weather here can be tricky during the weekend, so it’s not easy to make a prediction. Also unpredictable is the result of less communication between driver and pitwall, as the rules dictate.
“What’s sure is that in this season there’s going to be less talking over the radio, communication we’ll be different: we’ll see how it is going to work out. As for us, our plan is to always do better: and if the car works well and we get all the things as we want, that’s going to be easier, but still we have to see where we are against the others.
“We’ll try to do the best every weekend and be up there in the end.”
