Any non-Ferrari fans worried about Kimi's comments?

[bettonracing]

I'd like to invite some comments: does anyone think there is a possibility that Ferrari built the F2008 to suit Kimi? Or is Ferrari just going about their business?

I'd say not directly. It's easier to build a fast car (to make the tyres happy) and make the driver adapt to it than to build it to the driver and have him make the car fast. Now in Kimi's case, building a car to suit him and building a fast car might approach the same specifications...

Regards,

Kurt

[Belatti]

Beyond the car is good or not, I think that in this No-TC F1 era we should see good drivers perform better than they could till 2007 in comparison with their team mates.
I think that till 2007, the ECU management was able to hide many driver defects. I think that Kimi is better than Massa and I expect to see him doing better than in comparison to 2007.

And we will see Alonso very strong too, cause of that.

[donskar]

Ferrari DID have some tech problems on the next-to-last day of testing, so the car might not be where they want it to be in terms of bullet-proof reliability (I know: it never is).

I seriously doubt Ferrari will dominate McLaren(though I wouldn' mind seeing it). Here's hoping BMW and Renault join Ferrari and McLaren in the front rank. It's probably hoping for too much to wish Willimas up front, too.

And there has to be a book waiting to be writtent about Toyota's F1 effort. Never have so many spent so much to achieve so little.

[Ciro Pabón]

Timo Glock today achieved a fastest time of just 0.02 seconds behind Felipe Massa. He beat Räikönnen best time by 0.12 seconds, over more than 70 laps.

Bahrain - 11/02/2008
1 . F. Massa - Ferrari F2008 - 1:31.189 (+ 0.000 ) - 91 laps
2 . T. Glock - Toyota TF108 - 1:31.209 (+ 0.020 ) - 71 laps
3 . K. Raikkonen - Ferrari F2008 - 1:31.329 (+ 0.140 ) - 85 laps
4 . J. Trulli - Toyota TF108 - 1:31.689 (+ 0.500 ) - 86 laps.

Of course, Kimi's fastest lap was around 1:30.4, but it's an improvement.

[Belatti]

Here's hoping BMW and Renault join Ferrari and McLaren in the front rank. It's probably hoping for too much to wish Willimas up front, too.

Every season I say that I would like too see a championship with 4 or 5 cars winning (many members of the forum may remember late 70s and early 80s when Lotus, Tyrrell, Ligier, Ferrari, Renault, Williams, Brabham, McLaren and eventually someone else could take a win).
We may see a Williams doing good, but to hope them up front its, like you said, too much. It would be the best team ever with that budget.

And there has to be a book waiting to be writtent about Toyota's F1 effort. Never have so many spent so much to achieve so little

I´m waiting for F1Rejects.com to make a special article about them in a year or two

[Conceptual]

I think Kimi is a very no BS kind of driver, and I think that no-TC is going to suit him right down to the ground. He made mention of how easy the car is on tires, and that alone could make it a runaway season. Remember the MP4-21 in 2005 with the 1 set of tires per race rule? It was EXCELLENT on tires, and was up front ALOT, but suffered from bad front wing interaction following another car, as well as random disintegrations of various parts (I dont know what race, but I remember his rear wing just disappearing and he hit the barrier.)

Kimi with no TC and a bullet-proof car that is good on tires is a very, VERY dangerous combination.

Chris

[bizadfar]

I think Kimi is a very no BS kind of driver, and I think that no-TC is going to suit him right down to the ground. He made mention of how easy the car is on tires, and that alone could make it a runaway season. Remember the MP4-21 in 2005 with the 1 set of tires per race rule? It was EXCELLENT on tires, and was up front ALOT, but suffered from bad front wing interaction following another car, as well as random disintegrations of various parts (I dont know what race, but I remember his rear wing just disappearing and he hit the barrier.)

Kimi with no TC and a bullet-proof car that is good on tires is a very, VERY dangerous combination.

Chris

MP4-20
That was mainly a problem with all cars as again front wing minimum height regulation was increased (like 2001)
Yup it was excellent on tyres and fast, quite a contrast to 2007 though. Bit like the older Ferraris funny enough.
That was 2004 Hockenheim.

[donskar]

Kimi in current Autosport.com: "Obviously we still need to improve a lot"

I don't think the combination of McLaren, Mercedes and Hamilton will be embarrassed this season (though I'd like to see it!)

[checkered]

I wouldn't worry

about Kimi's comments that much, but Trulli's recent insight seems indeed to be cause for genuine concern for those that would rather see Ferrari recede into the woodwork as far as challenging for the championships go:

Let's make this clear: in this situation, not only the Ferraris will be unmatchable for us, but also the McLarens. So, talking about getting some podiums is completely unrealistic. Compared to 2007 the car has improved a lot in overall reliability and in the performance on worn tyres, which had been our main problem.

Considering the problems BMW seem to suffer, maybe for us there's the chance of getting close to the second level teams like Renault, BMW and Williams, but it's impossible to do more than that.

Looking at the behaviour of the Ferraris on the track is obviously depressing. They can brake wherever they want to but most of all they can accelerate wherever they want to, while I always have to be careful with getting on the power, which is not managed by traction control anymore.

In my opinion, even compared to McLaren, they are at least half a second faster per lap. Good night then, I feel the championship is already over even before the start.

Trulli rules out Toyota podiums in 2008 (link, Autosport)

Autosprint, meanwhile, is boasting that the new yet to be seen Ferrari aero package will be 12% more efficient, whatever that figure is supposed to imply. To me that sort of performance gain certainly seems fanciful, especially so as the aerodynamic specifications are going to change radically in the near future and the current concept has been worked on for quite some time without major changes.