LONDON -- Finland's Kimi Raikkonen is too
inexperienced to be in Formula One this season and could pose a
danger to others, according to British American Racing (BAR)
team boss Craig Pollock.
"Even though I believe that Raikkonen is a talented driver,
I still don't believe that he's done enough driving to be
sitting in an F1 car," he said in an interview on the website of
British weekly magazine Autosport on Friday.
Raikkonen has competed in just 23 single seater car races in
his career and will race for Sauber this season after winning
the 2000 British Formula Renault title.
"The problem is not for him driving around a track, the
problem is his lack of experience potentially causing a
situation that could be dangerous," said Pollock.
The BAR boss also said that Frenchman Olivier Panis had
exceeded expectations since he joined the team after a season
out of racing as McLaren test driver and was pushing Canadian
former champion Jacques Villeneuve hard.
"He's come in very hungry and he's come in wanting to do the
best for the team," said Pollock.
"He is in contact with me daily and he's making a huge
effort. He knows that Jacques and myself are very close, but
he's actually more in contact than Jacques is.
"Nobody can say it's because of lack of communication or the
team is not behind him. The team is now so much behind him that
Jacques is now going to have to start to make an effort."
Panis's predecessor, Brazilian Ricardo Zonta, left the team
at the end of last season and later complained that his
confidence had been undermined at BAR.
"I will never return to a team whose driver is a world
champion and whose owner is also the manager and best friend of
this driver. I suffered too much," he said.
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