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Raikkonen not interested in 300-race milestone, just the performance

Raikkonen not interested in 300-race milestone, just the performance

22-05-2019 11:00 Last update: 11:00
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Bobby Vincent

Kimi Raikkonen is the longest-serving driver in Formula 1 and the Monaco Grand Prix marks the 300th race of his career, but the Finn is staying focused on the performance rather than the milestone.

Raikkonen started his F1 career back in 2001 with Sauber, which is now named Alfa Romeo Racing. Nowadays, the Finn still drives for Alfa Romeo, with spells at McLaren, Lotus and Ferrari in-between.

The Finn has enjoyed a successful career with 21 race wins and a world title to his name. Technically, Raikkonen will be racing for the 298th time, with two races being entered, but not raced by the Alfa driver.

However, milestones are not too important for Raikkonen, as the 39-year-old insists in Alfa Romeo's preview of the weekend: "Everyone is talking about my 300th race, but I'm more interested in our performance.

"The test in Barcelona was important for us to understand our problems better, but I honestly don't know how good our car fits to the street-course in Monaco."

Frederic Vasseur, the Alfa team boss, has slightly more of an indication about how his team's car will fare in Monte Carlo this weekend. But Vasseur also said that the midfield is too tight to try and predict.

"The tests last week have been promising and I am sure that we're back on track and going in the right direction again," Vasseur explained. "It's interesting to see how teams battling for the midfield positions hardly get any consistency into their performance."

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