That is the claim of Ferrari's recently-ousted technical chief Pat Fry, musing the key differences between the Maranello team's 2014 pairing.

For 2015, Spaniard Alonso has switched to McLaren-Honda, but Raikkonen is staying put and will be joined this year by his friend Sebastian Vettel.

Ferrari's champion of 2007, and having thrived at Lotus, Finn Raikkonen notably struggled alongside Alonso last year and Briton Fry thinks he knows why.

"There were two issues," he is quoted by Brazil's Totalrace.

"The first is that Fernando is more adaptable and the second is that the limitations of the car and tyres are especially difficult with Kimi's driving style.

"It was the same at McLaren," Fry added, having also worked with Raikkonen at the British team.

"He was very sensitive to the front of the car - when he and Montoya were together, I think we had about seven different front suspensions for the season.

"To get the most out of Kimi, you need to give him the car to do it," he said.