Fernando Alonso believes Kimi Raikkonen was the best driver available to Ferrari for 2014 and says he is happy with the decision to bring the Finn back to the team.
Alonso replaced Raikkonen at Ferrari in 2010 and since then has had Felipe Massa as his team-mate. However, when it came to replacing Massa at the end of this year, Alonso said he thinks the team made the right choice to go with Raikkonen.
"I was always informed about all the team's movements," he said. "It's true that until the last moment the team didn't make a decision, and when they decided it was better to change Felipe they asked me what was my opinion and my opinion was that Kimi was the best out there in the market, especially with many changes for next year.
"In terms of developing the car in January and February a team-mate that has been in Formula One for many years is important and the team chose Kimi so I am happy."
Alonso said having Raikkonen instead of Massa as his team-mate would not change his approach.
"The motivation will always be similar," he said. "I will do my best all the time and sometimes you deliver the results people expect and sometimes not, but I don't think that anyone will push me more than what I push now.
"Having two world champions doesn't make any difference. It's something that you [the media] keep writing and many people try to say, which was exactly the same as what people said when I arrived here with Felipe, because he had been at Ferrari for many years already. People said it would be a very difficult relationship but after four years he is one of the best friends I have here.
"Felipe I consider to be a world champion as well, it's not like [Raikkonen's] one title will change anything when I'm pushing. Felipe was world champion when he crossed the line in 2008 so it's not like he is a rookie driver."
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