Ferrari limited in F14T adjustability for Raikkonen
Ferrari's technical director James Allison has admitted that his team is doing everything possible to get the F14T more to Kimi Räikkönen's liking, but that it will be impossible to meet all demands.
Having been enticed from Lotus, Kimi Räikkönen found himself in a very difficult position this year at the team with which he secured his world championship title with. The Finn was hampered by the F14T issues, but both the team and the Finn reckon the light at the end of the tunnel starts shimmering.
The Finn has repeatedly bemoaned the balance of the F14T, going on record by saying the car lacks a front end.
Ferrari have improved most troubled aspects considerably since the start of the season, making the Finnish ace more confident for the remainder of the season. Raikkönen was able to raise his game in Germany, then in Hungary he showed very strong race pace while travelling in free air after the team made a strategical mistake in qualifying. Ferrari has now presented itself in a much more feisty mood at Spa then one could have expected at a power dominant track. The Finn is hopeful, he doesn’t want to set overambitious goal though.
“I think we’ve improved since the start of the year little by little. Hopefully we will keep improving but the race will reveal the true story,”
“Sometimes you can make a good lap time but in the race it is very difficult and others are faster than you in a straight line. But it’s nice to see that there isn’t a massive difference, although in the wet it’s clear that Mercedes have the fastest car.”
Scuderia’s technical chief James Allison reckons the team had been desperate to aid Kimi and make the car more suitable to his liking, the F14T had however some inherent features which couldn't be cured fully before the end of the season therefore they were limited in their attempt.
“The car is much more to his liking now than it was then, but there are certain fundamental characteristics that are sort of ‘baked in’ to a car when you lay down its architecture.”
“That architecture is not really modifiable in a given year. You can make it better, and we have made it better, and we continue to make it better. But there are limitations.”
