Today In F1

[pabloh20 1]

If he ever does that, and chooses to post in this forum, I hope he at least picks a different nickname than Paul's or we will never know who is who.

Damn you, baldy!! I choked on my lunch laughing at that

[aussief1 4]

Kimi will not be fired. He is too expensive to fire. He said more than once that he will not agree on contract termination, so SF would have to terminate it on their expense and would cost much too much especially if combined with Alonso salary...

Alonso comes in 2011. If he comes in 2010, Massa goes to Renault.

Also, they said that Alonso deal would not be announced at Monza "out of respect for injured Massa". That can mean only that Massa is getting fired but they do not want to break bad news until he has recovered... If they are going to fire Kimi, they would not have to wait for Massa to get well. In such scenario if Massa does not get well enough, they can always drag Buemi from STR to be Nando's bitch.

Felipe has a contract with Ferrari for the 2010 season. I can't see Felipe going anywhere in all honesty. Everyone is saying that the key to the driver market is with Fernando, its more like its with Kimi in my opinion.

Kimi will not be fired but he will be released and salaried as per contract to rally for Fiat. That's my guess. If he wants to stay, then there is no option but to keep him especially, as Felipe's continuance in the sport is unconfirmed. They will only release Massa if the medics say he is unfit to race. We shall know soon enough. Buemi is another Kubica - intermittently brilliant but unreliable - not an SF 'wish list' item, in my opinion. The smart money says they need a 'plodder' who can score in every race as a foil to Nando and get them back in the Constructor's race. My pick? Heidfeld is in the frame, as is Trulli, [if he continues to refuse Toyota's 1-year contract offer] but I like the idea of young blood being brought into the equation and with Santander on board, Jaime is quick as mustard, doesn't break cars, is people-friendly and a marketing man's wet dream. The Armada returns?

EDIT: Typo

Felipe will be racing a Ferrari for 2010 with either Fernando or Kimi. Worst case senerio is Felipe cannot drive (because of incident in Hungary) and Kimi wants to go and drive through the wilderness (in WRC) then it will be Fernando and Robert. I doubt Ferrari would go with young blood.

[BradSpeedMan 6]

Kimi will not be fired. He is too expensive to fire. He said more than once that he will not agree on contract termination, so SF would have to terminate it on their expense and would cost much too much especially if combined with Alonso salary...

Alonso comes in 2011. If he comes in 2010, Massa goes to Renault.

Also, they said that Alonso deal would not be announced at Monza "out of respect for injured Massa". That can mean only that Massa is getting fired but they do not want to break bad news until he has recovered... If they are going to fire Kimi, they would not have to wait for Massa to get well. In such scenario if Massa does not get well enough, they can always drag Buemi from STR to be Nando's bitch.

James Alen seems to agree with you..

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2009/08/whats-ferraris-next-driver-move/

[BradSpeedMan 6]

eish, now I'm stuck with James Allen's articles, I really love his insights and knowledge, pity he can't translate in vocally in a interesting way, his voice just irrates me...anyway, to the point, which always involves my fav driver, here ge goes

"One of my strongest memories of this place is the time when Kimi Raikkonen was battling with Michael Schumacher for pole position, it was 2002 and Olivier Panis had blown an engine in the BAR at Radillon, at the top of Eau Rouge, which meant that there was a curtain of dense white smoke sitting on the hill. Raikkonen plunged into it without lifting, or caring where in that pall of smoke the stationary BAR might be. It was one of the bravest and most committed pieces of driving I

[Grabthaw the Hammerslayer 4]

Probably not. If he become a red-neck, his sister and wife will be the same person, he won't have a passport, will think London is a country, burn negroes and be pro-war.

Oh right, so he's thinking of becoming an Argentinian national then?

[pabloh20 1]

eish, now I'm stuck with James Allen's articles, I really love his insights and knowledge, pity he can't translate in vocally in a interesting way, his voice just irrates me...anyway, to the point, which always involves my fav driver, here ge goes

"One of my strongest memories of this place is the time when Kimi Raikkonen was battling with Michael Schumacher for pole position, it was 2002 and Olivier Panis had blown an engine in the BAR at Radillon, at the top of Eau Rouge, which meant that there was a curtain of dense white smoke sitting on the hill. Raikkonen plunged into it without lifting, or caring where in that pall of smoke the stationary BAR might be. It was one of the bravest and most committed pieces of driving I

[Quiet One 15]

Oh right, so he's thinking of becoming an Argentinian national then?

Hey! I'm not pro war!

[Rainmaster 7]

Felipe has a contract with Ferrari for the 2010 season. I can't see Felipe going anywhere in all honesty. Everyone is saying that the key to the driver market is with Fernando, its more like its with Kimi in my opinion.

Felipe will be racing a Ferrari for 2010 with either Fernando or Kimi. Worst case senerio is Felipe cannot drive (because of incident in Hungary) and Kimi wants to go and drive through the wilderness (in WRC) then it will be Fernando and Robert. I doubt Ferrari would go with young blood.

Actually yes, this is very true.

eish, now I'm stuck with James Allen's articles, I really love his insights and knowledge, pity he can't translate in vocally in a interesting way, his voice just irrates me...anyway, to the point, which always involves my fav driver, here ge goes

"One of my strongest memories of this place is the time when Kimi Raikkonen was battling with Michael Schumacher for pole position, it was 2002 and Olivier Panis had blown an engine in the BAR at Radillon, at the top of Eau Rouge, which meant that there was a curtain of dense white smoke sitting on the hill. Raikkonen plunged into it without lifting, or caring where in that pall of smoke the stationary BAR might be. It was one of the bravest and most committed pieces of driving I've ever seen. Raikkonen always goes well here and even though they have stoped developing the Ferrari I think he'll get a good result here, especially as the KERS will help him on the long run from Eau Rouge to Les Combes."

lovely stuff!!!

Just read that about a minute before I read your post!

[BradSpeedMan 6]

Kimi will not be fired. He is too expensive to fire. He said more than once that he will not agree on contract termination, so SF would have to terminate it on their expense and would cost much too much especially if combined with Alonso salary...

Back to Wapi's statement....here goes again...

"Behind the scenes the team has been looking for a way to strike a deal with Kimi Raikkonen to leave a year early, presumably so that Alonso can start racing for Ferrari in 2010. This has not been successful so far. So the problem it has been wrestling with was that if it wanted to run Alonso next year, which it has an option to do, it has three drivers for two cars; Massa, Raikkonen, Alonso.

However, if it became clear that Massa’s injuries were such that he would not be able to come back and race in 2010, then they could perhaps look at brokering a deal whereby Alonso would be drafted into the Ferrari alongside Raikkonen. The pair would then form Ferrari’s 2010 line up. BMW’s withdrawal at the end of this year means that Robert Kubica, who is likely to replace Alonso, might be able to negotiate an early move to Renault and then both teams would have the remaining races of 2009 in which to bed in their 2010 drivers. We’ve seen these kinds of deals done in the past. "

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2009/08/whats-ferraris-next-driver-move/

EDIT

actually, the real issue now seems to be if Massa will lose his place to Alonso, the way I'm beginning to see it

[dribbler 6]

"One of my strongest memories of this place is the time when Kimi Raikkonen was battling with Michael Schumacher for pole position, it was 2002 and Olivier Panis had blown an engine in the BAR at Radillon, at the top of Eau Rouge, which meant that there was a curtain of dense white smoke sitting on the hill. Raikkonen plunged into it without lifting, or caring where in that pall of smoke the stationary BAR might be. It was one of the bravest and most committed pieces of driving I

[Quiet One 15]

Everyone knows the only reason he did that was because he thought an ice cream van had stopped at the bus stop, selling vodka jellies.

Actually, Kimi is so used to watching everything through an alcoholic mist that he could not tell there was smoke there.

[Jean Todt 4]

Actually, Kimi is so used to watching everything through an alcoholic mist that he could not tell there was smoke there.

[wapi 4]

Coolest guy on the grid definitelly (from formula1.com) :

Q: There are a lot of rumours about you next season. What is your position now?

KR: It has not changed since the last race. I have a contract. I don

[Insider 0]

Coolest guy on the grid definitelly (from formula1.com) :

Q: There are a lot of rumours about you next season. What is your position now?

KR: It has not changed since the last race. I have a contract. I don

[Jean Todt 4]

The talks that Alonso could be the savour of Ferrari is absolutely nonsense, Even Micheal couldn't win titles once the rules were changed, Kimi and Nando should be put in the same cars to see who is the better, last season Massa had the edge, while Kimi struggled with the new rules, Nando too struggled, but blamed it on the car while Reno blamed it on the rules, so it means Nando too struggled with the new rules last season. Nando was made to look like the better driver with a team mate who was really really slow. If the contribution or commitment of Nando is as mighty as people say, he would have turned Reno into a title contender by now. Its really foolish to say kimi is not committed to driving, he has been the same ever since he came to F1. Even his ex team bosses have notified that he spoke very little to his engineers, but what ever he spoke had a lot of value in it, he is not the kind of driver who would whine or joke over the radio. Bashing Kimi for his antics for a laugh is okay, but many here are so quick to join the bandwagon to bash him.

He almost won the world title with an out dated car. People seem to forget it. The stupidest thing Kimi did was to leave Mclaren for Ferrari, I am pretty much sure He would have trashed Nando if they drove the same car. He still can and I hope they would end up driving the same cars next season.

[Quiet One 15]

Its really foolish to say kimi is not committed to driving, he has been the same ever since he came to F1.

Only bit I agree with. He has been always this way

BTW, I haven't read a single article and/or post mentioning Nando as "Ferrari's saviour". I think it's a little exageration from your part. All that I read is that he will be a better driver for Ferrari than Kimi. And that's not so hard an achievement right now. Kimi is being paid like a WDC, but performs like Coulthard at McLaren. Massa was a lot cheaper, worked harder and delivered more consistently. Nando has nothing to do with that.

[Jean Todt 4]

Only bit I agree with. He has been always this way

BTW, I haven't read a single article and/or post mentioning Nando as "Ferrari's saviour". I think it's a little exageration from your part. All that I read is that he will be a better driver for Ferrari than Kimi. And that's not so hard an achievement right now. Kimi is being paid like a WDC, but performs like Coulthard at McLaren. Massa was a lot cheaper, worked harder and delivered more consistently. Nando has nothing to do with that.

You got me on that one!

Well, Ferrari's saviour has been mentioned in some sites as well as many posts in this forum. Trust me, I am too lazy to prove it, but if you dig you may find out...well, the words may not be exact, but technically it meant the same.

if Kimi is being paid like a WDC, Micheal was paid like a king and yet there were times when he couldn't win a race, (2005?) at a time when they were the only teams to have unlimited testing, correct me if I am wrong about the testin issue. Does that make him Coulthard performin at Mclaren?

I was replying to Sid's post where he says Nando is better than Kimi by a mile, something which I don't agree. I didn't discount Massa in anyway.

Let us wait and see what happens in the next few weeks, I don't care if Nando goes to Ferrari though, but at the cost of Kimi's seat will be worrying.

[Rainmaster 7]

Only bit I agree with. He has been always this way

BTW, I haven't read a single article and/or post mentioning Nando as "Ferrari's saviour". I think it's a little exageration from your part. All that I read is that he will be a better driver for Ferrari than Kimi. And that's not so hard an achievement right now. Kimi is being paid like a WDC, but performs like Coulthard at McLaren. Massa was a lot cheaper, worked harder and delivered more consistently. Nando has nothing to do with that.

Yep, he probably would be. Not through talent or commitment though, just from his application (yeah I know, that's a stupid thing to say really ). I just think it's interesting how Kimi's form suddenly picked up in the last couple of races, at a time when Ferrari are supposedly trying to get him out of his contract. Kimi is driving better to strengthen his case for staying or signing for another team. He certainly isn't driving like DC at the moment and his mojo looks very much intact!

[wapi 4]

All this Sh#t about uncommited Kimi came last year when Massa got in position to fight for WDC and not him. He had his share of pitwall idiots and technical problems and few mistakes he made at the second part of the season when he risked more than he would if he was not falling behind in championship.

This year he drove few rallies, so what? Button goes to thriatlon, Lewis is chasing pussy(cat doll)... Hopefully all of them have some hobby.

Fundamental question is how anyone from outside c#ckpit and pitwall can judge commitment of the driver and separate it from pitwall decisions and car performance. Actually we do not know what is going on inside F1 machine which consists of several parts (driver, pit and car). ONly carefully selected bits of information transpire from that machine to the world. For example, you can have a feeling that Kimi gave up chasing someone on the track when true might be that team has told him to look after engine. That is the fact you might not get to know later and you are left with impression that he is not commited ince he did not try to chase someone although there seemed to be chance to do it...

If he would have better car this year impression would be different. Last few races when Ferrari finally made car not to be ashamed of he scored some good results and now people are talking "yeah, maybe he got better, he does not seem so unmotivated any more...". For me that is conclusive proof that all that motivation/comittment story is pure bs.

Only guys that really know are his team mates. And noone from there said anything on those lines - ever.

[dribbler 6]

All this Sh#t about uncommited Kimi came last year when Massa got in position to fight for WDC and not him. He had his share of pitwall idiots and technical problems and few mistakes he made at the second part of the season when he risked more than he would if he was not falling behind in championship.

This year he drove few rallies, so what? Button goes to thriatlon, Lewis is chasing pussy(cat doll)... Hopefully all of them have some hobby.

Fundamental question is how anyone from outside c#ckpit and pitwall can judge commitment of the driver and separate it from pitwall decisions and car performance. Actually we do not know what is going on inside F1 machine which consists of several parts (driver, pit and car). ONly carefully selected bits of information transpire from that machine to the world. For example, you can have a feeling that Kimi gave up chasing someone on the track when true might be that team has told him to look after engine. That is the fact you might not get to know later and you are left with impression that he is not commited ince he did not try to chase someone although there seemed to be chance to do it...

If he would have better car this year impression would be different. Last few races when Ferrari finally made car not to be ashamed of he scored some good results and now people are talking "yeah, maybe he got better, he does not seem so unmotivated any more...". For me that is conclusive proof that all that motivation/comittment story is pure bs.

Only guys that really know are his team mates. And noone from there said anything on those lines - ever.

Excellent post. The problem with impressions is that they snowball out of control. Kimi has certainly fallen foul of this for the last couple of seasons. Let's not forget though, it's not all been without good reason. Track excursions, questionable pace relative to team mates and 'out of the c#ckpit etiquette' have all been very different to the Kimi that blasted onto the scene with Sauber or his brilliant time with McLaren. Maybe Ferrari have let him be his own man a little too much.

[Insider 0]

All this Sh#t about uncommited Kimi came last year when Massa got in position to fight for WDC and not him. He had his share of pitwall idiots and technical problems and few mistakes he made at the second part of the season when he risked more than he would if he was not falling behind in championship.

This year he drove few rallies, so what? Button goes to thriatlon, Lewis is chasing pussy(cat doll)... Hopefully all of them have some hobby.

Fundamental question is how anyone from outside c#ckpit and pitwall can judge commitment of the driver and separate it from pitwall decisions and car performance. Actually we do not know what is going on inside F1 machine which consists of several parts (driver, pit and car). ONly carefully selected bits of information transpire from that machine to the world. For example, you can have a feeling that Kimi gave up chasing someone on the track when true might be that team has told him to look after engine. That is the fact you might not get to know later and you are left with impression that he is not commited ince he did not try to chase someone although there seemed to be chance to do it...

If he would have better car this year impression would be different. Last few races when Ferrari finally made car not to be ashamed of he scored some good results and now people are talking "yeah, maybe he got better, he does not seem so unmotivated any more...". For me that is conclusive proof that all that motivation/comittment story is pure bs.

Only guys that really know are his team mates. And noone from there said anything on those lines - ever.

This is quite revealing:

http://www.totalf1.com/full_story/view/317574/Raikkonen_hints_at_Ferrari_departure/

[Silas Talbot 0]

"Behind the scenes the team has been looking for a way to strike a deal with Kimi Raikkonen to leave a year early, presumably so that Alonso can start racing for Ferrari in 2010. This has not been successful so far. So the problem it has been wrestling with was that if it wanted to run Alonso next year, which it has an option to do, it has three drivers for two cars; Massa, Raikkonen, Alonso.

Fiat is entering the WRC if I'm not mistaken, and the thinking I'veheard is that they are trying to run a deal for Kimi there.

As far asFerrari having to support the salary of 3 drivers.. Deep pockets my friend. I think the prospect of 10years of Lewis Hamilton at McLaren scares them s***less and they're willing to do what needs to be done.

In this sense, Alonso is the enemy of their enemy, so it makes a lot of sense for them to ally. I'm quite sure that Alonso has a deep abiding hate for Lewis Hamilton over ruining his threepeat and his childhood dream of driving for McLaren.

Ferrari feels like it has no drivers at this point. No Massa, Kimi has checked out, Luca is a slow old man and it says 'BAD - Ferrari' on timing and scoring every time he does something wrong. Reaching out to Schumacher was a sign of desperation.

[mikathegreat2 2]

Fiat already have an S2000-spec Abarth Punto so maybe they could modify it so it could be a WRC-spec car!

[Jean Todt 4]

Fiat already have an S2000-spec Abarth Punto so maybe they could modify it so it could be a WRC-spec car!

I have seen them preparing those beasts when I visited Abarth workshop!

Dont ask me for pics, even our phones had been taken away from us.

[Insider 0]

Fisi on pole, Button in the toilet - now I've seen it all. What is that boy doing?