Marchionne sends ‘laggard’ Raikkonen a warning

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Spielberg (Austria),July 9, 2017 (Reuters/NAN) Ferrari chairman Sergio Marchionne has indicated that Kimi Raikkonen needs to get his season in gear and do more for the team as contract negotiations for 2018 pickup pace.

“I think Kimi has got to show a higher level of commitment to the process,” he told reporters at the Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday.

“There are days when I think he’s a bit of a laggard but we’ll see. I am going to talk to him today, we’ll see what happens.”

Raikkonen, the 2007 world champion with Ferrari, is out of contract at the end of the season and has not won a race since he was with Lotus in 2013.

While four times champion team mate Sebastian Vettel, also out of contract at the end of the year, has won three of eight races.

He leads the championship by 14 points from Mercedes Lewis Hamilton, the Finn is fifth overall.

Raikkonen’s best result of the season was second in Monaco in May.

Vettel, with 153 points, has scored more than twice as many as Raikkonen (73). (Reuters/NAN)

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Edited by Emmanuel Okara/Silas Nwoha