Ferrari: Räikkönen is currently slower than Alonso
Asked about the start of Ferrari's F1 season, James Allison, the technical director of the Scuderia, shares his opinion on the performance gap between Kimi Räikkönen and Fernando Alonso, as well as on the level of the F14-T.
James Allison arrived at Ferrari during the 2013 season, coming from a financially troubled Lotus team. Appointed as the technical director, the British engineer didn’t have much influence on the work that had already been underway for several seasons by the Scuderia in preparation for the season. He reflected on the start of the season for his team while sharing his views on Kimi Räikkönen’s difficulties.
Thus, when asked about the difficulties faced by the Finnish driver compared to his teammate behind the wheel of the F14-T, James Allison expressed skepticism by stating: “I’m not sure it’s entirely fair to say he’s struggling more than Fernando,” as reported by Sky Sports.
For him, the difficulties are the same: « They both have similar feedback with the car, and there are regulatory aspects that make the car more difficult to drive for the driver. There is much more torque, much less aerodynamic grip, and the tires are deliberately less aggressive than last season. »
« All this means that they are quite tricky to drive, which is not fun for anyone, whether at the front or at the back of the grid. Kimi’s problems with braking, downshifting, are the same as Fernando and practically the same as the drivers of other teams experience, » explains the Briton.
His assessment is therefore clear on Kimi Räikkönen’s performance: « He is just slower than Fernando at the moment, but this gap is gradually narrowing. » Currently, Fernando Alonso is 3rd in the drivers’ championship with 61 points, compared to 17 for his teammate, who recently claimed to have been partly unlucky.
A chassis not at the level of Mercedes and Red Bull
Regarding the gap with competitors, and notably the performance of the Ferrari F14-T, James Allison does not delude himself: « It’s difficult. Making a car that wasn’t fast from the first race fast is quite a challenge. »
This is all the more true since the other competitors have a similar rate of progress: « It is very difficult to produce a level of improvements substantially different from the people we are competing with. However, we have had one or two races where the parts brought to the track were useful, without being great leaps forward. »
We hope that in the upcoming races we will have more consistent progress on things that will allow us to improve our competitiveness. But of course, we won’t know until we’re there because it depends on what others are doing.
He aims to be realistic about the actual level of the red car’s chassis: « I don’t think we can claim to have produced a chassis that, for the moment, is equal to those of Mercedes or Red Bull. We are not far behind, but there is work to be done before we are completely satisfied with the chassis performance. »
