Ever since the 2009 season ended, the Spaniard made two unofficial visits to the Maranello headquarters in order to get acquainted with his future collaborators – crew members, mechanics, engineers and other team officials. And that's a huge change in terms of motivation as the one seen by the Ferrari staff back in the Kimi Raikkonen days, when the Finn was rarely seen chatting or bonding with the members of the Ferrari team.
“In the two days he (Alonso) has seen more of the Maranello factory than others in two years,” Spanish newspaper Marca quoted a team member as saying recently.
Alonso made no secret that his visits were intended to get friendlier with the team against whom he fought for the world titles back in the 2005-2007 period. According to his own sayings, the first thing he has to do before stepping into a Ferrari car is gain the trust, confidence and respect of his future collaborators.
Despite the constant reports from Italy and Spain that stress out Kimi's cold relationship with the team in recent years – even during the season when he became world champion for Ferrari – the company's CEO Luca di Montezemolo insisted that it is the perspective one looks at it that makes all the difference.
“It's a matter of personality, because Kimi is the type of person that shows little emotion, he keeps everything inside,” said the Ferrari boss, according to planetf1.com, while admitting that Raikkonen's personality led to the distant relationship between him and the Ferrari crew. “These things don't help with the exchange of information inside the team,” added Di Montezemolo.
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