12 replies to this topic

[Czesc]

Is Kimi on probation as many (internet) sources and posters on this BB say or not? I'm just wondering because I thought he doesn't have a normal super licence, but then I read this today:

http://www.esaimaa.fi/

- Minulla on kilpailulisenssi koko vuodeksi, eikä vain muutamaksi kisaksi kerrallaan, Räikkönen kertoi.

Free translation: I have the racing licence for the whole year and not just for a few races at a time, Räikkönen told.

If I remember correctly, Kimi has said the same thing before, but still all the F1 news sources tell a different story.

[man from martinlaakso]

Czesc, Kimi has it of course right, he has the super licence for the whole season. However, FIA will watch the rookie drivers more closely than the other drivers. So Kimi can get a warning or a race ban easier than an experianced driver.

[Vixen]

He was originally given a 4 race super license ( sort of probation period I would imagine) but he has shown he can cut the edge as an f1 driver and so far has been driving pretty faultlessly so they must have extended it to a full season. Good luck to him I say

[100cc]

Originally posted by Vixen
He was originally given a 4 race super license ( sort of probation period I would imagine) but he has shown he can cut the edge as an f1 driver and so far has been driving pretty faultlessly so they must have extended it to a full season. Good luck to him I say

Peter Suber and Kimi I think both said that there never was a 4 race "probation".

[TheDestroyer]

He's kind of on double secret probation.

FIA has granted him his super license, and he is no longer on probation but FIA will continue watching him.

[Ali_G]

I reall find it amazing how Kimi can be so critisized by the FIA. He has shown himself to be a very calm young man. The only major crash he had was casued by his steering wheel coming off.

Niall

[PDA]

I always said that the nut holding the steering wheel is the most dangerous in the car.

[Samurai]

He deserves the super license obviously!! Good initial choice to give it to him (with the 4 races probation of course)!

[Williams]

Originally posted by Ali_G
I reall find it amazing how Kimi can be so critisized by the FIA. He has shown himself to be a very calm young man. The only major crash he had was casued by his steering wheel coming off.

Niall

Niall was Kimi actually criticized by the FIA at some point ? I only recall Max saying that he didn't like Kimi's getting the superlicense, but I don't recall the FIA actually criticizing him directly for anything.

Originally posted by Samurai
He deserves the super license obviously!! Good initial choice to give it to him (with the 4 races probation of course)!

I agree that Kimi deserves the superlicense. but I have to wonder whether this was "good judgement" or luck. IMHO any driver that needs a 4-race probation should not get a superlicense at all. This if F1 after all, the "pinnacle", and only those proven to be the best should be here. There should be no training wheels. Thankfully, the FIA were right in their judgement, but what if they had been horribly wrong...

[Samurai]

Williams I agree that "the 4 races probation" might indeed have been a little half-baked (either you can drive or not! ),
but if such a gesture satisfied Mosley or whoever, then it's fine with me.

And the rap (or worry) against Kimi was that he might not have enough experience (---but he had competed in some races with no problem, I didn't really get this part) and not that he showed signs of dangerous driving----this IMO has a lot more potential to cause "horrible" incidents---
there are a lot of F1 drivers out there now with dangerous habits (chop, ramming other drivers out for the WDC... you know who I mean...;) )

[Melbourne Park]

Originally posted by Williams

I agree that Kimi deserves the superlicense. but I have to wonder whether this was "good judgement" or luck. IMHO any driver that needs a 4-race probation should not get a superlicense at all. This if F1 after all, the "pinnacle", and only those proven to be the best should be here. There should be no training wheels. Thankfully, the FIA were right in their judgement, but what if they had been horribly wrong...

What would you do? Some Renault champ kid comes along, jumps in an F1 car test, what a laugh, but first lap he's super fast. A freak in other words. Then you find out more and you'd be mad to let him go. Sauber didn't, and good on them.

[prettyface]

Originally posted by Williams

I agree that Kimi deserves the superlicense. but I have to wonder whether this was "good judgement" or luck. IMHO any driver that needs a 4-race probation should not get a superlicense at all. This if F1 after all, the "pinnacle", and only those proven to be the best should be here. There should be no training wheels.

IMHO, just another example of Max Mosley's half-assed ruling. But then again, where would modern F1 be without vague rules? I agree that in F1 you should get a superlicense or not at all. All this probation stuff is Mosley wanting to be on both God's and the devil's side. He would make a wonderful politician.

An F1 superlicense should come with full backing of the FIA, none of this ridiculous probation nonsense which diminishes a driver in the eyes of his peers.

And all that bickering by the more "mature" drivers at the start of the season? Bunch of whiners and prima donnas, I'm so glad Raikkonen and Alonso made them look like fools (yes, you; Rubinho and Jax! )

[Williams]

Originally posted by Melbourne Park
What would you do? Some Renault champ kid comes along, jumps in an F1 car test, what a laugh, but first lap he's super fast. A freak in other words. Then you find out more and you'd be mad to let him go. Sauber didn't, and good on them.

Well (theoretically) the FIA is above commercial considerations and if they arbititrarliy decide that kimi is too inexperienced for F1, well, that's it. They are responsible for safety in F1, which is why Max opposed the F1 Commission's handing out the superlicense in the first place.

What would I do ? Tell Kimi to go back and get some F3 experience and try again in a year's time. I might have been wrong, but I would have been safe, which is the job of the FIA.