For Brawn, “Räikkönen has lit up” since last year

Ross Brawn Is he admiring Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) ? The Motor Sports director of Liberty Media in any case praised the Finnish driver after finishing second in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

The 2007 world champion's weekend went smoothly, with the record for the fastest lap in Formula 1 history acquired in qualifying as well as a race free of driving errors. Certainly, victory was denied to him, thus prolonging a famine which lasts since March 2013 and the Australian Grand Prix, but he was beaten "by a better rival", according to Ross Brawn.

The former technical director of the Scuderia specifies that Kimi Räikkönen “came close to success. He scored a fantastic pole, drove a perfect race, by driving aggressively and determinedly." And even if the driver kept his placid demeanor, Ross Brawn is certain to have perceived emotion in Kimi Räikkönen.

“When he was questioned by his former teammate Felipe Massa on the podium, I think he got emotional seeing all that crowd and fans chanting his name. » Ross Brawn goes even further and believes that the Finn has transformed. “Since I came back to F1 last year, I noticed how Kimi lit up. This can be noticed in a variety of small things, like spending more time signing autographs, or smiling in front of the camera. In the past, this would have only provoked a glare from him! »

Finally, for the former team boss, « Kimi has never driven so well since returning to Ferrari (In 2014)." Statistically, Kimi Räikkönen no longer has much to do with his catastrophic return to the Reds. In 2014, he finished the season in a distant 12th place with 55 points. ! After the Monza meeting, he is in third place, with 164 points, which is already more than his total in 2015 (150, 4th).