planetf1.com

I have to admit, even though I was a Ferrari fan for many years, I never really warmed to Kimi. I was a Schumacher fan and Kimi's relaxed personality was the complete opposite to Schumacher's hard-edged determination.

However, Kimi's performance this year has totally won me over. He was like a breath of fresh air - especially when telling his team over the radio where to go and his off-course excursion in Brazil. Not only that, but didn't really make any mistakes and I never heard him complain. In fact, he made a few good points when I did hear him speak at all. And he destroyed his teammate - the sign of a good driver!

So, now that Schumacher is gone and I find the field full of weiners, I'm up for Kimi next year to win the whole darn thing!

Best regards,
A late Kimi convert.

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http://www.geoffnolan.com

His teammate destroyed himself really lol

But yeah, Kimi has really been one of the better drivers this year in terms of consistency. Love the guy and so far it has been great to see him back

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Drivers I like:
Raikkonen
Grosjean
Perez
Vettel

Teams I like:
Lotus
Merc
RBR
Marussia

His wheel to wheel racing is just amazing! I for one have become quite a big fan of his.

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A man exists for only a lifetime, a name lasts until the end of time.

I will say Kimi did not destroy his teammate. Especially when both were on the track. If anyone destroyed RoGro then it was himself and no one else.

Though Kimi gave us some wheel to wheel action that I haven't seen on a constant basis in a long time. Years in fact. Not just when he was making passes but when he was getting passed. He showed compete maturity on every lap of every race. I'm just hoping the new guns sit back and watch how should be done.

Kimi gets my top three drivers of the year.

So if your teammate does so badly that he gets himself a race ban and collects less than half of the points you did, you don't get to call it beating anymore?

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"OHO!-magazine number 46/2006: - I read somewhere that I drive with the luck of a drunk."

This.

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HAMILTON/ALONSO/RAIKONNEN/VETTEL

Alonso, Vettel and Kimi were top 3 for me this year... made very few errors and got best possible results. Lewis a close fourth.

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My Top 5 drivers of all times:
1) Prost/ Schumacher
3) Fangio
4) Lauda
5) Brabham

if you don't like it, too bad! There's a reason why it says "My Top 5"

Well, Kimi was returning after a few years. So was Grosjean. Both had the potential to screw up, but Kimi didn't. So, yes, whether it's by default or not, I believe Kimi destroyed Grosjean. And he was quicker in almost every race!

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http://www.geoffnolan.com

Yes Kimi beat his teammate. No one was talking about just beating teammates. But the word- destroy used against RoGro as a term of what Kimi did to him simply does not fit. Both drivers had sparks of pure speed on their best days but to say RoGro is in the position he's in because of Kimi is complete rubbish....it's because of himself and no one else.

But when a driver pretty much completes every lap of every race in a season, and his team mate doesn't finish 5 or more races because of his silly mistakes, then I would say he was close to being destroyed yes. Don't get me wrong I like Grosjean, but being beaten by your team mate doesn't just come down to being faster.

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A man exists for only a lifetime, a name lasts until the end of time.

Not really.. Grosjean out-qualified Kimi on many occasions and they were close overall.

The term "destroyed" always implies that one driver completely dominated the other all the time, meaning in qualifying, the race, the standings, everything. That obviously did not happen with Kimi and Grosjean.

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Bar Valencia, Canada and UK Kimi had better pace in the race, no?

He destroyed him in the standings, which is all that counts.

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A man exists for only a lifetime, a name lasts until the end of time.

to OP,

I have to say that I never liked Schummy at all, especially how he carried himself in his first F1 career... but his second career, I have become a fan and I am quite sad to see him leave. I dun believe he has lost any of the speed nor skill, and just look at how he sparred with Kimi in Brazil - that was the best overtaking I have seen in recent years.

About Grojean being destroyed... I am gonna have to say that at first, kimi was not up there with Grosjean becos he had rust to get over with compared to Grosjean who was testing pirelli tyres and had just won GP2. So Grosjean did have the initial advantage... somewhere around 4-5 GPs in, Kimi had some issues during quali, where steering wasn't right, differential failure, kers failure, etc. So they did account for his poorer qualifying compared to Grosjean. Then later on, when he was up to speed, he had to spend many a friday doing development testing of new major parts, they without a doubt, hampered his quali prep which he overcomes on racedays. I would go as far to say that if they had gotten grosjean to do those major upgrade tests, and had faced similar issues as Kimi, he would have qualified much worse than Kimi bcos Grosjean is not the cool and calm type. He mostly tested new parts that could be taken off and replaced easily, such as wings. I dun recall him testing stuff that required significant loss of practice time. So if we take all these into consideration, I would say Kimi would have destroyed Grosjean if he didn't have to take the major risks that the team made him shoulder. But I also agree that the team should be asking kimi to do such work, cos he is cool headed and experienced. So I thought it was wrong of them to not ask Kimi to do the summer test days and only got Grosjean and Jerome to do both sessions. Kimi wouldn't have minded since he doesn't care for such duties but you can't help but think they didn't use that time effectively.

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FORZA FERNANDO * FORZA FERRARI * FORZA FELIPE

Kimi impressed me greatly this year.

I felt Kimi was a much more exciting driver to watch in his McLaren years than Ferrari. And while he drove well in 2007 (to a WDC) he drove better in say, 2005. But he came back and was not only fast, but consistent. While I'm a Hamilton fan, and he gets credit for overtaking etc (or did back int he day), Kimi is always a pleasure to watch and rarely makes a mistake.

While I dislike how many "fanboys" Kimi seems to have, I can't help feel some of it is deserved. I'm glad he came back to F1.

Because Kimi had more experience?

Kimi didn't destroy Grosjean, grosjean did it to himself.

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Kimi was great this year, very consistent. Same can be said for alonso

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Well if Kimi didn't destroy Grosjean, neither did Alonso Massa. Massa destroyed himself

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Räikkönen - Vettel - Rosberg - Bottas

A little bit of team mate war statistics.
In races where both Raikkonen and Grosjean were classified.
KR/RG
78/117 (sum of finishing positions)
5.6/8.4 (mean average finishing position)

first 7 races
37/42
5.3/6

last 7 races
41/75
5.9/10.7

All qualifying compared.
142/147 (sum of qualifying)
7.5/7.7 (mean average of qualifying)

first 9 races
77/53
8.6/5.9

last 9 races
65/94
7.2/10.4

Kimi has been magnificent this year, a mega talent and i am glad he is back.

as for RoGro being destroyed. Kimi was better this year but i don't think Kimi "destroyed him" Kubica destroyed Petrov, Kimi just convincingly beat Grosjean.

Grosjean can change that with a bit more caution at the start in 2013. I see no way Petrov could have beaten Kubica the following season.

I know than nobody is going to agree with me but I have never thought Kimi was a great racer just cautious.

Cautious? You're aware of the fact back in his Mclaren period some people were even attributing the unreliability of his Mclaren to his agressive driving style?

This past year he maybe was more cautious than before, but I wouldn't say he has always been known for it.

Makes me laugh!

For so many to be loving Kimi so much is quite amusing. He did some good performances no question but to have this kind of admiration when on many occasions he was average. It's like we forget that he had a competitive car all season had 100% reliability and was never caught up in a race ending collision. He was dire in Brazil and if anyone else had got lost we wouldn't be laughing about it we would be tearing strips off them. On pace he did not blow his team mate away in qualifying he was out qualified 10 - 9 I think and as we all know if his team mate finished he wasn't to far away from him.

What I'm trying to say is if a certain others drivers performed as kimi did this year I doubt there would be so much praise thrown at them.

Alonso is the best driver in the world . No one came close to him this season . He performed miracles in a car which was 5th or 6th quickest.
You happy now?

Cautious in terms of wheel to wheel racing not in terms of driving style. I actually think he has always been cautious in wheel to wheel racing. This season was no more cautious than normal for Kimi. Obviously there are some stand out moments Japan 05 springs to mind but that aside can you really remember Kimi making a lot of key overtakes?

I don't think he is as cautious as you make him, Japan 2005 and him and Lewis at Japan this year were both chances for him to crash and he didn't

I sure remember him for awesome driving

To be fair to him, he drove in the period where we had 5 times less overtakes per GP than we have now. I remember that period as boring racing, there simply weren't a whole lot of overtakes to begin with.

I am not saying it as a major bad thing but I believe he is more cautious than his peers - Hamilton, Button, Schumacher, Alonso etc. Sometimes in works in his favor sometimes it does not. What it means for me is that I can't put him down as a great racer as in my view he often makes the decision not to race.

Don't follow what's this got to do with Alonso

That doesn't take anything away from Kimi. In fact, if anything, it reinforces his status. He was out of F1 for a few years, came back, and outperformed his team mate who is now already known for having some blistering speed. And on top of that, he actually finishes races.

Maybe in the beginning of the season he could have gotten a little bit more out of it, but his team let him down on strategy on a few occasions. And can we really blame someone for needing a few races to snap back into it after having been out of it for a few years?

For me this season he was characterized by choosing his battles wisely and not getting into problems. Could you tell me where he should have been more agressive without it becoming obviously dangerous?

I'm not bashing Kimi but he wasn't as great as you all make out he was that's it. You only concentrate on the positives about his season when asked about his less than great performances there's a shopping list of excuses. It's like there's a kimi love bug going round, looks like I haven't caught it.

I believe most of his peers would have made it past Vettel in Bahrain for example. But I am not really talking about last season in isolation it is something I have noticed throughout his career. As I said often it is a strategy that serves him well but I believe it is not a strategy that makes him a great racer.

I could name numerous but i think you are mistaking bravery with being late on the brakes.Kimi is a relatively early braker compared to a hamilton or a vettel so must if his overtakes are usually by out accelerating the other car out of a corner.
Just because a hamilton and vettel can brake later than everybody doesn't equate it to bravery.

No I am saying Kimi often makes the decision not to race. That has nothing to do with bravery or braking late.

]

No I am saying Kimi often makes the decision not to race. That has nothing to do with bravery or braking late.[/quote]
Could you elaborate that with specific examples?

[quote="sandyf1"][/quote]

Well Bahrain this year instantly springs to mind but I am sure I could find a few from earlier in his career if I went back through. I have been thinking this for about 10 yeas and I would not of gained this opinion from nothing.

I'm no 'fanboy' of kimi but don't find it hard to see why he is recieving so much praise. As comeback seasons go it was exceptional. The facts might appear quite boring and steady. No collisions, getting beaten in qualy, bringing it home every lap of the season but one.. sounds like boring old nick heidfeld to me! But kimi is a racers racer. It's precisely why he came back in the first place, to race.. We're talking about the man that turned up in Monaco in a james hunt helmet. Not a glitzy gold gemstone on his bonce. Just a solid replica of his favourite racer. His praise comes from his off track persona as much as it does from his skill as a driver. A driver that shows an ounce of personality outside of his corporate responsibilties these days is a rare thing. It wasn't always this way but unfortunately it's the world we live in. As such kimi appears as a breath of fresh air. An old school racing maverick who doesn't give a damn. Much like his hero mr hunt.

RoGro has some incredible speed that just need refining but regardless of that I still think he may have more of a struggle keeping up with kimi this coming year. If the stats are anything to go by, the last half of the year was kimi's on pace so he'll be quick out the box this time around. No hesitant dives around vettel this time I hope.

Also a note about his 'dire' Brazilian performance. I challenge any of the non WDC drivers to, A, take themselves off track to avoid vettel's cautious entry to turn four. and B, go wheel to wheel with schumi or anyone for that matter, getting closer than we normally see, without trading carbon fibre..

An exiting, fast, characterful world champion has returned. Lets give him a bit of praise...

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That's just your opinion. I genuinely think he did great for someone that was absent for a few years and that has been paired up with a very fast driver.



I don't agree. He was given botched strategies on a few occasions, and his Lotus wasn't always very competitive. Those aren't excuses, they're a pretty fair assessment of what happened.