One of the most intriguing aspects of 2014 will be at Ferrari with former Formula One World Champions Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen.
When 2007 F1 champ Kimi Raikkonen announced his move from Lotus to join 2005 and 2006 champ Fernando Alonso at Ferrari it triggered a change in philosophy at Maranello.
Not only had Ferrari made a full u-turn on their former F1 World Champion, someone that they had previously paid a hefty price to leave the team to introduce Fernando Alonso, but by pairing them together it brings a dramatic end to the number one driver role that Ferrari had always built their team around.
Under Michael Schumacher, Ferrari enjoyed a dominating period in the sport, the team revolved around one man and it worked. They deployed the same strategy with Alonso without success.
So the introduction of Kimi to the mix could well prove explosive. Neither driver will give an inch to the other and both target glory at the end of the season.
So who will come out on top?
‘I don’t think there is any way of telling things right now because every situation is different but we know what we have to do. Raikkonen told the BBC.
‘We have said before we are going to race against each other like every year.
‘It doesn’t matter who is your team-mate. But for sure we have respect for each other and obviously we both try to come out on top.
Fernando Alonso, who was immediately linked with the exit door following Kimi’s arrival and could make the switch to McLaren in 2015 added: ‘There is not any way of preparing anything or any way to answer the question straightaway but the best way to bring back to Ferrari some of the success it has had in the past is to race each other at 100% every race and try to always bring back the points for the team and for ourselves.
‘And to do that we need to work in perfect harmony and follow what the team priority is and what the team will tell us.’
Kimi Raikkonen talks F1 2014
Fernando Alonso looks to F1 2014
