Frédéric Vasseur: “Kimi is a huge boost”

The announcement of the promotion of Charles Leclerc in Ferrari for 2019 and the return of Kimi Räikkönen at Sauber can only delight Frédéric Vasseur.

The Team Principal of the team based in Hinwil thus sees his young protégé achieve his goal of joining the great Scuderia after having achieved an excellent first season in F1, and will be able to count in exchange on the reinforcement of the Finn, still eager for a challenge after his second period with the Maranello team.

“Kimi is rightly considered one of the best drivers, with excellent technical feedback, and he will be one of three world champions on the grid, recalls the French official.

For us, it's a huge boost. That a guy of this caliber is interested in our project is recognition of the work done. When we sent the email internally before it was made public, I was in the design office and people were overjoyed […]

We got along well straight away, not beating around the bush, asking the real questions. Trust and mutual esteem came quickly, especially because I quickly realized that his approach was good. The fact that he refused more financially attractive offers confirmed his intentions. He does not continue for financial reasons »

Häkkinen judges Räikkönen transfer

Compatriot of Kimi Räikkönen, Mika Häkkinen, double world champion in 1998 and 1999 with McLaren, also believes in his recent column for Unibet that the transfer of “Iceman” will be a good thing for the world champion.

“Kimi's two-year deal with Sauber surprised many, but it clearly demonstrates two things: one, Kimi still loves racing F1 cars, and two, Sauber has ambition.

Kimi is always hungry. And that's the most important thing. He loves his work and his rhythm is always there. He was one of the fastest in Singapore. Now Kimi will go to a team that really wants to work with him. »

Discover our decryption of the exchange of seats between Charles Leclerc and Kimi Räikkönen, in issue n°2183 of AUTOhebdo, available now in digital version and on newsstands.