Tag: kimi raikkonen

F1 and the Big Boo Theories

The world of F1 always dishes up a good deal of speed, fun, scandal and every now and then, a bit of booing. Reynard Gelderblom sent us his thoughts on the last week in F1.

Even though the 2013 Italian Grand Prix in itself wasn’t the most exciting F1 race of the season, the entire week at Monza proved to be one of the most interesting. Usually at this point in time I’d have expressed my point of view on one big issue relating to Formula 1, this time I’ll touch on a few.

First off, you can’t call yourself a F1 fan if just the mere thought of the Italian GP doesn’t bring a shivering sense of anticipation to you. One of the most historic circuits in the country known for Ferrari and the beyond-fanatical support for the manufacturer. Regardless of where your allegiance lies, everyone loves the tifosi – the loyal fraternity of the Prancing Horse.

During the podium celebrations at the Italian GP I would admit that I lost some respect for some of them. Regardless of the fact that the budget for one F1 season is probably greater than that of some developing countries per annum, it’s still and always will be a sport. There is no place for “booing” in sport.

My message to those tifosi: Your man Fernando Alonso was never in contention for the victory during the race. It wasn’t a close fight to the flag – it was Sebastian Vettel showing dominance. Stand up and salute the victor or sit down and shut up if you can’t be real sportsmen.

I live in Cape Town and that sort of behaviour is the exact reason why Western Province rugby and cricket fans are considered the most unsportsmanlike supporters this side of hemisphere. By the way the first place goes to the fans of Galatasaray Football Club.

And, did anyone notice how visibly disgusted Mark Webber looked with his team mate’s win? Yes, we all know that he’s still sour about the Malaysian GP when Vettel passed him despite team orders, but go ask anyone in the nearby fashion capital Milan, and they’ll tell you: “There’s never a reason to walk around looking like last month’s jug of milk in the back of the fridge”.

Let’s dish out a good award here as well though…

The set of brake pads for the fastest driver of the week goes to…. Felipe Massa. If he ever enters a head-to-head fastest tweet competition, his opponent should be playing off a handicap. Massa was just a tad eager to announce his departure from Ferrari after 2013 on the social network platform, Twitter.

Eeeaasy there son, save that speed for the Sunday race – and I don’t mean on the way to the race. The Brazilian of course also made the news for a speeding ticket he collected on route to Monza on Sunday morning.

Given the amount of booing Vettel received for beating Alonso in the race, I wouldn’t have wanted to be the traffic cop involved when he went back to the office saying “Hey guys, I just booked a Ferrari F1 driver, in a Ferrari, on the Sunday of the Italian GP for speeding on the way to Monza”.

Be sure that I will be watching Twitter to see if any of the reporters I’m following are tweeting something about a traffic cop facing treason charges.

And still at Ferrari: Out with the old… in with the… eh old. Kimi Raikkonen has finally been confirmed as Fernando Alonso’s team mate for 2014.

I’m certainly looking forward to this and I’m sure now that the Iceman has picked his spot, the rest of the F1 paddock can now continue their game of F1 musical chairs to decide who drives what. Something I would like to mention though: Remember Senna and Prost at Mclaren in 1989, Alonso and Hamilton at McLaren in 2008?

Alonso is no one’s No.2 and Raikkonen is certainly not going to be anyone’s either – and there can only be one No.1. Alonso doesn’t play well with others and Raikkonen plays at his best on his own. While I’m sure that Vettel is picking a hairstyle to celebrate his fourth World championship already, I’m looking forward to the hair flying at Ferrari in 2014.

And a final note: This article goes out to the person who asked me recently “How can you sit and watch anything as boring as F1?” No name calling here… Too many people called each other idiots at Monza.

Reynard Gelderblom is the motorsport editor for Street Motion.

Keep up to date with the latest local motorsport news by following Street Motion on Twitter.

Photo Credits:

Tifosi from the podium – Fernando Alonso (Twitter)

Alonso selfie – Fernando Alonso (Twitter)

Kimi Raikkonen – F1 Madness screengrab

September 15, 2013
Ferrari vs Lotus: Personnel Wars

Kimi Raikkonen is not the only thing Ferrari has poached from the Lotus F1 team. The Italian squad has announced two new members who are set to join from the Enstone based team.

Ferrari has bolstered its technical side of operations by signing Lotus’ head of aerodynamics Dirk de Beer. Earlier in the year Ferrari snapped up the highly sought-after former Lotus technical director James Allison. Allison’s Ferrari duties officially started at the beginning of September. Team principal Stefano Domenicalli has also revealed that Allison’s account of Raikkonen’s ability to deliver techincal input and feedback helped convince the team to lure the Finn back to the Ferrari stable.

Jarrod Murphy, head of computer aided design (CAD) in Enstone will also set off for Ferrari after 17 years of service. It is believed that Ferrari has made the signing of Murphy on the request of James Allison.

In turn, Lotus has signed up Ferrari’s chief aerodynamicist Nicolas Hennel. Hennel is expected to start work at Lotus next month and his focus will be required on the 2014 car from the get-go.

It is also believed that Felipe Massa is now in contention for a seat at Lotus for 2014. Nicolas Todt, Massa’s manager, and Lotus team principal Eric Boullier has revealed that the Brazilian in the running for what they term to be “the best seat” left on the grid. “What is certain is that other teams are interested in Felipe,” said Todt. “Felipe will never play second fiddle in a small team, so what we need to do is find him a car that allows him to play a leading role in Formula 1.”

Up until this point Nico Hulkenberg has been linked with replacing Raikkonen at Lotus. Hulkenberg was also in contention at Ferrari and is highly regarded by the top teams in the paddock.

September 14, 2013
Ferrari’s 2014 driver lineup explosive says Schumacher

According to former team champion Michael Schumacher, Ferrari has put together a potentially “explosive” driver lineup for 2014, referring to the appointment of Kimi Raikkonen alongside their current ‘number 1’ driver Fernando Alonso.

Schumacher, who was pushed into his first retirement at the end of 2006 when Ferrari signed Raikkonen, said that “For motor sport fans it will certainly be a blast, and make for a tough competition.”

“It will be exciting to watch,” Schumacher told Bild newspaper. “But Ferrari with Fernando and Kimi — it sounds like an explosive mixture,” he added.

Another former Ferrari driver, four time world champion Alain Prost, as voiced some concern over how Fernando Alonso will handle Raikkonen alongside him. “Now he will no longer be the undisputed number 1, at least not initially, and I’m not sure Stefano Domenicali has the ability of a Jean Todt or a Ross Brawn to handle a situation like this,” Prost told a French TV broadcaster.

“In Italy the press applies a lot of pressure, so I presume that sooner or later there will be trouble,” added Prost.

Photo Credit
By Morio (photo taken by Morio) [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

September 13, 2013
Mark Slade to be Raikkonen’s Ferrari Race Engineer?

Kimi Raikkonen has been officially announced as a Ferrari driver for 2014. Will Mark Slade take the reins on the pitwall as his race engineer?

The rapport between driver and engineer is one of the most crucial relationships within any Formula 1 team and with Raikkonen’s move away from Lotus speculation has been rife as to who will take over as the monosyllabic Finn’s race engineer. Rumoured to be in the running is current race engineer, Mark Slade.

The Raikkonen/Slade relationship goes back quite a ways. Mark Slade first became Raikkonen’s primary race engineer in 2002, his first season at McLaren. Slade continued as Raikkonen’s engineer throughout all five seasons at McLaren.

Raikkonen’s first three seasons at Ferrari were shared between Chris Dyer (2007 – 2008) and Fernando Alonso’s current engineer, Andrea Stella (2009).

A brief partnership with Simon Rennie at Lotus in 2012 was responsible for the now infamous “just leave me alone, I know what I’m doing” radio message. However, in 2013 Raikkonen once again teamed up with Mark Slade. It comes as no surprise then that Slade is rumoured to be moving with Raikkonen to Ferrari.

Felipe Massa’s race engineer, Rob Smedley, has been linked with a move to Williams but may yet end up with the Brazilian at his next team.

Photo: Lotuscars.com

September 13, 2013
Lotus will make driver decision shortly says Boullier

Lotus will make a decision on its 2014 driver line-up “shortly” after losing Kimi Raikkonen to Ferrari earlier this week.

Raikkonen’s decision leaves Lotus with at least one vacant seat. Romain Grosjean, who is out of contract at the end of the season is now more likely to stay with Lotus to provide some stability.

Team principal, Eric Boullier says he is already talking to a number of drivers and should be in a position to announce Raikkonen’s replacement shortly, although he says that Lotus has no reason to hurry.

“We are currently in discussion with a few people and will make a decision shortly,” Boullier told the official Lotus F1 Team’s website.

“We are in the privileged position of being the most desirable team on the grid with a seat available, so we are therefore in no rush to announce anyone without establishing what will be the best for our team and the future.”

Boullier added that he hoped Raikkonen could end his time with Lotus on a high.

“We still have seven races together and our aim is to provide both him and Romain with the best machinery possible. There’s still a tough fight out there and we’re still pushing to improve on last season again with P3 in the constructors’ championship.”

Photo by Lotus F1 Team

September 12, 2013
Ferrari said no to Hulkenberg via sms

Nico Hulkenberg’s manager has revealed that Ferrari broke the bad news to the German driver via sms this week and has expressed his disappointment.

Hulkenberg was apparently being seriously considered by Ferrari as the replacement for Felipe Massa.

But when Ferrari signed Raikkonen, the Maranello based team let Hulkenberg know via an sms, according to the German driver’s manager, Werner Heinz.

Heinz told Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport, “After two months of negotiations, I expected at least a phone call.”

Heinz said that five lawyers worked for eight weeks on the Ferrari contract and ultimately, all that was still needed to finalise the deal, was Luca di Montezemolo’s signature.

“The contracts went back and forth and in the end only had to be signed,” he told the German newspaper Bild.

“Domenicali sent us a SMS at 22.50 on Tuesday,” he added.

September 12, 2013
Raikkonen happy to be returning to Maranello

Following the announcement that Kimi Raikkonen will be returning to drive for Ferrari in 2014, the Finn has said that he is very happy to be returning to Maranello saying that he can’t wait to be driving a “Prancing Horse car” again.

Speaking to the Ferrari.com website, Raikkonen said, “I am really happy to be returning to Maranello where I previously spent three fantastic and very successful years.”

“I have so many memories of my time at Ferrari, memories which have stayed with me these past years, first and foremost, winning the World Championship title in 2007, which was really unforgettable,” Raikkonen said. “I can’t wait to be driving a Prancing Horse car again and to reacquaint myself with so many people with whom I had such close links, as well as working with Fernando, whom I consider a great driver, in order to bring the team the success it deserves.”

Today’s announcement came after Felipe Massa announced his departure from the team last night.

Ferrari team principal, Stefano Domenicali said that he is very pleased to “welcome Kimi back to the Scuderia, the team with which he won his world championship title.” He went on to say, “I sense he is very happy to be returning to Maranello and very determined to tackle the work that awaits him in the best way possible.”

Fernando Alonso echoed the sentiments of his team principal, saying, “I’d like to welcome my new travelling companion: together, starting next year, we will have to tackle a very demanding technical and racing challenge.”

Domenicali and Alonso both paid tribute to Felipe Massa today and thanked him for his tenure with the team.

September 11, 2013
Confirmed – Raikkonen to Rejoin Ferrari in 2014

Ferrari have announced that Kimi Raikkonen will return to the team for the 2014 season.

Raikkonen, who will partner Fernando Alonso, is said to have agreed to a two-year deal. It is believed that Shell will be footing the bill for Raikkonen to join the team. The Finn will reportedly earn 20 million Euro per season. Another alleged condition of Raikkonen’s contract includes his current race engineer, Mark Slade, make the move to Ferrari as well.

Raikkonen’s return to Ferrari comes on the heels of months of speculation about fragile negotiations with the Lotus team. Raikkonen was believed to have asked for a closer working relationship between Lotus and the Renault factory. Reports had also been making the rounds about Lotus inability to pay Raikkonen’s wages.

The end of the first relationship between Raikkonen and Ferrari at the end of 2009 could have been handled better but Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has already been smoothing the waters. Asked about the events surrounding the end of the 2009 season and what happened with Raikkonen Montezemolo said “What happened with Kimi? We won a world championship with him.”

Attention will now turn to the relationship between Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso as they become the first Ferrari championship pairing since 1954. On a personal level Raikkonen could care less about who his teammate is. On a professional level buckle up race fans because this is going to be some ride.

September 11, 2013
Ferrari announcement not quite what fans expected

Twitter was in absolute mahem today as F1 Fans awaited news from a press conference called by Ferrari.

An announcement regarding Ferrari’s 2014 driver line up was expected with consensus being that the announcement would reveal Kimi Raikkonen’s return to the Scuderia.

As everyone sat at the edge of their seats, awaiting the big announcement, absolutely nothing came from the Ferrari corner.

Instead, the Ferrari press conference was to reveal the new Ferrari 458 Speciale.

We can’t help but feel a little cheated.

Many Twitter fans, including F1 Madness and even The Telegraph, were however fooled for a brief moment when a fake Ferrari Twitter account – cleverly spelled with a lower case l where the I of @InsideFerrari should be – announced the deal with Kimi Raikkonen.

So, we’re back to waiting on news from the Scuderia. Luca di Montezemelo has said that that the announcement regarding their 2014 line up, will be made tomorrow.

Telling reporters asking about Kimi, Montezemelo said, “We won’t talk about Formula One today.”

Photo: Ferrari.com

September 10, 2013
F1 2013: Italian GP – Relentless Vettel Wins At Monza

Sebastian Vettel has set nineteen fastest laps, taken forty pole positions, won thirty-two races and from the looks of things soon to be a fourth time world champion. The German has unquestionably edged significantly closer to his fourth consecutive title after winning the Italian GP.

The German driver was hardly challenged at the front of the Italian GP as he romped to his sixth win of the 2013 season. He made his customary break in the first two laps of the race and seemed to control it at ease for the remaining 53 laps. But looks can be deceiving however as the Red Bull ace had to contend with several minor issues throughout the race.

A heavily flat spotted tyre was the first cause of concern for the Red Bull pitwall and later in the race instruction to Vettel was to short shift in fifth and sixth gear. Pace however was no issue at all as Vettel effortlessly pulled away from second place man Fernando Alonso.

Felipe Massa momentarily slotted into second place but was efficiently overtaken by teammate Alonso who had put a gutsy move on Webber into the second chicane. The Australian looked poised to do some serious battle for the second step of the podium in the second half of the race but a similar call from the team instructed him to short shift between second and third gear. Nevertheless, Webber finished less than a second behind Alonso.

Ultimately, the Tifosi didn’t quite get the victory they had hoped for but were still left with something to cheer about as Fernando Alonso brought his scarlet Ferrari home in second place.

Teammate Felipe Massa finished fourth but the rumours about his future at the Italian team continue to swirl, recently, with added intensity. Several reports are suggesting that Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen will be announced as a Ferrari driver for 2014 on Wednesday. Nico Hulkenberg has also been linked with the seat.

The star of Saturday qualifying, Hulkenberg finished a welcome fifth for Sauber; a great drive from the German who is surely now primed to move to a more competitive team.

Nico Rosberg finished sixth overall ahead of Daniel Ricciardo and Romain Grosjean in seventh and eighth respectively.

Kimi Raikkonen, in his current Lotus guise, didn’t have a great Italian GP in terms of points. In fact, he didn’t score any points at all.

An uncharacteristic clunk up the back of Sergio Perez’s McLaren forced the Finn into the pits for a new wing after only two laps had been completed.

Armed with the slightly faster medium compound tyres, Raikkonen set several fastest laps but ultimately fell short of the points paying positions in eleventh. An issue with the KERS system and a request to save fuel throughout the race didn’t help Raikkonen’s cause either.

Lewis Hamilton found himself in a similar situation as he was forced into the pitlane early in the race with a slow puncture. The 2008 world champion was able to recover to ninth place after a feisty drive through the field. Jenson Button scored the final point on offer in tenth lamenting an incorrect choice of gear ratios.

There were only two retirements from the race with the first being Paul di Resta who clouted the back of Romain Grosjean and exited the race in a pile of destroyed carbon fibre at the exit of the first chicane.

Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne bid the Italian GP adieu with what looked like engine failure on lap 15.

Belgium and Italy were supposed to be the Red Bull team’s Achilles heel. Never were these two tracks to play to the strength of the prolific Sebastian Vettel much less to his supposedly straightline-speed-challenged-car. It must be ominous then for those who fancy themselves a contender in this championship. Not only were they beaten by Vettel’s Red Bull but summarily routed.

What are your highlights for the Italian GP? Let us know in he comments section below!

Photo Credits:

Sebastian Vettel – Press conference screen grab

Fernando Alonso – Photo by Fernando Alonso himself, via Instagram

Kimi Raikkonen – Screen grab

September 9, 2013