Ignore GTE. His dislike for Kimi takes the extreme and has always clouded his judgement. I've got an extreme dislike too for drivers like Alonso and Lewham, but I don't think it's ever really clouded my judgement. This post might just needs to be stickied for the rest of the season. LOL!
I never said Kimi is a bad driver. He isn't. He is just overrated. People love him because of his personality (or lack there of). Besides all that, it is easy to explain the points deficit between Kimi and Alonso as Alonso being able to adapt to the car's shortcomings, but one could easily argue that Alonso is simply a better driver. They are all good drivers (well apart from the odd Maldonado and Chilton perhaps, but even Maldonado showed a hint of ability at Barcelona 2012) but the great drivers set themselves apart by being able to outperform the car they are stuck with. This is exactly what Alonso is doing, while Kimi is held back by the car's shortcomings. Kimi needs his equipment to be exactly right, before he can extract the maximum out of it and even then, great drivers seem to be able to extract more than the maximum out of a car (which is what I mean by 'outperform the car'). Kimi has never shown to be able to do that. Sure, he had his share of good races, but I'd like to believe Ferrari want's more from a driver that gets paid millions of dollars per season. Apparently, the bar isn't set that high. What Kimi is delivering to the Scuderia, could also be delivered by a driver that costs a lot less. So in that sense, hiring Kimi was a mistake. Somehow I feel Ferrari had it's sights set on Kubica, but we all know what happened. And with the current driver lineup, Ferrari may be thankfull they have Alonso in their midst. Kimi is just there because they happen to be obliged to field a second car.
How much of the performance of the Ferrari was due to Schumacher and how much was due to Rory Bryne? Look at how Irvine did in 97, 98, and 99, so they may not have done any better against Newey from 2011 onwards even if Bryne, Todt, and Brawn stayed, how many wins would Coulthard, Alesi, or Hill get if they were driving the 97 to 99 Ferrari?
Schumacher has always shown superior speed to most his teammates (up until he came back, when he was still fast but lost some of his magic due to simple ageing). He was fantastic at giving feedback (I don't care what GTE and others say; feedback to the engineers is still incredibly important today). He was able to give even more feedback due to the testing allowed back then...he did so much of it; often after a race he'd be on the plane back monday morning to resume testing at fiorano in the afternoon. Obviously Byrne wasn't sitting there enjoying the success, I'd say Newey must've actually learned from him. Byrne was able to build fast cars but also reliable; Neweys cars often where fast but unreliable (and still are, it seems, suddenly). Ferrari in their best years where a perfect combination of a brilliant team principal that was able to keep LdM's nose out, a great designer, a superb engineer and a driver that had a worth ethic and skill that where out of this world, and they all worked great together. Difficult to say how the drivers you name would do in the same combination as I don't know how their feedback was back then. I don't think Alonso would've been able to do the same; he's got the ethic and definitely the skill, but his feedback is what lacks from what I hear. Kimi has the feedback and skill (once the car is to his liking; and we are talking when testing etc was allowed to making the car suit him perfectly was possible). He doesn't have the relentless work ethic Schumacher or Senna possessed; he works out daily to stay fit but doesn't even have a proper work out schedule...he apparently does what he wants at the time his body feels for it! 2 current drivers spring to my mind that would able to do what Schumacher did: Lewham and Vettel. Both posses the skills, feedback and relentless work ethic that Schumacher had.
This should be retitled the "Ferrari sucks thread". But to be optimistic, at least we don't suck as bad as McLaren as of late.
Kimi Raikkonen likely to leave F1 when Ferrari deal ends after 2015 - F1 news - AUTOSPORT.com Kimi to retire after his contract ends (2015). I heard the other day his girlfriend is pregnant so he'll probably focus on the kid by then and do the odd rally/whatever else falls in his lap he thinks he'll enjoy.
+1 I doubt we will see him next year. If he is that unhappy why stay. Ferrari is changing and he is not going to be any better vs FA next year. He probably does not like these turbo cars to begin with. That assumes FA is at Ferrari to begin with. I would not at all be surprised to see 2 different drivers next year.
Never understood why a driver would announce retirement that far in advance. Better the way Stewart did it. Make the decision, keep it to yourself and then just do it.
Who knows Button at Ferrari lol!! If he stays at Ferrari so be it. As Vizla said why broadcast your intentions so soon.
it's in dutch but it sais that Kimi is thinking of quitting after this season. Raikkonen denkt aan stoppen | Autosport | Telegraaf.nl
Could (likely) be a misunderstanding by De Telegraaf (wouldn't be the first time) as they copied from the Autosport article where it blatantly says end of 2015.
Barring one last second pass Felipe has as many WDC as Kimi. never forget. p.s. just think about the crushing injury this guy suffered, and came back from.
So he's says he's retiring at the end of 2015. Now it's kind of apparent the Scuderia made a mistake signing him..
NOW?? I thought it was weird to start with. I thought he was great with Lotus, but now....I don't know what's going on.
