Vasseur: Kimi is attracting sponsors from every single area

Raikkonen at 38 remains one of the sport's most popular drivers and marketable drivers, his affiliation with the team. which only begins next year, is already having big positive, albeit unexpected, repercussions.

Speaking to MN, Sauber team principal Frederic Vasseur said, "The announcement of Kimi was a huge push also in terms of marketing. I think we will discover the impact of Kimi's situation week after week. On the grid, he'll be with one of the three world champions next year, with Seb and Lewis, and he has a huge impact."

"We are receiving offers from every single area, from sponsors, it's a very strange feeling. I probably even underestimated the impact. I'm not a big fan of the social media, but I think it's a huge thing."

"Kimi was a bit unexpected 12 months ago, but 12 months ago we were absolutely nowhere. I couldn't imagine that I will convince Kimi to join the team! But thanks to everybody in the company, because we made a good improvement."

With regards to what he expects of Raikkonen, veteran of 286 grand prix starts, on track, Vasseur said, "He has the reputation to be a very good technician, with very strong feedback. Probably when you are 450 people it's more important to have this kind of guy than when you are two or three times bigger."

"We need to have a strong leader on the driver side. He has very strong feedback, and he's probably one of the best, or the best."

Vasseur also revealed how news of the Finn's arrival in 2019 has fired up the team HQ at Hinwill, "The reaction in the factory was huge. It's a huge push to consider that someone like Kimi could join the project, that he trusts the team, he trusts everybody in the team."

"It's giving you self-confidence: The guy in front of me, who is a world champion, is considering that I can do a good job, so full push. I was in the design office when we issued internally the email saying that Kimi will join and the reaction was: Wow!"

"I think Kimi will enjoy racing with us," predicted the Sauber team chief.