Your hyperbolic statements that anytime someone suggests Ferrari hire a new driver they proclaim him the next MS. It's silly and weakens your argument. Sainz would be a great option, Kimi is pushing 40 years old. All I'm saying is to get something on paper, before someone else swoops him up like they did Vettel originally and now Max. Kimi will never win another championship, he has peaked. Alonso crushed him, Vettel beat him. Yes he has been driving fine this year but at some point you have to think about the future. You probably wouldn't trade Kimi for Max, which is LOL-worthy. Also, your statement about not hiring youngsters is completely false. They hired Massa when he hadn't done squat. Then they kept him too long.
+1 I think Ricciardo deserves a Ferrari seat. He is super fast + Italian roots. I would love to hear Vettel squeal like a pig again.
I think he served them very well over the years. Darn near won a title for them too. What more could/should he have done? Oh, & Sainz has? Ian
I would love to see Ricciardo in a Ferrari. Just have a feeling he may be hard to pry from Red Bull. RB is on the up right now. Ferrari can't get to the front, can't catch Merc. RB's chassis seems like a contender with Merc and their engine is getting big upgrades soon. Plus a 2017 rule change and Newey still on staff...
Just saying, proves your theory wrong that they don't go with unproven young drivers. Massa wasn't that long ago. Prior to a 2006 Ferrari seat his resume was getting beaten by Nick Heidfeld, destroyed by Giancarlo Fisichella and narrowly beating an aging and disinterested Jacques Villeneuve. He was OK for Ferrari, but nothing special. As for Sainz, he has proved he can go toe to toe with Max, who is obviously uber-talented.
Keep in mind Ferrari made him test for an entire seasonfor them, before they actually gave him the seat, after this another season (or 2?) with Sauber to gain more race experience.
Massa gave Ferrari 3 titles....one for Kimi, and 3 wcc...he was not to blame for missing his own title, Ferrari ****ups and Briatore cheating with the help from the Fia did.
Oh that's too cute. Think about all the titles Regazzoni and Barrichello gave to Ferrari. Rewriting F1 history is a fav past time in lala land
+1 Fair comments, thanks! As he never got the WDC, it's easy to overlook the WCC's. And as we know, WCC's are what pays the bills. Cheers, Ian
Kimi is 36 til October, so I guess that is "pushing 40". Wow, I think 2017 comes down to who builds the best car, likely to be one of Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull, McLaren, or Williams. Shoot, let's give Renault a shot too. If you're a hot shoe driver that can go anywhere, who do you pick for next year? As noted, great chance for Fernando to get it wrong again, and I still like the guy! For the Buttons, Rosbergs, and any other top 10 driver, it's a crap shoot...my opinion being any one of the top 10 drivers, in the best car, could be champion. At this point, I'm cheering for Ferrari, but would imagine Mercedes and Red Bull are favorites in 2017.
^^ +1 on all points. A pretty good summary of where we're at. As for who'll get it right, all I can say, again, is 'this is why we watch.' Cheers, Ian
If i'm not mistaken, Rossi is 37 and still fighting for the title...he would have won it last year fair and square if not for marquez cheating...Mansell was 200 years old when he won the title!!!
Barrichelo was ****...i never saw him fight fora title at Ferrari, he was making half the points Shumacher did.....he had a vastly superior car to everyone else and stillhe lost the vice w.c many times....Shumi never needed him to win a title,and even if he needed, Rubens was never there to help!!!
+1 even with Button at Brawn he lost out. I like RB but his overall speed was not there compared to others.
36 is already ancient in F1 terms. Do you think he's getting faster? He'll be 37 before the season is over. Time to start thinking about the future, which I'm sure they already are.
Barrichello was a good qualifier. Often came very close to Schumacher on single lap speed. But that was pretty much it 99% of the time, because Schumacher left him there at the grid and went on to win the races... To be fair, Jenson did pretty damn well against Hamilton and seems to be holding himself up against Alonso quite well too .
I call you wrong there. Several times Barichello was told to slow down and let Schumacher in front. Notably at the Austrian GP where Barichello came down to a walking pace in view of the chequered flag to let Schumacher win, observing team orders. They were both booed at the prize giving ceremony, and Ferrari tried to gloss over the scandal. The FIA even went as far as saying it would ban team orders in future, and Ecclestone voiced than anymore of this, and the public would stop to come to stage managed race. It was a massive PR blunder for the Scuderia. Barichello must have accepted his role as number 2 to Schumacher, just like Irvine before did.
Pressure works on almost all drivers. Only a very very few are self motivating their entire career. Kimi was my fave back in the Mclaren days. No Fear. He needs a fire under his butt now.
I can count 6-7 races where Barrichello was actually faster than MSC their entire time together, if that. MSC also pulled over and let Rubens win at Indy that same year.
