The bond between Raikkonen and Arrivabene
From 2014 to 2018, by the will of then president Sergio Marchionne, Maurizio Arrivabene was appointed team principal of Ferrari. And in those five seasons the Italian manager had a constant in the driver lineup: Kimi Raikkonen, one year with Fernando Alonso and the other four with Sebastian Vettel.
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And between Arrivabene and Raikkonen the right spark immediately ignited: the two met in 2007 – when the Brescia native was responsible for Marlboro communication: “Kimi is different from the others, in the sense that he needs to understand first, and only then speaks”. Of course, there were occasional arguments, but the former Ferrari team principal has always recognized in the Finn the ability to quickly put everything behind him.
The broken leg prank
Maurizio Arrivabene recounted the prank played on Kimi Raikkonen for the first time in 2016 at an event where the Scuderia got closer to its fans. The exchange between the two, both present on stage, was hilarious.
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Maurizio Arrivabene: “I was at home, in Maranello, and it was already late. You know when you can’t wait to sit on the couch and say: ‘Ah, the day is over’…
I get a message from Kimi with a picture. I said to myself: ‘But at this hour?’. I open it and there he was with his leg in a cast. And one word, because he is used to speaking little. It said shit (mer*a, ed.), exclamation point. At that point my arms dropped. I said a bad word, then another and then at some point I said: ‘Wow, we have to tell the president (Marchionne, ed.)!. I was about to pick up the phone to call him and say: ‘This is a mess’, and I get a call from Kimi. ‘Ah, ah. It was a joke (it was a joke, ed.)!’”
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Kimi Raikkonen: “Yes, it’s true. I was working with a company that made braces. I took a photo and obviously did it on purpose. But I had fun“.
Maurizio Arrivabene: “But not me!”.
