Ferrari had an oiled machinery that drove their successful number one driver. Michael Schumacher earned his status with his speed and exploited it perfectly.

Then Kimi Räikkönen got into the same position completely accidentally and unfortunately too late - when Massa injured severely in Hungary qualification.

After that Räikkönen has shipped the Ferrari armada in the top three. The team focuses so that the car fits Kimi's hand and the results speaks for themselves.

After Monza Stefano Domenicali was grateful telling that this is the Kimi with whom they won the world championship two years ago. Manager Steve Robertson put it even better and says that Kimi has drove his last races even better than he did during his championship year.

Ferrari doesn't take any pressure at the moment for the threat that this is one of the worst seasons. The pressure comes elsewhere. The new sponsor Banco Santander is pushing on so that their favorite Fernando Alonso would drive in Ferrari already next year.

The power to chose Ferrari's drivers lies with Luca di Montezemolo and him only. Stefano Domenicali can only wait for the announcement which of the trio Räikkönen, Alonso and Felipe Massa are his pair next year.

Räikkönen's top form makes it even more difficult. They understand Kimi's speed even better at Ferrari when Giancarlo Fisichella stayed 0,7 seconds behind his team mate on every race lap and crossed the finish line 56 seconds after him. During the practice the difference was even bigger and in qualification it was half a second.

When Fisichella drove at Renault with Fernando Alonson their difference in speed was remarkably smaller.

If Ferrari dumps Räikkönen, then the team knows that next season they will have to compete against one really fast driver - one who is on their own mega-payroll. I guess that Ferrari can't afford it.

Monza / Heikki Kulta

http://www.ts.fi/f1/kolumnit/74123.html

Turun Sanomat 13.9 2009 23:16:00
Italian GP column 13.9.