How Raikkonen got his mojo back

Fans of Kimi Raikkonen have not had much to celebrate over the past 18 months. Up until the recent Bahrain Grand Prix, Raikkonen had started 24 races without tasting champagne on a Formula 1 podium at the end of them.

His previous rostrum finish came at the 2013 Korean GP for Lotus, before he skipped the final few rounds to have back surgery amid financial wrangles at Enstone (and re-signing for Ferrari).

It looked a shrewd move for Raikkonen to follow technical whizz James Allison to Maranello, but 2014 was a disaster.

Yes, the F14-T was a poor car by Ferrari standards, but Raikkonen's results were still terrible. He finished a miserable 12th in the world championship, failed to score a podium finish for the first time since he first entered F1 in 2001, and was demoralised by a heavy defeat to team-mate Fernando Alonso, who had been ensconced at the team since 2010.

But the winter of upheaval at Ferrari has done Raikkonen the power of good. The Scuderia has produced a much better car and Raikkonen is driving much better too.

His career looks to have a new lease of life about it. He is driving well, enjoying himself again, and results have picked up.

Hamilton only just held on to win from Raikkonen in Bahrain © LAT

His second place in Bahrain means he now has 42 points after four races in 2015. By this stage last year he had scored just 11...

At Sakhir he came within 3.3 seconds of denying Lewis Hamilton victory. If Mercedes' brake-by-wire problems had struck slightly earlier - or the race had gone on slightly longer - Raikkonen would have claimed his 21st grand prix victory.

This is a far cry from what we saw last year from the 2007 world champion. So does this first podium of his second Ferrari career mark the beginning of resurgence from the 'Iceman'? And what does he still need to do to make sure we're not merely witnessing a flash in the pan?

To find the answer, let's take a look at the key elements of Kimi Raikkonen's 2015 upswing.

IMPROVED CAR

Raikkonen endlessly complained about a lack of front-end feel from last year's Ferrari. His style demands a precise response from the front tyres, but the F14-T tended to understeer and Raikkonen cannot deal with that.

It was a similar story during his previous spell at Ferrari from 2007-09, when Bridgestone was the control-tyre supplier. He would get stronger as races wore on back then, as the rear tyres went off and made the front more responsive.

Raikkonen has been instantly more comfortable since first turning a wheel in this year's SF15-T, and so has team-mate Sebastian Vettel, who also struggled last season at Red Bull.

Raikkonen struggled with balance in his previous Ferrari career © LAT

Vettel and Raikkonen have complementary driving styles, so it follows that whatever has boosted one will likely have helped the other too.

Vettel mentioned ahead of the Malaysian GP that Pirelli's new rear-tyre construction had helped cure the rear instability that held him back last year, and Pirelli's analyses suggests all F1 cars are better balanced from front to rear this season as a result of the change.

The suggestion is that beefed-up rear tyres have allowed teams to shift weight away from the front axle, because they no longer have to be quite so concerned with stressing the rear.

A better-balanced car will always give the driver more confidence, and it seems Raikkonen is now able to carry the corner speed he wants without overloading the outside front tyre and causing the car to collapse into understeer.

Extra performance from gains with the engine and aerodynamics will also have helped Raikkonen work the tyres better. There were times last season where he got stuck in a vicious cycle of saving fuel and losing tyre temperature in races. That is no longer the case.

On top of all this - and perhaps this is no surprise under Allison's leadership - the Ferrari is particularly light on tyre wear at both axles, which has improved consistency and allowed the drivers to extend stints in races without getting huge degradation.

Pirelli suspects there is something trick on the Ferrari that allows it to do this better than any other team right now. This also plays to Raikkonen's strengths, for he has been a master of tyre management since returning to F1 in 2012.

Raikkonen's positive vibe been helped by Vettel friendship © LAT

BETTER ATMOSPHERE

The winds of change that blew through Maranello over the winter have also done Raikkonen the power of good.

Alonso is now at McLaren, so (whether or not this was actually the case) Raikkonen no longer feels part of 'Alonso's team'. He and Vettel are friends away from the circuit, so the team-mate dynamic has immediately taken on a constructive aspect.

The arrival of Maurizio Arrivabene as team principal also seems to have given Raikkonen a big boost. Having someone in the senior management who clearly supports him has put Raikkonen at ease, and the Finn now reckons the current atmosphere within Ferrari is the best he's ever known in F1.

"Kimi needs to feel the support of the team around him, and especially the team principal," says Arrivabene. "He's called Iceman; actually apart from this image of iceman, he is quite strong as a guy, but is very sensitive. If he feels that the team is around him and is pushing for him, Kimi can give us a very good result and a perfect performance."

Becoming a father for the first time earlier this year will no doubt have helped stabilise Raikkonen's personal life a little too - requiring deeper focus and commitment from him now a little life depends on his endeavours.

It is important not to underestimate the potentially transformative effect such things can have on a sportsman. It's why legendary Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson used to encourage his players to settle down and get married at the earliest opportunity!

RACECRAFT

Extra core speed means Raikkonen is better placed on the grid generally than he was in 2014, when he got caught up in far too many first-lap incidents.

Worryingly, this pattern looked to be repeating itself in the first two races of this year, but Raikkonen has turned things around over the past two events.

Excellent tyre-management skill was honed at Lotus © LAT

In China he put in a combative drive to forge back ahead of both Williamses on the first lap, which set him up for a solid fourth place.

That might have become a podium (he was closing down Vettel in the final stint) but for the fact the race finished under the safety car.

In Bahrain his supreme tyre-management skills were on display in full, as he extended his stints and carried the fight to Mercedes at the end of the race.

His sensitivity for the delicate Pirelli rubber almost netted him an unlikely win at the Sakhir circuit.

Naturally, he needs to keep showing this strength.

QUALIFYING

There was once a time when Raikkonen was undoubtedly the fastest driver in Formula 1, but those days have arguably not been seen since 2006, after which Raikkonen left McLaren and child prodigy Lewis Hamilton arrived on the scene.

It's not clear whether the passing of time (Raikkonen is 35 now) has taken away a few tenths of ultimate pace, but regardless his qualifying average needs to improve.

His average grid position last year was ninth and six times he failed to make it through to the top-10 shootout on Saturday. That only happened to team-mate Alonso once, when poor strategy meant Ferrari lost both cars in Q1 at a sodden Silverstone.

Qualifying issue is still holding Raikkonen back © LAT

So far this year Vettel is averaging 2.75 in qualifying, while Raikkonen's best grid slot is fourth and his average is 6.5.

These numbers suggest Raikkonen is underperforming on Saturdays - something he himself has admitted has become a 'bad habit'. Over the course of a season this will make his life much harder than it needs to be.

Nico Rosberg is currently discovering how tough Sunday can be if you don't get Saturday right. If Raikkonen wants to avoid becoming the strategic guinea pig as the battle with Mercedes tightens up he needs to improve his qualifying average drastically, or risk becoming little more than a support act to his team-mate.

LURE OF A NEW CONTRACT

Raikkonen's current deal with the Scuderia runs out after this season, but with an option to continue into 2016. Ferrari won't re-sign Raikkonen unless he delivers, so there is extra incentive to perform well this year.

Typically, Raikkonen said he wasn't too bothered by this situation in pre-season testing: "There is an option in the contract. I don't mind. It's up to me and up to the team to do a good job this year.

"If it goes badly and I don't sign it, then I don't sign it. It's not the end of the world. The aim is to do well and have good times and for everyone to be happy.

"I'm sure we can do a good year and then we'll see what happens in the future. I don't worry about it and I don't have to think about it. We will find out sometime."

Late safety car stopped Raikkonen from overhauling Vettel to China podium © LAT

But Ferrari team boss Arrivabene reckons dangling the carrot of a contract extension in front of the Finn is a good way to motivate him.

"I'm happy with the drivers we have; this doesn't mean I am going to sign tomorrow with Kimi," he said after Raikkonen's superb performance in Bahrain.

"We were very clear that it depends on your performance [and] he has demonstrated he is a great driver.

"If you're asking me if he deserves to renew the option now, I am going to say yes. But if I'm going to say yes, I do not want the driver to fall asleep. Kimi is giving the best when he is a bit in trouble - this is a psychological approach."

The suggestion is that Raikkonen will produce his best when not certain what the future holds. But regardless of Ferrari's "psychological approach", Raikkonen's team-mate Vettel certainly reckons the Finn is back on form, and deserves to stay on.

"I think he's doing a very, very good job," he says. "Probably last year it wasn't noticed so much. Inside the team it definitely was. I think it's in his hands if he wants to carry on in Formula 1.

"There's plenty of interest in a fast driver like him, with the experience that he has, if he wants to carry on in Formula 1. If he doesn't want to then he will quit."

At the moment Kimi Raikkonen looks more competitive and motivated than we have seen for some time, and that makes him an asset to Formula 1 and Ferrari, rather than a burden. Let's hope it continues.