Marchionne: “We stand behind Kimi & defend him” June 4, 2018 · by thejudge13 · in Daily F1 News and Comment. · Prior to the Canada GP, Canadian media report a alleged sexual harassment case by Kimi Raikkonen. Image Unavailable, Please Login The former 2005 Canadian Grand Prix winner Kimi Raikkonen has been at the centre of some unusual allegations involving a waitress. A woman accuses the Ferrari driver of sexually molesting her in 2016 in the club “Velvet Speakeasy” when paying the bill. A lawsuit was issued back in April against Kimi, and his lawyer has filed counterclaim for blackmail and harassment. “When I leaned over the table, he put his hand in my clothes and grabbed my right breast. At the same time, one of his companions caught my pants and touched my genitals” the waitress wrote in October 2016 in a blog. At that time Raikkonen was not mentioned by name, she wrote only of “a Formula 1 driver”. Raikkonen’s lawyer Mathieu Piche-Messier: “Our client denies everything he is accused of and makes it clear that everything this woman does is illegal.” According to Canadian media, the woman threatened the racer to go public if he did not pay a sum of seven-digit amount. The police in Montreal have not commented on the case so far. Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne, said during a Capital Markets Day organised by the Fiat / Chrysler Group in Balocco, Italy: “We investigated the case internally and know that Kimi is not involved. We stand behind him and ready to defend him at all costs. ” Marchionne rules out that this strange case has any effect on Räikkönen’s employment with Ferrari, neither on the present nor on a possible one for 2019. Ferrari is said to have one option to retain the services of Kimi for the upcoming season, which expires in the summe
Why wait 2 years? Why not immediately after? Why not last year? It's not like he recently came into some money. I assume if she had any evidence it wouldn't be hard to come by, certainly not 2 years worth of digging. What a total non case.
It's because 2 years ago you actually needed evidence in sexual assault/sexual misconduct cases. Now, with the "Me Too" movement they've nearly bypassed law enforcement and criminal courts and moved straight to the Jury of Public Opinion. I'm in law enforcement myself, and I can tell you that the number of people "coming forward" with cases of "sexual assault" has probably quadrupled in the past year at my department. These women/girls are now deciding that they want to press charges against men/boys that touched them inappropriately or without explicit consent 5 years prior. They seem shocked when I explain the concept of Statute of Limitations and the "burden of proof" of needed to charge someone with a crime. The media has taught them that allegations are all that's needed to get what they want, be it money, attention, or the satisfaction of ruining someone's life. It's unfortunate because it really detracts from all the real victims of sexual assault that were either too young, or afraid, to report real crimes when they occurred.
Tumblr and 4th wave feminists have taught girls that there's no difference between unwanted flirting in a bar and aggravated sexual assault. Thankfully things like this seem to be on a pendulum. Right now things are so far to one side that it can only swing back towards the "sanity" side sooner or later, we just have to wait it out and not lose our sanity
Haha exactly...don't want to get too political here but the way it's currently going in pretty much all of the western world has me deeply worried.
If this is the most conversation Kimi can generate then he needs to retire. At least people discuss Hamilton's and Max's driving.
Let every driver race their race without teams imposing their will and strategy, and I think we'd be talking about Kimi quite a bit more than we are now.
So...A drivers' success is based on how often they're discussed? If that's the case why is Stroll not a world champion, or at least driving for a better team? Since thats what matters now? Vettel doesn't get discussed much here, either....
I really don't understand this narrative of Ferrari being responsible for Kimi's poor showings. I agree they usually leave him out too long on stints, but by then he's so far back it's really only a matter of him being 3rd or 4th at best and usually worse.
Hmm So far this season, in all the races he's finished he has been no lower than 4th. And that was the last race only. All the rest he's finished he's been either 2nd or 3rd. Bahrain he was on course for a podium until the pitstop guys ****ed up and race was over. Spanish GP he was going to finish 4th or 5th with Mercedes being unbeatable (unclear on final finishing position, Vettel finished 4th). And looking at last year; in all the races he finished only once did he finish lower than 5th, and that was the canadian GP when he had no more brakes in the closing stages.
In a race where everything is measured in tenths/hundredths, leaving someone out too long can have dire consequences, no? Unfortunately I haven't been able to watch a race in live-time yet this year (working, end up watching replays on sketchy sites), but have we not had at least one instance this year where Kimi was effectively sacrificed to improve Vettel's position?
I have watched the races and although I don't have a perfect memory of all the races and I agree that he may have been sacrificed, my overriding impression is that he has rarely had a race where he can sustain constant pressure on Vettel-- he always falls back. Again, based on my fuzzy memory, he didn't stay with Vettel in Bahrain; after Vettel's botched attempt at passing Bottas in Azerbaijan Kimi just fell back and wasn't even close to challenging the second best Merc on the day. Ferrari did nothing to balk him on this. I have no beef against Kimi. If he wins and challenges for the championship, I'd be happy, but he hasn't challenged for a win in years. So I agree the team needs to back the best chance they have and that's Vettel, known flaws and all.
In Bahrain IIRC he was around 5 seconds behind Vettel prior to Ferrari ****ing up his stop. Baku his car had significant damage from one of the force indias clattering into the side of him on lap 1... Australia maintained pressure on elton the entire race China maintained gap to Vettel before Vettel got crashed into by Max Spain maintained gap to Vettel at around 4 seconds before his car broke down. Monaco was on Elton the entire race (not an accurate reading that race however giving Ricciardos slow pace bunching up the field).
So what you are saying is that Kimi is real good at following people. Of course he is supposed to follow Vettel, but when behind anyone else he should be doing much more.
I'm sure Ferrari, the guys sending him his massive paychecks, would prefer he not crash out and get the maximum points possible for the Constructors standings. Kimi knows he's being paid to be second fiddle and he scores points whenever he's not crashed out or they sacrifice him, so I'd guess he's doing exactly what they want him to do while being paid quite handsomely to do just that; score points and be a moving road block. I'd like to think given Kimi's obvious skill at piloting and F1 car, that if Ferrari said "Hey Kimi, we're going to treat you and Vettel equally, we're not going to sacrifice you, and we want you to go out and take the maximum position as though you were fighting for the championship yourself." we would see much more aggression in overtaking during races.
So when Vettel is sitting behind a Mercedes and can't overtake Ferrari should get on the radio and tell him to overtake or be sacked? It's pretty damn well documented how hard it is to overtake currently. Especially a Mercedes. Furthermore complicated that Ferrari has great aero but not quite the engine Mercedes has...if you're in the dirty air that starts at least 1.5-2 seconds in front of you to be seriously affected, how are you meant to make up that deficit in such short time when you don't have a significant advantage? You can't put pressure on, because running close to the car in front will destroy your tyres in 2 laps.
Name the most recent time Kimi has made a serious attempt at overtaking someone when in P1-4. Then tell me the most recent time Vettel, DR, Ham, or Max have made a serious attempt at overtaking someone in P1-4.
Considering he normally qualifies where the car is, and he's not allowed to overtake Vettel...Hardly any time when he can. Last year in Hungary he even played the team game so that Elton couldn't overtake Vettel, who was limping an injured car about. What do you want from Kimi? He is there to be a #2. And I think you'll have to look very hard and very far to find a better #2. He does as he's asked. Will Ricciardo move over for #1? Never. Will Lewis? Lol. Will Alonso? Come on. Verstappen? You're having me on. So lets look at #2 drivers... Grosjean has long be suggested as a ''great driver for Ferrari'' on this forum. He struggles to get his car round a track, still doesn't understand the braking system, and sees ghosts when he crashes. Hulkenberg I think is very fast, but he will not move over. Sainz will not move over. Leclerc will not move over. Ocon will not move over. Perez, not sure if fast enough or will indeed move over. There's a pattern here. You'll have to look very, very, very hard to find a driver that a) qualifies the car consistently where it is b) a guy that knows and does exactly what the team wants c) one that gets on with Vettel/rest of the team so well d) does not complain about it publicly. And considering how close Kimi and Vettel are, there's a decent amount of pushing Kimi does.
