Räikkönen Proved He was the ‘Complete Package’ through Final F1 Year – Giovinazzi

Antonio Giovinazzi says Kimi Räikkönen proved right until the end of his career that he was the ‘complete package’, with the Italian praising the Finn for the way his performances during three tough years at Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN.

Giovinazzi and Räikkönen were team-mates at Alfa Romeo between 2019 and 2021 before both left the team at the end of last year, the Italian heading to the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship with Dragon/Penske Autosport and the Finn heading into retirement.

But despite knowing his retirement was coming, Räikkönen was still able to show just what he was capable of, even if the car was not as strong as either driver would have liked it to have been, with Giovinazzi laying a lot of praise on his now-former team-mate.

“I think Kimi confirmed during his last year that he was one of the best drivers in terms of race management, so when it comes to managing the tyres and the power unit, but also in terms of overtaking,” said Giovinazzi to Motorsport.com.

“He was the complete package, so to speak.”

Giovinazzi only scored three points in his final year with Alfa Romeo but showed strong pace at various points of the season, with the Italian feeling he should have scored more had luck been more on his side.

“There are so many factors that influence the outcome of a race,” said the Italian.  “I’ve had a few unlucky races, like in Imola, where a tear-off ended up in one of the brake ducts causing us to lose points.

“In other races there were problems at the pit stops and I also did not make the most of an overtaking opportunity a few times.

“In qualifying you have to bring everything together in one lap, but during the race there are many more variables that can influence the result.”