Bridgestone Explain Ferrari/McLaren Tyre Impacts; Kimi Excels in Technical Difficulties

From Autosport.com

Small differences in the handling characteristics of the McLaren and
Ferrari cars could be a major contributing factor in their fluctuating
title fortunes, reckons tyre supplier Bridgestone.

The pace of the two teams has swung dramatically in the last two
races, with McLaren having been dominant in Germany but facing defeat
to Ferrari in Hungary before Felipe Massa’s late race engine failure.

This varying form has prompted suggestions that the way the two cars
use their tyres is proving crucial with little to separate the two
teams in terms of out-and-out pace.

Hirohide Hamashima, Bridgestone’s director of motorsport tyre
development, is one who is convinced that the differences between the
balance of the MP4-23 and the F2008 could explain their form in recent
races.

In particular, he thinks the understeering nature of the Ferrari
could be a major cause of the qualifying issues that have hampered the
team’s chances of stronger results in recent races.

"Basically the Ferrari has more of a tendency to understeer than the McLaren," Hamashima told autosport.com.
"The McLaren is a little bit oversteery. When the tyre has good grip,
the car with the oversteer tendency will be quicker over a single lap
than a neutral or understeering car.

"But when you think about racing conditions – especially with the
temperatures we had at the Hungaroring – then an oversteering car will
have heat generating at the rear much higher than the understeering car.

"Looking at Hungary and (Lewis) Hamilton’s car behaviour, after a
few laps he struggled with oversteer – so he was making lots of
counter-steering movements. On the other hand the Ferrari had a good
balance after a few laps.

"That’s why the temperature is making a difference."

Hamashima has also shed some light on the fight at Ferrari between
Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen — claiming the Brazilian is superior
when the car is perfect, but Raikkonen excels when the driver has to
overcome some technical deficiencies

"When the car conditions are very suitable for Felipe his abilities
are 110%, but once the car is not so good his abilities are 90%," he
explained. "But Kimi could get the package performance at 100% even if
the car condition is not so good."

Very interesting information from Hamashima here, and it couldn’t have arrived at a better time. Fans may have already assumed the oversteer/understeer characteristics of the two rival cars were making the difference on tyre performance, however for Hamashima to say Kimi’s performance is still at 100% when his conditions are difficult is just what the critics need to hear. All
we all know what happened at France when Kimi got pole despite running
less fuel than his usual liking (and his pole was just under a tenth quicker than Massa), but Massa
still couldn’t challenge for the lead with his one lap fuel advantage after the pitstops, until Kimi’s exhaust problem arose. In Hungary, Kimi qualified with four laps more fuel than Massa and Kimi said he still struggled to keep the car on the road even when using more fuel usually helps Kimi to get more grip. With all that, Kimi was just 4 tenths off Massa’s qualifying time. If that’s not world champion quality then what is?

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The Motorsport World Gladly Welcomes Kimi
From SetantaSports.com and Motorsport-Total.com (translated via Google)

Ford Rally boss Malcolm Wilson claims he would offer Formula 1 World
Champion Kimi Raikkonen a test if he genuinely is interested in a
switch to WRC.

The Finn recently mentioned that he would
be interested in rallying after he retires from F1, comments which have
stirred interest over at Ford.

"I’d offer him a test," Wilson told
Eurosport. "It’d be a great opportunity for us. We can do it because
we’ve got the forest on our doorsteps."

Wilson also believes that the sport could start attracting more of the single-seater series’ biggest names in the coming years.

"I’m really pleased guys that are in Formula
1 would like to be driving a world rally car," he added. "One or two of
them would like to be driving a world rally car rather than an F1 car
if the same sort of rewards were there."

DTM are interested too!

Kimi Räikkönen would also be welcome in the DTM: Hans-Juergen would like the Finn in the team – "He is cool, totally dry and has
uncanny bite"

Räikkönen must
really not have to worry about his motor racing career after the
Formula 1. In the event that the Finn will join the rally with a test granted by Ford. And if he is suddenly in a completely different
direction and decide how his compatriot Mika Häkkinen had his luck in the
DTM would like to try, he would also be more than welcome.

Because Hans-Juergen Abbot, head of the Audi championship teams
Abt Sportsline and ‘motorsport Total.com’ columnist, is Raikkonen’s fan:
"I would like Kimi Raikkonen to look at us as a team in DTM."

I guess we Kimi fans have nothing to worry about then, at least he’s tested a DTM car back in 2004. Kimi mentioned in an
interview recently about rallying, but we always knew he likes any kind of motor
racing, and rallying is very popular in Finland. Here is the original
question in the interview: