Spanish GP 2007 Weekend Highlights, Updated News

Sir Jackie Stewart questions Kimi Raikkonen’s F1 approach

Sir Jackie Stewart thinks Kimi Raikkonen is unlikely to achieve as much in his formula one career as McLaren’s 2007 rookie Lewis Hamilton. The former triple world champion acknowledged Finn Raikkonen’s natural talent but questioned his focus. "The way he lives his life is contrary to the complete package; the kind that allowed Schumacher to win multiple championships, (as well as) Senna and Prost, Jim Clark or even me," Stewart is quoted as saying by British newspaper The Telegraph.

In the Daily Express, Stewart reportedly added: "It is an attitude, a mentality, a way of doing business. Our lifestyle, mind, make-up was different from a Raikkonen — or for that matter a Jenson Button." "There are other things in Raikkonen’s life he still wishes to carry on doing," Stewart went on.

"He doesn’t seem prepared to make the sacrifice of reducing the lifestyle he has chosen because he enjoys it. He is not prepared to compromise."

"That is why Hamilton has the opportunity to be dominant over time and Raikkonen doesn’t, unless something substantial changes."

In the Times, Stewart also accuses Ferrari’s Raikkonen of being "oblivious of social skills", while a cursory search for his name at youtube.com shows the Finn falling off a yacht apparently drunk, and telling a F1 reporter on live TV that he was "having a shit" while Michael Schumacher was presented with a trophy by Pele in Brazil last October.

Exactly, Jackie hit the nail on the head. What will it take for someone to get this through Kimi’s head? Ron Dennis said last year Kimi ‘listens to no one’ and that’s ridiculous if true. Kimi’s proud and lazy attitude will be his downfall. We might even be witnessing it right now, right here. God forbid, what a sad story that will be.

David Croft column
Kimi was asked by Finnish television whether Michael was here to help him. “Help me? Why?” was the reply.

He’s got enough on his plate trying to keep his new team-mate at bay, Massa’s performance in qualifying enhanced his growing reputation, the way in which he made up 0.7 seconds from his previous flying lap to take pole was reminiscent of the sort of thing Schumacher used to do. A third successive third place did nothing for Kimi’s mood or reputation.

What The Papers Say About The Spanish GP

Alan Henry’s view
‘On Friday evening in Spain the lights burned late in the Ferrari team garage as engineers worked to put their finger on a cure for the F2007’s abiding understeer on slow corners. Schumacher stayed late with his long-time colleagues from Maranello, offering the benefit of his huge technical databank, gathered from 91 grand prix wins. Raikkonen left earlier, going back to his hotel after the initial technical debrief.

‘There is no suggestion of partiality here, in terms of Massa getting priority treatment over his team-mate in the Ferrari camp, even though some are worried by a possible conflict of interest in that Massa’s personal manager is Nicolas Todt, the son of the Ferrari team principal. For the moment, however, Massa is emerging as Ferrari’s best bet for the championship, a reflection of just how much he has matured since his promotion at the start of the 2006 season from the role of Sauber driver and previously Ferrari test driver’ – Alan Henry, The Guardian.

‘Equal status for drivers is McLaren policy, but Ferrari operate differently. As Massa continues to overshadow Raikkonen, the issue of who is No 1 at Ferrari, and who will benefit from the team’s main focus, could become a pressing one’ – Sarah Edworthy, The Daily Telegraph.

It certainly doesn’t look good for Kimi. He simply can’t rely just on his talent and hope the team give him a better car. There’s more to it and Kimi seriously needs to re-evaluate his attitude and approach if he EVER, (yes, ever) wants to be an F1 World Champion. Unfortunatly, talent isn’t enough and we all know Kimi has plenty of that. We love him for it but F1 and Ferrari require more from him. Come on Kimi, don’t let it go dammit…

Ferrari Admits Reliability Concerns : Jean Todt was very pleased with Massa’s dominate victory, "But we had Kimi’s retirement due to a problem in the wiring to the alternator."

Martin Brundle (ITV) mentioned something about the suspension, and it happened braking into the corner as most suspension failures occur like that. But that probably triggered something with the wiring which caused the car to go completely off. Kimi’s suspension failure in 2006 Bahrain didn’t cause his car to shut down, he managed to get back to the pits with nearly a full lap of the track. From the onboard view of when he was heading to the pits, the casing of the right steering arm was loose, broken perhaps. So, a little bit confusing as to what really happened with Kimi’s car. I hope he doesn’t have much trouble in Monaco!