(Motorsport-Total.com) – The bald man does not leave Kimi Räikkönen on the side, knows all the values of the “Iceman” by heart and knows how to work with the Finn. 24 years Designate Arnall has been working in Formula 1 The Brit is not a leading actor, but one of the many important members of a racing team behind the scenes.
1996 Arnall's journey in Formula 1 started – by accident. A McLaren employee attended one of his climbing courses. At that time, Ron Dennis' crew was looking for a physiotherapist for the Formula 1 crew who 24 – One-year-old accepted.
“My interview with Ron Dennis took six minutes before telling someone to 'mclarenize me'”, Arnall writes on his web subject . After the fourth race of the season he was promoted to personal coach of Mika Häkkinen, he should until his retirement 2001 stay.
“There are many things that we could not do before”
Became once has changed since then? “Gosh. There have been a lot of changes. Actually everything”, the Brit compares his early years with his work today in an interview with the Finnish broadcaster ' MTV3 '.
“Last year Mika drove the car with which he 1998 which looks completely chunky, the aerodynamics is nothing special, but at the time it was an incredible car and it did thereby winning the World Cup. “
The technical innovation has been” incredible “in recent years, Arnall is enthusiastic. The work in his area of responsibility has also changed no less. “The sport has developed a lot, once training and nutrition became a concern.”
He says: “We do very precise analyzes of the Blood, urine, and intestines, based on which we create supplements. There are a lot of things that we simply couldn't do in the past. The sport itself has changed, my work in it, but also the physical challenges for the drivers have changed. “
Scientific knowledge in particular has helped to advance industry,” says Arnall. “In my area, that helped to better understand how the body works. Training has changed more so that you become more functional and look at the whole body instead of just individual muscle parts.”
He follows this approach in training with the oldest Formula 1 driver. Arnall has worked for Räikkönen since his career jump to McLaren 2002. In the biography of the Finn ( Sponsored hyperlink: Order the Raikkonen book now on Amazon! ) the physiotherapist at that time was described by the British traditional team as a protective shield.
“Robert Kubica looked like a skeleton”
“Every time Kimi did something inappropriate, Dennis called Designate to find out what happened once,” writes author Kari Hotakainen. He observed that the job title “Non-public Coach” was not enough for the British.
Arnall is not only described as a physiotherapist but also as a “nutrition expert, psychologist, masseur and trustworthy friend”. He not only takes care of the champion's training routine, but also his nutrition and equipment on the race weekends.
He has remained Raikkonen since 2002 loyal and changed together with the ex-world champion to Ferrari, to the World Rally Championship, to Lotus, back to Ferrari and finally to Alfa Romeo.
A particularly big challenge in his work with Raikkonen was the introduction of the KERS 2009. “There were big problems with the weight of the car,” recalls Arnall. “Robert Kubica looked like a skeleton. He had to lose so much weight that the car was not overweight and wasted time.”
Raikkonen also had to slim down in his first year at Ferrari. “America was prescribed a certain weight for the driver. Because if he is only half a kilo heavier, you lose two tenths of a second on the track.”
The training has shifted from building up strength and improving the general condition towards more weight control. “So you had to try to reduce as much weight as possible, especially muscle mass.”
Raikkonen very straightforward: “He is a mister text message”
Working with Raikkonen about the Iciness works very easily, describes Arnall. Already in the book he revealed: “Kimi is Mister's text message. He sends short, clear messages without unnecessary words.” After so long working together, he knows exactly how to deal with the Alfa driver.
“It works very easily during the winter break: We don't see United States of America. No, but if that Season and the last take a look at in Abu Dhabi are over, then we go for a month apart because we spend the whole season together anyway. “
He adds:” The nice thing The long working relationship with Kimi is that we both know that once we need it. Every driver has different needs. ” This reminds him of David Coulthard, Arnall had also worked with the Scots at McLaren.
“He always wanted a strict one Belief, everything was clocked. Kimi hates that, “laughs the 48 – year olds. “Usually we make up that between 10 and 11 o'clock get started and then put on a session again in the afternoon, but usually he just writes me when he's ready. “
Arnall calls this approach” structured but flexible “. This approach works for both sides. “We do all the work that we do united states of america, but it is not set in stone when we do it all.”
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