You don't seem to understand that you are living in a different world than Kimi..

I will. His talent is second to none. His dedication, motivation and other skills are not, though.
He only started driving this year's Ferrari properly when it dawned to him that he could lose his drive. He is not a professional.

GC

I see money as a minor problem for hiring Kimi.

There are 2 main problems imho.

1.His hate for PR. But sponsors want PR and they are unhappy if the driver makes it felt that he acutally hates doing it
2. Motivation. What if the Mercedes is not good enough for victories, but good enough for places 5-8. I am certain that Heidfeld and Rosberg would give 100% to be 5th instrad of 6th. Would Kimi?

shhh, stop disillusioning people who think cows can fly...

My hunch is that Mercedes have to choose Kimi to repair the PR damage of losing Button and have a top draw driver in their car.

My hunch is that Roberston/Kimi will continue to negotiate the 'on our terms' way - I think this is evident already.

I just don't have a hunch as to if Roberston/Kimi will compromise or if Mercedes will dip into their pockets. Very difficult to work out.

But I do have a hunch that they will agree......... purely on the unscientific grounds that it ultimately makes PERFECT SENCE to both parties. And both parties have this week shown interest. Haug 'Kimi has my number' and Kimi 'I'm interested'.

Edit. 'Loosing' is back to 'losing' before Ensign goes mental...

You don't understand. F1 is going to be cheaper in common. That's why FOTA provide plan of significant cost cutting measures - this year teams already spent 30% less. So as pilots salaries going to be less - and Kimi won't cost them 25M euro.

kimi has now spent 9 years in f1.out of the 8 spent in top teams,hes had competitive cars in only 3 seasons.05,07,08(whilst he did finish marginally behind MS in 03,that was down his consistent finishes.the ferrari that year was miles ahead in pace)..

he got screwed over 05 by engine failures.that leaves behind 07,08.

i think he has all the right to a competitive car(the reason he wanted the mac deal) although i agree such is a thing is impossible to predict this point in pre season

PR for whom? For Haug? Mercedes doesn't have any sponsors yet and I doubt it would be many.

If Kimi only is in it for money, well, then he should have taked that Toyota offer.

In one way it´s sad that he didn´t, if so I belive they would been on the grid next year.

He is no PR machine, that I grant to you. However, it is sad day to F1
when only those who are PR machines are considered professionals and
true characters are pushed aside, no matter how large their fan base
(and thus marketability). Furthermore, you claim his motivation is not
good enough, bollocks to that I say, you are merely trying to stir the pot.

Kimi started to drive Ferrari this year properly after Ferrari people took
their collected heads out of injured Felipe's a** and started to back Kimi
instead, (since they they had to, and I am not going to go into 2008, which,
although partly Kimi's fault, was mostly Ferrari wanting their 'pet' driver
to win WDC). And, voila, what's the result when Ferrari started to truly
back Kimi? Second in results on latter half of season, with car that didn't
evolve anymore! And don't get me started with mumbo jumbo about both
drivers getting equal treatment. That didn't happen! And just in case you
do, I agree they got equal equipment, but to whom those were more suited?

Live with that, learn to make sense and stop posting your dislikes as truths!

Ciao Mia, do we know from another place?

He he, it did.

As one Kimi fan to another, yes, perhaps we know each other from somewhere else. Another F1 board?

Thanks to Mary

Point no. 2= We alL saw what he is capable of in the F60. He could be the difference between a point scoring position and a podium, a podium and a win.

exactly, I was kind of rabbity there

I can't believe this, it's can't be true! Just WOW.

Good news.

Schumi, or Kimi, I will be a Brawn/Merc supporter no matter what goes.

Amen. At Ferrari he only won WDC, then next year get terrible third in championship, and then to top it off in 09 he goes and haul off most points of anyone across 5 races in a row in one of worst cars on grid (while his teammates getting last place in every race). After such a heinous and despicable kind of performance I think he should feel lucky if EU don't prosecute him under anti-terrorism laws and send him to Guantanamo Bay.

I don't agree. If it was so simple that Ferrari simply started backing Räikkönen and that his results improved virtually immediately, already in the next race, that would mean that there was not many changes necessary.
There was no opportunity for the equipment to be changed to Räikkönen's preference so quicky and easily. Much more feasible explanation is that he simply tried harder in a car that was way better than his fans would like us to believe.

And yes, both drivers were treated equally and fairly, IMHO.

GC

Ah yes, Kimi realised he needed to try harder when Felipe got injured. What a team player he is!

It was very widely reported that Massa used to get preference on new components this year. Sometimes Kimi had to wait for the new parts until Friday Practice 3 (eg. Australia). Yes, Ferrari gave him the lighter chassis first, but even then he was more disadvantaged from KERS.

PS - As for Kimi's performance boost. He only got the final aero upgrade in Hungary, a race later than Felipe baby.

He realized he has to try harder when he realized his Ferrari drive for 2010 was not so sure any more.

GC

Lmao

I am sure that Mercedes also has an interest in their drivers giving a positive image to their brand. So that might mean taking some sheikhs around the circuit in an AMG or visiting the normal workers in Sindelfingen. "Stars and Cars" and all that. I can hardly imagine that they would agree that kimi does not need to attend all this. Although he is obviously popular with F1 fans in Germany and splendid driver, if he is giving his best. But with what he said about the car he wants, I am not convinced he would give his best, if the Mercedes turns out to be average. If I look at the 2009 season with Ferrari, he had a few highlights, especially when the F60 was competetive, but there were other races as well.
A Heidfeld might have lower potential, but he will give 100% no matter what. Hard choice for Mercedes.

The winning explanation is that they stopped orienting the cars toward Massa's nearly polar opposite driving style and instead focused on getting them in the form that Kimi likes them. Not only is this explanation the most logical given that Raikkonen notorious for oversteer style (like Hamilton but even moreso) and Massa known huge understeer lover (Button-style), but it's also the simplest and most probable. Moreover, it's supported by the events of 08 where Raikkonen's results took huge dive mid-season when they changed front suspension -- the exact same time that Massa's results caught up with Raikkonen's.

LOL, Kimi for sure was one of first persons to know what would happen, and still he made great 2nd half of season in not so perfect car.

If this is true and it was possible to change Räikkönen's car towards his style so quickly and easily, then his car would have all the time during 2008-2009 been set up like that.
IMHO, that is just an excuse.

GC

Yes, of course. He knew his stocks have dropped and he had to give his best in oprder to find a competitive drive for 2010.

GC

You always need to give your best to keep your stocks high. And Kimi always did that. He has no slow days.

He had way too much slow day for a supposedly top driver in 2007-2009.

GC

Well man couldn't gave 150% of performance each race. Also you need some luck. But the fact Kimi was awesome since Hungary where he got final package (Massa in the previous race in Germany and see difference between them in quali - ~0.1s ). Kimi knows his price he will give his best. He just don't need to tell everyone how great he is (15 second champion ).

You underestimate both Massa's driving skill and Domenicali's ineptitude. Massa only just missed the WDC 08. If they'd set the car up for him from the beginning then Massa would have won it. Instead, he got drastically out-performed by Raikkonen at start of season and didn't even finish the first two races. Same had they set it up for Raikkonen. Take out the results where Raikkonen handed over Brazil win to Massa and just one of the absurdly events like Hamilton DNFing Raikkonen out of 1st (rearending him in pitlane) to cause Massa win European Grand Prix if not simply factor out the 2 disastrous races Raikkonen was made to run the experimental suspension design, then you get Raikkonen double WDC.

Blah blah blah whatever.

Point is, Ferrari dither between Massa orientation and Raikkonen orientation was obvious. And fatal to Ferrari WDC. I believe we can thank Domenicali for that, along with all the idiotic things Ferrari did 09.

I do agree.

You can't put out the developmental things. The car would be even slower.

If the car miraculously became suited to Räikkönen immediately after Massa's injury, then thew whole "suitedness" depended on some very small change, that would have been easily to implement way earlier.
I don't believe it. It was merely a relatively good car and Räikkönen started to drive with far more motivation.

GC

I don't understand why you people talk about suitabiliness of a car. That is merely a small
part of it. Bigger part is having a preferencial strategy. Having new parts before teammate,
is also a factor, or, development parts not proven yet given to you to check if they work,
is another. And the athmosphere within the team, yes, even that matters a tiny bit.

All those changed when Felipe got injured!

Yesterday on Abu Dhabi Sport Channel 2 was guy from an oil company who partners Mercedes. He was talking about Mercedes buying Brawn GP. He said they identified Kimi as their main target and they will give financial support to the team if they needs. Negotiating are ongoing and it should be concluded with a deal.

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see more posted before

Good to hear things are rolling. I hope this comes true, good for the sport as well. There will be little chance for anyone to run away.

This sounds quite good bearing in mind that Jenson is getting less money from Mclaren than he would have gotten at Mercedes.

I fully expect Kimi to be a Mercedes driver in 2010 and then we we will all hail Mr. Lito Cavalcanti.

Surely Kimi finds driving an F1 car as fast as possible - FUN!

So how would a lack of motivation, if true, manifest itself in the car? Would it be trying less hard to experience the trill of driving an F1 car as close to the edge as possible?

Surely any intention, through lack of motivation, to drive an F1 car as fast as possible would result in such a la-de-dar approach that he'd be miles off the pace?

No, I think any lack of motivation manifests intelf in things like poor conduct or lack of interest in team meetings, PR sessions, punctual attendance, that sort of thing. So, some connections to the engineering side of the car and thus maybe some loss of performance through set up or understanding of strategy.

But actually slower in ability to drive the car? I don't buy that...

Nick Fry wants Kimi
http://www.autosportzone.nl/index.php?opti...7&Itemid=30
Nick Fry is saying he wants Kimi and if it was up to him, Kimi could start tomorrow.

Some guy from some channel. I really would like to take this as news. But... Show me the interview, please.

Can someone who is dutch please translate the last paragraph in that article? Google translate is making a mess of it. I would like the wording of it.

Surerly if this was going to happen it would of been done by now

Who so? negotiations take some time

''We wantsh Kimi to raysh for ush''