the new ferrari lineup.....

does not have my driver in it but it's ok. It'll be Alonso and Massa heading the scarlet team in 2010. I'm a Kimi tifosi above all else and don't care so much about the team. Does it make me a fairweather F1 fan? I think not. If Kimi was to leave F1, there are still other reasons to watch the sport. I do love McLaren as a team because my earliest memory of F1 was watching Mika Hakkinen in the black McLaren going round Indianapolis. It never occurred to me to support the Ferrari. I have always, from the get-go, been a McLaren driver fan. I guess it's something about the team themselves that pulled me to them. I hate overemotional displays of sentiments and I guess the more sleek, clean, less boisterous image of McLaren Mercedes appealed to me.

Ok, I'm going off on a tangent. The real point of this post was just to say that the Ferrari announcement has saved me about 100 pounds. I was planning on dropping by the Ferrari store in London to buy some Kimi merchandise but since he's no longer with the team, I think I'll refrain from lining their coffers. Might take a look around since he did sign the countertop of the store :) Maybe it was foresight that I never bought any Ferrari paraphernalia while he drove for them. I have a Kimi McLaren shirt that I wore when I watched him race in 2006 and if all goes according to rumours, I might have reason to wear it again. I'm just waiting for the next move. If Kimi moves to a different team, I'm booking my ticket for next year's race.

Oh, I'm stll supporting Ferrari till the end of the year. Kimi's still with the team so there's no question about that but come November, goodbye Ferrari, I was never comfortable with you anyway. Too much emotions running free, too little brainwork going on at the pitwall.

here we go round the merry-go-round, the merry-go-round, the merry-go-round

Damn! Ferrari beat me to it. I was hoping to get my post out before they made the announcement of Fernando joining Ferrari in place of Kimi! You guys were only supposed to announce it Thursday! Now I've had to redo the whole post on the fly.....

Anyways, if my previous posts was any indication, I had already known this was going to happen. Not so much cos I'm psychic but it all got overwhelming and sometimes when the obvious is staring you in your face, you should just take it at face value.

Considering, at this point, Kimi doesn't have a drive for next year, I don't seem upset with his ouster. Yes, yes, it was an ouster. Could Ferrari have treated him with less respect than I've seen them show him this season? The rumours of Alonso's deal started early but after Massa's accident, there was no doubt about whom Alonso was going to be replacing. Ferrari are a team of sentimental fools where wearing your emotions on your sleeves is deemed the best way so was there any way that they would keep on the cold-as-stone dude above the injured bird that is Massa? Course not!

And this clearly explains the developmental freeze of the F60. Many pundits had questioned Ferrari's develoment stop because most of the 2010 technical rules are similar to this years' and it only made sense that if they were focusing on the 2010 car now that they could still test out some aero changes in this season. However, since the only proper driver available to do the testing for next year's car is the driver they were planning to get rid off, how could they allow him to test the parts out knowing that he would be leaving and taking any info with him to another team? Therein lies the conundrum for Ferrari. So they chose to languish in the mid-field, only getting to the front because of superior driver skills.

Actually, I have a feeling that if Felipe hadn't suffered that accident and Renault hadn't gotten into the whole "Crashgate" incident, it would have been Felipe-Kimi or Kimi-Alonso for Ferrari 2010. So, yea, I'm basically stating that Kimi Raikkonen has become the sacrificial lamb in the whole drivers seat debacle of 2010. But let's not pity Kimi too much. After all, he did get a 20/25 million pounds payout to vacate his seat for Alonso and the paddock rumours are strong that a return to Woking and the Silver Arrows are on the cards.

I, and a million other Kimi fans, have always revered the Kimi of McLaren days. I mean, the Iceman was in his element in the silver car. If only it didn't break down on him so often. Since engine reliability is no longer an issue at McLaren, and if the rumoured move comes to fruition, then let's hope the magic resumes again. I'm not worried about Hamilton. He can drive his own race as long as he doesn't play any dirty games, he and I will not have a problem. Let's just let Kimi do his own thing.

If he doesn't end up at McLaren, I would love to see him at Brawn, working with Ross Brawn. I mean, if Ross can make Jenson Button to appear as world champion material then what could he possibly do with Kimi's talent and calibre? Yes, I'm also bluntly stating I don't rate Jenson much, the car he's got under him is the actual star.

I wish Ferrari and Felipe all the best. We had a great year with you but let's face it, after Jean Todt left, you Italianno guys really dropped the ball. Here's hoping Alonso will bring you what you deserve. And everyone else, prepare yourselves, the Iceman cometh. And it ain't goin to be pretty.

the glitz and glamour of the lion city

I have to admit, albeit grudgingly, I'm totally impressed by the way the Singtel Singapore GP is run. Tying up one of the glitziest sports in the world with the glamour of A-list superstars really appears to be a match made in heaven.

I'm just completely gobsmacked that a whole slew of entertainment A-listers were seen in the Far East at the same time. But anyways, the whole point is the racing and what a race was had. Kudos to Lewis and McLaren. Can I just say I'm developing quite a crush on Martin Whitmarsh.....I mean for a much older dude he really cuts a dashing figure. Like I've said before, McLaren do have a special place in my F1 heart. I'd say that if there wasn't a driver I supported, McLaren would definitely be the team I'd get behind.

I'm sorry for Nico Rosberg. That hastiness to exit the pits during his first stop was a costly mistake. What had looked like a sure podium turned into a languish at the bottom of the field after his drive-through penalty for crossing the white line before completely coming to the end of the pit straight.

Seb Vettel was another loser in the podium run. Also a recipient of a drive-through penalty (due to speeding in the pit lane), he did, however, fare much better than Nico and slotted into a points paying position. That kept his drivers championship hopes alive although it's now tethered simply by a single strand of flimsy thread. I would so love to be proven wrong and wouldn't mind seeing Seb haul in the two Brawn boys.

The podium finishers were Lewis, Glock for Toyota and Alonso for the beleaguerd Renault. I applaud Timo for his great drive to second. That crucial overtake of Fernando at the start of the race was simply what set him on the path to Toyota's first podium finish of the season. And Fernando, I have to say, great drive to third. In spite of all the hoopla surrounding "Crashgate", he manages to maintain a level head and get on with the job. Very Kimi-esque of you. And, sadly and ashamedly, I'm also starting to find him quite attractive. It annoys me so that I find he and his stubble to be sexy. Urrgh!

And where was my darling Iceman in his red car? In tenth. I don't have anything bad to say about it. I watched the race. I saw how hard it was to drive that car. He pulled one overtaking move early on in the race which was thrilling but that was it. It was quite difficult to watch him wrestle the car to get some kind of performance out of it. It only came alive on his final stint on the soft tyres but by then there were only 10 or so laps and he was in tenth. Fisi did not fare any better. Thirteenth for him.

It makes me unhappy to see Kimi unhappy with his car. I saw his body language after he failed to get into Q3 and he looked pissed. Judging by his post-race statement, he seems really unhappy with the non-development of the car. I have a few guesses to why Ferrari are not developing the F60 further but that's points for a whole different post which I'm working on.

So, conclusions from Singapore are.....

ONE that it was very glamourous.
TWO the race itself was quite boring in terms of on track action.
THREE bring on Suzuka :)

is it sad.....

that instead of spending my saturday night going out on the town, I'm actually at home on the net keeping up with the Singapore GP qualies action via the Petronas Sports Centre cos there isn't a live telecast of the qualies? Oh well, that shows how much of a devotee to the Kimi Raikkonen cause I am :D

gettin a feel of the track

I'm on my holiday with my family and have been on an internet DL but when it comes to F1, I'll always make time to get a post out.

Went to Singapore today to hang out at Takashimaya and Vivo City. So happens, the city is in preparation for the Singtel Singapore GP happening this coming weekend. When I think of Kimi and myself being in the same region, makes me tingle with excitement (yea, yea, so I'm slightly pathetic).

We even did a track runthrough. Went through the street circuit layout. It gave me a complete thrill to be driving on the same piece of tar that Kimi will be driving on this Friday. I could practically feel Kimi's presence as we made our way by the Esplanade. Ok, so I'm indulging in a lil bit of crazy, so what?

Anyways, totally can't wait to be watching the race this weekend. I hope Kimi continues his podium streak. Muahs Kimster!

P.S:
This post is being typed on my completely fab Nokia N97! LOVE IT!

four in a row, baby!

Yea, that's right! It's FOUR straight podium finishes for my main man, Kimi Raikkonen. Like I said in the post below, I would definitely miss the main part of the race if not all of it and I did miss it for the most part. But I got home in time for the last lap of the race.

So, there I was, barely had my Melissas off (oh, yea, I've gotten them already and have been using for about 2 weeks now :D) and I rushed straight to my living room, switched the tele on and the first thing I saw was Fernando Alonso driving around in sixth place. I was going, "C'mon, c'mon, either show me Kimi or give me the running race classifications!". I'm so anxious and the anxiety is getting the better of me as my voice has raised by several notches. I do realize that I'm yelling at the television.

Then, as if in answer to all the shouting, the ticker appears at the bottom of the screen. I see BAR in first, BUT in second and I'm crossing my fingers and hoping so hard that the next one was going to be RAI in third but it was HAM in third and RAI was classified fourth. I was disappointed but needed to see the times before making any further conclusions on the outcome of Monza.

21 FRICKIN SECONDS BEHIND HAM? Ok, that definitely rules out a dogfight for third. As, I'm lamenting ever so loudly about the non-podium finish to my sister (who suprised me with a visit today and will be leaving tomorrow morning), I suddenly see a McLaren spinning into the barriers and effectively crashing out of the race. I am frantically trying to catch the colour of his helmet and when the spinning finally stops, I see.....the yellow top of HAMILTON'S RACE HELMET!

And that's when I totally lose it! I actually started yelling, "YES! YES! YES, YES, YES, YES, YES!" with both arms in the air, fists pumping before sinking to the ground in complete and utter disbelief and pleasure. "OMG, he's third, he's third, he gets a podium, I can't believe it. God did answer my prayers! I don't care that it's gifted!". My sister is by now looking at me as if I've completely lost it (which I have) and actually says to me, "Geez, Zlena, don't be so overdramatic. Calm yourself, that's totally OTT".

At this point, I'm so happy, I just don't care. Kimi is then shown driving to the chequered flag with a really fast Force India on his rear wing but since the last lap was under the safety car, no overtaking was allowed and Sutil was simply showboating by getting the gap down to less than half a second at the last corner of the race. It's a move I believe he made because he was sore he could not take Kimi's spot in the offical race standings and wanted to effecively convey that he had the faster car and Kimi just managed to keep in front of him because of his KERS button. I mean, if he had managed to jump Kimi, he would have been the one promoted to third by that mistake by Hamilton. But like I've said before, what coulda, shoulda, woulda doesn't count. It's what you just do that brings the results. Or not in Hamilton's case.

And yes, I, like any other rational fan, can completely admit without any shame, that podium rightly should have gone to the faster car which was McLaren Mercedes driven by Lewis Hamilton. But in pushing for second spot (he was trying to close on Button who was about a second up from him and completely uncatchable considering they were on the last lap anyway and he should have just turned down his engine and cruised to third), he rode the kerbs too hard and the rear stepped out on him, causing his spin and subsequent meeting with the tyre walls. That's a racing mistake and Hamilton rightly admits so.

And for Kimi, he drove a great enough race with the equipment given to him. People can lament all they want about why and how Kimi managed to keep Giancarlo Fisichella off of the top step in Belgium or how Adrian Sutil was not in third place in Monza but the fact of the matter is, you make use of all that the car has to offer. If it means there's an extra 80bhp available for you to use to defend/attack in a race, you use it. And anyways, if it wasn't for Kimi's own experience and talent in driving, do people really think he could have kept Fisichella behind him at a gap of around 1 second for 39 LAPS in Spa? Could he really keep Sutil's Force India from getting the better off him just because of a KERS button? That Force India is a really fast car. In comparison, the Ferrari was looking really slow. Let's not even put it in the same league as Brawn and McLaren because it clearly isn't.

So that's the Italian GP of 2009. Even if Kimi is not driving for Ferrai next year, I am past the point of being concerned. I'm over the whole 2010 Ferrari driver speculation. If you refuse to confirm/deny Kimi being in your lineup for next year, so be it. My driver has SHOWN, nay, PROVEN, that he is a force to be reckoned with even

just another depressing event that affects the fabric of the world

My lame attempt at being philosophical aside, I'm a bit sad about the news of the Yale graduate student, Annie Le, whose missing person status has turned into a homicide case. I was casually following the case and I was hoping that she was just missing but, well, police discovered her body in the building she was last seen in.

From what's been reported in the news, I can't seem to fathom why anyone would want to harm her. But god only knows the motivation behind a gruesome act like murder. It's made particularly sad as she was due to celebrate her wedding today.

Sigh. It's confounding how in one week, what should have been some of the happiest days of her life, ended up the way it did. I pray that they catch the person who did this.

do well tomorrow Kimi

So qualis was really exciting. I mean for 5 seconds there, I thought Adrian Sutil's Force India was going to be on pole but then Lewis Hamilton had to spoil it and go quickest. My Ferrari-clad pilot was third so he starts on the second row of the grid.

Considering I was only hoping for a fifth or sixth, this quali result has exceeded my expectations. I'm happy he was able to put the car on a competitive grid position. That should satisfy the rabid Italian tifosi. Despite topping the timesheets in Q1 which was a complete and utterly pleasurable surprise, it was looking a bit shaky there in Q2 where the cars all run lightest.

The weird thing about the Ferrari this season is that when the car is at its lightest, it is too difficult to control which is the opposite of how the second part of qualis should work. The less fuel you have on board, the faster the car should go. Unfortunately for the F60, it's the other way around. Kimi has been finding this an issue in Q2 and always ends up at the higher end of the top 10. Just enough to qualify for Q3.

Q3 started off with Kimi going first. He posted his time than went back to the pits to prepare for the final stretch. He posted less than competitive times his first 2 runs but in his final push, hauled himself up to second place before being dropped a position when Hamilton went faster to go P1.

Looking at the speed of the other cars, I believe Kimi did an astounding job to qualify third. Like I've said in the previous F1-related post, the car is not up to par in terms of speed when compared to the Brawns and McLaren and even Force India so he must have had to extract every drop of performance from that car. The plan is to get a great start and boost himself to second and try to maintain that position. I'm sensing Lewis will be fast and will possibly win tomorrow with Kimi second unless Ferrari and Kimi can come up with a superlative strategy and drive. Perhaps getting the better of McLaren and Lewis in the pits. If he can get up to second by jumping the Force India, I think Lewis and him will be off in front and leave the rest of the pack.

I could be wrong but based on past races, I'd say this is a pretty realistic scenario of how the race can go but F1 racing is usually unpredictable in nature. Anything can happen. You can only put in the maximum effort and hope that things go your way.

Talking about the rest of the grid, Heikki is in fourth and Jenson and Barrichello are fifth and sixth I think. The sister Ferrari being driven by the new addition to the prancing horse team, Giancarlo Fisichella, could only manage 14th spot. Considering that he just jumped into the car on friday and has to learn a completely different machine from the one he was driving 14 days ago, I would say it was a good effort from him. I was rooting for him to get into Q3 but perhaps this first race is still too early for him to completely get to grips with the car. I hope he manages to finish in the points though so we can hold on to the third spot in the constructors championship. It's of course looking fragile now because McLaren who is behind Ferrari in the constructors are in a great position for maximum points haul.

I know I said no more pre-race posts but I won't be able to watch the race tomorrow since I have a business dinner I can't get out of. Here's hoping Kimi and Ferrari continue their current good form and have another podium finish. Forza Ferrari! Forza Kimi! Forza Giancarlo!

UPDATE:
Just saw the fuel weights for tomorrow. Looks like the first three drivers will be two-stopping while everybody behind them will do one run into the pits. Under normal weather conditions, of course. Anyways, seems even more important now for Kimi to get in front of Sutil and try to build a gap from the rest of the pack. Pit stop predictions estimate he will be in around about lap 21 for his first stop because he is the heaviest fueled among the three top runners but I'm thinking he'll be in on lap 19, just a lap after Sutil and Hamilton. I guess this is cos the Ferrari doesn't perform as well at its lightest and I think they've been calling Kimi into the pits with still quite some fuel on board, always earlier than the predicted stops. Another reason could also be that the Ferrari engine is a gas guzzler and doesn't effectively use the fuel as well as the other cars around. So, it's pretty much more imperative than a couple of hours ago that he get a great start and push to get a good gap. Because of the high speed nature of the track, doing 2 pit stop runs will hinder the front runners more so than at any other track. A pit stop usually last about 23-25 seconds since cars have to be on the pit lane speed limiter and when you're in the pits and the other cars are doing the maximum speed around the track, you lose your advantage more than in other circuits. Anyways, we'll just have to see :)

Hehehe, I can REALLY go on endlessly about Kimi, can't I?

i'm a bit pissed

Ok, this must be angry week or something. I'm pissy about Kimi and his F1 media coverage and now I'm a bit miffed about my purchase from FootSmart.

Effin hell, the bloody company charges exorbitant shipping rates. They totally negate the whole point of my buying from them. I am not going to be trusting of Google Shopping again. What a gullible fool I was to believe the multiple stars ranking this site actually meant something.


I was sure the shipping for purchases above USD50 was free since it boldly states so on the page but according to my boss, it's only free if you have a paid subscription to the site (for what I have no idea) and they return it in cashback form or something to that effect. And to top it all off, basically rubbing salt in the wound is the fact that their standard shipping is between 10-14 days and my boss is leaving soon so had to pay an additional USD3.99 for a rush job. What site has standard US ground shipping for that long? And then making your customers pay extra four bucks to get the item within 3-5 days which is only slightly faster than the standard period of shipping at all other online e-tailers I've used. What a con! If I had known I would have said to forget it and gotten the FitFlops from Piperlime or Bliss or somewhere else but since the transaction wasn't done by myself (my boss paid for it first), I'll just have to honour it.

I am not happy :(

UPDATE 12/09/09:
Ok, so I've calmed down somewhat. I'm still displeased with the paid shipping snafu and still do feel a bit conned but in the clear light of day, the shipping charge is normal for such items. I still do strongly feel the extra USD3.99 and the standard shipping period to be a complete insult to online buyers. But I'm less pissy, I went clothes shopping today and got myself 7 things so I'm still on a buyer's high :)

past the point of no return, part deux

I have to admit, this is definitely the height of my Kimi-F1 obsession. I thought there were some years where I should have turned it down a coupla notches but this year sure beats every other year's asses. I tend to fixate completely on something when there are other aspects of my life that I don't care to deal with and it looks like I've taken my Kimi-F1 worship to greater, new and completely alarming heights.

I've been staying up late and waking up early fueling my craziness. I'm lurking on the forums till the wee hours of the morning and 2 days ago, I was actually up at 4 a.m watching Kimi clips on Youtube. I've worn out Google News. They're just not updating Kimi related stuff fast enough for my liking. I've even taken to posting comments on articles and I would previously NEVER offer my opinion on any Kimi-related topic in such a public manner, be it a criticism piece or one that praises. I'm more from the Kimi stock of letting the water roll off of the ducks back but this has proven to be a week where I'm a Kimi extremist so normal behavior has been chucked out the window. I have to say that the two times I've posted were completely non-volatile. In fact they were rather polite comments.

On one, I was correcting the guy's article. I mean these people should read their work carefully AT ALL TIMES. He was writing about Kimi's great comeback from behind to win the WDC in 2007 and likening the teammate wars of Hamilton-Alonso to the battle of Rubens-Jenson and Mark Webber as the Kimi Raikkonen. Now I found it personally offensive he would liken Mark Webber to Kimi as that's just an insult to the Finn's talents. Mark's adequate but not on the same talent level as Kimi, c'mon. Anyways, the guy wrote about how everyone was focusing on the Renault Hamilton-Alonso battle that nobody realized Kimi was creeping through to take it away from those two. True enough but dude, Hamilton never drove for Renault. If it were in the one sentence I would have let it pass but he kept repeating Renault teammates throughout his article and I couldn't not correct him. If it wasn't me, it would have been someone else with perhaps a more scathing way with words. I mean, you wanna write about F1, have your opinion out there for the world to see, get your facts straight. That was a completely embarassing gaffe in my book. He made the corrections after seeing my comment but took my comment off though. I'll let that go, I mean at least he and I know he looked a fool, I don't need him to validate it by letting my comment stay there for others to see.

The other post I commented on but as yet has not appeared because they moderate comments was about the Ferrari resurgence and how well they are looking for the forthcoming Monza race. The guy was talking up Massa's points contribution as if Massa was doing all the work in the first half of the season so I decided to make it known that he shouldn't dismiss Kimi putting Ferrari on the scoreboard in Bahrain and driving to Ferrari's first podium of '09 in Monaco as non-events because Kimi did put the team on the map first. I told him to give credit where it's due. I'm guessing he's an Alonso fanboy cos he kept confidently stating the Ferrari-Alonso move and relishing the thought of a Massa-Alonso pairing. I didn't say anything on that as he's free to see things as he wants to but I just wanted him to be fair about Kimi's contributions to the Ferrari '09 season.

Kimi has done more than people have given him credit for and I'm tired of hearing the bullshit the media has been dishing out in regards to him. Your spiel is tired and worn and completely baseless. What is the deal with the press's hate for Kimi? You don't get the reactions you want from him is that it? He's not a bubbly, effervescent guy is he? What do you care? His job is to drive the car, he's doing it isn't he? That F60, let's face it, is a complete turtle in terms of race speed when compared to the other frontrunners. Kimi has been on the podium in the last 3 races and amassed the most points in those three races out of any other driver on the grid. He has had to determinedly defend his position against faster cars and brought home the maximum points. He is performing as per his job description. Driving the car and getting the maximum result out of it. Why should you demand him to jump through further media hoops? The stoic Finn, the boring Finn, the uninterested Finn. You don't even personally know him and there you go making assumptions on his character. His silence on and refusal to acknowledge all the crap (read: so-called objective reporting) just irks you doesn't it?

The guy has more than stepped up since the Hungary GP. It's not that he wasn't there at the beginning but we did have the more "outgoing" personality of Felipe Massa supposedly taking the team by the hand and trying to lead them into a first place finish. You wanted aggressive driving, he gave you aggressive driving. You wanted a podium performance, he's given you four. You wanted a win, he won the race at the much vaunted Spa circuit, the drivers' track of all driver's track. Lost it, you say? He may not have responded to you verbally but there's your answers arses! He has been single-handedly keeping Ferrari in third place in the constructors' championship. Don't continue to disparage a person whose shown you how wrong you are multiple times over. He may not care about what is being said about him but his millions of fans do and we rally behind our driver. If you can't find more truthful things to write about when it concerns Kimi Raikkonen, don't write about him or find someone else to put down. There are many others deserving of it.

So that's my rant concerning the unfair media portrayal of Kimi. I might have one more post (or two) in me before the Italian GP race on Sunday. I'm hoping for another podium but if he's in the points, it's a job well done to me. I haven't lowered my standards but like a lot of people have been saying, that F60 is not a keeper. It's embarassing for Ferrari that they are the prancing horse team yet their car doesn't have powerful prancing horses in its engine to vault them to the front of the pack.

past the point of no return, part un

I tried to keep it in check, rein it in but it became too hard to contain and I am now in full blown F1 mode (this should read as: completely obsessesed and it has spiralled totally out of control). Here's a thought, if it's already an obsession, can it spiral out of control? Wouldn't the word obsession imply that it's out of control. But anyways, I've completely gone off my rocker F1-Kimi wise.

For the past week since watching the Belgian GP, I have been google-newsing Kimi Raikkonen every 30 seconds for the latest on my favourite driver. If I'm not doing that, and there's only like so, so many times that you press search and a new item pops up in the 30 second window I give myself, I'm trawling blogs for mentions of him. If it's not that then I'm watching all the clips, Kimi past and present, of him on Youtube. When I'm not near a wifi hotspot, I've been watching his past races that I downloaded. When I'm not doing that I'm constantly thinking about the next race, his last win at the Spa-Francochamps circuit, his undetermined status as Ferrari pilot for 2010, what other teams he should go to should he not be at Ferrari next year and on and on and on.

My every waking thought is Kimi-Ferrari related. I can't seem to think of anything but Kimi-Ferrari-F1. Even when my mind tries to wander down a different path, something reins it back towards Kimi-Ferrari-F1. I'm really exhausted from it all. And I'm so anxious when I'm not near a PC with a connection to the WWW to click on the "Search News" button every 30 seconds. And even when I'm in front of one, right before my cursor hits that button, my heart starts beating a lil bit faster, out of nervousness. I want to know the news but it scares me at the same time. I'm afraid it's news I just don't want to hear. It's a damned if you do and damned if you don't situation. Have I proven the absolute nuttiness yet or is more convincing still needed on that front?

Part of me is like this because of all the rumours swirling in regards to his 2010 contract with Ferrari. Although I'm quite convinced (and extremely hopeful) that he remains with the scarlet team for next year, it's just not guaranteed. I mean, he does have an inked agreement to drive with them for next year but there's a buyout clause. The announcement for Ferrari's 2010 line-up should come this weekend at Monza. This is traditionally where Ferrari makes their plans for next year known. The word in the paddocks are strongly veering towards an ouster of Kimi from Ferrari in favour of Fernando Alonso. Yet, Ferrari has vehemently denied this. So too has Kimi. But like the saying goes, where there is smoke.....

Of course, these kind of talks has been rampant in years past as well. Not so much about the Kimi leaving Ferrari but about the Alonso move to Scuderia. Personally, I don't believe Alonso would be a good fit with Ferrari if they plan on retaining Massa for next year and beyond. I also don't think it's wise of the team to hedge their bets on Massa either. I know this appears cold and callous but the man was involved in a near fatal accident and suffered massive trauma to his skull/brain and upper left eye. Although the reports indicate that he will recover nicely, that does not guarantee he will be recovered for racing. In past experiences (read: reports on driver's who've had head injuries), drivers whom have had accidents such as Massa's rarely recover their past driving form. I'm not saying that Massa will be one of those who cannot make that adjustment but the odds are quite stacked against it going positively. Therefore, it would be a wise move on Ferrari's part to retain some semblance of stability by keeping Kimi at Ferrari for 2010 with Giancarlo Fisichella as the other driver. The team is still transitioning from the Brawn-Todt-Byrne-Schumi powerhouse and would do well to keep upheavals to a minimal. One season of no drama on the management side would do the team a whole world of good. As of this year alone, the number of tactical mistakes that have come out from the Ferrari pits have been astounding. It's definitely not the well-oiled machine that the other teams used to want to emulate. Also, the sabbattical I am suggesting for Massa should be spent maybe doing a less strenuous series in order to gradually get back to race fitness, physically as well as mentally. After Kimi serves out his 2010 contract and then the following year, by all means sign Alonso if they so choose. By then, Massa should be sufficiently prepared as well.

Then Ferrari can descend into a chaos of their own choosing with Alonso trying to manipulate things to go his way and Massa getting all stroppy by the slight he feels when paired with a more mercurial teammate. I mean, I don't care, like I've stated many times before, I am a fan of the driver and I go where he goes but I just thought I'd throw in my 2 cents into the hat. I'll discuss my points on Alonso first. I think Alonso is a good driver, fantastic on certain days. He is pretty much a consistent driver and is a double world champion because of it. He shows his passion for driving which is something the rabid tifosi would appreciate. However, whereever he goes, controversy follows (read: Ferrarigate, Nelsinhogate). The guy is just a magnet for trouble. The team he's with constantly end up with a PR nightmare. Another thing about Alonso is that he may drive for a team but the person he serves is himself. He seems to have no qualms about throwing his team under a bus when things don't go his way just as he did to McLaren. Now, I know that that was way back in '07 but what's to stop him from repeating himself? The only way I see Ferrari and Alonso working out is if Flavio Briatore can come along for the ride and I doubt that's in any way a possibility. I will give him this though. Since returning to Renault from his tumultuos time at McLaren, he seems to have mellowed out significantly to the point that in some races, he's also got me rooting for him in a race. This is a major testament of his personality improvements as prior, I hated the guy with as much passion as I love Kimi. But I'm sure that he will still demand number 1 status in the team and as a double world champion, I would say rightly so. However, that might have worked at the Ferrari of yore but the Ferrari of the moment is all about equality (supposedly anyway).

Which brings us to Felipe Massa. This guy has always had esteem issues. He's been known as the lesser of the two Ferrari pilots, the supporting driver shall we say, so he always feels as if he has something to prove and although I should state that I believe he should prove himself, he should also just talk a lil bit less and drive a lil bit more. Ever since coming to the fore in the latter half of the '08 season, he has fancied himself as the new renaissance man at Ferrari, Schumi's second coming so to speak. This year, he went as far as to say to the international media that he was the guy keeping the team motivated and inspired during the tough times of the opening season and the whole FOTA-FIA feud. All well and good but let's walk the walk when we talk the talk. Kimi who talks as little as possible was the one who salvaged Ferrari's opening season record with his points score in Bahrain. Kimi was the guy who put the underwhelming Ferrari on the podium first. Who's the renaissance man? The man who says he is or the man who simply does? It's quite annoying most times when Massa goes off on a rant about missed oppurtunities and how he should have won this and this race or another. You end up first, you win the race. Anywhere else and if you failed to finish means you did not win the race. Coulda, shoulda, woulda have no place in Formula 1. Stop the whingieng and stop fancying yourself too much.

To his credit though, he did outperform his more illustrious teammate in 2008. One reason that has been bandied about is the '08 car was developed to be more suited to the driving style of Felipe Massa. Then there were of course the supposed "Kimi has no motivation" issues. But everyone's allowed an off day. Ok, it was more of an off six months of racing but an off half-year by Kimi's standards is what some drivers can only dream of. After all, Kimi did finish as the third over all driver. It's not like he was dead last or anything. Number 3 out of 20 is more than good. Of course, to his detractors, getting paid about USD50 million a year should warrant more than a third place. Fine, yes, the salary he commands is a substantial amount but it's to perform as part of the Scuderia Ferrari F1 team. By playing supporting driver to Felipe Massa when he was mathematically out of contention for the drivers championship last year, he fulfilled his contract to the company. He allowed Ferrari to retain the constructors mantle for the second year running in a more, let's say, fair fashion. It was done on the track and not "gifted", so to speak, by the Motor Sports World Council. He did his job as a driver didn't he? The constructors is far more important in terms of revenue for the teams. The drivers championship is simply glory for your pilot.

Ok, there's actually more where this came from but I've decided to break it down into a coupla posts :D. TBC.....

standing atop of eau rouge is.....

He came, he showed everyone how it's done, he conquered. For the FOURTH time in five years running I should add.

In light of the recent happenings in my life, I'm just taking some time to regroup. Just thought the one thing that has made me smile this week should get some mention before it gets overshadowed by some other news (i.e: Luca Badoer getting shunted out of the sister Ferrari for Giancarlo Fisichella at the next race). I'll probably try to do a proper race shakedown of the Belgian GP 2009 when I'm more up to it.

Great job, Kimi, you were superior and it showed. Btw, the image is courtesy of the the accompanying article on the examiner.com