Raikkonen back to McLaren? Could it just be?

[SilentEngine]

Luca DM was in Spain the other day, and he almost confirmed Alonso. This is getting ridiculous.

Ferrari driver situation ‘has changed’ | James Allen on F1 - The official website

[Bumblebee86]

According to Germany’s Sport Bild, Ferrari’s new sponsor, Spanish-based Santander, that will move from McLaren to the Maranello team next year, is willing to offer the Woking-based outfit (McLaren) up to 25 million Euros to accepts Ferrari’s current front man, World Champion Kimi Raikkonen.
The move would make room for Spaniard Fernando Alonso in Ferrari. According to an earlier report by Mirror.co.uk, Kimi Raikkonen is willing to move, if Ferrari pays him his 2010 salary, as the Finn has a contract with Ferrari for 2010.

[KRRaj]

I cant see Ferrari paying Kimi so much for him to move. Alonso is not worth that much over Kimi. No Way.

[SilentEngine]

Viddler.com - Speculation increases over Kovalainen - Uploaded by juniperberry

Martin Whitmarsh answers with a smile and silence when asked about Kimi.

autosport.com - F1 News: McLaren: We could handle Raikkonen

Ahh, these guys just continue to drag, come on, just announce it!

[LandCruiser]

Originally Posted by KRRaj

I cant see Ferrari paying Kimi so much for him to move. Alonso is not worth that much over Kimi. No Way.

Looks like for some reason Ferrari thinks Alonso will fight more than Kimi for championship. And if that is the case they would take care of the money aspects easily anyway. Kimi at McLaren is exciting. Ferrari must look to design a decent and competitive car instead of juggling drivers.

[anachronix]

Its better if Kimi leaves Ferrari. They have embarassed him a lot!

[im_srini]

Originally Posted by LandCruiser

Kimi at McLaren is exciting. Ferrari must look to design a decent and competitive car instead of juggling drivers.

Originally Posted by anachronix

Its better if Kimi leaves Ferrari. They have embarassed him a lot!

Woah ! Where was Kimi last year ? And for the record, for all his time at McLaren, it was Ferrari who gave him his first championship wasn't it ?

In my opinion, the finn is over-rated. Alonso's a better talent - after all he was the one who put both Schumi & Kimi in their places - twice in a row !

[Evolution_VIII]

Atleast one good thing, we will see Kimi in a F1 car and not in a rally car. Inspite of his expressionless face and a disappointing 2008 season, we need this man in F1. In last few races, he managed podium with a car that was really not up to the mark.

So finally Alonso-Ferrari affair will be public soon. It will be great to see how he works with a person who is consultant at Ferrari, who could soon assume higher role and to whom Alonso had once described as the 'biggest cheat in F1'.

Remember Alonso had also said that he wants to be the only driver other than Senna to win title 3 times without racing for Ferrari. There are no permanent enimies in Politics, Business and now in F1...

[KRRaj]

Originally Posted by anachronix

Its better if Kimi leaves Ferrari. They have embarassed him a lot!

Dont Agree with this. Ferrari gave him his first and only title instead of a BIG BADA BOOM which Mclaren used to give him regularly. Massa's excellent performance puts Kimi's reputation in shade. I never accepted the OverSteer-Undrersteer issue which was said to be the reason for Kimi's bad performance. Ferrari are not nuts to pay Kimi a lot more than Massa and develop a car for Massa's liking.

Something's missing big time here. All said, I prefer Kimi anytime over Alonso.

[gomzi]

Originally Posted by LandCruiser

Kimi at McLaren is exciting. Ferrari must look to design a decent and competitive car instead of juggling drivers.

Correction, most times Kimi at McLaren was mesmerising.

Ferrari must look to design a decent and competitive car instead of juggling drivers.

Originally Posted by anachronix

Its better if Kimi leaves Ferrari. They have embarassed him a lot!

I dont agree with this! Ferrari had wonderful cars the last 2 seasons and various goof ups - by drivers and team - cost them championships. They should have mopped up both titles in the last 2 years.

Originally Posted by KRRaj

Something's missing big time here. All said, I prefer Kimi anytime over Alonso.

Too true. Kimi+Ferrari just did not seem to be able to race through the field that Kimi+Mclaren were famous for. Even in his c'ship year he needed Massa's assistance at a few races.

[McLaren Rulez]

Originally Posted by im_srini

Woah ! Where was Kimi last year ? And for the record, for all his time at McLaren, it was Ferrari who gave him his first championship wasn't it ?

In my opinion, the finn is over-rated. Alonso's a better talent - after all he was the one who put both Schumi & Kimi in their places - twice in a row !

Sometimes mere numbers don't tell the real story. Kimi and McLaren were a far more lethal force than they get credit for. McLaren seem to have bullet proof engines over the last few years and that should fix what went wrong in 2005.

And Alonso hasn't put Schumacher anywhere. I'd rate Schumi above Alonso any day. Alonso has never had a proper competitive teammate except in 2007 and we know how he felt about that. Wait for the tantrums to begin and the toys to fly out of the pram when Massa outpaces Alonso.

[issigonis]

Lads,

Ferrari has been struggling to put together a competitive car since almost 2005. Remember how the great Schumi struggled in 2005 & 2006 when Renault had a faster ( both through the straights and the corners) car. After that it was McLaren which had the better package overall (when Alonso showed his true colours by being unable to stomach a rookie Hamilton outscoring him) in 2007-08. It is to Kimi's credit that he remained competitive till the very end in the 2007 season and sneaked through by finishing very strongly in the last two-three races. 2008 was a bad year for Kimi, as his car was not good enough ( Massa's car was definitely better, plus Massa showed better form). It must be noted that two cars from the same team might perform very differently, even though the underlying platform ( engine, suspension, brakes) is the same, due to the finetuning that the race engineers do, for their respective drivers.

Unfortunately 2009 has been no different for Kimi and for Ferrari. If rumours suggest that Banco Santander will sponsor Ferrari, obviously the former will demand a Spanish driver and Ferrari ( with only one championship victory- by the self same Kimi in 2007!!!) is too unprofessional and weak ( after the exit of Jean Todt & Brawn) to resist. Most racing teams are not very professional, in any case.

The question is - where does this leave Kimi - who to my mind is the best racing talent to have emerged after Schumi?

His choices are 1. McLaren (where he runs into McLaren blue eyed boy Hamilton) and 2. Brawn (where Button will likely team up next year with a German driver, as stipulated by Mercedes Benz, supposedly). Other teams will not likely be competitive.

Whichever team he represents, I'll be there to cheer him on - the fastest human on earth. As for Ferrari, they've lost a supporter and worse, a potential customer (the average Ferrari buyer is any case a chav, 49.8 years old!!!).

Regards.

[anachronix]

Originally Posted by im_srini

Woah ! Where was Kimi last year ? And for the record, for all his time at McLaren, it was Ferrari who gave him his first championship wasn't it ?

In my opinion, the finn is over-rated. Alonso's a better talent - after all he was the one who put both Schumi & Kimi in their places - twice in a row !

So you mean to say even Ferrari & Mclaren did wrongly overrate Kimi to make him one of the highest paid in F1?

Its all the stats, half of Kimi's stats were down to the car and the Mclaren team have even admitted that they couldnt make a reliable car which could have made Kimi score his WDC in 2003 & 2005!

Being a Tifosi I was so much excited about the Iceman's tenure with Ferrari and was even more excited when he did say that Ferrari would be his last team in F1. He is not someone who comes out to the crowd and speaks like a politician to his fans and convince them because he actually sucked at a race. Its his attitude of shut up and drive that has made the whole world speak a lot of things about Kimi and I am sure even now he doesnt give a damn about it!

Kimi started the 2008 season really well and the car development was not in Kimi's direction for some reason and this year the F60 is worse than a dog and Kimi has did his best to make Ferrari stay on 3rd in the WCC at the moment. I am yet to see an acknowledgement from Luca on Kimi's performance and it sounds they are suddenly not too interested in Kimi. Plus, the reason for giving Massa a confirmed drive for 2010, he shed blood this year! Too much of crap for me to take from Ferrari.

Ferrari wants Alonso on board ASAP and the team is hungry to get back on the top! But not this way mate! I would still say Ferrari has done enough embarassment to Kimi in 2009 and its better if the Iceman leaves to Mclaren or something in rally!

[Liverpool_Red]

Originally Posted by McLaren Rulez

Sometimes mere numbers don't tell the real story. Kimi and McLaren were a far more lethal force than they get credit for. McLaren seem to have bullet proof engines over the last few years and that should fix what went wrong in 2005.

And Alonso hasn't put Schumacher anywhere. I'd rate Schumi above Alonso any day. Alonso has never had a proper competitive teammate except in 2007 and we know how he felt about that. Wait for the tantrums to begin and the toys to fly out of the pram when Massa outpaces Alonso.

I really dont understand all this negativity about Alonso. Agree that he cannot be compared to Schumacher. But alonso did win two consecutive championships while schumacher was racing. So you have to give him credit there. And it was Mclaren's fault that they couldn't handle both Alonso & Hamilton. Alonso is a firey character and always has been, so was schumacher(remember crash against villenueve in 97 European Gp) and most champions are.

[KRRaj]

Originally Posted by Liverpool_Red

I really dont understand all this negativity about Alonso. Agree that he cannot be compared to Schumacher. But alonso did win two consecutive championships while schumacher was racing. So you have to give him credit there. And it was Mclaren's fault that they couldn't handle both Alonso & Hamilton. Alonso is a firey character and always has been, so was schumacher(remember crash against villenueve in 97 European Gp) and most champions are.

Most of the Negativity for Alonso is due to his whines against his team specially China 2006. Also who can forget his tenure at McLaren. Seems he has matured a lot now, but I as a Tifosi am used to Schumacher not even blaming the team in Suzuka 2005 and Kimi/Massa being great team players. I am worried how Alonso would react if he comes to Ferrari and Massa starts beating him.