Kimi leaving Ferrari?

[ISLAMATRON]

More like the Ice cream man now.... and is driving just as slow

[WhiteBlue]

Kimi came to Ferrari clearly as the #1 driver if you look at his salary. He was brought in by pressure of Montezemolo while reportedly Todt wanted Schumacher to drive another year.

Kimi was very lucky that McLaren shot themselves in the foot that year with the Alonso Hamilton feud because under normal circumstances he could never have won that championship. With this lucky WDC under his belt Kimi lost most of his attitude towards GP driving. Ever since 2007 Massa has walked over him. It must be a constant pain for Montezemolo. Ferrari has made Raikkonen a very rich man but they did not get the value that they used to get for the top dollar they payed.

If they have a chance to rectify this by getting Alonso they would be mad not to. The question is how Alonso will do in the long run. He is neither a team player nor can he live with a top notch team mate. He should be able to deal with Massa, but what will happen if Ferrari have a go at another stronger driver like Vettel as Ecclestone wants them? He can only pray that Ferrari will remember the havoc of 2007 at McLaren and give him clear #1 status with a voice at selecting team mates. How probable is that with Montezemolo at the helm?

[FGD]

Kimi came to Ferrari clearly as the #1 driver if you look at his salary. He was brought in by pressure of Montezemolo while reportedly Todt wanted Schumacher to drive another year.

Kimi was very lucky that McLaren shot themselves in the foot that year with the Alonso Hamilton feud because under normal circumstances he could never have won that championship. With this lucky WDC under his belt Kimi lost most of his attitude towards GP driving. Ever since 2007 Massa has walked over him. It must be a constant pain for Montezemolo. Ferrari has made Raikkonen a very rich man but they did not get the value that they used to get for the top dollar they payed.

If they have a chance to rectify this by getting Alonso they would be mad not to. The question is how Alonso will do in the long run. He is neither a team player nor can he live with a top notch team mate. He should be able to deal with Massa, but what will happen if Ferrari have a go at another stronger driver like Vettel as Ecclestone wants them? He can only pray that Ferrari will remember the havoc of 2007 at McLaren and give him clear #1 status with a voice at selecting team mates. How probable is that with Montezemolo at the helm?

Could not agree more.

[Michiba]

wow, what's withe Kimi hating all of the sudden?

I think he was the fastest driver last year, but lucked out a couple of times, and screwed up at crucial moments.

He still has the most fastest laps for last year. This stat doesn't mean much in terms of championships, but it clearly shows he was fastest.

[ISLAMATRON]

or maybe he had the fastest car... or maybe he was always playing catch up while Hamilton or Massa had a clear lead and no need to push at the end of the race

[Michiba]

or maybe he had the fastest car... or maybe he was always playing catch up while Hamilton or Massa had a clear lead and no need to push at the end of the race

Well if it was just the car, then Massa should have a similar no. of fastest laps.

And if he only got them playing catch up, then it shows his commitment to winning which others in this thread say he has lost.

I'd agree with that to a certain extent this year, but that has largely been due to the poor performance of the ferrari this year. Even then, his performance has been on par with Massa this year.

[FGD]

wow, what's withe Kimi hating all of the sudden?

I think he was the fastest driver last year, but lucked out a couple of times, and screwed up at crucial moments.

He still has the most fastest laps for last year. This stat doesn't mean much in terms of championships, but it clearly shows he was fastest.

I think it's that Kimi seems to lack motivation. For someone at the pinnacle of motor racing, his apparent lack of motivation seems a slap in the face to every aspiring racer and fan alike.

[andartop]

More like the Ice cream man now.... and is driving just as slow

Kimi was very lucky that McLaren shot themselves in the foot that year with the Alonso Hamilton feud because under normal circumstances he could never have won that championship.

Ok, I never was a huge KR fan, and I have to admit last year I would stand in front of the TV and shout and swear at him more often than not, but this is getting ridiculous..

If he's so slow, that would be really telling for everybody else who's got less points than him at the moment, especially taking into consideration the reliability problems he's had in the beginning of the season.

As for his "lucky" championship, well, I'm sure anyone could think of a million different excuses to consider any F1 WDC ever won "lucky", but not anyone could actually win one themselves, even with all the luck in the world.

"If"s and "but"s, "would've"s and "could've"s don't count as results, official race records, points and titles do.

[WhiteBlue]

"If"s and "but"s, "would've"s and "could've"s don't count as results, official race records, points and titles do.

Sure, its a fact that Kimi won that WDC and nobody can take it away from him. It is equally clear that Ferrari used team order that year and McLaren did not. Under equal circumstances McLaren had the upper hand and one of their drivers would have won. So Kimi/Ferrari were better in the end because McLaren politics gave that championship away. Just think about the points Alonso lost from his Hungary affair. You cannot rely on your competitor to be dumb. So I call that lucky.

If you compare Hamilton 2008 I would not call that lucky. The dodgy Spa decision went against him and he had the smallest possible margin in hand just like Kimi 2007. But Ferrari gave no points away for monkey business.

[paused]

"If"s and "but"s, "would've"s and "could've"s don't count as results, official race records, points and titles do.

Sure, its a fact that Kimi won that WDC and nobody can take it away from him. It is equally clear that Ferrari used team order that year and McLaren did not. Under equal circumstances McLaren had the upper hand and one of their drivers would have won. So Kimi/Ferrari were better in the end because McLaren politics gave that championship away. Just think about the points Alonso lost from his Hungary affair. You cannot rely on your competitor to be dumb. So I call that lucky.

If you compare Hamilton 2008 I would not call that lucky. The dodgy Spa decision went against him and he had the smallest possible margin in hand just like Kimi 2007. But Ferrari gave no points away for monkey business.

Have to disagree. Their stupid pit stop light system really was an own goal. If you remember Singapore, Massa got a green light just before he drove off with the fuel hose. If anything should be called "Monkey Business" then I think that is pretty close.

[andartop]

"If"s and "but"s, "would've"s and "could've"s don't count as results, official race records, points and titles do.

Sure, its a fact that Kimi won that WDC and nobody can take it away from him. It is equally clear that Ferrari used team order that year and McLaren did not. Under equal circumstances McLaren had the upper hand and one of their drivers would have won. So Kimi/Ferrari were better in the end because McLaren politics gave that championship away. Just think about the points Alonso lost from his Hungary affair. You cannot rely on your competitor to be dumb. So I call that lucky.

If you compare Hamilton 2008 I would not call that lucky. The dodgy Spa decision went against him and he had the smallest possible margin in hand just like Kimi 2007. But Ferrari gave no points away for monkey business.

This just goes on to prove my point. You see, the problem is that exactly as you conveniently chose two specific incidents (Hungary, Spa) or so-called circumstances (McLaren politics - as if McLaren didn't really want to win the title), so could I, as paused did, or anybody for that matter, choose another two, three or five different ones (but always conveniently selected) to support that every championship ever won by anyone was down to luck. I call that pathetic. Certainly some championships have been won more decisively than others, or in more style, and some had more of a "rulette" or "politics" or "superior car" or "whatever" component. But to claim any championship ever was simply down to luck is simply invalid.

[WhiteBlue]

I suggest we better agree not to agree on that matter. I was quite happy to see Kimi win that championship however I call some of the circumstances. And I would never claim something as foolish as saying it was all down to luck. Shall we leave it at that?

[Bob Brown]

I really don't see how people all of a sudden turn on Kimi just because he is not winning in a mediocre car. Lack of motivation??? Do people need to be in EJ's shoes again to be reminded about it? Geez, it's like people just take random --- talking in the news and then role with it.
Sure he is not winning races, but you wouldn't either if you had a car that had reliability problems, etc...

People just need to lay off Kimi and enjoy the sport, and take the season as it is.....a bad one for Ferrari.

I'm just happy to watch him go out there and give it his all to try and get as high up there as possible and maybe by some crazy random luck like Alonso in Singapore 08, win a race this year.

[donskar]

I really don't see how people all of a sudden turn on Kimi just because he is not winning in a mediocre car. Lack of motivation??? Do people need to be in EJ's shoes again to be reminded about it? Geez, it's like people just take random --- talking in the news and then role with it.
Sure he is not winning races, but you wouldn't either if you had a car that had reliability problems, etc...

People just need to lay off Kimi and enjoy the sport, and take the season as it is.....a bad one for Ferrari.

I'm just happy to watch him go out there and give it his all to try and get as high up there as possible and maybe by some crazy random luck like Alonso in Singapore 08, win a race this year.

Good post. I remind myself often that the best of us would be several seconds per lap slower than the worst F1 driver out there. Not to mention that few of us are anywhere the conditioning of the least fit active F1 driver.

[The FOZ]

I really don't see how people all of a sudden turn on Kimi just because he is not winning in a mediocre car. Lack of motivation???

Lack of discernable emotion is the problem here. Win, lose, or on fire, Kimi seems completely neutral about his situation. He's a Vulcan. If he's winning, no feelings are showing, and people think he's got nerves of steel. Losing? He clearly must not care, 'cause he's not going on about "we must give it our all, blah blah blah".

I think someone like Alonso is probably the polar opposite, he really sees to get down on the situation when it's not going well, but that turns around fast with success.

Which driver would you prefer to have working for you?