Kimi 2 more years.....

Looks like Ferrari is making yet another huge mistake. I’m no longer surprised by their near-sightedness. It’s almost a bore at this point. I’ll still cheer for the Scuderia, but I’m also hoping Kimi stays on the grid so I can continue cheering for him.

 

Some still seem to believe it's not over yet...I doubt it.
Food for thought:

https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/opinion/f1/andrew-frankel-if-kimi-stays-ferrari-it-should-be-clear-number-two

Rgds

 

Thing is Ferrari now have a huge dilemma on their hands.

If they tell him it's all over starting at the end of 2018,how will Kimi react?

He might just say sod it and race for himself ,Vettel can go whistle for his WDC hopes.

He could continue as a wingman,but whats the fun/reward in that?

He could simply lose interest and trundle around for the remaining races.

This is why they delaying the 'decision' hoping Vettel can get into a good lead ..but all of a sudden it's starting to go t$ts up!

 

Only downside to Ferrari not telling him squat is that Kimi is a whole lot more intelligent than some assume. He's also shown he knows the ''business'' (see Alonso taking his seat in 2010, he gracefully bowed out as that what the Sponsors wanted at the time, and it netted him a return drive again and a lot of extra dollars...).

 

If Ferrari really do decide to put LeClerc in the car for 2019, PLEASE tell Kimi immediately. I have a feeling Kimi knows he is likely out next year. And I agree it was shown on Mintu's face Saturday. Tell Kimi now, so I can continue to watch him dominate Seb for the rest of the season. I want to see a fiery Fin, the one from McLaren, drive the sh*t out of this year's car for the remainder of 2018.

 

Kimi was superb at the weekend and the Tifosi love him, “una de noi” as they say.
Charles looks good, but IMO he’s not ready. If he’s good as we think he’ll be better is 2020, his talent isn’t going to diminish and his experience will grow. I think we give the Kimi/Seb combination one more year, and if Seb isn’t 2019 WDC we change both, with CLC, if he keeps performing, the new number 1.
Meanwhile this is the view from my hotel room as the trip draws to an end, dinner calls.

 

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Beautiful shot Graham, hope that you had a memorable trip to Bell 'Italia.

 

I hope Kimi just races as fast as he can the rest of the season and finds a ride elsewhere. SF have been taking him for granted.

 

One has to love this forum... one year ago everybody complained about Kimi racing another year for the Scuderia as the "old fart" is taking away the seat of the young hungry drivers.
Now one year later it seems that his career comes to an end and all of the sudden it is the end of the world (or the Scuderia). Kind of funny to say at least...

 

I think those people that have changed their tune may be saying it due to the inconsistency of the Scuderia's #1 driver and that guy's temper tantrums while the ice man just keeps chugging along. He's like a diesel freight train except much quicker.

 

It's the funniest part of fchat Peter

Everyone is either an expert or troll (I think you know who I'm referring to )

I'm a fan of Kimi's / I'm not a fan of Kimi <------------------ depends on how he feels on the day

I'd vote for him to get the chop / I'd vote for him to stay another year <----------- I'm very decisive

 

Kimi isn't young, he knows his days are numbered.

He has won a title with us and being well compensated returning. He will do what the team wants of him.

 

Here's a question to consider: how many teams are lining up to sign RAI if (and when) he gets booted from Ferrari? Answer: none. That should tell you all you need to know about how well rated he is at his age.

Also consider he never once (or almost never) took points away from HAM to help the bumbling VET (who nevertheless won 5 times to RAI's big fat zero) or the team towards a championship.

Enough already, bring in some new blood to shake people (VET) out of their comfort zone and their sense of impunity for screwing up.

 

Maybe true , but i think they didn't instruct him to chop in front on Vettel off the grid in Monza.

 

He didn't chop him he gave him a tow, look at the replay Vettel lines up perfectly.

 

I doubt very much he was trying to help Vettel slipstream past him.In fact this was Kimi just going for it,screw Vettel.

 

How about Haas ? gotta be better than Grosjean.

 

I think at his age he'd just walk away even if he had other offers. Anything open other than SF would be a downgrade and I think his wife's emotions at Monza were more about that being their last time there (pure speculation my part). It was different before when he went to Lotus and was still young and without a family imo. Haas, Sauber, Force India, etc would be a crappy way to go out. Hopefully he doesn't pull a Felipe and go to Williams. I'll be surprised if he drives for anyone other than Ferrari at this point in his career.

 

Just as I feel!!! Kimi is no big mystery at all. He is over rated and simply inconsistent. Keeping him has weakend Ferrari not made them stronger as Vettel is not a pressure driver at times. Kimi retained for too long!

 

Lets make sure everyone is clear - Kimi knows exactly his role at Ferrari, it is number two to his friend Seb. He has confirmed this many times with what he says out of the car, and in clear communications with the pits when he asks things like ‘tell me exactly what you want me to do’. The problem is not Kimi, he drives how ferrari tell him he must, and does the laps that they ask for, it is with the ferrari pit strategy that seems to require Kimi to go out and drive, and eventually, they’ll let him know when to pit while concentrating on Seb. The strategy is rarely given to him in any detail at all. On the grid in Italy, any of us would say - both of you get away, stay in formation unless there is an issue for one or the other, block elton into the chicane, and make a gap to get out of DRS. Then, they’d have undercut Seb to get the lead, Kimi should slot in behind and they run one - two to the end. Of course, what they did was wind Seb up, let him dictate his terms, and have him out of sorts not really knowing when and where to go past Kimi, he forgot his lines and let elton alongside at a point a simple positioning would have prevented before the corner.

As it was, likely they were limply told ‘be careful’, Kimi asked when, they said, we’ll let you know, and Seb **** his pants. Let’s face it, had Seb gone past Kimi and led the race, kimis race was effectively over anyway, as they’d have then left him out to circulate on crap tyres until any panic where they try to get him back into the game later once he’s slipped to fifth!

Ultimately, none of this mattered, because they did literally no soft tyre testing at all, so whatever strategy they could have had was immediately nullified by the fact they didn’t know the soft tyre would disintegrate so quickly. Had they known, they could have run the medium instead and forced Mercedes to run the medium too.

Seb was in his own world Sunday and ****ed up, but ferrari themselves are entirely to blame for the strategy shambles we see every single race

 

It takes a team to lose. Vettel and the team lost out on Sunday in a large and embarrassing way together. The worst display of losing this season so far. Ultimately management must answer.

 

Yes, I do agree. What is rather painful is that Maurizo Arrivabene admitted in a TV interview that "we put Kimi's chances in shambles at Spa by not fuelling correctly his car for the crucial minutes". And then, at Monza, they did it again and were certainly not helpful. The drivers are not the main problem at Ferrari, it's the team and its strategy, and tactics, which are costing the Scuderia the most.
Rgds

 

Management sucked, yes, but what strategy options do you have left when your "lead" driver spins out and resumes in last place--with a damaged car--on the first lap?

That's 4 incidents of brain fade by Vettel without help from the team.

Management's biggest error is keeping the two current drivers.

 

Lack of support for Kimi that is now old news and a lack of testing on a given tire compound. Allowing Vettel to continue to try to win on lap 1. The management own the team and drivers and should be setting the course so to speak. I think its 50/50 with driver and team but the bottom line result is owned by the pitwall.