Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: Kimi Raikonnen and Antonio Giovinazzi reflect on the tough F1 season

Alfa Romeo’s teammates, Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Räikkönen, speak ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Image credit: AFP

Alfa Romeo racing drivers Kimi Raikonnen and Antonio Giovinazzi had a tough season. On Saturday they failed to make it through the first qualifying in Bahrain and broke their Top 10 dreams and Raikonnen was quick to express his disappointment with the overall result.

“It’s far from what we wanted as a team, but that’s what it turned out to be,” he said. “We’re not as happy as we wanted to be. Now we still have one race ahead of us. “

While the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix ends the Formula 1 schedule this weekend, both teammates are thinking about what to do – not just this Sunday, but also in 2021.

“It’s been a tough season, another season with COVID-19 because from July until now we’ve actually never stopped – we only have a few weeks off,” Giovinazzi told Gulf News on Monday after being in the United Arab Emirates landed was the F1 final.

“This will be our last race so after just a bit of vacation we can prepare for 2021 again. To be honest, I can’t wait. Maybe in the first month [of holidays] can be can be okay with us, but then you just miss too much to be able to jump back in the car. We’re starting from scratch for the New Year, ”said Raikonnen.

“A new engine is coming for us. We don’t know much about it or anything about it other than that it is a different engine. I think we’ll have to wait until we start testing, especially the first race, to see where we are. Hopefully after the test we can be a lot more positive when we start and be in better shape. All of these things we can speculate and hope for whatever we want, but we just have to do a good job over the winter and then hopefully be better off when we start next year. “

But this year is not over yet, with one final tour of the route for Abu Dhabi on Sunday.

“I think everyone is looking forward to the end of the year. When it comes to the championship, we have pretty much nothing to win, we have more to lose, and as a team championship we want to stay what we are. So we’ll try to do a good job this weekend, ”said Raikonnen.

Giovinazzi is preparing to put everything into the grand finale.

“I want to give the maximum and score points. These are my goals. I know it won’t be easy, it will be difficult and our pace is what it is this year. But we’ll do our best and hope we can get a bit chaotic and fight there and try to get some points on Sunday. “

“I miss fans … It wasn’t normal”

When it comes to COVID-19 restrictions this season – be it the lack of fans in the stands, being stuck at home, or the inability to see the sights – the 26-year-old Italian racer feels the hit much harder than his Finnish teammate.

“I miss fans. We did the Italian Grand Prix without people and I wouldn’t say it’s normal … When we got home there was nothing to do there. I just stayed home, went to the gym, and then back home. So, [there was] No time to relax with the friends or go to a restaurant, it was really difficult. Hopefully next year can get better. And we can go back to our normal life. “

For the 41-year-old racing driver Raikonnen, it was not much different from his previous years.

“When it comes to the race weekends, everything that happens on the track is more or less the same. I didn’t find it that different. For most of the races we stay in the same hotels, maybe a bit stricter for the tests, and there are fewer people. But I’ve never been that type of guy [goes] To eat somewhere in the evening or in town or whatever, ”said Raikonnen.

“It’s no different for me to be in the hotel or to stay in the room [from] What I’ve done in the past few years, I don’t know how many years I’ve been driving. I think it depends on what they are used to in the past for most of the people.

“To be honest, nobody knows what will happen next year. Nobody has a clear picture of what it will be like, normal life will be in the future. Is it going back to something we knew before COVID? Or is that the new normal? Who knows?”

“It’s not easy before the start of a race”

Much newer to the F1 world, Giovinazzi has kept an eye on Raikonnen and taken in as much of the veteran racer as possible.

“I’m a young driver so it’s important to have a driver like him, a fast driver with a lot of experience. I learn a lot from him, especially in the race, which I think is still one of the best on the grid. I’m happy to be able to continue with him next year, ”he said.

It wasn’t long ago Giovinazzi had his first F1 race at the Australian Grand Prix in 2017.

But does he still feel nervous before getting in the car?

“When I watched myself during my first race in Formula 1, it’s a completely different feeling. I know for sure that I don’t want to call it stress before I felt more, just a little bit of pressure. But now after a few races it became normal; The experience is the best you can win. Of course it’s not always easy before the start of the race, but it’s a lot better than my first race, ”the racing driver admitted.

If he hadn’t taken this route of professional motorsport, where would he be now?

“I love sport. I love competition. So I would like to be just an athlete in every sport [whether] a tennis player or a cyclist. I love the competition so much. I love motorsport, I love four wheels, but I still want to be an athlete and have competition, ”he said.

Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen lost a bike in the Austrian Grand Prix

A tight schedule all year round

Raikonnen, whose first F1 race took place almost two decades ago at the 2001 Australian Grand Prix, has not established a pre-race ritual during this time. He didn’t have time for it.

“Every year, the schedule, whatever happens before the race, we have the meetings and the riders’ parades,” he explained. “And then of course you have to eat at some point. When all other things are done, we have 15 to 20 minutes to change and get ready before we put the cars on the grid. So there is not much time left to do anything else. But I don’t have a special way of doing something beforehand [a race] always.”

How much do you feel like part of the Alfa Romeo family?

“I don’t know, I mean, I have my own family, that’s the most important thing,” said Raikonnen. “But as a team I think we have a good group of people, obviously Alfa Romeo is a big part of that… Every year it doesn’t matter where you are – I never feel like I’m not part of the team . For me it’s a completely normal thing. “

When asked about Lewis Hamilton’s steady success dynamic – Hamilton holds the record for most wins at 95 and shares the record for most wins in the Drivers’ World Championship (seven) with Michael Schumacher – Raikonnen said it was not difficult for anyone to win beat.

“He’s been doing very well for many years … I think it was only a matter of time, but he’ll get the record. I don’t know what he’s going to do next year, but I don’t see anything going to change with the team that will lead and be the strongest. I doubt anyone can consistently challenge them in every race. It’s good for him. “

DID YOU KNOW ALREADY

Alfa Romeo racing driver Antonio Giovinazzi got one of the first impressions of the new Giula GTAm this year. “[We tried] The prototype of the GTAm in Balocco – it was really cool to see a new car and get the first feel for this car and I can tell you it’s a really great car and it’s getting a lot better, ”he said. “It’s really nice to be a part of it [the Alfa Romeo] Family because I’m an Italian driver … As I’ve said many times before, I’m just very proud to be part of this family, to be part of this brand. ”

Start over and get stronger

However, the New Year promises a fresh start for racers and Giovinazzi seems poised to leave 2020 behind.

“It’s really hard because you want to hang out with your mechanics, some friends, but we can’t. hopeful [in the future] We can see fans in the stands, friends coming to see a race, including my family, so it would just be easier, ”he said.

In terms of his New Years resolutions, he wants to “try to improve myself and hopefully we can have a better car and, as I said, try to get more on the points, more on the top 10.”

Giovinazzi is currently enjoying the weather in the United Arab Emirates, despite stricter restrictions on the introduction of the biosphere designed to protect against the spread of COVID-19.

“I love this weather, I like the sea, so it’s the best place to spend December. It’s been three years in a row that I’ve been spending time here in Abu Dhabi and a few days in Dubai after the race … Unfortunately we can’t this year … Hopefully we can be back next season and spend a few days in the sea and a little enjoy more, ”he said.