Silly, silly, silly: Official denegation by Ferrari to the Kimi rumour (even if they admit that Steve Roberston has been seen in the Ferrari Motorhome in Hungary) "there is no ground whatsoever, etc..." F1, Formule 1 - Infos - Ferrari s'exprime sur la rumeur Raikkonen, la saison folle continue | Nextgen-Auto.com And the conclusion is.... Why not Button in the Massa's seat? Oh my... Rgds
I wouldn't be surprised if all those managers had a bet running who could visit the most motorhomes until the summer break, and they all just went there for drinking coffee
They should visit the Mercedes one, they would probably get an ice cold Pilsner instead, which would be nicer with the temperatures they had in Hungary. But there is not seat available at Mercedes. Oh wait, Nico is going back to Williams... Rgds
I'd love to see Button at Ferrari, I think if he is given a fair crack at the whip he would make a excellent support driver if need be. Whether a English guy would sit well with the Italians is another matter.
Come on Steve! Mike Hawthorn, Tony Brooks, John Surtees, Nigel Mansell are proof of the pudding, no? It can work, furthermore it is historically logical as the grand old man was fond of british drivers. + 1 as for Jenson; and I guess he would fit very well, he is very astute. Rgds
You have pat fry there and Allison coming on board. Jensen would do just fine and if they got their act together Jensen at Ferrari would really do some damage me thinks. PS-Don't forget Brenda Verner!!
Smedley and Fry are both English no? And Allison is too, so not sure why the English part would mean much. Neither of the current drivers are Italian either...sure Alo speaks a bit of Italian, but he's a spaniard and Massa is Brazilian.
Yes guys I don't disagree, my comment was more in that I thought or it was the case, that Ferrari wanted more home grown guys in their squad, engineers ect, the drivers they have now are Latino so a similar style. However it obviously isn't working, so bring on the guys that are good for the job regardless of where they are from.
I wouldn't want him instead of Alonso, no. Kimi doesn't strike me as a good fit for Ferrari. Last time he lost his mojo, who's to say it won't happen again? The team isn't any different now. If anything it's worse.
Kimi simply doesn't look right in a rosso racing suit. And his soul isn't red, either. I think his best bet is Red Bull.
agreed. some may call it luck but it was no luckier than hamilton's WDC. Or vettel having such vastly superior car no one has been close for several years. i can't imagine kimi going back after Ferrari fired him to bring alonso in. I'm fairly certain he'll drive for red bull next year. the way the team operates will suit him well and he won't care being number 2 behind vettel. he'll just do his thing and win some races.
You mean the one that was given away by Alonso and Hamilton? And what happened after that? He was **** in 08 and 09. I was a fan of his, now not so much. He gets an awful lot of respect around here for being a quitter.
He was forced to support Massa. Look how his results spiked after Massa's injury. It was part of his original contract.
+1. Kimi didnt produce results. Period. Support Massa? Post the contract. Absurd. Massa was not the #1 after MS left.
Well, you constantly insinuate that FA dictates when the other driver can take a crap without ever seeing the contracts. But...it's true. Massa beat Kimi and was doing so again until his injury. This one of the reasons why it is a shame that MS didn't stay on for 07-08. There was a perception in the paddock that MS wasn't the fastest guy from 03-06 and that Kimi would beat him in equal equipment. While MS destroyed Massa in 2006, Kimi had his hands full with him and was beat by Felipe in 2008. Had MS stayed, it would have been highly amusing to watch him in his late 30s beat Raikkonen.
Completely agree. Now post the contact showing Kimi was not the #1 or had to support Massa. He supported him when he phoned in his efforts vs Massa. Naturally the team supported the driver making the effort.
Brenda worked the Italian angle to good effect for a long time. She and Gabriella Coltrin made the most of their time there. Jensen however doesn't seem too motivated any more. Though Ferrari is partial to 'safe hands' it must be said. CH
Well, I am not sure this is so clear cut... As others before me have pointed, there was a strange coincidence with the dates of the Santander sponsorship and the first talks about "Kimi's demotivation" which remains a bit too perfect for me. As soon as the Santander sponsorship was announced in 2008, people began to talk about Kimi's "demotivation"... Facts are: Brasil: 200 millions inhabitants, very important and historical market for Santander. And I don't even speak about the whole latin america potential for a banker. Finland: 5 millions inhabitants, potential for Santander = zero, interest = zero. Kimi began 2008 very strongly, by putting Massa in the shade; then the situation reversed, exactly when the Santander sponsorship deal was signed; bad luck for Kimi in Canada (brain fade from Lewis) then an exhaust problem in France, and presto, Massa was de facto N°1; note that Kimi was still fighting hard in Spa, even if he made a mistake at the end; but he was still in front of Massa there. I still have on video an interview of him by the french TV before the French G.P, which opens by the lady asking the Kimster: "why is it that you are so demotivated?" and Kimi looking completly agog...I don't believe in conspirations, but I think that he was helped to be demotivated. I believe that the situation was rather a bit more complex than saying that Massa was faster than Kimi...and the plain facts today are that Massa is useless to the Scuderia, whereas Kimi is certainly not useless to Lotus. I have heard that Lotus would not even be interested in recruting Mass, should the Kimster go elsewhere. Rgds
You seem to forget that signing Kimi was Luca di Montezemolo's choice, against Jean Todt and MS; and that Luca said to MS: you're free to stay should you not want to retire, but you won't have preferential status: both Kimi and you will be on equal terms. And MS "choose not to accept these conditions" (or "got the shakes to be smoked by the Kimster", or whatever you like...) and decided to retire against his will and against Jean Todt's. So the fact that the great question "who, between Kimi and MS, is the fastest with "equal" cars" remained, and will remain, unanswered was Michael's choice, not Kimi. Like Kimi or not, he was never afraid of a fast team mate. Which, as this story shows, MS was. Rgds
