Raikkonen: Impossible to say if it's harder now or less hard

The 39-year-old Finn, arguably the most popular F1 driver of the past two decades, began his long F1 journey at the 2001 Australian Grand Prix. Since then he has driven a host of different spec F1 cars - including the 3.0 litre V10s, 2.4 litre V8s and now the hybrid turbos.

In an interview with Motorsport Network, Raikkonen was asked to compare the difficulty of driving in these different eras.

He replied, "Is it harder now or less hard? It's impossible to say. When you start thinking 10 years back the memory plays games and you can't. Maybe it's not the same. If you asked me 10 years ago I'd say 'it's OK' because it's all about how you get used to it.

"When you come after the winter and you drive, you see whether it's hard or not because your neck is basically done after 20 laps and it feels awful.

"But the second test, you have a little bit of pain here and there and then you get used to it. It's like any sport you do, you get used to what you do and it doesn't feel hard."

Many cite the apparent lack of effort required to drive the modern era F1 cars as proof that they are easier to drive than the previous generation machines.

After all, it took little effort for F2 midfielder Nikita Mazepin to end his stint in the Mercedes W10 fastest of all during Barcelona F1 testing in May - the Russian had never sat in the car prior to that.

"I don't think it felt any different in the earlier days," continued Raikkonen. "Some races are harder than others. In those days we did a lot of testing and then you just get used to more.

"But if you are driving it's always going to be hard to go fast and be on the limit. Sometimes it feels more easy. I remember sometimes when we had a very good car and everything is absolutely perfect, it feels like nothing.

"You drive easily and the laptime is great, everything is great, and it feels a bit too easy. But other times it's a painful experience when you have to fight."

One suggestion to make the current cars harder to drive, albeit not one thought to be under serious consideration, is to reduce the assistance of power steering.

However, Raikkonen said he was able to get used that to in 2001 when he had "no power in myself compared to what I have now".

"The first Sauber I drove in testing in Mugello had zero power steering. In 2001, we got it at Monza, so already half a year without power steering. It's about doing what you have to do," explained the veteran of 301 Grand Prix starts.

https://www.grandprix247.com/2017/01/13/sainz-driving-f1-cars-has-never-been-easy/