Kimi - hypothetical question....

Others disagree.

 

Those others are dilusional.

 

No hate, he's simply not up to the task, never was.

A fallacious argument, surely.

Not pressing in the late stage yesterday, he only needed to stay within 30seconds, and letting Hamilton jump him like a rookie, is unforgivable for a man whom some would pretend to be "the best driver in F1", and might be arguable as injury related were it not for his history of much less than full commitment.

He'll never be champion: He doesn't look far enough down the road, literally and metaphorically.

 

Imperial ?

 

The team did their part.

 

Not really: The team gave him a car that a) broke in practice causing his neck pain and b) that wasn't strong enough to jump the curbs.

Winning was never in the cards, but with a functioning car he would have stayed on 2nd. He only fell asleep at the wheel (and thus letting Hamilton through) after the team told him to take it easy.

 

+1 ... You could plainly see Kimi's head go down, and he got took for it. LH sprang on it, which was an easy take for him...but even if pressed, I believe Kimi would have given more of a fight if 100%. Hami might not have had it so good.

BTW, is anyone getting the felling LH is getting less the 'nice guy' and more the boasting lately...I sure felt it in his post race interview.....not sure we are seeing the true hami based on his latest.

 

It really *is* 80% the car and 20% the driver. The Ferrari right now is a much inferior race car to the McLaren. Its like 2-3 years ago when the McLaren was very fast - IF everything happened 'just right'. The Ferrari was overall a much quicker car, but if the stars lined up right, the Mac was a monster.

Now its the other way around. The McLaren is a good bit faster of a car, and with Alonso and Hamilton (two very good drivers) making sure they get the most out of the car, Kimi and Felipe are at major disadvantages.

IMO this season is over for Ferrari. Every time we think "all we need is a Hamilton/Alonso DNF and a 1-2 for Ferrari!" it goes the other way and just slipes further and further away. I do not think they can make up the gap, either in the WDC or WCC. Teams usually have 2-3 years on top. Several years ago it was Ferrari, dominating *every* race. Then it was Renault - they had a good 3-year run (first year they were close, 2nd and 3rd years they got the WDC/WCC). McLaren is peaking - depending on their driver lineup I bet they likely win the WDC/WCC this year and next. Then I wouldn't be too surprised to see BMW have their peak.

In the midst of all this, Ferrari has to sort out their engineering, their strategy, their reliability, and their focus *as a team* if they want to foil the plans of the other top runners.

 

+1

Makes you wonder how Kimi feels.

Also good point about the BMW. Their goal is a race victory for 08 and the championship for 09. Long way till then, but not impossible given the rate they're going now.

 

Kimi is as much unlucky as Alonso is lucky. And I would personally rather the luck was reversed between those two as I like Kimi and dont much like Alonso. But it is what it is. Alonso is the luckiest guy in F1 - not for his wins, but from strategically jumping from the best team to the best team, and doing it when his current team was not looking so hot. Remember winter testing when the Mac was slow, and everyone was laughing at Alonso and how dumb he was to leave the top team?

My, how fortunes have changed!

 

Regardless with Hamilton or Alonso he'd be in the same
position as Alonso finds himself now.

 

Sure do. I also remember saying that he shot himself in the foot and will not win a single race this year. Was I wrong or what!

Alonso took a gamble by signing with McLaren years ago and it turned out just right. Some of it might be luck, but some of it is foresight and a driver's own ability to turn a team around. I haven't seen that from Kimi yet and it is disappointing.

 

I so hope you're right!

This season has mostly been painful to watch. Started out perfectly in Melbourne and went downhill fast from there.

 

Kimi would be ahead, if you look at the season so far, if Kimi doesn't crash in qualifying (Monaco), he is headed for a podium. The 2 exceptions are US and Canada, where he still managed 4 and 5. If Kimi and his car hold up, he is pretty much guaranteed a podium every race.
Hamilton would be closer to Kimi then Alonso is. If Kimi was still at McLaren, wouldn't that mean Michael is still at Ferrari and running away with the championship.

 

In Monaco Ferrari were helpless and there is no way Kimi could have won that race crash or no crash.
As for your last sentence, Yes MS made that much of a difference. I miss him big time.
There hasnt been a driver like him in a long time and there wont be for at least another generation. If Kimi was in Mikes seat last year, there is not even a chance that it would have gone down to the wire as it did.

 

Winning was within Kimi's grasp when McLaren took their second stops. That Raikkonen chose not to reach for it is, unfortunately, his characteristic style.

 

Kimi obviously had a slower car thus why the McLarens were often lapping a second a lap faster. Raikkonen would have been extremely lucky to hold onto second against the better McLaren. Kimi would have gone for the win, if he knew it was possible, he instead took the safer option of bringing the car home in one piece knowing that Felipe has suffered trouble with it. Notice him not even going near the curbs in the last 10 laps.

 

RK & NH have been right behind the front two teams of late, & with forward looking plans far ahead, trhey are certainly in contention (RK is what NH needed to kick his pace up a notch).

 

He's probably kicking himself in the pants now after seeing M/M reliability & speed issues addressed.

 

I keep hearing that each lap burns off 2 ltr.fuel, quickening the pace by .1 sec/lap, its no wonder the lighter M/M cars pulled away somewhat from F-cars early on, but as bad as Kimi was phyically and took the 1 stop strategy (which a pit stop costs 25 sec. or so), he jumped into 1st place because of LH & FA 2nd stop.
Gots to keep cars on the ground, even when going over curbs---M/M hardly lifted while F-cars were flying high. Its like 'speed skiing', you lose time in the air (not to mention control). Suspension/reliability issues!

There is in the order of 5g's force under breaking, especially @ the end of that front stretch of Monza---that's like having a 50 lb pumpkin over your head---and with a sore neck, breaking and curb hopping has got to hurt!!!

 

They can thank Nigel Stephney for that

 

I cannot believe how so many here thinks Kimi and Ferrari could have won at Monza! Just accept that the McLarens were waaaay faster this weekend. And as the drivers has said before, to pass in todays F1 you really need a much faster car, and that is just what Lewis had. As soon as he passed Kimi he pulled away,
after 3-4 laps he was 10+ seconds ahead of Kimi.