Personality was the biggest difference between Räikkönen and Alonso

Although Fernando Alonso wasn't quite able to do Kimi Räikkönen's heroic deed and win the world championship during his first season as Ferrari's driver the Spaniard has collected significantly more praisal for his whole input.

Turun Sanomat asked team boss Stefano Domenicali what the biggest difference in the work was between Alonso and Raikkonen.

- The language, the Italian leader started.

Was that the biggest difference?

- As everybody knows Kimi has a different approach towards the team. He is in his own style a fantastically strong racing driver. Fernando plays the game with the team in a different way. It is because of the nature of the man's characteristics and we need to focus on that.

- It would be wrong to make comparisons between two different personalities. Kimi won the championship with us. He has a different personality and different characteristics. Fernando's approach to the team differs from Kimi because of his entirely different nature and that's why it's so much easier for him to establish relations with people inside the team, Domenicali said.

Does Domenicali see that 31-year-old Räikkönen still has a future in F1 racing?

- Kimi is a fantastic driver who decides for himself what he wants to do. I know Kimi will want to continue to rally in the championship this year. He also wants to start winning there too. It remains to be seen what opportunities he will have in the future, Domenicali said.

At Ferrari they are counting a lot upon Alonso.

- I think Fernando will start the season from a very special foundation compared to last year. Although the championship went in Abu Dhabi the truth is that we lost earlier in the season so many big points, which also reflected in the final season, Domenicali explained.

Turun Sanomat, Madonna di Campiglio

HEIKKI KULTA

Courtesy: Nicole

WRC.com Personality of the Year nominees: Kimi Räikkönen

The higher you fly, the further you can fall. And throughout the 2010 World Rally Championship season, the 2007 Formula One champion Kimi Räikönen did something remarkable: putting his hard-earned reputation on the line to start again as a beginner and take on the best drivers in the world, despite

Räikkönen knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but then if it were easy everyone would do it. It took a special kind of unflappable courage to rise to the occasion and not care what anybody said or thought: the sort of resolve that can only be displayed by somebody whose nickname is ‘The Iceman’.

After just three events, he had become the first Formula One world champion ever to score WRC points, thanks to his eighth place in Jordan. His best result of the year came shortly afterwards, when he finished fifth on the all-new Rally of Turkey: a real indicator of his potential.

When things were going well, Räikkönen showed that he had the pace to fight at the front: he was running comfortably in the top four on the opening day of Rally Bulgaria, beating the factory Fords. On Rallye Deutschland in August, he won the Circus Maximus stage in Trier: another first.

But his contribution to the WRC this year goes beyond just his results. Räikkönen proved to be a fantastic ambassador for the sport, creating a huge amount of interest from both media and fans wherever he went.

In Räikkönen’s opinion, world rallying is a lot harder than Formula One. And coming from somebody who built a global following for fearlessly exploring the limits of adhesion, that’s quite an admission. Räikkönen wants to stay in the WRC next year; this is your chance to show just how much the WRC wants him.

Voting for the inaugural WRC.com Personality of the Year starts on Friday. Return to WRC.com soon to find out who our panel of experts have nominated as the next contender for the coveted prize.

Source: WRC