Kimi Raikkonen says Formula 1’s V6 hybrid turbos now feel very similar to drive compared to the previous generation of V8 cars.
The complex hybrid units marked a major departure from the conventional V8 engines – albeit with Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems – when they were introduced five years ago. But Raikkonen says the latest iterations are little different “purely from driving aspect.”
“I think it was a big difference when we swapped to these regulations from 2013 to ’14 because everything was new and obviously then everything works differently,” he said. “Plus also they are very complicated cars now.”
Raikkonen had just returned to Ferrari when the current engine rules were introduced in 2014. “I think, at least in Ferrari, [at that time] we were far from where we finished last year. They were pretty poor in many areas, they were for sure far away [from] where it should have been.
“So for sure things didn’t work very well on some of the engine side and pick-ups and stuff like that. It made it pretty poor compared [to] what we had in ’13 because those rules had been for ages so you are a hundred percent in the right areas and everything.”
The 2014 cars were “completely different in the drive-ability side” when they were first introduced, said Raikkonen. “Today when we go, at least what I remember, it’s no different, everything works very nicely. Most of the time at least. On that side the driving itself is no different anymore.”
“OK, the sound is different,” he added, “but the driving itself, we do the same things, it’s not like you do something completely different.”
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