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Preview of Formula 1 in 2021: Is this really Raikkonen's last hurrah?
In Formula 1, your most important opponent is your teammate and so at GPblog we look ahead to the team duels in 2021. Which drivers will compete against each other and what can we expect from that duel? In the third part, we go through the unchanged Alfa Romeo line-up.
Kimi Raikkonen
At 41 years old, Kimi Raikkonen is by far the oldest driver on the grid in 2021. The Finn did surprise a lot of people by signing up again, thus starting his 19th season in Formula 1. If he wants to become the oldest participant ever in a Grand Prix, Kimi has to continue for a while. That record is in the name of the 55-year-old Louis Chiron in 1955.
The fact that Raikkonen is getting older has also reflected in his results. Already at Ferrari, his level dropped somewhat and at Alfa Romeo, he is also increasingly losing his grip on Antonio Giovinazzi. Not the greatest talent driving around in Formula 1, but Raikkonen clearly had more trouble with Antonio in 2020 than in 2019.
The Iceman, with his huge fan base, is of tremendous value to a small team like Alfa Romeo. Now put Callum Ilott in the car there and there will be far fewer people watching how Alfa is doing. In addition, Kimi still enjoys racing, and will not bother him much if Giovinazzi is faster every now and then.
Antonio Giovinazzi
The fact that Antonio Giovinazzi's contract was extended was perhaps even more surprising than with Kimi. Giovinazzi had indeed come a little closer to Raikkonen in 2020, but in the race, he often had to lose out. With Mick Schumacher, Robert Shwartzman and Callum Ilott around the corner, the end seemed close for Giovinazzi.
However, Giovinazzi has one advantage over all other Ferrari talents: He is Italian. According to reports, Alfa Romeo wanted to stick to Giovinazzi, in addition to the fact that he did show progress in 2020.
Forecast for 2021
In 2019 this duo started driving together for the first time and Raikkonen was clearly the best. In that year the qualifying battle was 12-9 in favour of the Finn, but it was close on average: 0.005s. However, the difference was made in the race. Kimi scored 43 points, against Giovinazzi's 14.
In 2020 Giovinazzi got closer and closer and especially at the end of the season Giovinazzi made his move. In the last three qualifying sessions, Giovinazzi was more than three tenths faster than Raikkonen each time.
Because of Giovinazzi's strong last run, he eventually won the game 9-8 and the difference per qualifying was an average of 0.060s in favour of the Italian. On Sunday, the final score was the same.
If we continue this line, it would make sense if Giovinazzi really wins the game against Raikkonen in 2021. He is only getting older and less sharp, whereas Giovinazzi will gain more and more experience in his third year in F1 and will therefore get faster. He will have to because someone has to lead the team when Kimi leaves.
This article was written and originally published by Tim on the Dutch edition of GPblog.com.