Who is worst driver in F1 this year?

+1

Next race is a street track (somewhat...at least many barriers!). I don't think he'll finish there, either....

 

Stroll ATM is still maturing, both as a young man and as a F1 driver. The sense that I have is that his head is just swirling. He has shown that he is capable of driving and turning respectable lap times in a F1 car. He needs to settle in a bit and finish a few races, develop some racecraft. Perhaps he will find his groove, it is still early days.

 

F1 News, Drivers, Results - Formula 1 Live Online | Sky Sports

Despite watching his team-mate claim his second win of the season, Kimi Raikkonen says Sebastian Vettel's success gives him no extra motivation to improve.

Raikkonen was once again well off the pace of the sister Ferrari on Sunday, eventually finishing fourth, but insists the team needs to push on and strive for more regardless of Vettel's form.

"I don't know why it would make me hungrier?," he said. "I'm happy for the team, happy for him. but obviously you want to do better whatever position we are, that's always the aim.

"There was a lot of good things in the race but after the first lap we were out of position."

Raikkonen added that it was taking "way too long" for him to get comfortable in the 2017 Ferrari.


That last statement from Kimi is his weakness as others pointed out last week in Autosport. He is not very adaptable. I dont see the team keeping him.

 

+1

He should've done GP2 or World series V8...The latter especially as fewer eyes on the series and easier to do the same he did in F3 (buy best engines et all).

 

Totally agree...

 

How do you figure? He is nowhere near as fast as Massa

 

And, when was the last time we saw a "fire in the belly" in KR? Probably when he hot-footed it to his yacht in Monaco after he went out. Maybe it's the Finn in him that makes him so distant, but even Vettel, a German, shows more emotion. And, you KNOW he's worked hard.

I have always maintained that KR's performance is mercurial. This isn't the sign of a committed professional. If something's not working, you figure it out. Fast. The guy's getting paid a lot of money. It's pretty uninspiring to watch him not give a F.

CW

 

Keeping the seat warm for Alonso

 

It is. He barely showed any emotion after winning his title. Most Americans can't comprehend this.

 

Certainly Hakkinen was accused of the same lack of emotion, but I never felt that Mika lacked a hard work ethic. And, when Mika wasn't winning, he seemed willing and eager to work even harder (so did Schumacher).

KR, OTOH, appears to be somewhat blasé and uncaring. Especially when the conditions don't seem to suit him. Insert shrug of shoulders. As a result, his work ethic is at issue, which, IMO, is inexcusable. But, then, I'm not the guy who's responsible for hiring or keeping him on, either.

He can't adjust to the car? He's a professional who's paid millions of dollars to do his best. Is he? He's been in F1 and with the team (and in the car) LONG enough to have figured it out by now. Maybe he's just lazy.

He's fast (under the right circumstances), but is that enough in today's F1? I certainly don't think he's the slowest driver in F1, but if he didn't have a good car under him, do you think he'd stick with it, grind it out and develop the car? How'd that work out for Lotus?

CW

 

+1

Give him time ...

 

Palmer is bad..Stroll a disaster..what i think is funny is the people talking about Felipe being finished...heck we all know he lost something after his accident, that was very clear, still he always palyed level game with bOTTAS (LAST YEAR I THINK HE WAS A BIT OFF BECAUSE HE KNEW HE WAS STOPPING) but now we see Botts taking pole from Elton so, what does that tell us about massa's speed? Stroll will take 10 years to come anywhere near Felipe...

 

I personally found that very good.

I don't like excessive display of emotion, so I like Kimi's attitude.

 

I think that's because he know how to control his emotions and don't like to express publicly his feelings.
It's some sort of modesty, which I appreciate a lot and which is missing in a lot of people, IMO.

 

Carlos Sainz takes the award from me. That was a rather astonishing punt coming out of the pits and driving straight into the side of Lance Stroll. Had Sainz been on the straight instead of coming out of the pits, he still wouldn't have been in position to claim that corner. A complete bonehead move that the stewards ought to award with a 5 position grid penalty in Russia. As if that would make a difference....

And then he claims that Stroll left too much opening which suddenly closed.

 

With the front running teams, i would say Kimi is not driving up to the car's potential even though his supporters keep making excuses for him. He has been back with Ferrari for 3 years now , one can cut him some slack for not being able to adjust to the car immediately, especially in his first year back. He has a brand new car this year, and the same story continues, poor Kimi, he has such bad luck.
There is only so much of his poor performance that can be attributed to bad luck, one cannot have continuous back luck, there is obviously more at play which brings us to Kimi being a poor setup man. The engineers cannot perform miracles, they do need feedback from the driver , that is what made MS so good, and my guess is that Kimi is not up to snuff in that department, compared to Vettel to say the least.

 

And that's exactly how he portrays himself...to the outside it looks like he doesn't care but behind the scenes he does work hard, he does give a ****. I find that Americans especially just can't comprehend this, because in America most people show their anger, they show their happiness, and everyone must know about it...

I still don't think he's doing a bad job...yep taking him a little longer to adjust to the car but, in qualifying at least, he's close to Vettel...races can't say yet because in Australia he had a setup problem (his own fault), Shanghai he had speed (just off Vettel) but strategy cost him massively and a car problem, and in Bahrain he had a slow stop (wheel wouldn't go on), electrical issue and again, terrible strategy which led him to rage on the radio begging for a stop...

His job is not to be quicker than Vettel, but to back him up. I think he can do that BUT, when Ferrari keeps ****ing up his strategy and his car keeps having issues, it doesn't matter if he matches Vettel in pace then, because he'll still finish well behind him.

Yep quite like it also. He's also very funny...when he makes a joke or just certain reactions.

 

Without doubt, Palmer, Stroll and Kvyat are the top 3 worst drivers currently wasting F1 seats.

Beyond those 3, Kimi and Massa must be good candidates to leave the sport at the end of the season.

 

I disagree. I may be American, but showing emotions (or not) are a personal trait. Just because you may be an American doesn't mean you wear your heart on your sleeve. Cultural differences apply, too, of course. And, Finns are known to be less openly charismatic. That said, we can hope he'll show more emotion than a pet rock.

You say Kimi does care. Does he? I don't know that for certain. How do you? And, as far as I'm concerned, I can't tell that he does. I'm not saying that he has to be throwing tantrums 24x7, but I'd like to hear/read about about his work ethic when the chips are down. Or, up. That is the definition of a consummate professional. A guy who shows up, puts in the hours, has a good attitude and finds a way to extract the best out of what he's given.

Personally, I don't feel he was that good of a Number 1 driver at the Scuderia the last go around. Or at Lotus. Or even at McLaren. Does the guy even have "chemistry" with the team? Anyone? Other than LdM who broke up the Schumacher/Todt/Brawn team to bring him in, I guess.

Again, if the car and conditions suit him, he can be very fast. If not, it's anyone's guess who will show up. Not sorry for expecting more out of a "professional" driver.

CW

 

You completely forget last year then! .

 

at least the last half of the year or races.....Kimi was "cool."

Vettel was not himself that year.

 

I'd rather have a talented workhorse busting his behind to make the car better than a guy who can't wait to get to his yacht.

CW

 

no doubt....agree as Vettel was frustrated.

 

From people that work with him, have worked with him and generally in the know: He definitely puts in hard work.

He's not like Vettel, who stays until well after he's needed. Kimi delivers his input, what needs changing...yes when he's not needed anymore he's out the door and gone, Vettel likes to stay.

He wasn't right to replace Schumacher, he doesn't have the same mindset. All the Ferrari workers where so used to the Schumacher-Todt way of doing things, then someone else comes along doing things very different. Kimi talked to the guys that he needed to talk to, the rest not...Schumacher and Vettel talk to everyone and anyone in the team, real talks. Kimi is just not like that and doesn't feel like he should waste his time talking to others that don't need talking to. In a way I appreciate that, no need to put up a fake face and pretend to be interested (though Schumacher/Vettel are genuinely interested). The team does genuinely love him, but respond better to Schumacher/Vettel.

Kimi at Mclaren did the same, but then it was also a very corporate structure so it never suited him well. At Lotus he was very comfortable in his skin, but when the paycheck stopped coming (nearly 1.5 seasons worth!) it started to be less and less cheery...understandably so. I don't think they ever paid him for his final season (not sure if the Renault sale changed this).