BRAWN: Give Kimi Time To Adjust To Team

Yes, it is not easy to turn pole positions into 5th place finishes...

The fact that he may be bitter over how Schumacher was forced from the team and that he may be biased against Kimi would have nothing to do with this, would it??

 

Well I hope Kimi has really come to grips with the F2007 and can land the poles and the wins beginning with the European Season. I have a feeling that once he understands the car, he will just fly.

 

We don't know that. There have been numerous reports that he was forced out and numerous reports he wasn't. It seems every week there is a new story surfacing that he and Ferrari do or don't have a strained relationship. I don't think the actual facts about the situation will ever come out, and we may never really know what happened with MS and Ferrari.

 

The only fact that is relevant is that Kimi has 3 podiums in 3 races, Massa has two mediocre races out of 3. Finsihing 5th after qualifying on pole, while being schooled by a novice driver in his second GP, is scarcely the quality of a WDC contender. Speed in testing is irrelevant. Just ask Anthony Davidson.

Schumacher wanted to be as disruptive to the Kimi negotiations as possible because he didn't want Kimi signed, hence his reluctance to make a decision until season's end. He did everything he could to convince the Ferrari management not to sign Kimi. This has also been reported in the press. I recall a pretty extensive article on the entire situation being printed on this very forum.

Forcing Schumacher to accept Kimi as a teammate was tantamount to forcing him to resign as everyone knows Schumacher will not accept an equal as a teammate.

As would I, no dispute here.

Ferrari was prepared to drop Massa like a bad habit if Schumacher chose to continue. Ferrari has so much faith in Massa that they were prepared to offer Rossi, a guy who had never raced on 4 wheels, a seat. Now there's a ringing endorsement for Massa...

Massa will be racing in DTM inside of 4 seasons.

 

Hogwash. Ferrari was not about to offer Rossi a seat. The whole Rossi infatuation had more to do with Rossi and his Fiat connected girlfriend. He was the darling of the Italian press (Rossi the good clown and Biaggi the bad stoic head case) and expressed an interest in comparing an F1 car to MotoGP bike. It was great fodder for the newspapers, generated lots of chatter and was never going to go anywhere unless Rossi was setting MS times. That did not happen, nor was it likely. A Surtees or Hailwood transition IMHO is much harder to acheive today than it was in the 60's or 70's. In the end, Rossi is back in MotoGP on a Yamaha with Fiat as the primary sponsor, still with the girlfriend and no F1 contract

 

Kimi also stated in a recent interview during this current testing session that he is getting more used to the car and at the same time, the engineers are also getting to know how Kimi prefers his car to be setup. All drivers and teams takes time to get on the same page, even great teams and great drivers. 2007 will be an exciting season indeed.

http://www.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlines/news/detail/070502111611.shtml

 

Ferrari Drivers for 2007:

Kimi = 1
Massa = 2

 

That's if Felipe is even around any more. He was supposed to be just a replacement and stick around for 1 season.

 

When he showed up last year, I asked myself "Why him? Who the **** is he and what has he done to partner Schumacher at Ferrari of all places?" I thought well, Irvine and Barrichello were mediocre compared to Michael, but Ferrari hadn't won five titles in a row when they joined. So why was he given this honor? When I found out his connection with Nicholas Todd and father, I figured he'd just be around for a season and then the seat would go to someone more deserving, unfortunately this hasn't happened yet.

 

Sorry, you are wrong...yet again.

Schumacher himself actively lobbied for Rossi to be given a seat (so much for his concern over Massa's carer )

 

Schumacher lobbying for Rossi to get a seat, is like you lobbying to get Massa out of one. Ineffective, and only so much noise.

Rossi took a ride in an F1 car, Schumacher tried out a Ducati Desmosedici. Neither was about to make the jump. BTW, where have I been wrong to date Oh great prognosticator? In fact, Ross Brawn just confirmed for you what I said a few months back about Kimi learning to work with the team.

 

My ignore list has been under-populated as of late. Welcome to it.

 

i think, at the moment, Ferrari have got Phil Massa's back. he's contracted for another 2 years. if they wanted to replace him, they would have replaced him for the 2007 season, but they chose not too. i think they see something in him we don't.

 

That's right....any time someone disagrees with you or takes you to task over uninformed comments that you like to make, you run behind the skirt of the "ignore list". Waaaahhhh. I've been on it before and will no doubt be on it again. In the meantime I'll be waiting for you to point out where I was wrong.

 

You mean other than the fact that his manager is Todt's son?

They were going to replace him with Kimi, had Michael chosen to stay. By the time Schumacher chose to retire, who was left that they could sign? I don't think they chose him, I think they were stuck with him.

Ney, kiss my arse.

 

Brian,

I know you don't like him, but I think JPM at Ferrari would have never let Hamilton hold him up the way Massa did.

 

I can't. Your head is in the way!

 

LMAO

 

You have to admit though that Mass did try to overtake, even though he was unsuccessful.

 

Remember Massa started off slow last year too, he just needs a little time to "turn it on", then he will be okay.

 

yes, Tony, i don't like JPM one bit, but u have a very strong, and true point here.

 

i don't see how being Nicolas Todt as Massa's manager guranteed his seat. depends on which reports u read, some say Michael made his final decision as early as June, at the US GP. heck...some reports even went as far as saying that Michael decided to retire at the end of 2006 after the bahrain race last year.

according to that report, Michael informed JT about his decision after the race, which meant it gave the scuderia till end of the season to make up their mind for the next driver. we had scott speed, rosberg and even Fisi available at that point of time for the 2007 season. so why didn't they sign one of them?

 

HAHAHA! You just answered your own question buddy! Well let's leave talent, reputation, and nationality alone for a minute. Let's start with the fact that none of those drivers have a manager who's dad is the big boss over at Ferrari. You said yourself that we don't know when Michael decided to retire, well guess what? We also don't know how much Nicholas begged his dad to let his man stay. Now, Speed is an American with less than a year of experience at that time, to even consider him from Ferrari's point of view is beyond retarded. Rosberg was a rookie, and Fisi was a mediocre driver who got demolished by Fernando. Why would you even mention their names? Were you being funny?Lmao.