Kimi Raikkonen says trouble-free winter testing is a must for all teams ahead of the new Formula 1 season.
On Monday, the Finn’s Alfa Romeo team became the third to unveil their 2021 car, launching the new C41 in a dramatic event in Poland.
And despite a disappointing past two years, which has seen the Swiss outfit finish eighth in the Constructors’ standings each time, Raikkonen is looking forward to his 19th year on the F1 grid.
“The new season is really coming in quickly,” he said with just over a month until the season-opener in Bahrain.
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“We’ll need to see how it goes: see how the car is when we get to try it and do the best we can in testing.
“Obviously, there have been some changes in the rules, even though the basic car is the same: the chassis is frozen but we have a new engine, some new elements, so we have to find out how the package works together and go from there.
“Besides that, the preparations are always the same every year. It’s nice to get started again.”
It was then Raikkonen spoke of the important role testing could play this year, with only three days of running planned in Bahrain.
“We will find out what the main priorities are soon enough,” he explained.
“Of course, the team always has many things they want to try and the drivers may prefer to do one thing, like trying different set-ups, so you need to find a compromise so that you get the most out of these days.
“This year, with only one and a half days per driver, there cannot be any reliability issue – you can’t afford to lose half a day or a full day as you will be left with not much to work with.
“It’ll be important to pick and choose the right things to tests, trying to spread it over the three days: I am hoping for good mileage and to finish the week feeling positive.”
As for what Alfa Romeo can achieve in 2021…
“Our main objective is hopefully having better results as a team this year,” he stated. “Antonio [Giovinazzi] and I are working to move the team forward – let’s see how this season goes.”
