Arrivabene: 'Kimi, you are like a hammer'

[vcs316]

Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene has given some insight into how he intends to keep Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen happy this year.

Arrivabene took over as Ferrari boss last year, marking a new era as Vettel joined from Red Bull and major changes were made to the engineering team. Both drivers have commented on the positive atmosphere at Ferrari this year and

Arrivabene has underlined the importance of keeping both Vettel and Raikkonen happy.

"Seb of course was happy [in Australia] because his dream came true; to get the podium with Ferrari is something that is really special for a Formula One driver," Arrivabene said. "Concerning Kimi, I was going straight away to talk with him and what you need to do with a driver is to understand and keep him up. Otherwise, if you just celebrate with one and ignore the other it doesn't work.

"The two guys are working very well together and my job is to keep the right balance and to make Kimi confident. I repeat to him many times, 'Kimi, you are like a hammer, you were pushing like hell and your timing was good' and this is what I am convinced [by]. But we need two drivers scoring constructors' points not one and Kimi can do his job properly."

Arrivabene said Ferrari was initially looking just to beat Williams and Red Bull, but after Vettel finished as best of the rest behind the Mercedes in Australia it is now focusing its attention on catching the reigning champions.

"Our goal was looking forward to Williams and Red Bull and now we need to be a bit more convinced about ourselves to reduce the gap to the guys with Mercedes cars.

"It's just a question to continue like this with the right methodology. [We need to] work and respect the programme without panicking and keeping up the spirit of the team."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

[Nero Horse]

Maurizio's team leading methods have really been excellent thus far. I love how he puts so much emphasis on team spirit, which is undoubtedly a very important part of being successful in any team sport. Keep it up, Maurizio! :thumb

[Fireblade]

Maybe in Italian calling somebody a hammer is a complement, not so much in English though!

Managing Seb and Kimi might prove tricky if there's just one podium spot available and they're both constantly fighting for it. Still, that's a better problem for the team to be facing than that of last year, where neither driver was usually in contention for a podium.

[steelstallions]

Maybe in Italian calling somebody a hammer is a complement, not so much in English though!

Managing Seb and Kimi might prove tricky if there's just one podium spot available and they're both constantly fighting for it. Still, that's a better problem for the team to be facing than that of last year, where neither driver was usually in contention for a podium.

It is a compliment in Italy, a better translation might be, in a positive way saying your a machine, ie work hard never quit!

[SilverSpeed]

Stop!
Hammer Time.

:-D.

[ALO]

with praises like these were going to attract HAM ;-)

"hammer time"

[Ed Harley]

Sorry, but that "Hammer time" makes me want to...http://www.sherv.net/cm/emoticons/sick/barfing.gif

[Greig]

His comments seem to suggest Kimi was to blame for not finishing, strange comments really.

[Nero Horse]

His comments seem to suggest Kimi was to blame for not finishing, strange comments really.

Not sure how you concluded that from what he said. Nowhere in his comments does he blame Kimi for not finishing.

[Greig]

I said his comments seem to suggest that, not that he said it.


"Concerning Kimi, I was going straight away to talk with him and what you need to do with a driver is to understand and keep him up. Otherwise, if you just celebrate with one and ignore the other it doesn't work.

Why would Kimi need to be kept up?


"But we need two drivers scoring constructors' points not one and Kimi can do his job properly."

Suggests it was driver error.

[Nero Horse]

I said his comments seem to suggest that, not that he said it.



Why would Kimi need to be kept up?



Suggests it was driver error.

"Kept up" as in keeping his spirits up and not letting that set back get to him. And I highly doubt that Maurizio would be trying to blame Kimi for a driver error when everybody in the world could see that it was a problem with the left rear wheel nut that caused Kimi to retire.

[Greig]

"Kept up" as in keeping his spirits up and not letting that set back get to him. And I highly doubt that Maurizio would be trying to blame Kimi for a driver error when everybody in the world could see that it was a problem with the left rear wheel nut that caused Kimi to retire.

I know what he meant by kept up, which is off course strange as Kimi had no reason to be down spirited about a team mistake.

[Nero Horse]

I know what he meant by kept up, which is off course strange as Kimi had no reason to be down spirited about a team mistake.

But he would still be feeling sad about not finishing the race and not getting good points, so they tried to cheer him up...with a Magnum ice cream and Coke, probably. ;-)

[Ed Harley]

That might work with a seven year old.

[Nero Horse]

That might work with a seven year old.

No sense of humor, eh? And I guess Kimi is a seven year old then, since he's known to like both Magnum ice cream and Coke.

[Ed Harley]

No no, cheering him up with ice cream and beverage might actually work if he was seven years old.

[Nero Horse]

Ok, ok they cheered him up with a bottle of Finlandia vodka and a box of cuban cigars...there, I hope that story suits you better. :-)

[Ed Harley]

Is it absolutely necessary to make up such stories?

[Nero Horse]

Is it absolutely necessary to make up such stories?

Come on it's just harmless banter, lighten up. Don't take it so seriously mate. There are such jokes all over the internet and even Kimi himself has made jokes about him and Magnum ice cream. Here> http://clientimages.teamtalk.com/12/03/800x600/Kimi-Raikkonen_2739859.jpg

[REDARMYSOJA]

Is it absolutely necessary to make up such stories?

It was obvious to everyone over seven years old that it was a joke.

[Brembo]

Forget about cheering Kimi up. He doesn't need it. He needs a clean pit stop from now on. Arriva B should arrive at the pit with a bat in his hands next race.

[Ed Harley]

That was Lotus PR department.

[Ed Harley]

It was obvious to everyone over seven years old that it was a joke.
The "joke" is so old that perhaps it would be time to come up with new ones. Like something funny, you know.

[Nero Horse]

The "joke" is so old that perhaps it would be time to come up with new ones. Like something funny, you know.

Listen mate, I like Kimi, or at least I don't have anything against him, so I can assure you that I didn't mean anything bad with that little joke. You probably think that everybody who makes jokes about Kimi here on this forum must automatically mean to offend him somehow, but that sure wasn't my intention. And as for coming up with funnier jokes, I promise that next time I'll put a lot more thought and effort into coming up with a better joke.

[Ilsan]

His comments seem to suggest Kimi was to blame for not finishing, strange comments really.
Although I doubt that was his intention, especially for not finishing, there was a report that Kimi may have contributed to the left wheel nut problem.

http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/kimi-raikkonen-had-slippy-digits-1692354987
When at first the team took the blame, Raikkonen later claimed that it was his fault. "During the first pit stop my finger slipped off the clutch and the rear wheels spun for a moment. That ruined one of the rear wheel nuts."

According to Heikki Kulta, Kimi said, "It went wrong when the front end was dropped, and my fingers slipped a little. The rear wheels were moving, and there was difficulty to get a second wheel."
We don't know at which point the green light turned on. The front jack shouldn't have been dropped in the first place. The crew should have been more careful at the 2nd stop? Did they know that the nut got damaged before the 2nd stop?
It seems unfair to blame anyone solely and I really don't think MA felt it was a driver's fault among all those.


Anyway, I'm generally happy with MA, though I'm afraid it will get only tougher and trickier from there. Hopefully he is well-prepared for them too. :thumb