On the other hand, him developing the car so that it's properly useful as a Ferrari B team is far better than letting some useless twerp like Ericsson drive about year after year. Ericsson occupying that seat is far more damaging to F1/young drivers than Kimi. If they sack Ericsson and put in Giovinazzi, at least they have a proper measuring stick.
Clearly that was true ! I signed up and have been bombarded with requests to sign other meaningless questionnaires. Ferrari, its not a democracy. Never was.
Ericsson is the symptom of many teams - lack of funding. Pay driver. Evidently he brings enough that it cannot be ignored. Id rather Ocon there
Now that it has been made official, I can say this is the worst move I have seen by a team in the 30+ years I have been following the sport religiously. Epic fail, Ferrari.
I agree. Leclerc brought up too soon, Kimi abandoned when he's actually out-performing VET. In my opinion there's more risk in advancing a driver's career too fast than there is in restraining it a bit. Lots of people are starry-eyed about LEC. I'm not one of those people. I hope I'm proven wrong, but the big intangible he has going against him is that the scuderia operates in its own unique, almost Byzantine, world. Regardless of his talent, does he have the maturity to operate successfully in that environment?
This is not the worse. Worst than this one was Piquet becoming world champion at Williams and then moving to Lotus
His personal sponsor over the years is the Tetra Pak family .Who through holding companies also happen to own Sauber,so he is basically bullet proof. However if Kimi really put's him in the shade (probably total darkness) there will be big pressure from Ferrari to ditch him.
It will be interesting to see what happens at Sauber. From what i have read, Ferrari had nothing to do with Kimi's move to Sauber. If that is the case, then presumably Kimi is not the driver that Ferrari gets to choose there, which would suggest Ericsson may be out. Of course, it may just be that Ferrari "okays" Kimi as the driver for "their" seat and doesn't force the issue.
Appears the announcement delays were with Kimi and Sauber talks that he initiated possibly - https://www.planetf1.com/news/raikkonens-sauber-talks-only-began-at-monza/
i usually root for ferrari, but i dont like vettel that much, so will haev to follow sauber a bit closer from now on. leclerc will most likely fail big time.
Yeah...Leclec is a young gun hot shoe that's going to try and prove he's all that... going to be a tough time in Seb's shadow.
It's too bad that signing an inexperienced young driver to replace Kimi was due not from a performance or lack of performance issue from Kimi but was due to an issue that had nothing to do with racing and was a misunderstanding from Marchionne. He signed in emotion over that misunderstanding. The sad part is that Marchionne passed away before he was able realize the truth over that misunderstanding. Ferrari knows the value of kimi and tried everything to keep him but the contract was signed. They needed him to stay within the family and are very happy he's with Sauber. Now Ferrari are stuck next year with Leclerc, an inexperienced young driver and Seb who has a bad habit of letting his emotions get the best of him on track. While Sauber gets one of the most experienced, one of the best team players and easy to work with, one of the best car developers, one of the most talented racers ever in F1...and the fastest driver in F1. Kimi is now free of the Ferrari circus. Trust me...Kimi and Sauber are loving life and next year we'll see the brilliance of this move by Kimi. Sauber will be just fine. Ferrari on the other hand......... I'll always be a fan of Ferrari but they've unfortunately shot themselves in the foot...yet again. It's going to take a few seasons to recover from this one.
Ferrari supports Sauber now financially, at least in part, I believe. So Ericsson may be moved out and Ferrari wants to plant Giovinazzi in the team. Only downside for Gio is that he does loads of simulator work at Ferrari and perfects the setup for quali at times. Unless Kvyat can do the same Gio's fate may be sealed already.
Ferrari is already supporting Sauber by a free supply of power units. In return, Sauber provide a seat available for a driver chosen by Ferrari. In fact, Sauber get Tetra Pak money from Ericsson and free engines from Leclerc.
Shadow boxing ? Personally I think the best line up for Ferrari is Dan and Charles, they both pass people without causing dramas .... that is what a racer should do Kimi is too much of a gentleman but one of the great all time racers and I play the 2007 formula one CD all the time to cheer me up ..... that and Schumie's years on CD as well
