Ferrari Need To Replace Kimi Raikkonen To Win Constructors' Title, Brundle Says

Ferrari need to replace Kimi Raikkonen if they want to properly challenge Mercedes for the Constructors’ title, according to former Formula 1 driver Martin Brundle.

The Italian outfit have not won a Drivers’ championship since the Finn won it during his debut season with the team in 2007. The Constructors’ title, on the other hand, has eluded them since 2008.

It was Red Bull Racing first and then the last four seasons have been dominated by Mercedes with no team coming close to breaking the deadlock until Ferrari mounted challenge in 2017. But they could not sustain it for the whole campaign.

The year 2018 has seen a change with three teams — Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari — challenging for wins on a consistent basis. The Italian marque has won three of the seven races with the other two teams’ two wins apiece.

However, it is Sebastian Vettel who is leading Ferrari’s charge with Raikkonen failing to win a single race since rejoining the team in 2014. He has managed three podiums this season, but Brundle believes the Finnish racer needs to contribute more if Ferrari are to mount a proper challenge in the team battle.

The most recent race in Canada saw Vettel cruise to victory while Raikkonen struggled to sixth place in the same machinery. Raikkonen has shown glimpses of his past form this campaign, but is unable to sustain it consistently throughout a race weekend.

Brundle, a former McLaren and Williams driver, believes Raikkonen has reached the end of the road and Ferrari need to think about replacing him with a younger driver. The Finn is out of contract at the end of the season, but is keen to remain in the sport beyond 2018.

The decision lies with Ferrari and Brundle has advised them to hire one of Daniel Ricciardo, who is out of contract with Red Bull or bring in Ferrari junior driver Charles Leclerc, who is having an impressive debut season having already scored 10 points with an under-performing Sauber.

“Ferrari have to be concerned about Kimi,” Brundle wrote in his post Canada GP column for Sky Sports. “I know he’s one of the most popular drivers around, but after another mistake in qualifying he finished nearly 30 seconds behind his team-mate on Sunday.”

“What are they going to do? In my view Kimi has reached the end of the road. He still shows a flash of real speed from time to time but he can’t relentlessly deliver the required race pace any more. Nor is he working as an effective rear-gunner to Seb.

“Winning the Constructors’ Championship is super-important to Ferrari – they don’t put the list of their titles on their road car dashboards for fun – and if they want to win it in this era against Red Bull or Mercedes they need a Ricciardo or a Leclerc alongside Vettel next year,” the 1990 Le Mans winner explained.

“Charles Leclerc looks the real deal to me. He is out-performing his Sauber car just like Alonso and Webber did in a Minardi, like Senna did in a Toleman and Schumacher in a Jordan,” he added.