one Finn in, one Finn out
Sep. 30th, 2009 03:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
was_tansu_now_badhedgehogWell, now that the worst kept secret in F1 is finally official and Fernando Alonso is confirmed at Ferrari for the next 3 years at least, the rest of the driver moves can start to slot into place.
It looks like it's going to be Räikkönen in, Kovalainen out at McLaren - Martin Whitmarsh as much as confirmed it at the weekend. (Whitmarsh is the worst secret-keeper in the world)
My irrational devotion to the racing fortunes of Heikki Kovalainen does not prevent me from being all kind of, y'know, settled and okay about it. For one thing, I can't ignore or deny that Kovalainen just hasn't met up with expectations this year. I'm watching races and shouting "DRIVE. FASTER." at the TV. His qualifying performances show he has pace, but in a race situation he loses confidence and doesn't produce quite enough. As a mitigating factor, the car is designed more towards Lewis Hamilton's driving style, and the balance of the car doesn't seem to let Heikki get the most out of the tyres (she said, spouting second hand opinion, like 95% of the people you hear and see in the media who aren't actually engineers or former racing drivers themselves). You could say that with a bit more TLC the team might have gotten more out of the driver - but they do seem to have given plenty of TLC. Well, plenty of TLC up to the point where it would conflict with the principle of favouring Hamilton as de facto number 1 driver. Recently I was thinking about Ferrari race engineer Rob Smedley's style of nurturing and encouraging his drivers - he'll give Felipe Massa or Giancarlo Fisichella driving hints during a lap, and there is of course the famous "Felipe, baby, stay cool!" moment from Malaysia this year. It's interesting to imagine how Heikki would do with the almost parental love and care of the Smedley to encourage him. Honestly, I think everyone needs a Rob Smedley. Except those who are too much of an annoying useless arse to get the benefit. I speak here of Luca Badoer, obviously.
I would have been displeased (by which I mean heartbroken, rending my garments and wailing at the heavens) to see Kovalainen moved aside for Nico Rosberg. I don't think Rosberg is a better driver. And there's something about him that kind of rubs me up the wrong way. I'll probably get over it though and learn to love the Rosberg. One day.
Now that it's been made clear that the only problem that Kimi Räikkönen had at McLaren was with former team boss Ron Dennis, there's nothing to stop him coming back. I wonder whether Martin Whitmarsh would take a more relaxed attitude towards extra-mural activity between grands prix weekends and sponsor/training committments - in other words, will Kimi be allowed to do more rallies. I do hope so, for two reasons. Firstly, it makes him happy, and secondly it brings tons of spectators to rallying. Also, now that Kimi's contract with Ferrari for next year is bought off, there will be no reason why he would have to drive a car from the FIAT group. If he carried on working with Tommi Mäkinen Racing, he could use a group N Subaru, the car that Tommi and his people usually work with - better car than the Fiat Grande Punto S2000. I also expect that Malcolm Wilson will be wanting to know if Kimi wants to spend any of his multi million pound Ferrari payoff on buying or renting an M-Sport Ford Focus for a few rallies. Malcolm usually has a keen eye for the pound signs, after all.
I'm getting ahead of myself.
It looks like it's going to be Räikkönen in, Kovalainen out at McLaren - Martin Whitmarsh as much as confirmed it at the weekend. (Whitmarsh is the worst secret-keeper in the world)
My irrational devotion to the racing fortunes of Heikki Kovalainen does not prevent me from being all kind of, y'know, settled and okay about it. For one thing, I can't ignore or deny that Kovalainen just hasn't met up with expectations this year. I'm watching races and shouting "DRIVE. FASTER." at the TV. His qualifying performances show he has pace, but in a race situation he loses confidence and doesn't produce quite enough. As a mitigating factor, the car is designed more towards Lewis Hamilton's driving style, and the balance of the car doesn't seem to let Heikki get the most out of the tyres (she said, spouting second hand opinion, like 95% of the people you hear and see in the media who aren't actually engineers or former racing drivers themselves). You could say that with a bit more TLC the team might have gotten more out of the driver - but they do seem to have given plenty of TLC. Well, plenty of TLC up to the point where it would conflict with the principle of favouring Hamilton as de facto number 1 driver. Recently I was thinking about Ferrari race engineer Rob Smedley's style of nurturing and encouraging his drivers - he'll give Felipe Massa or Giancarlo Fisichella driving hints during a lap, and there is of course the famous "Felipe, baby, stay cool!" moment from Malaysia this year. It's interesting to imagine how Heikki would do with the almost parental love and care of the Smedley to encourage him. Honestly, I think everyone needs a Rob Smedley. Except those who are too much of an annoying useless arse to get the benefit. I speak here of Luca Badoer, obviously.
I would have been displeased (by which I mean heartbroken, rending my garments and wailing at the heavens) to see Kovalainen moved aside for Nico Rosberg. I don't think Rosberg is a better driver. And there's something about him that kind of rubs me up the wrong way. I'll probably get over it though and learn to love the Rosberg. One day.
Now that it's been made clear that the only problem that Kimi Räikkönen had at McLaren was with former team boss Ron Dennis, there's nothing to stop him coming back. I wonder whether Martin Whitmarsh would take a more relaxed attitude towards extra-mural activity between grands prix weekends and sponsor/training committments - in other words, will Kimi be allowed to do more rallies. I do hope so, for two reasons. Firstly, it makes him happy, and secondly it brings tons of spectators to rallying. Also, now that Kimi's contract with Ferrari for next year is bought off, there will be no reason why he would have to drive a car from the FIAT group. If he carried on working with Tommi Mäkinen Racing, he could use a group N Subaru, the car that Tommi and his people usually work with - better car than the Fiat Grande Punto S2000. I also expect that Malcolm Wilson will be wanting to know if Kimi wants to spend any of his multi million pound Ferrari payoff on buying or renting an M-Sport Ford Focus for a few rallies. Malcolm usually has a keen eye for the pound signs, after all.
I'm getting ahead of myself.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-10-01 08:07 am (UTC)I totally agree that everyone needs a Rob Smedley. I think Heikki would certainly benefit from one, and I hope he ends up at a team that will give him the support he needs.
Räikkönen and Hamilton will be an interesting mix of personalities; I wonder how Whitmarsh will manage the situation and if Hamilton will still be the de facto #1.
I was reading your comments to husband last night and his remark re: Malcolm Wilson was "Of course he's tight, he's Cumbrian." ;) I imagine he'd welcome the publicity as much as Kimi driving a rally Focus for any length of time.