For Alonso, Räikkönen and Massa are on an equal footing
During the press conference held in Suzuka this Thursday, Alonso stated that he didn't think Kimi Räikkönen was faster than Felipe Massa and that the Finn's arrival at Scuderia next season won't bring about a significant change. He also mentioned Vettel's uncatchable lead in the championship.
From 2014, Ferrari hopes to return to the forefront and has put all its chances on its side by recruiting Kimi Räikkönen. Alonso’s position as leader at Ferrari is therefore likely to be threatened with another top F1 driver by his side from next year. However, the Spaniard wanted to clarify the driving skills of Felipe Massa and Kimi Räikkönen. According to him, both drivers are on equal footing.
“For next year, with Kimi, I think we can have a very good championship for Ferrari by trying to score as many points as possible again,” said Alonso. “But I think in terms of speed, Felipe is not slower than Kimi.”
As a reminder, Massa and Räikkönen were teammates at Ferrari from 2007 to 2009. Their partnership was marked by the world championship title for the Finn in 2007, although Massa was ahead until mid-season. Following a retirement, the Brazilian had to support his teammate for the remainder of the season. Massa then finished fourth in the championship, 16 points behind his world champion teammate. When they raced together, Felipe was as fast as Kimi anyway; if we have a competitive car, we will enjoy the season and do very good things. If we don’t have a competitive car, it will be very similar to this season.
On his part, Massa had already mentioned the possibility of a difficult coexistence between the two drivers. “I know Fernando and Kimi well, both on and off the track, and I consider them excellent drivers, but I fear there might be a clash between them when they find themselves on the same team. I’ve told the team bosses to breathe as much as they can while they still can because they’ll have a hard time breathing next season,” he stated. A relationship that seems more complicated than the one he shares with Alonso, whom he considers a friend.
Regarding the 2013 season, Alonso admitted that it is now almost impossible for him to stop Sebastian Vettel and win the drivers’ title this year, considering the fact that the German has a 77-point lead. For the remaining races, we will try to do our best and try to score as many points as possible while knowing that winning the world championship is almost impossible. So we will try to enjoy the races, continuing to attack and fight for the constructors’ championship, he added.
