(from autosport) Kimi Raikkonen took the blame for the pitstop incident in which he hit a Ferrari mechanic during the European Grand Prix at Valencia. The world champion injured a mechanic when he set off before the fuel nozzle had been removed during his seconds pitstop. Raikkonen admitted it was his own fault. "There is not much to say. I left (the pits) a bit too early," he told reporters after the race. "It was my fault and unfortunately I ran over the guy who was refuelling. We need to look and see what really happened." Although the incident dropped Raikkonen to sixth place, in the end it mattered little, as the Finn retired when his engine exploded on lap 46. The Ferrari driver dropped to third place in the standings, now 13 points behind Lewis Hamilton. Raikkonen, however, believes his championship chances are still good. "I am fine. I was not a nice weekend but it is not the first time," he said. "We are in a bit of a worse situation in the championship but if we get all the things sorted then I think we still have a chance to come back. We just need to get things as we want and try again." The world champion did concede he needs to sort his qualifying problems quickly if he is to have a shot at retaining the crown. "We need to get things sorted in qualifying," he added. "I think we still have a good chance, but we do the best that we can in the next races and then we will see where we are. "We know what the issues have been, but unfortunately we haven't been able to sort them out. Hopefully now in the next test we can work a bit and try to find the solution for it. If we get the qualifying right it will help a lot."
COMPLETE INTERVIEW: Q. What can you tell us about the pitstop? Kimi Raikkonen: There is not much to say. I left (the pits) a bit too early. It was my fault and unfortunately I ran over the guy who was refuelling. We need to look and see what really happened. Q. Did you feel anything before the engine broke? KR: No, it was just in the last corner. Unfortunately I don't know what happened, but we need to investigate what was wrong with the engine - but maybe it is similar to what happened to Felipe in the last race. Q. There was a lot of traffic in the race wasn't there? KR: Yeah, I knew that already before. We didn't have the qualifying that we wanted, so we started behind people again and then you cannot do much. But whatever we would have done we wouldn't have finished the race, so that is the sad thing. But we know what the issues were and hopefully we can fix them. Q. How do you feel now? KR: I am fine. I was not a nice weekend but it is not the first time. We are in a bit of a worse situation in the championship but if we get all the things sorted then I think we still have a chance to come back. We just need to get things as we want and try again. Q. You seemed to be so optimistic before the weekend though... KR: It is not great if you don't finish the race, but for sure we didn't have the qualifying as we wanted. When you start behind the people you cannot get past them. The speed in the races is not too bad, but when you are behind there is nothing you can do. I had a problem in the pit stop but in the end we would not have finished the race anyhow. It is not the best weekend but there is nothing we can do. Q. Do you know why you had the engine problem? KR: No. We need to see what was wrong, but maybe it was similar what happened to Felipe at the last race. For sure we will know more later. Q. How do you rate your chances in the championship now? KR: We need to get things sorted in qualifying. I think we still have a good chance, but we do the best that we can in the next races and then we will see where we are. Q. It is eight events now since you won a race. Does that worry you with your championship defence? KR: It wasn't the best weekend. We didn't score any points so we dropped more behind. I am not worried about not winning the race, but losing the points we could have got today is not very good. But hopefully we get the things as we want, and we still can then fight for the championship. There are still many races to go and it can change quickly, but there is no doubt it won't be easy. We need to see what we can do in the next race, for sure we need to start wining again otherwise there is no chance. Q. Are you able to explain what the problems are you are having in qualifying? KR: We know what the issues have been, but unfortunately we haven't been able to sort them out. Hopefully now in the next test we can work a bit and try to find the solution for it. If we get the qualifying right it will help a lot. Q. Is it a tyre issue, a team issue? KR: We are one team. I haven't been able to get exactly what I want from the car, so we try to work with it. We were in a very similar situation last year, so hopefully we can find a solution and get back to where we should be.
Is it just me or is KR still just driving around at an uninspired pace? Last year, he basically inherited the title when LH dumped it in his lap due to his own mistakes. He never seriously challenged for position today. Not once. I've asked it before, and I'll ask it again now, what's with the lackadaisical pace? He seems to come alive at the end of the race, but by then he's playing catch up. If he's got the speed, why not use it, get out in front and stay there? At least dictating the pace gives him the advantage. So frustrating, and clearly GROSSLY overpaid, IMO. I understand not getting frantic and desperate, but he certainly seems to be taking this all a little too comfortably. For the kind of money he's getting paid, he should be going all out all the time. These aren't really "pace yourself" races. They're sprints. And, if he thinks he's going to sit in the slipstream and steal the win at the last second... Results are expected at this level. Not a pleasant surprise. CW
Why does this surprise anyone? He did the same thing at Mclaren. Maybe they should give him a breath test before he gets in the car for a race. ")
Everyone flipped when I said Kimi looked like crap this year especially in the second half of the season. I hate to say I told you so, but I did. I wish he could get it going...
My wife and I were discussing his snoozer performance at dinner this evening. I told her I felt an Alain Prost moment was in his future. I bet he get's sacked at the end of this season or his contact not extended in 2009.
IMO for the results of the two team mates Raikkonen is grossly overpaid and Massa is an absolute bargain. Kimi is making rookie mistakes and it's pretty unacceptable.
Kimi is obviously not happy with the car - I can't imagine what could be wrong that they haven't been able to figure out in many months of tweaking it??? Kimi has the talent, it's strange that he hasn't been able to put it into wins though. But I think the "they should fire him" stuff is just ridiculous. Come on - this guy has been leading the WDC the ENTIRE year until this one race, where he had a DNF and his teammate got the win. And suddenly he's ready to be put out to pasture? Look at his results - he is hurting for wins, but he seems to finish consinstently in the points, and usually up in the points a bit (not the last points place). Massa is very hot/cold. He seems to either get P1/P2, or he's way back out of the points or crashed out. It's too early to call this season or even to call the race between the SF drivers. If the roles between Kimi and Massa are reversed at Spa, suddenly it's Kimi leading his teammate in points. It's not like he's way back and out of the picture, he's just a few points back - no biggie YET, but will become a big deal if he doesn't get back on his game.
I'm losing faith in Kimi fast. I never thought I'd say this but I'm kind of hoping he retires after this season and we pick up alonshole. Ideally I'd like to see hamilton come on board but I doubt that'll ever happen.
I don't think Kimi should be fired, I just think he needs to start earing his money, and cruising around in fourth to sixth place and jumping the gun in the pits isn't earning his money.
I'm glad Massa won, but I'm still having trouble being a fan of his. I keep being reminded of his numerous spins in England.
Kimi is still a dark horse. He slows down and collects points when the team is fumbling around looking like idiots. He's not getting the showy wins, but he's not falling down the leader board either. But he doesn't seem to be able to put the car around the lap and say, "tweak the scrumpenfrudle bolt two turns, and it'll be perfect". He seems to be fiddling with his setup, but he just doesn't seem to be able to get a handle on why it's not quite there. But we knew he was a "hired gun" when Ferrari hired him. It seems slightly odd that he's not benefiting from Felipe's setup data -- but the two do have different driving styles.
Ferrari should just change his designation to second driver and see if that will get him to do something. He has done little this season to earn the distinction of primary driver.
I am surprised no-one has called you on this very incorrect statement. Race 1: Lewis Hamilton won, and was therefore leading the WDC. (Kimi got a point despite not finishing the race.) Race 2: Kimi won, but Hamilton finished fifth and was therefore still leading the WDC. Race 3: Massa won, but Kimi placed second, and since Hamilton was out of the points Kimi was leading the WDC Race 4: Kimi won, and kept the WDC lead Race 5: Massa won, but Kimi kept the WDC lead Race 6: Hamilton won, Kimi did not score points, and lost WDC lead to Hamilton Race 7: Robert Kubica won, and took over the WDC lead Race 8: Massa won, and took over the WDC lead Race 9: Hamilton won, Hamilton & Massa were tied for WDC lead (Kimi behind on fewer victories) Race 10: Hamilton won, and was leading the WDC alone Race 11: Heikki Kovalainen won, Hamilton kept WDC lead Race 12 "This One Race": Massa won, Kimi DNF, Hamilton kept WDC lead So rounds leading the WDC before and excluding this 12th one: Lewis Hamilton: 6 (one tied) Kimi Raikkonen: 3 Felipe Massa: 2 (one tied) Robert Kubica: 1 So, to sum it up, of the 11 first rounds, Kimi has been leading three times, or 27.3%, which would hardly qualify as "the ENTIRE year ".
To me, it appears that Kimi is having trouble getting his tires up to temperature for optimal perfomance during qualifying. Felipe appear to have no problem getting the optimum performance out of the tires in a few laps but his driving style is different and he is able to get the tire temperature up to optimum in a lap or 2. I believe this is the reason, why Kimi's fuel load is higher by several laps compared to Felipe to try to put more strain on the tires to get them to temperature. However, the downside is that the extra weight also hurting the performance of the car. This all seems to make sense, since when the tires are working, Kimi seems to have no problem getting the fastest lap of the race when everything is working well.
Of course, what's important is who's leading at the END of the season. And, Ferrari continues to lead the WCC. And, KR is in the top 3 only 12 or so points away from the leader. With FM only 6 away. If LH has one retirement, and both Ferraris finish up in the points... The race for both WDC and WCC are still very much up grabs. Certainly not a bad season, but I just don't want to watch Ferrari let it slip out of reach. CW
All true. Except he's getting paid A LOT to get the best out of the equipment. It's 2/3rds of the way through the season. He's been driving a Ferrari now for nearly 2 years. If he can't get the maximum out of it, then he's not the right guy to be in the seat. He may ultimately win the WDC and Ferrari may ultimately win the WCC, but if it's because Ferrari gave the driver a superior car (as opposed to the driver(s) getting the most out of the machinery), then I don't see how KR can justify his compensation. It's money that should go into more development, because if he can't coax the max out of the car, then the car better be so much better than all the other cars on the grid they don't have a chance. CW
Kimi's struggles are many - Balance, tires and qualifying. I think the matter is simple - the car has developed in a manner that is not to his strengths, but more to Felipe's. Kimi has not adapted to those changes as well and is not performing well since France. His difficulties are growing as the season progresses. Felipe's are not and he has sorted the car to make it work better in a manner that suits his style. Kimi is less adaptable to the changes made and has suffered with reliability issues as has Massa. Recent history does not support a resurgence of Kimi over Masssa, unless the reliability of the car improves and Massa makes more mistakes or is outqualified straight away by Kimi. The odds are against it. It seems the car and tires are working against Kimi no matter his effort. I also feel Felipe has simply improved much more so as a driver. His desire - FM, cannot be denied as well. Kimi has alot to overcome to make up the distance between himself and Felipe, and even more so to overtake Lewis. Of course last year shows anything can happen. Without such situations Kimi is running out of time and opportunity.
I meant he's been leading between him and Massa. The theme of my post was that ditching Kimi as the WDC contender in favor of Massa would be a bad decision at this time - because he's been leading (Massa) in the WDC race all year long. To ditch him at this point would be silly, IMO.
