Have Ferrari lost faith in Raikkonen?
“Massa would be prepared to go down with the ship, with a prancing horse-shaped anchor attached to his torso, Raikkonen would take the sole lifeboat.”
Ferrari’s response to Felipe Massa’s accident is an indication that the Scuderia has begun to lose faith in Kimi Raikkonen, writes Forumula1.net’s Ewan Marshall.
Michael Schumacher’s comeback, or rather the lack of it, has focused much attention on Ferrari in the last few weeks, and asked many questions about the future of the Scuderia, and most notably of Kimi Raikkonen.
Let it be known that Felipe Massa’s accident, despite adding perspective to Ferrari’s current situation, was not the catalyst behind the speculation about Raikkonen’s future. There has long been critisism of the Finn’s work ethic in relation to the lucrative salary he receives from the coffers at Maranello – rumoured to be in the region of $51 million per year.
However the days which followed Massa’s crash did speak volumes about how Ferrari view their current star driver, and about their future. Why did the Italian team have to turn to their former hero, Michael Schumacher, for guidance in a time of need?
Why was it that Schumacher was the man who was entrusted with fulfilling the hopes and dreams of Ferrari fans around the world? Even if he is a seven-time world champion, he is still an ageing driver. Where was the championing of Kimi Raikkonen by Luca di Montezemolo and the other senior members of the team?
Has Ferrari truly lost faith in Raikkonen? It would appear so.
In the aftermath of Schumacher’s decision to call off his return to the sport, Di Montezemolo revealed that the team’s future looks safe in the hands of a “seasoned champion.” Presumably this can only be Fernando Alonso, who Italian sources predict will be in a Ferrari next season, along with his sponsor, Spanish bank Santander.
Rumours of the Spaniard’s move to Ferrari are also not new. Stories that he was on the move to Maranello even harp back to before his disastrous move to Mclaren in 2007. For so long now Ferrari have denied Alonso’s move with the use of a number of methods, most notably in confirming an extension to Raikkonen’s contract for the 2010 season. But now, in their time of need, Maranello no longer appears to want to fight these rumours, instead it wants to welcome Alonso with open arms.
Therefore with Massa’s return to full fitness looking ever more likely, where does this leave Kimi Raikkonen in the grand scale of things for 2010?
If the latest press reports are to believed, then this will certainly not be at Ferrari. The team appears to be doing everything in its power pay-off the Finn a year before his contract expires. Will this redundancy package also include a number of outings for the Finn in the World Rally Championship?
One can only presume that Ferrari now feel that they signed the wrong man back in 2006. Maybe they even feel short changed? Raikkonen no longer appears to be the great driver who would lead the team into a new era of championship victories. Although he fulfilled his obligations by bringing glory to the Scuderia in 2007, Raikkonen failed to carry this momentum into 2008, where a mixture of misfortune and poor displays dogged his title bid.
Whatever the reasons behind his 2008 slump, Raikkonen did not endear himself to his team members or the expectant Tifosi. To the outside world it seems that while Massa captured the hearts of the Italian team with his gutsy fighting attitude last season, Kimi continued to frustrate, despite being paid a far higher wage than the Brazilian. Massa has also been shown to care about the team during its troubled 2009 season, and proved to be as much of a team player as his former teammate, Michael Schumacher, was.
To many it appears that Ferrari took a gamble when they signed Raikkonen for the 2007 season. Was it merely a quick fix? Despite assurances, it was always going to be hard for the Finn to become more of a team player, even in a more relaxed environment.
While Massa would be prepared to go down with the ship, with a prancing horse-shaped anchor attached to his torso, Raikkonen would take the sole lifeboat and leave his fellow sailors stranded.
All in all, Raikkonen cannot be fully blamed for his attitude towards Formula One. He was never going to live up to the reputation of Schumacher, nor did he care about the German’s team spirit. At Ferrari, he merely wanted to drive fast cars, win races and enjoy the lifestyle.
However such an attitude could never be accepted by a team with such high demands. Ferrari will not be happy with Raikkonen. Why did it take the sniff of victory, last time out in Hungary, before we saw a glimpse of his raw talent?
Question marks remain over whether the Finn will take Ferrari’s offer and walk away from the Scuderia, or continue to see out his contract. If he chooses the first option, would he so easily find a seat?
If he chooses the latter then surely he would become nothing more than a shadow of his former self, isolated in a team that clearly does not require his services?
Ferrari’s blatant disappointment, in their reaction to the news that Schumacher will not make a return in one of their Scarlet cars would indicate that now wish that they never forced the German to retire in the first place.
Popularity: 38% [?]
Subscribe and have the day's top stories delivered directly to your inbox - free!
Ic3m4n | Aug 15, 2009 | Reply
Firstly, i’d like to apologise for a bit longer comment. First, the question why did Ferrari turn to MS after Massa crash. Well, probably because they needed a good driver in his place. They went for it and even tried to get a days worth of testing. If nothing else, they got a lot of publicity. It doesn’t mean, they don’t like Kimi anymore. Do the words “We are happy with our drivers” mean nothing to you?
It’s no secret that MS is more popular than Kimi and Felipe together, but he pulled out just because the italian press is unforgiving and it’s better to stay retired, than come back and be spitted on like Kimi was, when he didn’t win every race. they expected Kimi would just pick up where MS left in 2004, but Formula 1 changed a lot, and the teams are uncomaprably closer than they were back then. It wan’t hard for MS to win easily, when he had twice as much of test mileage than McLaren, and he had the tyre war going in his favour (Bridgestone produced tyres to Ferrari specs, Michelin teams had to produce their car to Michelin tyres…)
Did you ask yourself, what is FERRARI? they are a racing team, and they are there to win championships. They don’t care who wins the title, nor how, but they want to win. They are not there to be polite. We all saw that back in MS times with team orders, and stuff on their car, that needed a rule book present at all times, to make it stick with the stewards. Do you think Ferrari want’s to have two nice popular guys missing on the titles every year, or do they want a driver that has a unique attitude, but wins titles when the car is good? Nearly won title is worth nothing, even if you have a popular driver. You forgot what Domenicalli said:”trust the facts and the team, not rumours”. And don’t forget, Kimi is a seasoned champion to. Ferrari fired the chief of aerodynamics, and the real problem is in the factory, not in the cockpit of their cars! If Kimi gets a good, competitive car, he’ll be there, on top of his game. It doesn’t matter if you are 2nd or last, if you don’t win the title. And don’t distort things…Kimi said he would go with Ferrari anywhere they go so i don’t know where you got that he would save himself??It’s rubbish. Not even MS would be like himself on the track. The cars changed, the rules changed…Not even Alonso is the same on track. Back in Kimis’ McLAren days, overtaking someone was not to big of a problem compared to today, and you didn’t have to look out for your tires 19 out of 20 lap stint, and the tires worked well for 19 out of 20 lap stint, no matter what. Today, they’re shit.you can use them for medium fast laps for 10 laps, and maybe 3-4 laps to drive fast lap times, then they go. Every driver has problems with it, even the start-of-the-season prased Button. This year Kimi did his best, like he does every year. The problem is, that the first 5-10 laps decide the race. If you start the race at the back and you get stuck behind someone in the first stint, the race is over. you’re not going anywhere. There is no from 15th to win jumps in races this year, and that just proves the point. If you doubt Kimi, just look at the facts this year…first Ferrari man to the podium, better classified Ferrari driver in race, first Ferrari man to get a point. If Ferrari had worked well, he would be in the title contention even in 2008, when he allmost broke MSs’ fastest lap in a season record. If Ferrari worked well in qualifying, then he would do those fantastic laps at the front. Instead he was at the back, behind someone he couldn’t overtake ,and even if he did, the tyres were long spoiled, or there was another guy. He had great races then but had some bad luck. And again, if you’re not going for the title, you might as well finish the race last or in the wall. Don’t put down Kimi like that, no other driver displayed outstanding performances this year. Look at Alonso and Renault. Isn’t he supposed to be a developing guru? Renault is right where they were at the beggining of the season, Ferrari meanwhile got to the front! If they want titles, they need to push those people that overlooked flaws that led to (last years) engine failures, KERS failures, useless KERS in the first place and that don’t know how to solve the problem of getting the temperature to the tyres. Sure the driver can’t thrive if he has to search for answers that engineers should solve on their own! And it’s not Kimi’s fault his exchaust falls of and if your car falls appart every race, then you surely loose some motivation. But you can’t denie the fact, that Kimi is a champion, Felipe is not. So maybe it’s Felipe facing the axe, and they’ll keep Kimi to win titles and bring MS back to keep fans satisfied. If you prase Massa so much…it allmost looks as if you’re saying, he did his top of the game in these 3 years. Well, if that is top of his game, he’s not championship material. you say he gave his 100% in 2008, but the result was, he only got more points than Kimi, no title…He wouldn’t have been in title contention anyway, if Kimis’ car hadn’t broken dow so many times, where Massa got more points on the Finns account. What is better, an average driver, that gives his best, but is too short for the title, or a driver that wins the title first year he’s there. Don’t forget, not even MS won the title the first year with Ferrari and he left the Maranello team, after two seasons without any title at all!
Snoopy | Aug 16, 2009 | Reply
its funny how much media is writing about kimis working ethics and most of tem are british and spanish news papers…
And NONE of them have worked with Kimi, NONe of them really know KIMI but it seems that everybody have professional opinium about him anyway.
Boss of ferrari has said that Kimi do not speak a lot of but whne he says something its better to listen, becauwe he knows what e is talking about. Kimis race engineers has been appy to work with him and ALL finnish people have known about very high working ethic.
Why it would be Kimi whose seat Alonso will get? Massa ahs not won anything to ferrari and he has been there longer than Kimi??? Kimi is howver World Champion, Massa is only dreaming about it still.
I think all this talking is about jealousy and about Kimis very normal finnish personality. And ofcourse because Kimi did win World Chamion shio which british wanted to go to Hamilton. Kimi hates stupid queations and is not mouth open all the time talking like excample Lewis hamilton. British news paperws can not have good interview from him but finnish newspapers do not have same problem.
Spanish newspapers i can undedrstand. After year in Mclaren they want see Alonso in winning team so ofcourse Ferrari is normal choice.
They want see Alonso to beat Hamilton. Some articles have been so bad that if I would be Kimi i would sue some papers.
So end of story is….How many times many people from Ferrari and Kimi himself has to say that he will drive for ferrari 2010???
How many times they have to say that he is doing as good job as possible depends car as well, how many times even Alonso has o say that he is not driving Ferrari next year????
Seems that media dont have ears…they just have very wild imagination. Media just need to understand allready after all these years that wat ever they write dont make Kimi to react.
Kimi is called Iceman for reason…same Kimi who we saw very calmly tapping Hamiltons shoulder and pointing red light in Canada Granx Prix in last season.
Kimi_Fan | Aug 16, 2009 | Reply
Raikkonen remains the best driver in the business even now. If it has looked like he was outperformed by Massa last season, it was because of the choices the team made, which clearly were meant to favour the latter. If you look at the Chinese GP last year, Raikkonen toyed with Massa for 49 laps, eventually all but stopping on the track to let him through. Similarly at Spa, Raikkonen gave both Massa and Hamilton a lesson in F1 racing. During this season as well, while Hamilton and Massa have whined about their cars, Raikkonen has hardly done that, instead delivering some good results until Ferrari made some deliberate errors to mess up his races – full wets on a dry track at Malaysia, holding him up at Hungary on his final stop etc. It will be a pity if his seat is taken by the man who needed Flavio Briatore to get rid of a stronger teammate – Jarno Trulli, in the 2004 season. But when you consider that a seven-time champion has twiced shied away from driving alongside Raikkonen, nothing should be a surprise.
Iceman | Aug 16, 2009 | Reply
Hi,
Soon your all speculations will clear , he is going nowhere until 2010.
Amritraj | Aug 16, 2009 | Reply
Kimi is one of the 2 best drivers on the Grid. The other being Alonso. They are followed by Hamilton, Kubica and Vettel. Massa is good but not the same league as Kimi.
I hope its Kimi and FA at Ferrari to see some great action on the track.
Cvella | Aug 17, 2009 | Reply
Question: Why did you even think for a moment, let alone write, that Ferrari forced Schumacher, the greatest driver they ever had, to retire??
Get your facts right mate, and don’t write such stupid things.
redmist | Aug 17, 2009 | Reply
The press seem to think if they tell everyone the same nonsense everyday people would eventually believe them. Kimi is a very good teamplayer.
And he has performed better then Alonso have so far this season.
rifrafs | Aug 17, 2009 | Reply
You must be on another planet to suggest that kimi thought massa a lesson last year. Surely he was quicker in china. But massa was quicker on many more tracks and he had the points to prove it. It’s clear to anybody who followed the past season that hamilton was the victor at spa. i believe kimi was almost on the verge of breaking and had to go for broke that day…didn’t work. Kimi has never been faster than MS. MS isn’t fit enough. I’m a hami supporter but i doubt if he can beat a healthy MS cummulatively. Kimi has some amazingly fast laps but has lost the guts to push the car. It’s evidenced by the way he gets overtaken easy these days. Hamilton is consistently fast but he doesn’t have masny fastest laps. But he’s got the ability to overtake slower guys. Leads me to vettel. the guy is fast but he rarely passes unless the other guy makes a mistake. MS on the other hand, set fastest laps(some of his records still hold today), had the guts to pass, was master in the rain,…he did it all.
rifrafs | Aug 17, 2009 | Reply
I’m hate that i didn’t read over my piece….”thought” instead of “taught” and some other mistakes. However, you guys get my point.
Stacey | Aug 17, 2009 | Reply
Kimi is awesome … he has been stuck in the middle off Ferrari when they have gone through so many changes. It is no shock he became WDC in 2007 with Jean Todt picking up the pieces. How can he be blamed for the turmoil after Jean left……… Give the man a chance, a car that is fast and reliable. He has kept his mouth shut …. never complained when they have so not delivered to him what they promised !!!!!
raikka | Aug 18, 2009 | Reply
Kimi has never been faster than MS.????
you never know who’s the fastest until they get the same car.. dont u know that MS always won bcause he had a better car+team order??
tell me, please..what car that has the same strenght as ferrari 2004 and the years bfore?
think, if MS drove another car that time, will he won the title? and felipe? who deserve the win in french 2008?? at spa 2008, win the race by rules?? oh, please give me a break!! in china 2008, he is finished if kimi didnt give his 2nd place!! and who’s the man who set 10 fastest lap in 2008?? felipe is better than kimi, u said??
jay | Aug 19, 2009 | Reply
i gues we’ll never know who is the fastest afterall? MS not coming back’ but all you guys ofcourse favor the man you want..fernando has a promising car after that hungary race, hamilton won the race followed by raikkonen..the only way to solve this, is to get the legend on his toes and drive that red car again,and we’ll begin the real fight,looks like they all managed to get their cars up to its max,michael prove them all wrong!
Cartman | Aug 22, 2009 | Reply
The problem with Kimi might be that he doesn’t really like to kiss ass unlike Massa (No disrespect to Massa though..its a survival tactic). Even though he might have given everything to do well he is not a “people person” and you can add the fact that he can turn out to be a sort of a cold character…So when things don’t go well the axe is going to fall on him…while massa who may not be as talented as him gets to stay…This is something which happens everywhere..In any industry…unfortunately the sporting world is no exception.
LaScuderiafan | Aug 22, 2009 | Reply
Too many people here are ignoring the facts, Massa has consistently outperformed Kimi for the past two seasons and Kimi’s time is up. Alonso coming in is going to cause Ferrari no end of problems, because his ego will get in the way. Massa is very popular at La Scuderia and Alonso will try to undermine him whenever he can. With BMW goin out, I would rather see Kubica at Ferrari as he is more talented than Alonso and would fit in with the team more.
mark | Aug 24, 2009 | Reply
i think neither alonso or kubica shud be a ferrari next year.
i think alonso causes 2 much trouble and kubica isnt good enough for them yet.
also as we all know they wanted michael schumacher at ferrari so i think they shud go for another schumacher, his brother ralf as he s a proven race winner and has never really had a car to challenge 4 the title
Iceman_Coeth | Aug 24, 2009 | Reply
rifrafs…have you been watching races or sleeping on the sofa?
1) Of all drivers, Raikkonen’s were the bst drives at Hungaroring and Valencia ( 2009) , co-incidently when not everyone in the team haes been serving the other driver
2) Spa 2008, Hamilton cheated as much as he did in 2009 ( does Trulli and integriry sound together for him)and was served the notice?
rifrafs | Aug 24, 2009 | Reply
Setting a few fastest laps in a race of 60 laps or thereabout serves no purpose without consistency and an ability to be an unforgiving overtaker and kimi is proof of that. And have you also forgotten that Massa helped Kimi win the title in 2007 just as Kimi tried to help 2007. The world championship is a season-long one. It is not won in individual races. Looking at the big picture, Massa is definitely the better of the two right now. He’ll not be as fast as kimi but he is better right now. Trust me, kimi is over the hill…it happens to all sports men who think they can get drunk and so and yet have longevity. It is those who take very good care of themselves like calzaghe, hopkins, schumi and the likes who do well over a long stretch
Iceman_Cometh | Aug 30, 2009 | Reply
Now now..the best drive i have seen in a long time…at the most beautiful circuit ( Spa)from any driver or team