Who is not so exited about Kimi / Ferrari ?

Good catch!

Now if we could only establish what races those actually were: The Prost Acer deal was a half cooked thing and they only had Ferrari engines at some races, but not the entire season. I have tried but failed to figure out what races they drove with Ferrari power.

BTW: Has anybody seen the irony of Kimi driving with Ferrari power - AGAIN?! He had it in the past and now is back to it. And just for the record: I predicted that early summer in an article in Pilota.

 

Could you tell me more about your impressions of Albers? I'm Dutch so I get a biased view with the Dutch TV coverage and pit reporter who speaks with Albers all the time. From that he seems like a very motivated guy that could be able to do great things at a better team and he beat his teammate fair and square.
But I'm always interested in other views and perspectives.

Best, Peter

 

So very true.

 

I like this guy !
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That is the Picture I was speaking about. Awesome, a beer in one hand and a *** in the other.

 

Well, if talent is measured by chin size, he should be qualified to replace Michael... Now if they could only butter the cockpit enough to get him in!

 

Those were the days. That's also how I loved my astronauts. The ones from the sixties.

 

My kind of beer, too.

 

What is that a Schlitz Malt Liquor?

 

I have never seen that shot, but the more I look at it the more I love it and the more melancholic I get: It has everything today's corporate politically correct clean F1 doesn't. It is obvious Hunt doesn't give a damn about anything but smoking that "*** after" and a cool beer. Compare that to the monotonous circus of podiums and press conferences after the races today: Each ceremony is the same old same old, the questions and answerss at the conference always the same. <sigh>

Hopefully Kimi can set a counterbalance to all this. Him having a drink at Monaco after his car failed was one of my highlights this year. He still has some of that joie de vivre of the old heroes. Good for him.

 

Andreas, I was there at Watkins Glen in the winner's circle when that photo was taken, in fact, I have some in my files I took almost identical to that photo so I wonder.........anyway, on that Friday, Hunt had engine trouble, so they changed Cosworths. I have a piston from that engine that Hunt autographed. The young lady sitting with Hunt was one of the many Penthouse Magazine playmates. They were the grid girls for the start of the race.

I have to get that scanner you gave me working.

 

Ron, please post them. That would be awesome. Thanks in advance.

 

Gotta get that scanner. I recently found a couple hundred slides and some B&W negatives from the early to mid '70s that I took and sort of "hid" from the boss. I was quite fortunate to be able to cover most of the important racing in the US and Canada during that period. Especailly the F1.

 

what?? they had Penthouse models as grid girls those days?? damn...i wished i was born earlier

 

ME!!!!!
Kimi Raikkonen is the complete opposite of Michael, and before everyone says its time to move on, I have my reasons.
Michael did many things for Ferrari. He helped develop the team, bring them together, brought so much success and glory to Ferrari, and he even had humor and a good personality to go with it. That's why people took to him like they did Gilles Villeneuve. Kimi Raikkonen will bring success...but I can't even understand the guy when he talks. He never even cracks a freekin smile. For next year...go Ferrari. As far as drivers go though, I'd rather Scott Speed, Massa, or Coulthard have more success. No offense Kimi.

 

Well, Kimi is a Finn, who couldn't speak a word of English until a few years ago. I think that he learnt English when he stepped in F1 at Sauber.
Maybe you don't catch his accent, but for my part I understand him.
He is not shy, just don't like to speak much and is rather laconic.
He has a sense of humour too, and some of his comments are deadpan funny, but he doesn't laugh at his own jokes.
He will never be a PR animal and a crowd entertainer like some, nor boast about his achievements or display excessive emotion; that's just not his style.
Many Nordic people are like that.
When he arrived in F1, Mika Hakkinen received the same critics, so did Keke Rosberg and Ronnie Peterson to a lesser extend.
I remember once, some journalist shoved a microphone under Ronnie's nose and asked him a question. Ronnie looked at him and didn't answer. The guy repeated the question slowly, Ronnie still stared at him in silence. The journo became nervous and asked again, but Ronnie wouldn't budge and there was a longer silence, until the journo, feeling humiliated maybe, started to swear at him. Ronnie smiled and walked away.

 

Heck, in the eighties Penthouse was even sponsoring F1 teams. How cool was that!

Ron, pls show us those pics. On a more personal note: I'm about to throw away all my slides from that time. But mine have already been scanned.

 

You're absolutely right on this one. At this year's German GP post qualifying interview, delivered with an impish smile - must have cracked him up too (on the inside):

Q: Kimi, we all saw what happened on that second run, you ran wide onto the grass, first of all, talk about that and then you got your pole lap on your first run.

Kimi Raikkonen: Yeah, I was a little bit slower than on my fastest lap at that point so I didn't have anything to lose and tried to run a bit too fast; actually, quite a bit too fast...


Anyway, a couple of other things about Kimi at Ferrari:

In an article on the web site of Italian sports paper La Gazzetta dello Sport, Luca de Montezemolo is quoted as saying that it was Schumi who first spoke to him about Kimi after seeing him test at Mugello for the first time in the Sauber. It was Michael, who participated in the decision-making process, who advised him to take Kimi. He also said that he will adapt better to Ferrari than would Alonso, and that they got him at the right time - he's hungry for success. BTW, he mentions that they signed over a year ago!

Also from this paper there is an article that mentions that Kimi's trainer from McLaren will be following him to Ferrari and he's quoted as saying that it's easy to work with Kimi because he likes sports and doesn't have to be pushed to train. So much for his reputation of being lazy.

 

i really hope to know the truth about this. when really did Kimi sign with Ferrari. what there any pre-contract agreement or something? some say, he signed last August..

 

Doubtful we'll ever know the whole story, but from all I heard and read I'd say he signed at least the optional agreement a year ago. The only question is, whether that was just an option or the real full blown contract.

 

well, it might be known say...in 1 yr's time? i'm just dying to know the whole truth behind it. how was the teams's reaction, etc etc...

 

Remember this:
http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=101637&page=4&highlight=Stop+press+Kimi

The article I refer to in my first post talks about the atmosphere at Ferrari: Everybody in the factory knew it as fact and was just looking forward to have him on the team in a year's time. Utterly matter of fact. Yet we were all so doubtful.

 

??????????

Throw them my way, I'll put them with my 250,000 I already have....

 

Kimi's managers, the father/son or brother act, whatever they are, stated in F1 magazine that Kimi signed a formal contract in May 2006. I do not think there was a precontract. Also, Kimi's manager stated that neither Kimi or Michael had a problem being on the same team,and that Michael had not yet decided about retiring.

Interesting story, when Kimi was testing for Sauber, Michael drove into the pits and took one look at him and thought that Peter Sauber had gone mad letting a 14 year old drive an F1 car. If I remember correctly (sorry, age & ouzo), Kimi was actually 19 or 20 at that time.

 

It was that "14 year old" who managed to show nerves of steel when he ended up holding the Sauber's steering wheel in his hand, detached from the car while heading for a turn during the San Marino GP. He managed to get the car to stop without a shunt.