Alonso 'more adaptive' than Raikkonen - Fry

Former Ferrari technical director Pat Fry says Fernando Alonso had the upper hand over Kimi Raikkonen in 2014 because he was "more adaptive" than his Ferrari team-mate.

Alonso comfortably outperformed Raikkonen in an uncompetitive car, taking Ferrari's only two podium results in 2014 and finishing with 161 points compared to his team-mate's 55 last year. Raikkonen will face a new challenge with Sebastian Vettel joining him at Ferrari in 2015 and Fry says the Finn will need a car that is suited to his driving style to be able to perform to his best.

"There are two parts to it," Fry told Motorsport Magazine. "One is that Fernando is more adaptive anyway and the other is that the limitation with the car and the tyres specifically hurt Kimi's way of driving. Often by the time you get the front end he needs into the car, the rear becomes a problem.

"To some degree on the softer compound tyres it's not bad - look at Singapore; when he went onto super soft he found a huge amount of time. But generally with this year's car and tyres this is the sort of problem that compounds. You start saving fuel and you lose tyre temperature and can't get a balance, then you push and it comes back.

"Fernando works the car and the tyres and he can drive around problems. The harder you are on the fronts, the better you're going to be."

And Fry added that Raikkonen's front end issues are nothing new, with the 2007 world champion requiring a very specific feeling from the front tyres.

"Kimi was exactly the same at McLaren. He was always super-sensitive to the front end. When we had him and [Juan Pablo] Montoya together we had about seven different front suspensions. To get the best from Kimi you need to give him the car."