Kimi’s Column – Pre European GP

Raikkonen seeks change of luck in Germany

That’s great, we love to hear him happy with the car and making progress! I wouldn’t say Kimi is jinxed in German races. Hockenheim and Nurburgring were always tough on the cars, and we all know how much a McLaren couldn’t handle high revs and a lot of heat in those years Kimi drove for them. And it wasn’t just Kimi with those problems, Coulthard had even more engine blow ups in 2003. That season along with 2005 were Kimi’s best, it’s just a shame you didn’t have a car to back you up. It’s going to change this time though. Hopefully. Keep Flying Kimi , we’re looking forward to seeing the best from you!

News: Windsor’s Wisdom

Peter Windsor has been at the centre of the F1 paddock for 30
years, during which time he has been a journalist, commentator and
Williams team manager. He is currently Grand Prix editor of F1 Racing magazine.

Can we expect Kimi to maintain his winning streak in Germany this weekend?

Forget
the Fernando/Lewis thing; the real dynamic right now is how young
Felipe will deal with a newly-awakened Kimi-Matias Raikkonen.

It is almost as if Kimi has been asleep for the past few months and is now rubbing his eyes and seeing what’s what.

For this reason, Felipe looks a little confused. He’s used to being
quicker than Kimi in qualifying and out-racing him to the flag.

He achieved half of that in France, and blamed “traffic” for the bit
that didn’t work out – but at Silverstone he was way out on both
counts. On coldish tyres on Friday and Saturday morning, there’s no
doubt that Kimi was the quicker Ferrari driver. And that had an impact
on Q3, of course.

Can Felipe “rebound” in Germany? I can’t call it; I think it’s going to be that close.

Today’s Nurburgring is a ridiculous circuit, of course, because it
has no natural corners, so most likely it will come down to something
invisible like a difference in rear ride heights, or roll stiffnesses.

It’s very difficult for the driver to impart anything into the new
Nurburgring lap when you are operating at the level of Kimi and Felipe,
although Kimi’s famous ability to run his car predominantly in straight
lines may tell over a race distance in terms of tyre performance.

The other question is McLaren-Mercedes. Will they have the edge over
Ferrari on yet another high-downforce circuit? Maybe – maybe not an
edge but, on this occasion, a car to match the F2007.
Again, this is too close to call – and in the main this is because this is year one of the Bridgestone monopoly.