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Raikkonen on the new engines: the driving itself is no different anymore

Raikkonen on the new engines: "the driving itself is no different anymore"

07-04-2019 09:04
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Kimi Raikkonen has spoken out about the engines that Formula 1 has used since 2014. The start of the hybrid era marked a massive change for the sport with the cars becoming a lot more complicated. However, the Finn believes that all the drivers have got used to them now and the only difference is the noise they make. 

“I think it was a big difference when we swapped to these regulations from 2013 to ’14 because everything was new and obviously then everything works differently,” Raikkonen said to RaceFans. “Plus also they are very complicated cars now.”

“So for sure things didn’t work very well on some of the engine side and pick-ups and stuff like that. It made it pretty poor compared [to] what we had in ’13 because those rules had been for ages so you are a hundred per cent in the right areas and everything.”

The Finn said that driving the 2014 cars was “completely different in the drive-ability side” when they were first driven. “Today when we go, at least what I remember, it’s no different, everything works very nicely. Most of the time at least. On that side, the driving itself is no difference anymore.”

“OK, the sound is different,” he added, “but the driving itself, we do the same things, it’s not like you do something completely different.”

It seems that despite the massive initial change, drivers have got used to the new power units and that the only difference is the sound!