Where is Kimi racing next year?

[lkocev]

Yeah, Stefano Domenicali said that "You ll never hear me saying anything negative about Kimi, because he s a great driver."
What if Ferrari actually hate doing all this, removing Kimi due to Santander's demands

I think you make a good point there, but I don't think we realisticaly have any way of knowing. Many people seem to think that the deal was made exclusively with Alonso in 2008, others say Alonso is a requirement for Santander sponsorship. I'm not sure about the latter because Santander are still continuing their partnership with McLaren years after Alonso.

I hope that one day Kimi writes a book and all this will be cleared up. I still find it difficult getting my head around the prospect of pushing Kimi out of the team, in favour of Massa, I don't understand what he has done better than Kimi... Hopefully one day we will find out.

[ds.raikkonen]

I hope that one day Kimi writes a book and all this will be cleared up. I still find it difficult getting my head around the prospect of pushing Kimi out of the team, in favour of Massa, I don't understand what he has done better than Kimi... Hopefully one day we will find out.

Kimi writing a book? Never gonna happen man he has nt got enough patience for all that, it ll have to be a good biography written by some person.
Even EJ said on BBC that the Santander's sponsorship was the major turning point for the Kimi-Alonso affair.
Even I cant imagine why they chose Massa, he is nt even half as good as Kimi.

[Richard]

Even EJ said on BBC ...

I wouldn't quote Eddie as the most reliable indicator of fact.

[modbaraban]

I hope that one day Kimi writes a book and all this will be cleared up.

This made my day. Well, if he does write a book, it would be quite thin and would consist of index with YES/NO answers instead of the page numbers

[lebesset]

so the guy is shy in public , does that mean he doesn't have plenty to say when in private ?...not in my experience [ and I have more of that than I care to admit ]

[Shaddock]

I think the chances of Kimi rejoining McLaren depends on if Ron has forgiven him!

Ron isn't the team boss at the F1 division anymore, but Martin will obviously consult him over the driver pairings.

Kimi and his manager pulled a 'fast one' over Ron when Kimi signed for Ferrari. They told Ron they hadn't signed a deal yet and were open to further discussions, despite the Ferrari rumours circulating the paddock. Ron took them at the word, and told everyone that there were still ongoing negotiations with Kimi and his manager.

Kimi had already signed for Ferrari at this team, and this information together with when they signed the deal leaked out later that year and made Ron look a bit of a mug for taking Kimi and his manager at their word.

Is Ron pragmatic enough to look past this, especially when there are a few other drivers in F1 who are up for grabs at the end of the season.

[segedunum]

Yeah, Stefano Domenicali said that "You ll never hear me saying anything negative about Kimi, because he s a great driver."

What if Ferrari actually hate doing all this, removing Kimi due to Santander's demands

I get the impression that they do hate it, especially in the tone of engineers like Chris Dyer and others who work with him. He's handled himself with dignity, hasn't went into a strop, hasn't had a go at the team (although he's obviously made extremely subtle hints) and is still trying to get third in the championship for a team he'll be leaving and with a car they've stopped developing. I'm more impressed with him than ever and I believe if Alonso had handled himself in 2007 the way Raikkonen has then Alonso would have been champion that year.

Some people make a big thing about Kimi's performances in 2008 being the reason, but given that he set ten fastest laps that year and just couldn't get it rolling in qualifying or the first half of a race I'm inclined to believe a lot of his problems were technical with the car they just couldn't solve. Stuff happens for any driver. You can't always turn up and just win. Anyway, he came in third and brought the constructors home for Ferrari so it was hardly a failure and hardly warranted replacing him with another driver on big money whilst paying him off for a year where he'll be doing nothing for them.

I think the Ferrari guys think that if they could learn from their mistakes, get him to have more input into the initial design of next year's car and give him a car that his talents can have more input into then he'd run away with the championship. Continuity would have been very good into next year. As it is, they won't get that. They'll design a new unproven car, and then have a new driver turn up in the new year to drive it.

But..........stuff happens. That's motor racing. Anyone who has been around even the lower formulas knows that commercial considerations are important to a team, and if a driver is attached to those commercial concerns then so be it.

[ISLAMATRON]

McMerc signed Alonso before Kimi signed at Ferrari, I dont think Ron was all that worried about losing KIMI, and he was certainly not going to match Ferrari's $50M/year that they paid him.

He could have kept JPM, or he had Green, PDLR, Paffett, and Hamilton in his back pocket if he needed it. Losing Kimi was not that big a deal to him.

Long term, losing Kimi and Lewis ending up in the seat was the best thing to happen for McMerc.


FAst laps arent worth anything, and they dont mean very much at all, especially after the 2nd pit stop when the positions are pretty much stablished and everyone start backing down there pace. Webber had a huge, amazing, astounding fast lap in JApan... big help that has brought him huh?

[segedunum]

I wouldn't quote Eddie as the most reliable indicator of fact.

I don't know. He might look a bit of a pillock sometimes but he knows exactly what it's like to be a team boss and he's made some pretty decent predictions over the course of the season that have ended up being proved right.

[segedunum]

I think the chances of Kimi rejoining McLaren depends on if Ron has forgiven him!

Ron isn't the team boss any more which might have been a problem for Kimi as the relationship seemed to deteriorate a bit in the end.

Is Ron pragmatic enough to look past this, especially when there are a few other drivers in F1 who are up for grabs at the end of the season.

Kimi isn't the only driver to have apparently pulled the wool over Ron's eyes in negotiations, and where Ron is concerned he even seems to consider it a positive thing.

[Shaddock]

McMerc signed Alonso before Kimi signed at Ferrari, I dont think Ron was all that worried about losing KIMI, and he was certainly not going to match Ferrari's $50M/year that they paid him.

He could have kept JPM, or he had Green, PDLR, Paffett, and Hamilton in his back pocket if he needed it. Losing Kimi was not that big a deal to him.

Long term, losing Kimi and Lewis ending up in the seat was the best thing to happen for McMerc.

It all worked out in the end, BUT, Ron was decieved by Kimi and his manager, they told him to his face that they hadn't signed for Ferrari when they had. The Ferrari 'boys' would have enjoyed a good laugh at that.

[Richard]

I wouldn't quote Eddie as the most reliable indicator of fact.

I don't know. He might look a bit of a pillock sometimes but he knows exactly what it's like to be a team boss and he's made some pretty decent predictions over the course of the season that have ended up being proved right.

Everything I hear from him is blighted in my mind by his wide of the mark technical comments, especially about KERS. Coulthard often has to interrupt to quietly correct him on driver technique and technical matters.

I think it isn't help by his excitable demeanour, as a result I tend to interpret his words as wild conjecture.

Maybe he is good on reading the silly season, after all that's the role where he earned his place in F1.

Please do enlighten me on his successful predictions!

[segedunum]

McMerc signed Alonso before Kimi signed at Ferrari.

We don't know that. Allegedly Raikkonen had been talking to Ferrari in 2005, and McLaren's signing of Alonso might well have been to head that off.

He could have kept JPM, or he had Green, PDLR, Paffett, and Hamilton in his back pocket if he needed it. Losing Kimi was not that big a deal to him.

Bar Hamilton, quite frankly, none of those drivers are in Raikkonen's class, not by a long way.

FAst laps arent worth anything, and they dont mean very much at all, especially after the 2nd pit stop when the positions are pretty much stablished and everyone start backing down there pace.

On their own no. However, when you get ten of them then it starts to be more statistically significant and you ask yourself what else might be going on.

[ds.raikkonen]

Long term, losing Kimi and Lewis ending up in the seat was the best thing to happen for McMerc.

No, it was nt, LH brought controversy to Mclaren & F1, things have nt been the same after he came in the sport. Spugate, Ron retiring, Mclaren losing Alonso(who could ve been phenomenal if the relationship had grown, but thanks to LH, it did nt).
And, over all this, if Kimi had been in Mclaren in 2007 & 2008, he could ve won both the championships with a dominance no one except Schumi could have matched.

[ISLAMATRON]

Long term, losing Kimi and Lewis ending up in the seat was the best thing to happen for McMerc.

No, it was nt, LH brought controversy to Mclaren & F1, things have nt been the same after he came in the sport. Spugate, Ron retiring, Mclaren losing Alonso(who could ve been phenomenal if the relationship had grown, but thanks to LH, it did nt).
And, over all this, if Kimi had been in Mclaren in 2007 & 2008, he could ve won both the championships with a dominance no one except Schumi could have matched.

If I remember correctly it was Alonso that was implicated in spygate and not HAmilton, I also remember Alonso trying to blackmail the team as well... and Yet Hamilton was the problem?

But back on topic, any new rumors as to Kimi's 2010 seat?