Would you keep Kimi?

[RobbieMeister]

Kimi seems to be having his fair share of "bad luck" in the past year or so.

Bearing in mind the expression "you make your own luck"; if you were Ron Dennis would you be keen to keep the services of The Kimster?

[FourWheelDrift]

No which is why he's probably going to Ferrari.

He is a good driver but Ron likes his drivers to tow the corporate line on PR and Kimi is a dreadful public speaker, worse than Hakinnen who always avoided it as much as he could. Coulthard was always the one to do the PR but Ron only has Montoya to fall back on and he's hardly god's gift either. He must be very happy he's acquired Alonso as he's not only a great driver but a very good PR man and could even tempt spanish Telefonica or Repsol money to McLaren as well.

>> Edited by FourWheelDrift on Monday 20th March 14:51

[egomeister]

Absolutely.

I don't think you could get much better than a Raikonnen/Alonso driver line up. Sure Alonso is a better PR prospect but I think Kimi probably has the edge on pure speed. I'd expect great things from a Mclaren team with those two, they would really spur each other on.

[RobbieMeister]

The word on the street is that Alonso is going to do a "Jenson" and stay at Renault.

[egomeister]

RobbieMeister said:

The word on the street is that Alonso is going to do a "Jenson" and stay at Renault.

Which street is that then?

[RobbieMeister]

egomeister said:

RobbieMeister said: The word on the street is that Alonso is going to do a "Jenson" and stay at Renault. Which street is that then?

A guy I know who has some contacts who has come up with accurate stuff before.

>> Edited by RobbieMeister on Monday 20th March 15:37

[racefan_uk]

If I were Ron, I'd be starting talks with my mate Frank about just how much money he wants for Rosbergs contract about now... Especially if Kimi has already go the Ferrari deal in his pocket.

Although, McLaren have always had an over abundance of drivers than seat for them to race in, so losing Kimi probably wouldn't be that big a deal for the team.

[RobbieMeister]

racefan_uk said:

If I were Ron, I'd be starting talks with my mate Frank about just how much money he wants for Rosbergs contract about now... Especially if Kimi has already go the Ferrari deal in his pocket. Although, McLaren have always had an over abundance of drivers than seat for them to race in, so losing Kimi probably wouldn't be that big a deal for the team.

Hamilton may be cheaper, indeed Webber may be cheaper but Ron wouldn't want him.

[ahonen]

I'd keep him. He's the quickest guy out there, so I'd be doing everything to hang onto him if I were in Big Ron's position. Montoya blows hot and cold, but KR has consistent, relentless pace.

I the two races so far KR has driven brilliantly to 3rd after a blameless component failure, then had the race taken from him by the idiotic Klein move. Not his fault at all.

It'll be interesting to see what Alonso does if Renault announces a long-term F1 commitment in the coming months...

[Code Monkey]

I would want to keep Kimi as he is a pure racer,

on the luck front, is there any mileage in the thoughts that Kimi is too hard on the cars and some (only saying some here keep flames to yourselves) are due to him being over aggressive on the car?

This is a though partly brought in on the considerations that different drivers are still harder or softer on cars, only have to look at barrichello and button and the use of traction control as a current example.

[FourWheelDrift]

RobbieMeister said:

Hamilton may be cheaper, indeed Webber may be cheaper but Ron wouldn't want him.

As is Paffett

Ron has an abundance of riches when it comes to contracted drivers.

[RobbieMeister]

Code Monkey said:

..........on the luck front, is there any mileage in the thoughts that Kimi is too hard on the cars and some (only saying some here keep flames to yourselves) are due to him being over aggressive on the car?..................

This is where I'm coming from really. I'm not suggesting anything is deliberate or even cognitive but could there be "an attitude of mind" that precipitates attitudes and therefore actions (possibly subconcious) that lead to "bad luck" - he has had a lot of it.

[kevin ritson]

I would suspect Hamilton and Paffet are being groomed for F1 debuts in the Direxiv/Alesi McLaren B team if McLaren get their way

[flemke]

RobbieMeister said:

The word on the street is that Alonso is going to do a "Jenson" and stay at Renault.

It's a complicated world, and in practice you cannot force someone to work for you, but it's very unlikely that the McL. contract contains the sort of vague language of the BAR contract that emboldened Button to try it on in '04.
Thus Alonso's only get-out would have to be based on compensation to McL. If Jensen-never-won-a-GP was worth $20M compensation to Williams, what should a world champ be worth to McL?
It's not obvious why Alonso would be so motivated to renege; it was clear no more than a month ago that he was looking forward to the move to McL.

[RobbieMeister]

I'll keep it short.

Kimster is having a run of bad luck that makes me think he is part of the equation. I don't know what he's doing to make it so but I belive it's something to do with his input.

If I were Ron right now I would be looking closely at the way he does things vs his other drivers and trying to spot the difference.

I wouldn't be puting any ink on contracts in the meantime.

[davidd]

How long has Kimi been at Mcl? $ seasons? You'd have thought that they would have either sorted the cars out to be strong enough to cope with him, or sorted him out to be gentle enough on the cars so not to break them.

My feeling is that Mcl need to stop pushing the envelope quite so hard, their cars have just seemed a little fragile over the past few years, cars or engines.

I would love to see Kimi and Alonso in the samne machinery as I think it could make for a cracking head to head.

D

[Marki]

racefan_uk said:

If I were Ron, I'd be starting talks with my mate Frank about just how much money he wants for Rosbergs contract about now....

Rosberg is the find of the season even if it is only at the 2nd race

[Code Monkey]

Marki said:

racefan_uk said: If I were Ron, I'd be starting talks with my mate Frank about just how much money he wants for Rosbergs contract about now.... Rosberg is the find of the season even if it is only at the 2nd race

Too right is making it easy for all armchair critics to point a finger and laugh at button as well, specially with the qualifying of the race last weekend.

[80bob]

At the risk of being taken round the back of the bike sheds I think that Kimi is one of the most over rated drivers in F1. Unless he is in a very quick car he has not shone. I remember when MS was in an uncompetative Ferrari he was still able to punch well above its weight. When Kimi is in a slow car he just seems to lose interest. I just don't think he has the championship winning extra 10% that will win when things are not going right for him. He can overtake the realy slow cars but once in amongst the decent drivers he struggles and then relies on the pitstops to get by. Okay I am a luddite who believes that F1 is a race from start to finish, no stops, manual boxes, big fat slicks etc so for me Kimi isn't the One. What do I know though as the F1 world reckons he's the second coming so he must have something!

[racefan_uk]

I'll agree to an extent, but I'm not sure its just that.

I'd more likely think that its when he's had a long period in a car that he knows to be competitive, and yet constantly robs him of points and results through no fault of his own, I think his head drops, definately more than Hakkinens used to. The McLaren's for the last two years have been blindingly fast, but have tended to be, erm, fragile, to say the least.

I don't doubt for a second he worth all the hype, you only have to see his speed jumping from Formula Renault into a half decent Sauber to see that he has commitment and speed.

I reckon if the McLaren comes good for the rest of the season he may just put Alonso in his place. Would be good for F1 to have Kimi swap places to Renault or Ferrari with the number one plate as Fernando goes to McLaren...