Comments on: The problem for Kimi Raikkonen

By: breza

breza — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 12:52:45 +0000

F1 is commercial world. You breathe when and how your team tells you, or you’re not welcome. This is not about Kimi’s driving abilities, which are second to none (let’s be frank) it’s more about Kimi doing what he likes. He’s a Finn, which means “that if you drive F1 you’re not good enough for WRC”, and (we all agree)F1 is just getting boring. Overtaking is penalized, “Overtaking Group” did not find the way to make racing interesting, rules are unclear… F1 is going down. Why not to get more money driving WRC then a full F1 season in mediocre car? Red Bull link means Vettel out, Kimi in. It’s just dull and character free…

By: pat from manila

pat from manila — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:34:35 +0000

my guess is this:

nico rosberg will be traded by mercedes for lewis hamilton of mclaren because mobil 1 will be following mercedes in their team and mclaren is loosing sponsorships by having 2 british drivers – and cost of salary of rosberg to hamilton is way cheaper for mclaren.

now that hamilton is in the cards of mercedes, he will now then be traded to red bull for sebastian vettel – THE MAN’ THAT NORBERT REALY WANTED FOR HIS TEAM. a german driver with years of commitment.

Then the other driver must be a top driver, with much experience, goes along with vettel, coming from a top team for info resources, and if possible a former world champion with also a very good fan base for sponsorship appeal…this points out to Kimi Raikkonen!

- if you are redbull, would you heistate to trade vettel for hamilton?

this is an idea for me. i hope you may agree a little. thanks.

By: Lee

Lee — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 18:09:42 +0000

[Mercedes' Norbert Haug indicated that he is keen on Kimi Raikkonen. “He has my number. He can call me at any time," Haug said.]

As long as Mercedes havent confirms their driver line-up next year without Kimi. I still think that is a extremly high posibility that Kimi will stick with F1 driving the possible best car on track!

By the way, who is better than Kimi competing for that sit? Nick Heidfield? Could be if Mercedes not thinking of winning any title!

By: Hans joergen Stroem

Hans joergen Stroem — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:26:44 +0000

I agree 100%.

By: Paige Michael-Shetley

Paige Michael-Shetley — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:17:19 +0000

Or maybe Massa just knows the magic way around Interlagos? That’s pretty likely, as he’s been outstanding there.

He had Felipe covered over the second half of 2007.

By: Kirsty

Kirsty — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:56:27 +0000

It’s hard to say if he actually did any adaptation. In Brazil 2007, Massa was still faster than him. If he struggled in the first half season and completed his adaptation in the second half, you’d expect he had a clear advantage over Massa in the last race, wouldn’t you?

By: Charlie

Charlie — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:17:27 +0000

Wey Hey! Legendary post.

By: Awadhesh

Awadhesh — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:32:30 +0000

A really nice post Nicole! True sportsman and all out pure racer, that’s what Kimi Raikkonen is. Anything else doesn’t matter.

By: Seb

Seb — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:06:09 +0000

This argument about JV having success only because of his car is invalid. He beated Deamon Hill at his very first GP in 1996 and slack down in the last lap to let him win. He won 1997 title with, at the end, a slower car than Shumi.

He then beated Frentzen, Zonta, Panis while constructing an whole new team from scratch ! He was unconvincingly beaten by Massa in 2005. Massa was “mysteriously” (in my view) hired by Ferrari in his place.

He beated Heidfeld for the first half of 2006 season and began his downfall only after he felt BMW was willing to dump him anyway.

He then crashed a lot of cars and complained about the poor BMW engine in Germany GP et so was politically drop out of F1.

He’s not the greatest, but have been beaten, in equal cars, only by a great driver : Jenson Button.

After winning the title, he asked to be hired by Ferrari in “a car as good as Micheal’s car”, which they refused. He then starts is own team, the same one who gave Button the championship this year.

So show respect to JV.

He still deserve a seat in F1 considering all the below average drivers out there !

By: Relativity

Relativity — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:57:13 +0000

Well said Nicole. F1 is a bit poorer with the loss of Kimi. How can F1 justify allowing a driver of Kimi’s caliber to walk away?

Today is a very sad day for me.