Kimi Raikkonen believes the amount of rules regarding overtaking and battling on track has enveloped the sport to a greater extent than when he first started in F1. Raikkonen, racing this year celebrating two decades in Formula 1, was asked about whether he felt driving standards had slipped over the course of his tenure in the sport. The Finn explained that, while he didn't feel that drivers were any more brazen or aggressive compared to 2001, he felt the amount of rules and interfering from Race Control had increased. "Because it depends from race to race, but I don't think it's that much different," Raikkonen told select members of the media, including RacingNews365.com. "The big difference is that there are so many rules for everything. There's so many rules that whatever you basically do, they can find a rule for it. "Good or bad for you that depends, obviously what you have done. But I think, in the past when I started, it was probably a bit more fair game in a way between drivers." Making his debut in 2001 with Sauber, the Finn quickly picked up a reputation for being an aggressive, but very fair, racer in wheel to wheel battle. It's a reputation he has maintained to this day, and Raikkonen explained that courtesy has gone a long way in ensuring that he's viewed in such positive light. "If you were overtaking, I wouldn't say that somebody let you pass, but maybe it wasn't so rude in a way or blocking so much," Raikkonen said. "We didn't need rules for this kind of thing at that time. But every sport has changed over 20 years. And, you know, it's part of the thing."
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