Alonso says he “can learn a lot” from Raikkonen

2014 F1 season

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Fernando Alonso welcomed new team mate Kimi Raikkonen to Ferrari, saying he can learn from the 2007 world champion.

“I have faith in Ferrari and I am happy to be able to work with Raikkonen, a driver who has a rare talent and from whom I can learn a lot,” said Alonso.

“The experience he and I have will be vital to develop the car: the most important thing is that we work together for Ferrari and that a red car is first across the line, no matter which one.”

Alonso, who was rumoured to be considering leaving the team during the season, said he was optimistic about Ferrari’s prospects with the new 2014 regulations.

“Maybe now there are those who believe that it would be better to chose Red Bull, but Ferrari is always the winning hand and one has to have maximum faith in them. I hope we can improve on 2013, maybe making the most of the rule changes to be at the same level as the best.”

Alonso added his preferred number for next year, when drivers will be able to choose their car numbers, is 14. “It’s always brought me luck, ever since I won at the age of 14, on 14th July in 1996, with a kart that had the number 14. Let’s see it if still brings me luck.”

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Image © Ferrari/Ercole Colombo

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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51 comments on “Alonso says he “can learn a lot” from Raikkonen”

  1. You cant learn a lot from kimi, simply because he never talks.

    1. Alonso can learn a lot from that. ;)

      1. cotd for me

      2. @angelia Brilliant. CTOD.

      3. Thumbs up @angelia! I would say that was indeed a lesson Ferrari wanted Alonso to learn.

  2. David not Coulthard (@)
    21st December 2013, 9:28

    Alonso’s going to learn how to “smoke” snus?

    1. =)) Ahhh snus, thats the scandinavian chewing tobacco

  3. Hmm!! so Alonso’s lucky number is 14 … and the next year is 2014.
    Any guesses, as to what Alonso might be thinking right now?

    1. “I hope Vettel doesn’t pick number 14”

      1. …”and that’s why my second choice is #1. Mwu ha ha ha!”

        1. He cant take #1 even if vettel doesn’t want it.

  4. on 14th July in 1996

    I was 7 years and 30 days old

    1. zak misiuda (@)
      21st December 2013, 10:46

      I was 74 days old… Still remember watching Damon Hill win the championship that year though

      1. I was -2 years, 9 months and 17 days old then… Don’t remember a single thing

        1. I was 10 years and 14 days.

          1. 190 days for me.

    2. I was about 2 years 2 months…I can actually remember being ****** about my dad watching races and not playing with me haha

    3. 23 years 19 days god I got old…

      1. 34 1/2 years, 2 days.

    4. 44 years and 358 days. I used to watch every race but I’ve forgotten the details of most of them. Getting old sucks.

      1. Unfortunately I was 50 plus a bit and my undying memory is of buying a paddock pass at Silverstone – wandering round the pits/ paddock then standing at he bottom of the Dunlop bridge and flogging the ticket to another fan for half price ( or what you could get). Everyone went away happy.!

  5. Great choice of photo!

  6. Gaston (@gastonmazzacane)
    21st December 2013, 10:22

    Even if he doesn’t get any more championships, for sure he will get an academy award for the best actor;)

  7. I was interested in what number Fernando would choose. He’s superstitious around numbers.
    Hopefully he wins in 14 :)

    1. Does anyone know if Fernando is a catholic?? (LH is certainly a practicing catholic)

      1. Is Hamilton really Catholic? I think he’s Christian, but I’m not sure if he is a Catholic Christian.

      2. He was probably raised a Catholic, but he said in an interview he’s an atheist now. First thing I like about the guy ;)

  8. “Maybe now there are those who believe that it would be better to chose Red Bull, but Ferrari is always the winning hand and one has to have maximum faith in them. I hope we can improve on 2013, maybe making the most of the rule changes to be at the same level as the best.”

    I like Alonso as a driver and what he does on track, but boy sometimes he talks rubbish.

    1. Yeah I don’t know who has had the option to ‘choose’ Red Bull, unless you are a fan and can choose to cheer for them or not, but I don’t think FA has had a choice when it comes to RBR. And I don’t think FA has always had maximium faith in Ferrari, but what is true is that they will always be a top team…it’s practically written in the FIA/F1 constitution, along with the extra money they get and the extra veto power.

      Anyway…don’t we have to throw out 2013, so drastic are the rule changes? I think Ferrari and Mercedes should carry the greater potential of nailing their package out of the box, due to their marriage of factory chassis’ to factory engines. That’s still no guarantee, but I’m certainly not assuming it’s going to be an RBR runaway just because of the last 4 years.

      1. Just to add…what I do like a lot is that KR is on the team and Ferrari have done a reversal and are now a 2 rooster team. Best move they could have made for the F1 fans, imho. They’re going to be great to watch.

  9. Did Luca di Montezemolo not recently declare Kimi was official #2 driver?
    http://forums.autosport.com/topic/191376-luca-di-montezemolos-christmas-speech-re-kimi-raikkonen/

    1. @kingshark Also found this (it’s in german, but google translates it well)

  10. Maybe now there are those who believe that it would be better to chose Red Bull, but Ferrari is always the winning hand and one has to have maximum faith in them.

    You don’t think do you, that Red Bull offered the seat to Alonso when Webber was retired?

    1. Pretty sure he was referring to Raikkonen, but that’s just me.

  11. Preseason talk…. Just wait until Kimi beats him for 3 races in a row. I will give this “marriage” half the season until fireworks… Not that it would be unexpected, both these guys think they are number 1! It should be fun no matter what….

  12. Alonso says he “can learn a lot” from Raikkonen

    Like how to fool the fans waiting outside the paddock at Silverstone by leaving at 5? Trust me Fernando, I have a signed 1/2 scale replica of Kimi’s helmet that proves that doesn’t work.

  13. Fernando, always the politician. now he has to get the Ferrari garage behind himself by saying these things. Let the mind games begin. would be fascinating to watch how this one plays out.

    1. Kimi doesn’t seem to care what other say about him. I don’t think Alonso’s mind games will work on him.

      1. True, you can’t destabilize Kimi with mind games — but you can try to make the team love you more!

  14. Can’t wait to see these two on track next year. Especially if Kimi gets the better of Alonso a couple races in a row. The two could not be more different away from the car.

  15. Fernando can learn a lot from Kimi because the Iceman never talks and always makes actions instead of talking, as Fernanado does.

  16. ALO being as usual humble and a gentleman. He did beat RAI to the drivers title already in 2005 and has beaten him comfortably, every season he had a somewhat competitive package since then. Besides, RAI was literally kicked out of Ferrari to make place for ALO – Ferrari, having first hand knowledge about RAI, obviously rated ALO much higher and the results since speak for themself.

    1. a sensible assessment

    2. He didn’t beat Kimi in 2005. Kimi was beaten by his own car and engine that kept failing.

  17. People saying that Alonso can’t learn from Kimi because Kimi does not talk are missing the point. He can learn a lot from telemetry. People is going to be surprised next year, they expect fireworks?, there will be none,

    1. Sure, but telemetry is obvious. Of course Alonso will learn from Raikkonen (that’s just Fernandos usual public talk..), I mean behind camera he really talks. Another thing is that they don’t have any negative episodes or history between them, not any that I can remember of, and I’ve watched F1 closely since about 04.

  18. People keep saying Raikkonen doesn’t talk, but that’s not true. He doesn’t talk to the press, but by many other accounts, he does talk (and a quite a bit as well) within the team and among different members of the paddock.

  19. It will be very interesting which driver will get more points the next season with the new regulations. Go Kimi and Sauber F1 Team!

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