The KIMI SUCKS Thread

Kimi is in the right for doing this. The pit wall was stagnant during his "rant" as far as making decisions for both drivers(Vettel too) for waiting and waiting on what to do with both drivers as obedient as they are.

 

This is surely Kimi's last year at Ferrari. Don't be surprised if one of the Red Bull drivers end up in his seat and Alonso gets a Red Bull seat. It's not a good sign when the CEO publicly scolds Kimi.

Dave

 

Don't believe he did. He left because Ferrari were not able to make a competitive car. Not his fault, but Ferraris. Surely he burnt bigger bridges when he left McLaren last time and yet look where he is now ... back at McLaren. One could argue that Alonso blowing the whistle on McLaren, dis-enabling them, enabled Kimi to fluke his only WDC in 2007.

You can't burn bridges in F1. If you are the fastest available driver, you will be chosen, and once you start winning together, the best of mates
Pete

 

I have no problem if he gets replaced at the end of the year. The issue here with regards to this race only is the pit wall and that time span....they waited too long to react.

Also with reference to Marchionne, he should not be making public statements with regards to Kimi. It should be kept behind closed doors. Arrivabene has kept the whole team in a sorta "low-key" environment with regards to the tabloids and media....I like that. Do you talking on the track and keep the "drama" behind closed doors.

 

If most press articles are to be believed...
He was outmanoevered by Marchione, who forced him to resign when he was still undecided: LdM had agreed to free him, but he acted just like he wanted to be retained nevertheless, and be presented with a reason to stay; but he was not aware that the Scuderia already had another solution at hand with Vettel. Most people agree on the fact that some profanity was indeed exchanged, but (and I agree with Pete on this) should their interests coincide again in the future, all will be forgotten very quickly (see with McLaren and all the pundits saying in the autumn of 2014: he burned too many bridges in 2007, this will never happen again, etc...). That said, I'm not convinced that it would suit the mid to long term interest of the Scuderia best; I would like them to sign a Young gun, for once, but this is only me.
Rgds

 

The point Sergio was making was maybe Kimi was a bit too vocal about the pit wall's intentions. The low key thing applies to drivers input as well. Based on last years issues with Vettel where Arriva said he should not focus on areas in the team he does not belong in, show the drivers should get things done in relation to that....driving. Kimi is being scrutinized early and thats to be expected by him.

The team I feel are going to decide early, very early how long he stays. That will minimize distractions for both parties here in my opinion. It might allow Kimi to find another seat if Ferrari let him go. For me his qualy pace is the question and the fact that Vettel is just that much faster. The team to me feel he is not quick enough to get the results they need, ie CONSISTENT performance. Of late that is not Kimi's trade-mark.

 

Yep, exactly my point...

The same CEO that publicly scolded Vettel last year.

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Just want to make my point clear here that I'm not some sort of deluded Kimi fan; I do agree that a decision should be taken to back Vettel, he is the more consistent driver and gets more from the car. I'm just annoyed with dumb statements from Sergio regarding Kimi; publicly shaming your driver after just 2 races, and 1 of them being clearly an error on the teams' part is just stupid. Remember that Ricciardo was on Supersofts which gave a decent edge. I don't think Vettel would've gotten through immediately either...(that'll be a pointless debate in any case, since it can't be proven but hey ho)

 

The take from James Allen :

https://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2017/04/analysis-would-vettel-have-won-china-without-f1-safety-car-and-why-did-ferrari-leave-raikkonen-out/

"The main reason why they left him out was to try to keep him in Hamilton’s pit window so he could be ahead after Hamilton’s stop and interfere with Hamilton’s race and bring Vettel back into play. It was the only card they had left to play.
But a realistic assessment showed that it was futile. Raikkonen was inside Hamilton’s pit window on Lap 31 but by Lap 35 Hamilton had 25 seconds gap."

Best,

Sammy

 

So if that's the case, the public scolding is even more ridiculous.

 

yep, it would have worked out beautifully if Vettel wouldn't have been stuck behind Kimi so long.
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Again its not the Todt/Brawn/MS team. Look at the leadership lol. Kimi just needs to up his game and take out the potential for scolding.

 

fair enough....LH getting stuck behind the RB in Melbourne....Kimi getting stuck behind the RB in China....ironic.

 

+1 Marchionne's management style--the Shame Game.

 

Gary Anderson offers this on Kimi - Is a Ferrari weakness the key to its strength? - F1 - Autosport Plus

.... Both Raikkonen and Valtteri Bottas are struggling to keep up with their team-mates. You could say Bottas needs a little bit more time since his move to Mercedes, but Raikkonen should be up there with Vettel scoring major points and he really isn't.

When he doesn't have the car balance his driving style requires, he just doesn't seem able to adapt. And this is a long-standing problem for him. All of the great drivers were or are able to adapt to the car they have under them, and I'm afraid if he's to be a threat for the championship again he needs to be able to do that.

Ferrari chairman Sergio Marchionne has suggested the team needs to hold talks with Raikkonen to improve his performance. I'm afraid that would be a waste of time.

Raikkonen has many years' experience, so it's not as if you are trying to teach something to a new kid on the block. He has always had his own way of doing things and, as we have heard many times over the radio, his own way of communicating. Ferrari went through exactly the same problem before when it paid him off at the end of 2009 and he disappeared to go rallying, so the problems were known. But how do you fix it? I'm glad it's not my problem to solve.

Ferrari also needs to look at itself. After the early pitstops, it allowed Raikkonen to hold Vettel up for far too long - 12 laps. So when he finally got up to second place, Hamilton was just too far up the road. At the moment, Vettel is Ferrari's main man, so it needs to give him every chance. I'm sure he will have made that point loud and clear in the post-race debrief.

 

Hard to disagree with any of that. Especially the last point, make him #2 but be upfront with it with him.

 

Think maybe he's watched Grand Prix (1966) too many times?

(Channeling Adolfo Celi's "Agostini Manetta" as a pseudo-Enzo)

 

At least Manetta wore a nice suit...

 

Ferrari borked it, but Kimi perhaps made their mistakes worse.

 

Ferrari shouldn't use Kimi as cannon fodder to try hold up Hamilton for vettels sake. Nor should they tell Kimi to move aside to let vettel through. Verstappen got past his team mate pretty quickly

 

And how do you know that Ricci did not let him by or at least defended less against his team mate???

 

This is Ferrari's style, and as they did in the MS period.
Pete

 

What he said

 

Is there really any doubt as to the team's #1 driver? Yesterday Arrivabene said it was too early for a #1! Really?! If he's that delusional then they can kiss the WCC, and maybe the WDC, goodbye. I just don't see Kimi providing the solid support needed to assist and protect Vettel all season. And if Bottas gets going, then its 2 against 1, and Vettel will have an even harder time of it.

 

+1

I think the last couple of years have proven he's still a quick guy, not as quick as 10 years ago, and Vettel is just quicker. No shame in being slower than a 4x WDC, but Ferrari needs to get their act together: Support Vettel as #1, don't make idiotic statements on their #2 drivers and focus on the big prize: WDC.

 

Exactly! If the first two races are any indication, its going to be an intense see-saw battle all season; Ferrari need to focus all their efforts on how to assist Vettel, and not hope for the perfect storm of conditions that would wake Kimi up to a phenomenal drive.