Is this the end for Kimi?

[Heebeegeetee]

coetzeeh said:

In 2003 he lost the WD title by 2 points to Schumacher - only because his Mclaren was unreliable. 2007 will not be his last title either.

I know, but the unreliability stopped the moment Kimi left. He even managed to transfer some of it to Ferrari with him, and has had more unreliability than Schumi managed over the last couple of years. The championship was for the taking with that McLaren.

I do think though, that Ferrari have managed Kimi far better than McLaren ever managed to. I've criticised Kimi's driving for being pretty boring this season, which i guess is a tad unfair. When he was a more adventurous driver, it was a case of being bloody quick til he crashes/breaks it. I guess he can't look after the car *and* drive aggressively, but we'll see.

Kimi has overtaken somebody this season (i mean other than rocketing away off the line), he did a terrific move around the outside of Coulthard at Japan.

Having said that, both Alonso and Hamilton have done some bloody fantastic overtakes this year, and not just on drivers of the calibre of DC. Alonsos move on LH at Spa and at Brazil were bloody fantastic, and Lh's move on Kimi was incredible.

I don't buy the sore neck excuse, Kimi simply didn't see Hamilton coming, but neither did anyone else to be fair, not even the tv production company.

A sore neck would have knocked a second a lap of Mansell times. He discharged himself from hospital when he broke his neck remember.

[baz1985]

Heebeegeetee said:

coetzeeh said:

In 2003 he lost the WD title by 2 points to Schumacher - only because his Mclaren was unreliable. 2007 will not be his last title either.

I know, but the unreliability stopped the moment Kimi left. He even managed to transfer some of it to Ferrari with him, and has had more unreliability than Schumi managed over the last couple of years. The championship was for the taking with that McLaren.

Check the F248 reliability record in 2006.

[Heebeegeetee]

baz1985 said:

Heebeegeetee said:

coetzeeh said:

In 2003 he lost the WD title by 2 points to Schumacher - only because his Mclaren was unreliable. 2007 will not be his last title either.

I know, but the unreliability stopped the moment Kimi left. He even managed to transfer some of it to Ferrari with him, and has had more unreliability than Schumi managed over the last couple of years. The championship was for the taking with that McLaren.

Check the F248 reliability record in 2006.

You might have a point. Didn't Schumi have as many failures as he'd had in the previous 5 years or something? Certainly, the reliability at Ferrari over the years, certainly given their speed, has been amazing. It was beginning to look like it was gonna be worse for Kimi, but he didn't manage to break the car as much, due to a clearly different driving style and outlook.

Some drivers have always been known to too hard on their equipment and Kimi is certainly one of them for me. A smarter driver would have scored points with that car with the famous badly flat spotted tyre, indeed a smarter driver (such as Alonoso who went off at the same corner) wouldn't have flatted it in the first place. Also that year, a smarter driver wouldn't have broken a driveshaft after being told by his team not to rag the kerbs 'cos they think it'll break a drive shaft.

I firmly believe that a smarter driver would have won before now in the equipment Kimi has had.

He's won the championship this year, but - it was after a blindingly quick drive in Australia in a car that turned out to be illegal; he was slow after the car was changed, though we were told it 'cos he wasn't used to the tyres, which leads one to ask well which tyres did he have on in australia; he's trailed in the points almost all season long, and trailed a rookie at that; he won at the final round, due mainly to McLarens fairly spectacular ability to shoot itself in the foot; his victory is as likely due to the errors of others rather through great driving by himself. Like i say, it's difficult to recall him indulging in any great racing like the Macca drivers have.

I do agree though, he's been much better managed at Ferrari than McLaren. Indeed, after this year, McLaren seriously needs to look to itself and decide what it is racing for, because whatever their aims are, i can't see how they've achieved any of them.

A smarter team than McLaren would have beaten Kimi easily, imo. As it is, Kimi is maybe driving for that smarter team.

[Jamesf288]

Heebeegeetee said:

I don't buy the sore neck excuse

Since when has Kimi 'ever' made excuses. He's the straightest talking of all the drivers.

[Jamesf288]

Heebeegeetee said:

baz1985 said:

Heebeegeetee said:

coetzeeh said:

In 2003 he lost the WD title by 2 points to Schumacher - only because his Mclaren was unreliable. 2007 will not be his last title either.

I know, but the unreliability stopped the moment Kimi left. He even managed to transfer some of it to Ferrari with him, and has had more unreliability than Schumi managed over the last couple of years. The championship was for the taking with that McLaren.

Check the F248 reliability record in 2006.

It's difficult to recall him indulging in any great racing like the Macca drivers have.

How about starting from pretty much at the back of the grid in Japan and driving through the field in the pouring rain, the true test of ability, to finish third.

Or had those 15 odd over taking manoeuvres in one race slipped your mind....

[flemke]

Jamesf288 said:

Heebeegeetee said:

baz1985 said:

Heebeegeetee said:

coetzeeh said:

In 2003 he lost the WD title by 2 points to Schumacher - only because his Mclaren was unreliable. 2007 will not be his last title either.

I know, but the unreliability stopped the moment Kimi left. He even managed to transfer some of it to Ferrari with him, and has had more unreliability than Schumi managed over the last couple of years. The championship was for the taking with that McLaren.

Check the F248 reliability record in 2006.

It's difficult to recall him indulging in any great racing like the Macca drivers have.

How about starting from pretty much at the back of the grid in Japan and driving through the field in the pouring rain, the true test of ability, to finish third.

Or had those 15 odd over taking manoeuvres in one race slipped your mind....

I'm not trying to knock Raikkonen, but, just to add a bit to the story of his 3rd place finish:

Non-finishers in that race included:
Alonso
Heidfeld
Rosberg
Webber (lying 2nd towards end of race)
Vettel (lying 3rd towards end of race)
Button suffered crash damage; can't recall whether he finished.
That's a lot of potential competition to fall by the wayside.

Raikkonen finished behind rookie Kovalainen, whom he tried but failed to overtake, and David Coulthard finished fourth.
Also, Massa finished 6th - he was never going to challenge Raikkonen because of team orders. Perhaps in a fair fight the Brazilian would have come out ahead.

The guy is a great driver, but 3rd in Japan was not epic the way some drives in the rain have been.

[SuperKartRacer]

Greatest victory arguably at Suzuka, where he starts 17th on the grid and passes Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella on the final lap to win.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj3qAK4F2YQ

[stephen300o]

SuperKartRacer said:

Greatest victory arguably at Suzuka, where he starts 17th on the grid and passes Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella on the final lap to win.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj3qAK4F2YQ

Obviously CG, IF their was any overtaking in F1, our Lewis would be the one doing it.