363 replies to this topic

[Owen]

Finally it's official. So what do we reckon, is this going to work?

[jokuvaan]

Work for who, drivers or the team?

[Owen]

lets say team.

[JHSingo]

No idea. Ask again at the end of next year.

 

[Lights]

For Ferrari: good idea.

 

For the sport: fantastic idea.

[TheUltimateWorrier]

None of those. It's going to be an excellent idea  . I'm expecting fireworks and potentially one of them leaving at the end of next year. Don't think it'll be as harmonious as the Button/Hamilton duo.

[MustangSally]

Never going to work. I think Kimi did it for the money. Chances of getting his back pay from Lotus were slim and now even slimmer.

[Seanspeed]

If Kimi keeps up his consistent form in the races at Ferrari, it should be pretty good for them, yea. 

[Fontainebleau]

I loved the "no idea" option!

[KavB]

It will be great for them. I can see them easily winning the WCC if Ferrari produce a decent car. 

[Smile17]

Very weird to see Kimi back at Ferrari. Surely didn't expect that, especially looking at the past. I don't think he will be a threat to Alonso and Ferrari know that too. 

Edited by Smile17, 11 September 2013 - 12:29.

[kimster89]

I think it will work just fine if they all leave for the track to the decide the outcome.

[Suntrek]

Depends on car.

 

Many has caimed this is the biggest issue since Senna-Prost but then they forget that Senna

-Prost were fighting in brilliant cars.

 

We still have to see what Ferrari comes up with 2014. Or is anyone really going OTT "hey my driver got 6:th?

[caccamolle]

sensational, weird, fascinating, dangerous, unpredictable.

[IPBushy]

It'll answer any argument about who is better, and may provide some entertainment on the way, so, yes, a good idea!

[EthanM]

as a racing fan yes it is a good idea

if I were a team manager though I wouldn't do it, I believe in the No 1 and No 2 driver model

[Seanspeed]

Depends on car.

 

Many has caimed this is the biggest issue since Senna-Prost but then they forget that Senna

-Prost were fighting in brilliant cars.

 

We still have to see what Ferrari comes up with 2014. Or is anyone really going OTT "hey my driver got 6:th?

The question being asked is whether the pairing is a good idea for Ferrari, not 'how big will this rivalry be?'. 

[Disgrace]

Unquestionably a good idea. They couldn't keep Massa and be a credible WCC contender simultaneously.

[Boxerevo]

Finally it's official. So what do we reckon, is this going to work?

Yes,gonna work for me.

 

For my amusement  .

[Vesuvius]

For fans around the world it's a good idea. Hopefully good for Ferrari and both drivers!

[Rikhart]

Terrible idea...

[muramasa]

cannot help finding this strange and ironic, sort of, considering how Kimi left Ferrari several years back, but anyway why not?

 

Go Ferrari

[discover23]

Good Idea for the fans and F1

Good idea for the WCC

No so good idea for the WDC if they are competing against a one man team ..

Edited by discover23, 11 September 2013 - 13:24.

[pusko]

Good idea. Alonso needs a push! And I rate Alonso just above Kimi, so all good for me.

[stillOrange]

Good Idea for the fans and F1
Good idea for the WCC
No so good idea for the WDC if they are competing against a one man team ..

Two first ones are unarguable.
The last one .... Hmmm.
It isn't good idea for Ferrari as I agree they are less likely to get WDC especially if the field stays close.
It is not so good idea for Alonso as he might expect Kimi to finish in front of him more often than Felipe did (take points away).
For Kimi I think it is actually good idea as I believe he is more likely to fight for WDC at Ferrari than at Lotus.

So to summarise. I agree with you but not entirely :-)

[sportingcp]

My biggest question/concern is if Ferrari can build a car that suits both Raikkonen and Alonso.

[Iranie]

Extremely smart idea. In my opinion Alonso-Räikkönen pairing won't spark. They are both professionals and old, they can handle it.

[bauss]

alot of the inter team battle will boil down to if Kimi can challenge Alonso in qualy... 

 

since 2008, Kimi's one lap pace for whatever reason hasn't really shined through... 

 

you can see he is a great driver on Sunday, but if you want to really challenge any of the top top drivers then you need to bring your A game on a saturday, cos it will be unlikely that you will pass them on track on race day regardless of how good your race pace seems to be.

 

If Kimi can't take points of FA on merit, then he will inevitably be relegated to an high profile number 2 like 08, and Alonso will have no problems and be like this  every race weekend.

 

But if Kimi is real competitive, thats when the fun starts 

[Spillage]

For the fans - great idea, been hoping for a partnership like this since 2005 

 

For Ferrari... maybe not so good. I don't think see how they can coexist peacefully. Alonso is not the easiest man to work with and he never reacts well to being challenged by a team mate - I even remember him mouthing off when overtaken by Fisichella at China in 2006. I believe Alonso will gain the upper hand on the track and begin demanding preferential treatment, which Ferrari will be reluctant to give and Kimi certainly won't give on track. Kimi, meanwhile, might have his head to go down as happened in 2008 to Massa and start performing far from his best. So, i think, Alonso may emerge the winner of the inter-team battle, but his relationship with Ferrari may be irreparably damaged..

[Dunc]

They are the two best drivers of their particular generation (by which I mean those who started racing in the early 2000s) so it will be great to see them go head to head in identical cars.

 

But I think it will be difficult for Ferrari to manage.  It's said that Alonso has matured since 2007 but he hasn't been in a similar situation since then.  This will be the acid test as to whether he genuinely is a more mature driver and man now.

[swiniodzik]

There's always a risk of things getting messy with two such strong drivers driving under one roof, or several top engineers working alongside each other in the hierarchy for that matter, but Ferrari has consistently been competing against Red Bull with not only a worse car but also with a weaker driver line-up for years now and the results of that are what they are. The hiring of Allison and now Raikkonen will make the team stronger on both car and driver fronts if the new structure works out so it's not that much of a surprise that Ferrari becomes less risk-averse here after not winning any titles recently.

[eronrules]

only Eddie Jordan is qualified to answer that question   .... he has one of Bernie's Crystal Balls 

 

 

all hail Eddie the clairvoyant   

Edited by eronrules, 11 September 2013 - 14:23.

[Reinmuster]

could be centric for 'Rush 2'... or 'Rush 3'? 

[Diablobb81]

could be centric for 'Rush 2'... or 'Rush 3'? 

 

Or Rush Hour 4 (?) for those neutral.

[UPRC]

Kimi obviously won't care, he never seems bothered by who he is partnered with. Ferrari obviously doesn't since they signed him.

 

There's a lot of noise that Alonso wouldn't like this outcome, but I'm not buying into it. He wants to be the best, he'll prove that he is the best. He and Kimi seem to get along well enough on podiums and such, I can't see things being all that bad.

[Nonesuch]

Ferrari had to do something, because what they've been doing so far hasn't really worked.

 

Raikkonen should be much closer to Alonso - or perhaps ahead of him at times - than Massa has been. That's a good first step.

 

These two drivers will no doubt, at times, take points from each other. That can have consequences for the WDC title. Other than that I don't see many real problems. Alonso is probably the unpredictable element here: we've seen how he reacted at times to perceived favouritism towards Fisichella when he was with Renault and how his time at McLaren spiralled out of control in 2007. Can he deal with being beaten over a season by Raikkonen? I like to think so, but I'm not too sure.

 

More important though for the team as a whole is that Ferrari needs to sort out their car to be a match for Red Bull's. They don't even need to make an F2002, though it would be fantastic if they could, but at the very least matching Red Bull would give Alonso and Raikkonen an honest fighting chance. Unfortunately, that process is so much more complicated than hiring a driver that there's probably no easy fix to the recent underwhelming efforts from Maranello.

Edited by Nonesuch, 11 September 2013 - 14:08.

[as65p]

Finally it's official. So what do we reckon, is this going to work?

You should have asked the question everyone will answer anyway, instead of the one you asked.

 

Do you want it to work?

[as65p]

Ferrari had to do something, because what they've been doing so far hasn't really worked.

 

Raikkonen should be much closer to Alonso - or perhaps ahead of him at times - than Massa has been. That's a good first step.

It's exciting, daring, excellent publicity for F1.

 

But re: solving Ferraris problems of recent years it will virtually do nothing, I'm afraid.

[eronrules]

could be centric for 'Rush 2'... or 'Rush 3'? 

not Rush 2, rush 2 is already set about 2007

 

Rush 3 ... maybe, depends on how good Ricciardo turns out to be. 

[aray]

i don't see much future in this pairing...not further than 2014.....Alonso will leave....

[eronrules]

i don't see much future in this pairing...not further than 2014.....Alonso will leave....

my thoughts exactly 

[midgrid]

Alonso is probably the unpredictable element here: we've seen how he reacted at times to perceived favouritism towards Fisichella when he was with Renault and how his time at McLaren spiralled out of control in 2007. Can he deal with being beaten over a season by Raikkonen? I like to think so, but I'm not too sure.

The encouraging thing from this perspective is that Räikkönen is probably the least "political" driver on the grid, so there certainly shouldn't be any personal animosity between them, or needle from his side of the garage on the occasions that I'm sure he will be faster than Alonso.

Also, if he does get the better of Alonso over the course of a season (unlikely but possible, in my opinion), it will mean that Alonso staying with the team is no longer essential as Räikkönen himself will be performing at an exceptional level to beat him, and could therefore take over as number one if this move does result in the worst-case scenario of Alonso falling out with Ferrari and leaving.

Overall, however, I see this as a huge boost for Ferrari in terms of driver competitiveness and also media and fan interest and therefore sponsorship value. A bonus is that Massa has been treated with dignity throughout and no-one can have cause for complaint over his dismissal.

[drag]

Good idea

 

It all even now between Kimi and Ferrari, they ditch him after 2009 but they paid him good money for that,they are giving him second chance now.

Ferrari where quite fair with Massa he was not up to the job but they owe him it was nice that they keep him for that long.

 

For Alonso it can turn out to be good, Kimi will be different challenge than Massa and we may see the best from Alonso yet, lets just see with how good car Ferrari will come next year and that s what will count the most at the end.

[Uwe]

I voted "no idea" because it depends from which standpoint you look at it.

 

For Ferrari it probably is a good idea in terms of constructors points. For Kimi? Less so. I'm afraid he is going to learn what a political animal like Alonso will do in order to be number one.

 

In my view he should have gone to Red Bull. Certainly there is politics involved at RB too but I fear Kimi will hit an all-time-high (or better, all-time-low) at Ferrari.

[Dunc]

I'm not sure I buy this 'Kimi isn't political' and 'Kimi doesn't care'.  If he and Alonso are in a title fight, there's no way he'll be as laid back as the popular perception of him seems to suggest.  Unlike Alonso, he's never had an equal as a teammate (JPM came closest but he couldn't beat Kimi regularly.  Massa , though he had a great 2008, was always seen as being second best), so there is no telling how he will react when faced with this challenge.

[Baddoer]

A pointless experience. All Raikkonen care is money (a common Lotus problem) and Ferrari desperately trying to change something. This will not work.

[ardbeg]

Very weird to see Kimi back at Ferrari. Surely didn't expect that, especially looking at the past. I don't think he will be a threat to Alonso and Ferrari know that too. 

So you think they wanted to replace Massa with a more expensive Massa?

[just me again]

Voted. "Good Idea" because of the possible news headlines, it will make Formula 1 less boring

 

Bjørn

[fabr68]

i don't see much future in this pairing...not further than 2014.....Alonso will leave....

 

Why?

 

When Alonso joined in 2010, Massa was the guy defeated Raikkonen and stayed.   Alonso easily took care of that.

 

Lets face it.  The Ferrari car for 2014 has a much higher chance of being near the top but not at the top.   You could easily have a situation where Alonso gets the most out of it, while Raikkonen spends five races tunning his steering wheel.    These car flaws are exactly what killed Massa's career.

 

After four years of Newey dominance, I doubt Ferrari will hit the ground running with a world beater from the getgo.  if Mercedes is a monster, then you have them and Mclaren also at the top.  

 

Chances are very high both Alonso and Raikkonen will have a fast but not perfect car.  I would say Raikkonen has a much higher risk of having his reputation tarnished than Alonso.   If Alonso can put the car in the podium and Raikkonen struggles like Massa did, Raikkonen driver skills will be called ****.  And remember, all Ferrari cars are always "good".... and drivers always take the blame if they don't win.

[Miggeex]

A pointless experience. All Raikkonen care is money (a common Lotus problem) and Ferrari desperately trying to change something. This will not work.

 

You're right. If the team won't have the money needed, there's no chances to build a fast car.

 

I don't think that Kimi is there to get money in his own pocket. He could've left Lotus long time ago in the middle of the season since they haven't paid him.

Edited by Miggeex, 11 September 2013 - 15:36.