Ferrari boss Maurizio Arrivabene has insisted that he will not ignore Kimi Raikkonen now that Sebastian Vettel is part of the Italian team.
Vettel marked his first race for the Scuderia with a podium finish at the Australian Grand Prix, while Raikkonen was forced to retire with a loose wheel nut after his final pit stop.
However, Arrivabene is keen to stress that he wants the Finnish driver to feel just as valued as the constructor's high-profile new recruit.
He is quoted by F1i as saying: "Seb of course was happy because his dream came true. To get a podium with Ferrari is something really special for a Formula 1 driver.
"Concerning Kimi I went straight away to talk to him. What you need to do with a driver is you need to understand them and you need to keep him up. Otherwise if you go to celebrate with one and ignore the other it doesn't work.
"The two guys are working very well together and my job is to keep the right balance and to make Kimi confident. I was repeating to him many times: 'Kimi, you are like a hammer! You are pushing like hell and your timing was super good.' So I am convinced. We need two drivers for the constructors', not one, and Kimi I think can do his job properly."
Raikkonen re-joined Ferrari from Lotus after the 2013 season.
Chris O'Keefe
