Mtouring_Tuff*typing

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Pat-SoCal

Is that Kimi?

s4wood

no picture displaying..only red X

Mtouring_Tuff*typing

Isati Its massa

wallaby

One of the new 6-wheel Ferraris?

pattycakes® iCode

Kimi's a great driver, when he decides to be.

Otherwise, he's a 50/50 case.

I mean if Norbert Haug couldn't get him going right (toss aside the car issues. Kimi wasn't the most consistent driver in the world even w/ a good car) you really think Todt will be able to keep his head in the game?

And Massa's just, well, Massa. He's a good #2 for somebody.

Btw that was Massa's shunt, apparenlty it was torrential rains.

/former member of the Kimi Raikkonen fan club

jbchinoca

according to Hobbs and anyone else directly connected to F1. Todt had Kimi on his A list for about two years. Kimi did relax somewhat last year when he got fed up with the McLaren reliability. Last week, the the last day of testing, Kimi cleaned Massa's clock still driving last year's car. I've always been a McLaren fan, but I really liked Kimi too, so I will still be hoping he pulls it off this year.

sohjah

*ding*

pattycakes® iCode

Honestly I had HUGE hopes for Kimi

Sure Kimi's shown incredible speed (especially when he was in the Sauber) but I mean honestly, how long do we have to wait for him to put it all together? Again, tossing last year's McLaren pitfalls aside, how many times did he put <i>himself</i> out of races? Either through curious moves on the track or just a lack of interest in taking the team by the scruff and doing everything he could to get the car and setups right?

So he's recognized as "fast" and brave, but it's also widely acknowledged that he was (and AFAIK, still is) pretty useless in providing car &amp; setup input @ McLaren.

And with the exodus of a lot of Ferrari technical brain trust and the introduction of a driver who's not recognized as a great technical feedback guy I don't see his career taking off at Ferrari like everybody thinks it will. Will the Ferrari be that reliable still w/ such a large turnover at the team? Will Kimi actually figure out that last bit of the puzzle to make him a Champion?

In my heart I'd love to be proven wrong. Honestly I would. I hate Ferrari, but I really was hoping Kimi was Mika v2.0 because he has those flashes of brilliance that make you believe.

jbchinoca

recognized as one of the best drives ever. MIka was not a real technical person either, Finnish disposition. The data feedback now helps in replacing the necessity of driver input to the degree it used to. 2nd, not that many of the Scuderia folk really left. I can only think of one incident when he put himself out, running into the back of (insert correct rolling chicane name here),and even that was caused by a technical issue with that car. Try as he would, he could do nothing to help the Mercedes lack of reliability. That tends to wear ya down after a while. "Why should I push this POS faster, it'll just self destruct anyway."