Ferrari: Brakes are not Räikkönen’s main problem

The Australian Grand Prix did not meet the expectations of Kimi Räikkönen and the Scuderia. Entangled with various problems at the wheel of his Ferrari, the Finn thought he had found the source of his concerns by identifying the new braking system, brake-by-wire, as the main cause: “We have identified some general problems that we need to tackle head-on at Maranello, and there are other aspects related to the setup of my car that are linked to the brake-by-wire,” he stated following his 7th place finish in Melbourne.

It seems, however, that the brakes are not the main issue as the Finn stated today during a press conference in Sepang: « I don’t know where this is coming from. The brakes are not the problem. There’s nothing wrong with the system. Someone asked me after the race if there was an issue, but that was not the case. »

The 2007 world champion seems a bit lost at the wheel of his F14-T, and he and his team will need to clearly identify the causes of the issues encountered during the first race in order to progress calmly: « The main problem comes from the setup, the way the car needs to be adjusted so that it suits me and I can do something with it. Hopefully, once this is sorted out, it will be easier and I can have a better feeling with the front end. »

However, Räikkönen stated that he did not wish to use Ferrari’s simulator between the two races to try to solve the problem. Nonetheless, he remains confident in his team and believes he can turn things around quite quickly: « Obviously, this is not the ideal starting point for this new year, for the team, and for the goals we need to achieve. There are many good people working hard. We still have things to do, but I’m sure we can make progress. »

As a reminder, during the Australian Grand Prix, Kimi Räikkönen finished 7th, 12 seconds behind his teammate, Fernando Alonso, who finished 4th and nearly a minute behind Nico Rosberg, the winner in Melbourne.