"He had no desire" - F1 pundit points out major difference between Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton

Former McLaren mechanic Marc Priestley has pointed out that one major difference between Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen is the level of application and desire. Hamilton strove to find each and every small detail to gain an advantage, unlike Raikkonen.

Priestly was part of McLaren from 1999 to 2009 and worked with both Hamilton and Raikkonen. While Raikkonen was unable to win a title with the Woking-based squad, he had runner-up finishes in 2003 and 2005. Hamilton, meanwhile, won his first of seven F1 titles with McLaren in 2008.

Priestley, though, picked Raikkonen as the faster driver on a single lap on his day, and no one came close to him.

However, the Finn wasn't the most complete driver, as he didn't want to apply himself like Hamilton or Fernando Alonso. According to Priestley, Raikkonen could have won more titles had he applied himself, but the Finn showed little desire to do that.

In his interview on The Pitstop Podcast, Priestley said:

“Kimi was the fastest over a lap on his day. But Kimi was far from being the most complete Formula 1 driver. He won a World Championship; you can’t knock him, but he only won one."

He continued:

"I firmly believe – and he had no desire to do this – but if he’d applied himself like a Lewis Hamilton, he could have gone on to win many World Championships. He had that amount of talent, whereas Lewis does apply, still to this day, still looking for every marginal gain, every little advantage you can. I think Fernando is exactly the same."

Hamilton (168) is sixth in the driver standings ahead of the Singapore GP next weekend. He's mathematically out of reckoning for the title, trailing leader Max Verstappen by a whopping 167 points with just six races to go.

---

Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton tried to be best driver on grid - Mark Priestley

Marc Priestley, now a media pundit, said that both Alonso and Hamilton would try to become the best drivers on the grid, while Raikkonen only wanted to drive the car.

Priestley said:

"They went about it in different ways those two, but I think Fernando and Lewis were the two that try to encompass everything to be the whole best Formula 1 driver, not just the bit behind the wheel. For Kimi, he loved being behind the wheel; everything else about Formula 1 he hated. He couldn’t stand it – he just wanted to drive.”

Raikkonen peaked with his title win over Hamilton and Alonso in 2007. Post his championship win, the Finn's career tapered off and so did his performances, while Alonso and Hamilton were able to maintain their high level for a lot longer.