noiembrie 2009

11/29/2009 11:38:00 p.m. No comments

Loeb is waiting eagerly for Kimi's first season in WRC.

- It's going to be interesting. This is a completely new sport to him so the beginning can be really difficult. He has a lot to learn but when taking his know-how into consideration I believe that he will adapt quite quickly, Loeb said in the French Sports.fr interview.

- I don't think that Kimi is better on tarmac just because he comes from F1, especially when Finns usually are good on gravel. Anyway, it's my pleasure to welcome him to the team, Loeb continued.
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Sebastien Loeb thinks that Kimi Räikkönen will achieve good results already during his debut season in WRC.

Loeb promises to advice the newbie under one condition.
- If he needs and asks for advice, of course I'll give them to him. As long as he doesn't beat me.

According to Loeb the biggest challenge for Kimi will be learning the pace notes and also trusting in them. Yet his pace in F1 and rally-trials have convinced even Loeb.
- We saw in Finland's rally that he can drive fast. Despite his minor experience I believe that he can drive good rallies, Loeb assures.

The other newbie, Ken Block, is familiar to Loeb from his trick-videos.
- And wow, they are great. He has succeeded well on his videos but I can't say how he will succeed in WRC.

11/28/2009 11:34:00 p.m. No comments

CASE-RÄIKKÖNEN REQUIRES A LOT OF TEST KILOMETERS

The Kimi Räikkönen -rally project that started last year has according to Tommi Mäkinen been an extremely interesting and rewarding experience.
- When we got Kimi's car from Fiat Abarth we had to really wonder what kind of a green fruit they sent us. It was an incomprehensible half-finished car when it came to setups.

According to Tommi they had to drive Fiat 'into shape' for nearly 500 test-kilometers.
- I knew after driving a F1-car myself from what kind of a world Kimi came to rally from and also to what kind of driving style he was used to. I wanted to build the Fiat so that it fit him like a glove from the beginning.
- Kimi was reasonably satisfied with his car, there wasn't any need for any bigger setups after that. I was also really satisfied with the endresult especially when considering the starting points.

Tommi who has followed Kimi drive from close for a year says that the F1-champion can drive any car really fast.
- He is also a rally-talent, you don't get over that no matter how you try. And the more he had kilometers behind him, the more he got confidence and speed. Kimi's note paces still need experience so that he will be able to take everything out of it.

Tommi thinks that Räikkönen doesn't have to drive many rallies on tarmac before he already is in the leading groups.
- I think that in the first rally on tarmac Kimi will cut in straight away ahead of Matthew Wilson, Henning Solberg and others up to 5th or 6th overall. Unfortunately Kimi's only rally on tarmac went bad right from the start when we got a gearbox from Italy that was wrongly assembled. Parts were missing and it broke down at the first stage.
- With a competitive car Kimi could do reasonably well in WRC but he still has some way to the victory. Only after he knows exactly the nature of the car and how it wants to behave in different situations and the pace notes are in place, only then can he start to fight for the last tenths of seconds that decide the WRC-victory.

Fiat's S2000-car was also really part-consuming so it wasn't any cheap hobby for Räikkönen.
- When I followed the running costs of S2000-Fiat I saw that you could easily drive three N-group -drivers with the same money, Tommi smiles.

Yet Räikkönen's Fiat was going well and this was also noticed in Fiat Abarth.
- They asked quite a lot from Fiat about what had been done to the car and where. I didn't tell them anything about that side. I only wondered since one assumes that engineers from a team of that level should know cars and that setups are always individual. A rally car is a unity where power transfer -setups go together with suspension, stabilizers, tyrecorners etc. It's not even worth to start explaining one single thing to anyone on the phone. It's useless.

11/27/2009 11:32:00 p.m. No comments

Kimi Räikkönen's decision to go from F1 to WRC has been a bitter pill to swallow for the fastest nation in the world. Räikkönen is probably the last bluewhite-driver who won the championship in F1. In the eyes of Finns who appreciate humility and modesty Räikkönen has been labelled as a greedy hedonist.

COMPLETELY WITHOUT GROUNDS. Räikkönen's action is logical and it's easy to jump into his pants.

When you have nine tough seasons, a WDC in your pocket and a couple of 2nd positions behind you, it's completely natural that Räikkönen wants to change genre.
In another country or in some other area of life a defector like Räikkönen would have been seen as an independent intellectual who has an open mind.

In Finland again one who changes to another genre is a loser, not an original genious.

Besides, Räikkönen has more than enough of the humility that Finns so much want. He knows for sure that the first WRC-season will probably be difficult. If he doesn't succeed there will be a lot of gloaters.

Of course a fat salary made Räikkönen's decision easier. You can't blame him for that because very few say no to money.

Räikkönen himself has justified his change of genre with the more relaxed goings-on in rally. This is also easy to understand.

Räikkönen has been a strange bird in the hypocritical F1-world. He doesn't fit into the picture where the most senseless sport genre in the world tries to be responsible and politically correct. Räikkönen would have felt at home during Keke Rosberg's active years. During those times the cigarettes were smoking and the glasses were clinking. Back then F1 was also about honest racing without dirty politics and financially maximising the victory.

Therefore it was sensible of Räikkönen to leave but why does Heikki Kovalainen who was dumped by a top team want to continue in F1 no matter what it costs?

The answer is simple: Most people rather participate in the national league even though the lower classes would offer gold and glory.

11/23/2009 10:49:00 p.m. No comments

BROTHERS ARE LIKE NIGHT AND DAY

So what is this Kimi Raikkonen like - according to his parents?

– He is gutsy and terribly stubborn but also very sensitive, mother says.

– It think that Kimi has grown all the time along with his career. Of course he has taken fucking big steps during the last days but I have never been worried about the boy's head, father says.

– Kimi isn't more mature than others his age. When he has time his friends come over and they go to sauna according to the long schedule and go to a disco after that. He has a girlfriend and things like that, he is an ordinary boy, mother says.

The girlfriend is cute and wonderful but she doesn't want to be in the spotlight.

– Kimi has lived in Holland and England, of course that helps to grow up and become independent, father thinks.

– The brothers are like night and day. Rampe was something like seven when we said that he is the smartest person in our family. Rami always thinks first before acting, Kimi is the complete opposite, does first and figures out afterwards what he went and did, father laughs.

Mother calls the firstborn a diplomat.

– Rami started driving a motorbike when he was 3,5 years old. You couldn't give Kimi one until he was 5. Kimi's nature is of the kind that you go always flat out, Matti describes.

– They drove karting together. Rami was softer, you can see his goodness best when you drive against time or against your own best performance. He is much more softer than Kimi as a driver. You have to be more aggressive and rude on the track. It was clear ever since they were small that they both drive in their own style. They didn't want to learn from each other - not even if we tried. They both thought that the other one had no hands - therefore you can't learn anything from him, father tells.

He regrets a little of his scetching and says that you can't compare your two boys, both are equally dear.

11/22/2009 10:46:00 p.m. No comments

IT TOOK TIME, MONEY AND STRENGHT

Here we have a fresh Finnish heroic story where sisu, toughness, trial and companionship is combined. This story has four heros, Kimi, Masa, Paula and Rami.

– Everything happened like in secret. I mean we started this only so we could give the boys a good and a healthy hobby. And then the hobby has grown into bigger and bigger circles, father Räikkönen explains.

Matti Räikkönen is a machineman who is a mechanic with skillful fingers. Paula is a secretary, a woman of action.

– All hobbies are good but driving is tricky because the small boys don't get with their machinery from track to track. If a boy plays ice-hockey you can take turns with other parents, in this hobby it doesn't work. We travelled with these two sometimes even 17 races in one summer and when the distances are what they are it doesn't mean from Friday evening to Sunday, it often means from Wednesday to Sunday, Matti tells.

– When the boys started to drive national races - Kimi was eight - we had to get a van and a trailor so that we could get to the races, Paula continues.

– It took all the time, money and strenght, she calmly says.

Matti worked two or three jobs, drove taxi and was a doorman. Sometimes they had to decide whether to continue the boy's driving business or make an indoor toilet. They didn't and the boys got to continue.

–Once we came all the way from Belgium to Finland with only a Shell credit card. Fortunately the family stuck together! Matti tells.

– Sometimes we had moments of doubts but aren't bad times meant to be won, she challenges.

– We never had the feeling that we should quit. Sometimes we just realised that we don't have enough money. We cried in the telephone to one way and another so that we could continue, Paula talks.

– The family has all the time been very closely together, we have shared both the joy and the sorrow. Because of course there has been sorrow and disappointments too. Winning is a rare treat, Matti defines.

11/20/2009 10:38:00 p.m. No comments

Driver's tight in Sweden nowadays

Björn Waldegård is not disapproving the fact that Sweden hasn't been capable of producing more WRC-quality drivers during the last years.

– On the contrary I want to congratulate Finland for it's ability to produce new drivers all the time. I don't know exactly why it is that way but I can only say that rally is a big thing in Finland.

– Maybe it's easier to find sponsors in Finland. It's almost impossible for a young Swedish driver to find the support you need in order to rise up to the top in rally.

– Congratulations Finland! It's a fact, Waldegård says.

Björn Waldegård knows what he is talking about.

– I have been both Hannu Mikkola's and Ari Vatanen's team mate. I often took part in Jyväskylä rally. Yet the most important race-country for me has been Kenya and it's Safari-rally which was my favourite and which today belongs to the so called class of classical rallies. I took part in it with my son Mathias in 2007. We won which was emotionally speaking a giant thing.

Waldegård says he acknowledges the pain that the world's financial state has caused to the car industry.

– It would be really miserable if we would be experiencing the Swedish car industry's beginning of end, Waldegård sums up.

11/19/2009 10:32:00 p.m. No comments

Kimi will bring the whole rally sport back to life

According to Waldegård Räikkönen will effectively crush the prejudice that thinks F1 would be something bigger than rally in motorsport glory.

– Rally is a fantastic part of motorsport. And now that Kimi Räikkönen is coming to race in Sweden it is something much more better, he says.

According to Waldegård Räikkönen's participation will bring the whole rally sport back to life, which according to him is in a pretty bad shape today.

– A lot has to do with the lack of competition which again has to do with Marcus Grönholm quitting a few years ago. But he also loves Sweden's Rally and will drive there with Räikkönen, Waldegård says.

– It's completely fantastic that two Finnish motorsportmen - I hope you forgive my expression - love Sweden in this case almost more than Finland, Björn Waldegård says.

11/18/2009 10:26:00 p.m. No comments

Sweden's car industry is living it's toughest season in the midst of the global financial crisis. They have also lacked the best attraction in rally.

In the middle of this misery the organisers of Sweden's Rally got a fax confirming that Kimi Räikkönen will take part in it - on Tuesday which was the deadline for registration.

”A Superfax that Sweden's Rally loves - Räikkönen participates in the rally!”, was the headline the next day in Nya Wermlands-Tidningen's magazine in Karlstad where the rally is held.

– Sweden's car- and especially rally-sport couldn't be better now that F1-Champion Kimi Räikkönen takes part in Sweden's Rally on Värmland's winter roads, Swedish rally champion Björn Waldegård sums his feelings up to TS.

11/15/2009 10:13:00 p.m. No comments

We live exciting moments at the eve of the F1-season. Four champions race in the serie at the same time. A fifth could have been possible unless Kimi Räikkönen would have decided to jump over to rally challenges.

The last time we saw five champions during the same season was in 1970 when Jack Brabham, Graham Hill, John Surtees, Deny Hulme and Jackie Stewart were on the grid. The next two champions - Jochen Rindt and Emerson Fittipaldi – raced that year as team mates in Lotus.

For his age Räikkönen could had well continued in F1. At least five drivers who made contracts are older than Kimi.

Not one single rally or F1-test has been driven yet so Räikkönen's views for continuing are completely hidden under the winter fog. The chances for one way or another could be expressed fifty-sixty using Räikkönen's mate Matti Nykänen's saying.

As known the test regulation in F1 is too strict. The free testing doesn't help Räikkönen who moved over to rally. So far he has only one test drive behind him with Citroen C4 WRC-car. Kimi will actually have his warm-up to the WRC-season in Arctic-rally that starts in a week in Rovaniemi.

We will get some kind of reference of Räikkönen's pace when Citroen also sent their first team's second driver Dani Sordo to the same rally. Sordo gets to practise on snow and Räikkönen gets to test his own pace against a similar WRC-car on roads that are familiar to him from last winter.

Recently Ford's Finnish aces Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala gave a cold prognosis of Räikkönen's defeat marginal. According to them Räikkönen will be 6-12 minutes behind the lead in every rally.

If a difference like this will continue for a long time it's a certain fact that the thought of returning to F1 will sneak into Räikkönen's subconscious. Michael Schumacher returns after three years and has already put the F1-world on fire just by his announcement.

Räikkönen won't lose his F1-speed even though he would drive rally for 2-3 years in a row. But the longer he stays on the rally paths, the more certain it also is that Abu Dhabi GP in November was his last F1-mark.

11/14/2009 10:10:00 p.m. No comments

Steve Robertson who is in charge of the contractual matters confirmed to Turun Sanomat that Kimi Räikkönen will decide in June-July if he wants to go back to F1-tracks or continue in WRC in 2011.

– At the moment Kimi is completely dedicated to learn as quickly as possible all that's needed in order to be competitive with a WRC-car, Robertson assures.

– Kimi has also made it clear that he might want to go back to F1 only if he gets to drive a winning car so that he can fight for the championship. That's why he has to decide it in the middle of the season when the best driver seats are up for grabs.

– At this stage it's impossible to estimate in which direction Kimi will go. It's clear that now he invests everything into his rally career, Robertson emphasises.

Red Bull already pays Räikkönen's salary so Räikkönen would have the most logical bonds to Red Bull. Red Bull has a contract for 2011 only with Sebastian Vettel. Both McLaren and Mercedes have longer contracts with their drivers.

BBC will miss Räikkönen

I took the advantage on Ferrari's media-days to ask if the international media thinks Räikkönen will go back to F1 or make a longer rally career.

BBC:s commentator Jonathan Legard believes that the chances are 50-50.

– Of course it depends first of all on how Kimi will do in rally during the beginning of the season. If he starts doing well immediately we won't probably see him in a F1-car anymore.

The season is going to be mega-interesting for BBC when McLaren has two British WDC's, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.

– But if Kimi would be in F1, there would be five WDC's in the serie. That hasn't happened in ages. Kimi has a big fanbase in UK so if he had stayed in F1 it would have increased the interest even more when thinking of BBC, Legard reminds.

Carlos Miguel from Spanish AS-magazine believes that it's certain that Räikkönen will return to F1 already next year.

– Kimi only wants to win and when he realises that he won't fight for victories in WRC this year F1 will become interesting again during the mid-season. I think Red Bull would be an ideal team for him in F1 also.

– Personally I would have wanted to see Kimi as Fernando Alonso's team mate in Ferrari. When thinking of Kimi's merits in driving he is the kind of a driver that F1 desperately needs, Miguel continues.

The more laidback rally will take him away

The Brasilian veteran reporter Livio Oricchio goes in a completely opposite direction writing off Räikkönen from F1-history for good.

– Kimi's F1-career is definitely over. I had a chance to visit his own roots in Finland and I understood his cultural background much better after that. The mandatory F1-promotions were such an agony for Kimi that I'm sure he doesn't want to go back to that again.

– I believe Kimi is at home in the rallying world. On top of that it offers him a challenge F1 can't offer him anymore since no driver has won the WDC in both F1 and WRC, Oricchio thinks.

Andrzej Borowczyk from Poland's TV and who knows closely a whole bunch of Finnish rally stars, believes that Räikkönen will like it much more on the rally side.

– The going is much more laidback there and Kimi will see much more friends and countrymen there. It's clear that Kimi is now starting a 3-year period in WRC. You can't grow to a winner in any less time. I think Kimi will stay there and F1 will be over for him.

11/13/2009 10:06:00 p.m. No comments

Salary also means something

Benny Casadei Lucchi from Italian Il Giornale -magazine sees that Räikkönen's decision might depend on matters of money.

– It's obvious that Kimi has enough driving skills and motivation to return to F1. But when the whole F1-world's finance is shaking, cuts are made everywhere and drivers' salaries are going down, Kimi would also have to accept much smaller incomes.

– It's impossible to know if he wants to come back no matter what it takes, the Italian reporter thinks.

British reporter Joe Saward is as usual thinking completely in his own way.

– Kimi has been nine years in F1 but the whole man is still a complete mystery for me. It was a surprise that he went to WRC but that's just why Kimi can surprise again and do what is least expected from him - meaning return to the grid with Red Bull in 2011, Saward says.

11/11/2009 09:55:00 p.m. No comments

Kimi Räikkönen's new tattoo on his right wrist was soon put to huge proportions by the F1-media.

They believed that Ferrari's team principal Jean Todt was strictly against the tattoo his driver took.

Yet Todt was immediately on Räikkönen's side. Kimi didn't need any permission for the tattoo.

- I read about it. We had dinner on Thursday and since it wasn't mentioned I didn't even notice the whole thing. What is the most important for me is that the people here in this team are happy. If Kimi would be happy with a tattoo on his face and would ask for my opinion I would advice him to put it in some place that is less visible because otherwise he might get some problems of it later.

- There is so much talk - with a smile and without a smile - but what is important is that everyone is concentrated on doing his job. With or without a tattoo. I don't care.

- If a sponsor would complain about the tattoo I would rather change the sponsor just to keep Kimi happy, Todt assured.

- He has been planning on taking it for a couple of years already. I think it's great, Jenni said.

Räikkönen's tattoo is completely designed by himself. It's not taken from any book.

11/10/2009 09:50:00 p.m. No comments

- It would be fun to sometimes listen what Kimi's first words inside of his helmet are when something happens. I bet a few swear words are flying, Jenni says.

- When something has gone wrong Kimi always goes straight to his own place in McLaren's garage. If he is really fed up he might kick a door on his way. He never throws a tantrum at me, only to bad luck, Jenni told Turun Sanomat.

- When we leave for home he might say in the car, helicopter or airplane with one sentence that 'it didn't go well once again'. And that's that.

Jenni admits that Kimi is especially irritated when he has to explain over and over again the same thing to different people.

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