Kimi Raikkonen gets the thumbs up.

Peter Sauber and his race engineer, Jacky Eeckelaert, have given rookie Kimi Raikkonen the vote of confidence.

Peter Sauber told the British newspaper The Guardian: "I'm very, very proud of them. Nick (Heidfeld) has more experience than people think. But it was a risk to take Kimi. You know, we finished eighth in the championship last year, we needed to go forward, and to do that you have to get good drivers. I tried very hard to get Heinz-Harald Frentzen, but it was not possible. So I had to take a risk. And I'm really happy, because Kimi's race was beautiful."

Jacky Eeckelaert, Raikkonen's race engineer added: "What's remarkable about him is that with so little experience he can act at a grand prix weekend just like a normal racing driver. He's quite amazing. In those three days he didn't put a foot wrong - not one single spin, no gravel trap, not even a flat spot on a tyre. Nothing. He drove a perfect three days, like a driver who's been doing it for 10 years."

"We pushed him to be very careful, because people had been critical. For instance, Michael Schumacher rolled his car on Friday. Not his fault. Jacques Villeneuve and Ralf Schumacher had a big accident in the race, and a marshal was killed. I don't know whose fault that was. But if Kimi had been involved, and perhaps someone had been killed, can you imagine what would people have said?"

"He was fast and consistent. You can be slow and make no mistakes, but he's fast with no mistakes. So it means that his potential is even bigger than he's shown this weekend."

Before his F1 debut at the Australian Grand Prix Raikkonen had just 23 single seater races. Now he has the potential to be 'the Button of 2001'.