Todt about Alonso, Kimi, Schumi and 06

I read a very interesting article in the Feb 28 edition of the hugely popular German car magazine "Auto Motor Sport". It is a two page interview with Jean Todt and found a few items I thought were interesting to be shared:

On Alonso:
While he confirms, that it is true that Ferrari never spoke to Alonso (as made the key point in another thread in the racing section), Ferrari did speak to Alonso's manager because they wanted to hire him. So much for him not fitting into the team. However the negotiations eventually broke down as they couldn't make a deal with his manager.

On Kimi:
Jean lists the top three drivers of 2006: MS, Alonso and Kimi. No word of Massa. Actually in the interview he talks a lot about Kimi and how happy they are to have got him but barely any notion of Massa at all.

On 2006:
He states that Ferrari lost the 06 title because the car was not reliable enough. So much for all those who still think the FIA gifted Renault the title.

On Schumi:
Todt confirms that at this point MS will not become Ferrari team manager because MS didn't want this job. Ferrari would have liked him in that role, but he didn't want the extra burden. So Mr. 20% wasn't grand standing. Todt goes on to say, that for the time being MS will test some of their production cars only.

 

Interesting. Good for Schumi. Why get thrown into the frying pan and have a job again? This way he can just do what he feels like on his own terms.

It doesn't seem like Massa has proven himself.(and he hasn't)

The challenge will be harnessing Kimi.

 

Since some people only believe what they see I scanned half the article in and marked in orange the good passages, which I translated in my first post:
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YOu are not doubted. But word is still Massa has the advantage. And Ferrari (Luca- not Todt) did speak to Alonso's manager, about being a test driver, not about replacing MS.

 

Now that is funny.

 

Thanks.

The word that Massa has the advantage over Kimi at the moment was confirmed by many articles I read last week.

True about the test driver role (the Todt interview confirms that). But then again that was years ago, probably before he won his first title. Soon thereafter they picked Kimi. As we know today the Kimi contract wasn't signed last year, but several years ago.

 

I think we all agree that Kimi will, or should, probably, be faster than Felipe in the long run, but for now, it is a Massa showl

In an interview dated March 11, when asked about Schumacher's absence as a Ferrari driver, Todt simply stated: "Now it is the turn of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen to fly the flag".

Qualifying will be very interesting Saturday, maybe more so than the race itself.