Xevi Pujolar, the Head of Trackside Engineering at Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN, says the team are still awaiting a decision from Kimi Räikkönen about his future with them beyond the current campaign.
The 2007 Formula 1 World Champion joined Alfa Romeo at the start of the 2019 season after leaving Scuderia Ferrari and has scored forty-eight points since then, with a best finish of twelfth in the final standings coming in his first year with the team.
He has only one point to his name so far in 2021 thanks to a tenth-place finish in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, although he was unfortunate to earn a penalty in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix that relegated him from ninth to thirteenth.
Räikkönen’s motivation and commitment to racing remains clear, and Pujolar says that he is still putting in strong performances despite being the oldest driver on the grid and the most experienced driver in the history of the sport.
“I don’t know what his plans are, and I cannot speak for him,” Pujolar is as quoted as saying by Grandpx.news.
“But at the moment he has no problem with motivation, he works well with the team, and last week he did a great job in the race.”
Pujolar says the team are looking at ways to aid Räikkönen in Qualifying this year, with the Saturday session seemingly a weak point of the weekend for the veteran Finn and for Alfa Romeo as a whole.
“We will change a few things to help him in qualifying,” said Pujolar. “When both cars go into the second session, it helps the team a lot.
“For us, the main priority is to get ahead of Williams in qualifying so that everything can go much better in the race.”