Sir Jackie Stewart thinks Kimi Raikkonen is unlikely to achieve as much in his formula one career as McLaren’s 2007 rookie Lewis Hamilton.
The former triple world champion acknowledged Finn Raikkonen’s natural talent but questioned his focus.
“The way he lives his life is contrary to the complete package; the kind that allowed Schumacher to win multiple championships, (as well as) Senna and Prost, Jim Clark or even me,” Stewart is quoted as saying by British newspaper The Telegraph.
In the Daily Express, Stewart reportedly added: “It is an attitude, a mentality, a way of doing business. Our lifestyle, mind, make-up was different from a Raikkonen — or for that matter a Jenson Button.
“There are other things in Raikkonen’s life he still wishes to carry on doing,” Stewart went on.
“He doesn’t seem prepared to make the sacrifice of reducing the lifestyle he has chosen because he enjoys it. He is not prepared to compromise.
“That is why Hamilton has the opportunity to be dominant over time and Raikkonen doesn’t, unless something substantial changes.”
In the Times, Stewart also accuses Ferrari’s Raikkonen of being “oblivious of social skills”, while a cursory search for his name at youtube.com shows the Finn falling off a yacht apparently drunk, and telling a F1 reporter on live TV that he was “having a shit” while Michael Schumacher was presented with a trophy by Pele in Brazil last October.
