Ferrari came under criticism for the timing of their termination of Kimi Raikkonen's services, many believing they should have remained focused on the title fight and keeping the 'bad' news until a more appropriate time.
Recently, we reported how the Scuderia told Raikkonen that he would be replaced by Charles Leclerc, at Maranello next year, on the weekend of the Italian Grand Prix.
At that point the team were fresh from Sebastian Vettel's victory at the Belgian Grand Prix, their car appeared stronger than Mercedes and the title charge was on.
Coincidentally, or not, that all imploded on race day at Monza when Raikkonen's hitherto impeccable wingman role went AWOL and in retrospect nothing has gone right for the Reds since that weekend.
But when talking to reporters team boss Maurizio Arrivabene is adamant that the announcement did not impact their performance, “Both Kimi and Sebastian are two great professionals with years of experience on their shoulders. They are not two kart drivers who have just started hanging out at the track.”
Arrivabene: Ideally it would have been better to communicate during the summer break
“What has been said about the timing of this situation are assessments which I find disrespectful against drivers who are great professionals. Then, let me say, if every time that Kimi receives news of this nature he responds with a pole position, then it would be worth doing it every weekend.”
“I think it is important to clarify two things. Kimi has always gone well at Spa and Monza, and so Kimi was anxious to get from us an answer about his future.”
“I think that communicating a decision like that is more appropriate on the eve of a race weekend on a 'friendly' track, rather than at a weekend that promises to be more fraught.”
“Ideally it would have been better to communicate during the summer break, but we were not yet ready to do so. And after Monza meant it would still be on the eve of the Singapore weekend,” explained Arrivabene.
Promoting rookie Leclerc to the Scuderia goes against the team's tradition of employing tried and tested drivers with wins and even world titles on their CVs.
Meanwhile, Raikkonen was handed another two years in the top flight with Sauber and made it clear that he did not jump ship but was rather pushed off the Maranello deck.
Big Question: Bad timing by Ferrari?
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