Raikkonen: Bad, but could have been worse…

Seems like Domenicali's still got a lot of learning to do. I'm guessing if it would have been Jean Todt and Ross Brawn calling the shots they would have taken a dfferet tact to the choice of tires. But the race is done and salvaging 5 points is better than nothing at this point in the championship. Well done Kimi.
As for Felipe, well it just goes to show the point i made some months ago that Felipe is just too inconsistent. There's just no middle ground for him. It's either he wins(or atleast a podium place) or he scores no points at all. This race highlights Massa's lack of 'feel' for the accelerator and wheel grip. Probably the effect of having been spoiled with the traction control.

i think when all is said and done the result is not ideal but at least kimi has moved up to joint first so he can be reasonably satisfied with that but ferrari need to sack whoever told them it wasnt going to rain as its twice a wrong call on the weather has effected them this year in monaco they was told it would rain again and it didnt and here its the opposite who gives ferrari the weather report hamiltons dad ?

I cannot fathom why... if Kimi were fsster than LH (as the times shown b4 the pit stop) on the same tyres as LH, surely after piut stop if both had changed tires Kimi could have maintained the same advantage, so in that case why gamble keeping tyres on?

Not to start an argument Alan but you said Massa is too inconsistant... but we got LH, KR and FM all on the same points and all of them had hero and zero moments...., all of them are just about as consistant as each other, it just show how this year is panning out ofr all the top drivers... with the exception of RK who keeps chipping away until recently..

I know that Stefano Domenicalli probably means well, but it is obvious that he is of the school of "don't panic, stay calm at all costs". He keeps on saying it after every screw up. Sorry, Stefano, but it is time to panic and actually do something about it or you will lose both championships. I fear the lack of experience in the team's leadership is hurting Ferrari big time. Maybe Schumi should have accepted the position of team boss.

ferrari made too many stupid beginners' mistakes..! get jean todt back man..

kr

Well it's one thing to be consistent and another to be unlucky. Take the case of Kimi for example. He maximizes every race by either winning it, being on the podium or scoring some points. The only time he didn't score was when Hamilchoke tried to mount his rear in Canada.
But Massa's case is different. It's either he wins(or a podium place at least) or he scores no points at all. He could have driven better today and salvaged a couple of points that would have left him still at the top of the championship. Don't get me wrong though, i'm rooting for Massa also but at the rate this is going, i think Ferrari's better off backing 1 driver for the championship and that guy's Kimi.

kr

Regarding the tyres... it was a gamble on ferrari's part to leave the worn inters on hoping that the track would dry out. It's probably also a case of getting the wrong information about the weather. I know up to about a couple of years ago some teams had their own weather spotters(see forza ferrari's post).

But that's life in the racing field.. you gamble some and you lose some. Put it this way, if the track dried out as the team was hoping then we'd all be probably suffering from hangovers from last nights celebrations! For sure they're analyzing this and will learn from it. Everything's still to play for.

Here's hoping that it doesn't happen again... bring on the German GP!

Alan

"The only time he didn't score was when Hamilchoke tried to mount his rear in Canada."

Yes, yes, you crack me up with your inspired jokes, Hailchoke, yes, he sure choked yesterday, no mistaking. You're so right.

But Alan.... I keep looking, and I can't see what points the great Kimi scored at Monaco. Can you help me please. Hopefully with some more of your inspired humour!

Ferrari Fan

The truth is LH cant take it take it if he is not the leader. He doesnt hesitate for a moment to take others out. Heikki may have struggling in the race,but im sure he could have held on for more laps.But he only knew very well that hamilton is cut-throat when it comes to overtaking. Cut-throat and not just 'aggressive'.

Imagine, if he had refused to give the lead to LH in the soft manner that he did, and had LH resorted to his pet cut-throat overtaking attempt, both would have been outta the race.

And who would the British fans blame ? Heikki!!!

Im no Hamilton-hater,but accept it buddy.... Lewis *mostly* wins when all around him start having problems. And thats NOT a WC !

It was raining the pit stop wouldn't have taken any longer if the tyres had been changed & if they had bothered to look at the stands the umberellas were up...bad call one that they may well regret.

If they have the same weather info as the other teams then that only compounds the issues...Stefan has taken over the reins of Italys equivilant to Man U if he doesn't want a horses head in his bed then he needs to be a tad smarter with his decisions...Kimi, Massa & the fans deserve more...

Still... on the up side, three drivers on equal points, four within two points and Heidfeld on the up and up. It could have been worse, it could have been a boring procession.

Really, really bad call from Ferrari.

Kimi was substantially faster than Lewis before pitting, and I'm pretty sure Mclaren short-fuelled Lewis when the saw Kimi complete his stop. So, if Ferrari had changed Kimi's tyres, then things would have been equal between him and Lewis, and I'm pretty sure he would have gotten Lewis within a few laps, or at least leap-frogged him at the next pitstop.

Ferrari are missing Brawn and Todt, and I don't think Domenicalli has the tactical and strategic experience needed yet. This was a very ill-advised call, and could potentially have been a lot worse for Raikkonen than the eventual 4th place.

feel_the_fire
"The truth is LH cant take it take it if he is not the leader. He doesnt hesitate for a moment to take others out. Heikki may have struggling in the race,but im sure he could have held on for more laps.But he only knew very well that hamilton is cut-throat when it comes to overtaking. Cut-throat and not just 'aggressive'."

Schu took out NM, DH and JV in races and went then on to win so try and get some facts please all drivers who win and compete are competative.

"Imagine, if he had refused to give the lead to LH in the soft manner that he did, and had LH resorted to his pet cut-throat overtaking attempt, both would have been outta the race."

now if i remember it correctly and correct me someone if i am wrong but lewis out braked heiki into the corner and was off the racing line when he did the manouver to pass him.

"Im no Hamilton-hater,but accept it buddy.... Lewis *mostly* wins when all around him start having problems. And thats NOT a WC !"

Well thats life in motor racing and how everyone wins, when the other persons they are racing against have a problem or their car is not running right even KR does this he's not superman you know

ghost2912_

i disagree with youre comment it could have been a really good strategy for kimi, the actual times for the pit stop for both drivers was that lewis was released half a second earlier than kimi (and NO they are not that good to time a pitstop to half a second release time no team is)if kimi had had his tyres changed and the rain stopped in two or three laps then lewis's tyres would have worn quicker than kimis as the mclaren is harder on tyres than the ferrari this would have really given lewis the upper hand as it happened the rain did not stop end of story it was just not to be on this occassion

Barry who is NM?

I am not sure about your criticism of ghost2912's comment either. He is probably correct that they released LH when they saw Kimi coming. The reason they didn't change the tires is because they thought it would stop raining. The point is that they picked a strategy for the rain stopping so I am not sure what you are on about with changing tires then having the rain stop. That would have been a mistake too. I think all but the most blinkered fanboys would agree it would have been a much closer race had Kimi put fresh tires on. If either of them had put full wets on they would have lapped everyone.

I dont understand what the gripe is all about. Any other teams would be extremely proud to have both of their drivers leading the championship but not you ferari lot.I know it sucks to see LH lap massa & KR but that's F1...come on guys get over it.

I agree G.Rider the championship is starting over again for the top three. Regardless of who one supports we are very lucky that it is so close.

I think the Ferrari lot feel that there are many Mclaren supporters who have not been very gracious in their victory. A little too much has been made of the gap that Lewis put on Kimi when it clearly looked very close until the team decided to gamble by not putting on fresh tires. Just look at what Rubens was able to do by going the other way and putting full wets on.

Barry... as a courtesy to other posters on this board please try using some basic punctuation, because your post is almost unreadable.

Also, your comment makes no sense because you've contradicted yourself in your own post.

You first say that "if the rain stopped, then Hamilton's tyres would have faded (since the Mclaren is harder than the Ferrari on its tyres)".
You then go on to say that "this would have really given lewis the upper hand".

????? What are you smoking????

Barry I think I figured it out, is NM Nigel Mansel? If so when did Schu take him out? I must have missed that one.