German Car Forum

Nah.. I think Ferrari still has faith in him.

He's even begun his first year at Ferrari better than Massa did. All he has to do is improve by the second half of the season, maybe win some more races and so on. But I think the pressure is on him for sure. But not to the point where they're considering to fire him.

it's just a rumour thats not gonna happen. these stupid journalists keeps reporting nonsense all the time.

if Ralf wins in France, they'll probably come up with a report saying that Toyota will be offering him a contract for life.

+1 agree.

even if they sack him, who would they look for? i think they have Nick available in the market, as well as Rosberg.

but naaa..i'd rather stay with Kimi and give him the 2008 season a second chance.

The typical Bs.

Yep and Alonso already broke his contract with McMerc and already signed reported with either Renault, Ferrari or BMW. Also, Bernie is dumping Slavica for Danica (Patrick), and Mosley is reported to have said he's quiting and is sorry for making one mistake after another regarding F1 (like baning Active suspensions, slicks, V10s).

I believe it is a rumour, however I also believe that both Ferrari and Kimi and under immense pressure.
Massa first season with Ferrari was a rocky start, but we have to admit he is doing a lot better than last year- in my opinion, he has responded well to the challenge.
Considering how much Kimi makes with respect to Massa, and the fact that of the 71 points Ferrari has scored thus far Kimi has accounted for 45% of the points, the Italian press has every right to register their disappointments.

I don't think he will "leave" at the end of the season. If he "leaves" Ferrari, it means his arse would have been shown to the door. If he is fired, I think it will be with good reason.

Kimi supposedly makes $25-40 million, depending on what you read. Massa makes $5-8 million. As for Heidfeld, I have always said that Ferrari should have kept Schumacher for '07 and signed Heidfeld when he becomes available for '08.

The obvious choice to replace Kimi would be Schumacher, according to Bild. However, was the obvious choice to replace Schumacher ever Kimi? He was always called the fastest driver in F1. I don't think that was ever merited. He has one uber impressive win here and there, but he always had a gaggle of DNFs in between. Alonso, however much you don't like him, was a more "obvious" choice because he has the Schumacher work ethic and is a great tester.

Yep I agree that Alonso or Heidfeld was the obvious choice.

Nick for me...

I just think that the first year is his struggle year. I mean c'mon can you really blame everything on him? McLaren is doing a hell of a job. Ferrari is slow during quali, and we all know that the patter right now and has been for some time: whoever qualifies first wins.

Yupp. Qualifications are now more important than ever, especially if you want to win a race.

Unfortunately it is. The new tires makes and their natural consequences make overtaking even more hard.

Don't forget that he's beaten fair and square by Massa.

I think shonguiz is right. Mclaren's pace, Ferrari's speed in qualification and all other factors notwithstanding, Raikkonen is being beaten by Massa, driving the same car. Has Raikkonen beaten Massa once this year on legitimate pace?

Like I said, kimi is struggling to get used to the Ferrari way. Mass has been there for over a year. It's about getting used to the car and the atmosphere. Same thing with Alonso over at McLaren. Does that mean Alonso isn't as good as hamilton?

Alonso is doing much better than him.

In what way?

He might be doing better than Kimi overall, but just like Kimi he is struggling with the car and is being outclassed by his team-mate.

He adopted the McLaren philosophy much quickly & better and he's doing a better job in beating his team-mate.

I don't see why you are saying that he's struggling with the car, he may be had some problems with the new wheels in the early season but he knew how to adopt his driving style to the new conditions. And even if Lewis is now the leader of the pilots championship, fernando always showed a great opposition (except Bahrein).

I thought you were saying Alonso was doing better than Hamilton.

It is just speculation...

I could go into a long explanation on why I said what I said. But the fact is that I'm not an engineer so I can't prove it. But the gist of my explanation would've been about how each car is different and how each car reacts to different drivers.

For example...I'm a way better driver than my friend who had a WRX. I can out do him in the twisties anyday with my previous M3 and my current TSX. The problem is that if I were to drive his WRX and race, I would still beat him but I'd have a harder time because I need to adapt to the 4wd system. The different isn't much but the line is still different than the one I would take with RWD or FWD. Now these are just street cars, the difference in F1 is much, much larger and there are way more variables than there are in street cars.

Also don't forget, while Kimi was bound by contract, Alonso was let go by Flavio earlier. So all in all, Alonso has had more time with McLaren than Kimi has had with Ferrari.

My point on Kimi Raikkonen is, He is a Brilliant driver! Agreed he has'nt had a title and in recent times has been all over the negative side but the guy has talent pretty much matched upto the nicest guys on the grid. I think in 2003 he missed out on WDC by 2 points on MS right? A lot of it contributed to un-reliable MCL's and I guess some to his luck/fate and the same happened in the year 2005 which I know Luca di Montezemolo (apologies for the spelling) has openly said that Kimi would have won if it was not for his un-reliable car. And also Michael while leaving again specified he too was happy with the choice and it was their first and only choice. (I know a lot of these words are probably for PR)

Ferrari definately have tons of faith Kimi and as far as I can see I think they would not really look at Alonso as their driver and anything coming from the press about them thinking of sacking kimi or kimi leaving ferrari are just Page 3 stories to fill their empty spaces. I maybe wrong on a lot of all this but Kimi will make his space in one of the greatest F1 drivers and I still want him to go back to Mclaren Mercedes!!

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