21 replies to this topic

[Menace]

McLaren boss praises 2002 signing Raikkonen 11 Jun 2002


Kimi Raikkonen is living up to his billing as a quality replacement for Mika Hakkinen.
Team boss Ron Dennis says the Finn, who was taken on to fill the double Drivers' FIA Formula One World Champion's shoes, is at least as good as Hakkinen was at the same age.

That will come as a timely boost for the youngster, as Dennis admitted he is just weeks away from deciding which combination of David Coulthard, Kimi Raikkonen and Mika Hakkinen he will use next season.

Dennis praised the younger Finn, saying he could have finished on the podium alongside his team mate and Michael Schumacher in Montreal but for problems during his pit stop.

But he questioned the McLaren rookie for his blistering last lap, which could have resulted in his fuel-starved car running out of juice only yards from the finish line.


Raikkonen outqualified the Scot for the fifth time in eight races in Montreal, and was running third when a delay caused by a fuel rig software problem cost him a place in the top three.

He salvaged fourth after a blistering 1.16.553 last lap, which was his fastest of the race and the sixth fastest overall.

"Kimi and Mika are very different characters," said Dennis. "They have different strengths and weaknesses but overall Kimi is as strong as Mika was at his age if not stronger.

"I wouldn't take anything away from David but I think both would have occupied the podium if Kimi's fuel rig hadn't had problems. Which meant we had to get back a lot of fuel with our tactics, which meant he wasn't able to compete.

"His last lap was a bit of youthful exuberance but could also cost him a finish because we were trying to conserve fuel.


"While it's nice to demonstrate just how fast you can go we would looked a little bit silly if it had run out in the chicane and passed fourth place to the rest of the field. It's all part of the learning process."

The fuel rig problems took Raikkonen out of the hunt for a podium place. "It spoilt Kimi's race," said Dennis. "A splash and go would have relegated him to sixth so it was question of fuel management rather than a stop.

"We changed the engine settings to create optimum fuel consumption. Then we changed his lap times too and that's not good enough so we had to physically slow him down before we suddenly hit the target fuel consumption.

"You are making him look so bad and that's what gave birth to extremely quick last lap. But while it made him feel good it would have made him look very silly if run out at last chicane and undone all the work we had done."

The result nearly doubled the Finn's points tally for the season and is his first visit to the top six since the opening race of the season.


He now has seven points and is seventh in the title stakes, while team mate Coulthard is fourth with 26 points.



//source: www.formula1.com


So here we have it... Dennis thinks Kimi is atleast as good as Mika at this stage of his career.
What do you think?

[Menace]

Kimi is definately staying at Mclaren. Now it is only up to Dennis to decide which of the MH, DC, or NH will get the second racing seat.

[Ricardo F1]

I think Kimi's doing great, but he has a lot to learn. I think that might be the deciding factor to the 03 seat, Kimi will learn far more from DC than anyone else.

[SeanValen]

Originally posted by Menace
Kimi is definately staying at Mclaren. Now it is only up to Dennis to decide which of the MH, DC, or NH will get the second racing seat.

Hmmm Hakkinen started at McLaren in 1993, then 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998.

So Kimi McLaren started in 2002, so 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007

Lets hope McLaren for Kimi are not in the wilderness as long as Mika was during the nineties before his first championship.

[PraetorAAV]

Originally posted by SeanValen





Hmmm Hakkinen started at McLaren in 1993, then 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998.

So Kimi McLaren started in 2002, so 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007

Lets hope McLaren for Kimi are not in the wilderness as long as Mika was during the nineties before his first championship.

Let's not forget the poor car Mika had in his first years. '93 - Ford, '94 - Peugeot, only '96-'01 Mercedes (and I would count '96, '97 as development years). In an ever changing environment it's difficult to come up with a really good performance.

Kimi has an advantage because McLaren know Mercedes very well and in the worst case they'd need two more years to build a winning engine. I certainly hope it'll be much sooner than that, but that's a different topic.

So, my guess is that Kimi will constantly improve and we'll get to see him win more often sometime late 2003, more likely the 2004 season.

Cheers

[AD]

Originally posted by Ricardo F1
I think Kimi's doing great, but he has a lot to learn. I think that might be the deciding factor to the 03 seat, Kimi will learn far more from DC than anyone else.

Well there's this guy that drives a red car, who has won a couple of races...
No, no I know what you mean. DC and Kimi is a great pairing for McLaren in their current predicimant (spelling?)

[Ricardo F1]

Originally posted by AD


Well there's this guy that drives a red car, who has won a couple of races...
No, no I know what you mean. DC and Kimi is a great pairing for McLaren in their current predicimant (spelling?)

Yah, but that chap in the red car don't know much about McLaren Mercedes team or personnel - hence why DC is best.

[DataFly]

While DC would certainly be a great mentor, I doubt that Kimi would need such a long time to learn what DC has to teach or to get to know the team. After all, he's already been involved with them for the better part of a year. I'm not saying that DC ought to go, but that Kimi probably won't need sombody to teach him for much longer. But I do think someone else (NH or GF - even Mika should he decide to return) might do a better job of driving the car around a track.

[Ricardo F1]

Originally posted by DataFly
While DC would certainly be a great mentor, I doubt that Kimi would need such a long time to learn what DC has to teach or to get to know the team. After all, he's already been involved with them for the better part of a year. I'm not saying that DC ought to go, but that Kimi probably won't need sombody to teach him for much longer. But I do think someone else (NH or GF - even Mika should he decide to return) might do a better job of driving the car around a track.

I think McLaren are probably as happy as Larry with how many points DC has picked up for them thus far this season. I fail to see how NH or GF would have done any better.

[Goggles]

It's either going to be Coulthard or Hakk next season, not both.

Ron forked over way too much cash for Kimi just to be a test driver.

[Nathan]

Originally posted by Goggles
It's either going to be Coulthard or Hakk next season, not both.

Ron forked over way too much cash for Kimi just to be a test driver.

mmmm Im wondering if maybe he didnt do a bit of Frank Williams. Sign up what he viewed to be the future threat (well the only one available at the time) that way another team doesnt. I think Ron's main concerns were the Ferrari rumours, and the fact that Kimi and Sauber performed so well together in 2001, coupled to the fact he knew Mercedes's engine may be weaker than the Petronas for this year, he could have possibly seen an embarassing 4th place. Sign-up Kimit, who in reality *could* gap the difference between the difference in the chassis', and alot of that threat is now gone. I mean Im sure many people are envious of Williams position. If Hakkinen does come back, then either David of Kimi could be "leased" to another team. This way Ron controls some possible driver threats in the future, and from the "lease money" would be able to pay-off what he pays in contracts.

BTW how long is Kimi's contract? I was suprised to see he gets $8-million a year considering how cheap Ron has always been. But that I think backs up my theory.

[speedy]

Nathan,

that is an interesting scenario and a realistic one too, time will tell.

[HSJ]

Originally posted by Menace
is at least as good as Hakkinen was at the same age.

At least as good. True. Actually better. A lot better. At Kimi's current age MH and MS DEBUTED in F1. Kimi is currently roughly as good as MH and MS at their best. Soon he will be better.

[Smooth]

Originally posted by HSJ
Kimi is currently roughly as good as MH and MS at their best.

[maclaren]

Kimi is driving well. He is being quick and completely able to resbond challenges set by DC.

IMO KR is currently most promising (or already best) of F1 drivers below 25.

[metz]

When Ron makes a comment like this, he's really negotiating with Mika.;)

[Oho]

Originally posted by metz
When Ron makes a comment like this, he's really negotiating with Mika.;)

Ave !!!

Didn't Ronzo comment during the Canadian GP weekend that he's already had two long meetings with Mika regarding possible comeback. But certainly the comment on Kimi reads a lot like a negotiating ploy for a at least a couple of reasons: Mika was not employed by McLaren when he was Kimis age and while Ronzo probably knows a quite a bit about Mika more than a decade is a long span for making such comparisons.

Incidentally its funny how the comment has alredy been twisted into "Kimi is at least as good as Mika" while Ronzo conditioned the statement on age. Make of it what you want but I certainly think Ronzo does not think Kimi is as good as Mika was at his peak or could yet be if Mika rediscovers the taste and ambition for racing that went missing sometime in 2001.

- Oho -

[Zmeej]

It would be sad and unfair to see DC turfed from McLaren, but if they could get Fisichella for his seat, I'd sign him in a heartbeat.

Personally, I'd prefer a Coulthard-Fisi team up front, but obviously Dennis is sold on the Finn.

All that speculation is hardly worth the pixels used to record it however, as I don't think that Flav would allow his charge to go to a competitor (even if the Italian driver fired him, which he should have done three years ago).

My prediction:
It will be Raikonnen and Heidfeld at Mac next year.

Sorry Daveed.

[DataFly]

Originally posted by HSJ


At least as good. True. Actually better. A lot better. At Kimi's current age MH and MS DEBUTED in F1. Kimi is currently roughly as good as MH and MS at their best. Soon he will be better.

HSJ, I'm certainly a Raikkonen fan. In fact, he's my favorite driver. But the way you continually portray him as nothing less than the best driver of all time gets incredibly tiring. I agree with you that he is very talented and destined for a world championship - at the least. But to say that he is as good now as MS/MH at their respective peaks is, at worst, quite a stretch and, at best, very hard to prove. Moreover, you are building him up to be a failure with the terrific hype you continue to bestow upon him; from your descriptions of him, it he'll be a hell of a disappointment if he doesn't completely shatter every record in the book. So please calm down a bit and try not to make him seem so godlike. If you don't, he'll be hated by everyone on this forum, save his fans. Thank you.

[Ricardo F1]

Datafly - just thank the heavens that Alex Yoong isn't Finnish!!

[tania_walesuk]

It would be a brilliant step forward for Kimi to be signed up for McLaren again... he is doing well there dispite the fact of failures on the car...And I think he will just keep on improving.

[DataFly]

Originally posted by Ricardo F1
Datafly - just thank the heavens that Alex Yoong isn't Finnish!!