Another Resigning Rumors

A week after the bad weekend for Kimi in Monaco GP, rumours about his retirement has appeared again. It says that Kimi won’t renew his contract after 2009. Where did it came from ? Apparently, this rumours came from his friends that heard him saying at a party that he does not intend to spend much longer as a Grand Prix racer.

"Kimi loves the driving and hates everything else about Formula One.” That’s what the friend said. And this statement clarify what he meant by ‘hates everything else about F1’: ‘The public appearances, the life under the spotlight - he doesn't have the desire anymore," I can understand that for a person with a character like Kimi, it’s very annoying to be a star which is the risk every F1 driver must take to be able to race in the grand prix.

That means I can’t skip every chance to see Kimi’s performance at every F1 GP from now on. By the way, Montreal GP is only one week from now. Let’s see what will happen there!

Real Disaster In Monaco

Not only a bad race in Monaco GP, Kimi had to lose his leading in world championship after finishing in 9th position last weekend. Lewis is now leading 3 points from Kimi. It’s too difficult for me to write about Kimi failure in Monaco. In my favorite GP, I have to see my favorite F1 driver must lost in a humiliating way.

I know that every driver must have bad races or bad days during his career. But this one is…how must I say ? disappointing ? I must wait until few days to be able to post about this event. But anyhow, I know how Kimi must feel right now. And this week would be hard times for him, cause everybody will always remember that day. What makes it more difficult, is the fact that he must went through all the bad things as a reigning world champion. People have high expectation on a world champion, and when something doesn’t turn right, they will ‘shout’.

Anyway, Kimi has apologized to Sutil personally, and Sutil has forgiven him. The bad was bad, but everything is behind us now. The most important thing is how Kimi should left everything behind and ‘pay’ it at next races. The closest race is in Canada. Hope things will get right this time.

Photos of Monaco GP

Monaco GP has been my most favorite GP. I managed to get this photos during Monaco weekend (from f1.gpupdate.net gallery). By looking at it, you won't have any doubt that they are taken at Monaco, the most beautiful circuit in the world, no other circuits are like this one! Just look at those views...Wow !!


                                                        


                              

Good Signal To Sweet End in Monaco GP?

Kimi in Monaco GP

Ferrari was the strongest in Monaco GP! After a not-quite-good practice session on Friday, Ferrari managed to grab 2 front rows on the race tomorrow. Although not a pole sitter, Kimi has succeeded to start from P2, behind his team mate Massa. Where is Hamilton ? P3. If Kimi can overtake Massa on the start, I think his chance to win the race is big. Is this a good signal for Kimi to make a sweet-ending at Monaco GP?

Kimi Just Bought A ‘New Toy’

During the Monaco GP weekend, Kimi participated in a charity auction of the Elton John Aids Foundation. He bought a 1974 Chevrolet Corvette owned by Hollywood actress Sharon Stone at €200.000. The charity auction took place at Monaco's Meridien Beach Plaza hotel on Friday night. Several of Kimi’s friends, the F1 drivers : Hamilton, Mark Webber, Jenson Button and Nelson Piquet were also participating in the fashion show on the same event.

Is a new Corvette enough for the weekend? Of course not! Kimi always chase victory on every race. Just let’s hope that the new toy will bring luck for Sunday’s race. We’ll see…

Going Back To Monaco

The F1 GP is coming back at last to Monaco this week. I should say that Monaco GP has been my favorite ever since I became an F1 mania. And this year, Kimi Raikkonen come to Monaco as the leading world championship with 7 points ahead from Hamilton and Massa. Of course, I’d very much like to see Kimi win in my favorite GP, Monaco GP!

At the practice session, Kimi (Ferrari) and Hamilton (MacLaren) are very close in lap time. In the first session, Kimi beat Hamilton by 0.268s. Hamilton was consistently quicker through the short first sector, while Kimi had the edge through the more important middle sector from Mirabeau to the Swimming Pool complex – outpacing Hamilton by 0.4s through there on his quickest lap.

Here is Kimi’s comment on the overall practice session :
"I would say this was a normal day of free practice. We went quite well, especially on used tyres in the morning. But we struggled a bit to do a time on new tyres in the second session and now we have to look at the data carefully to understand how to improve. There is plenty of time to do that and so I am not particularly worried, at least at the moment.”

The team boss, Domenicali pointed out few things that need to be anticipated. Firstly, the F2008 performance with the softer tyre, and secondly the weather forecast which underline the possibility of rain during the race.

Well, I can only hope that all Ferrari team will do their best to win this race, and hopefully Kimi is the one who took the victory. Go for it, Kimi !

Definitely A Bad Weekend in Istanbul Park!!

Just what I have been worried for before the race, last week in Istanbul Park wasn’t a good week at all for Kimi! Three bad days in a row, problem in practice session, bad qualifying laps, and bad start on the race! The only good thing from last week was 7 points that Kimi have now ahead of other competitors. Well…what can I say? I am really disappointed, but that’s racing! Sometimes you win and sometimes you lost.

But, anyway, what was really happening back there in Istanbul Park race ? As I watched from TV, I could see that Kimi didn’t have a good start, rather slow actually which allows Kubica to overtake him. Later on I learned that Kimi actually had an incident which involved Heikki Kovalainen on the start which caused Kimi to break the front wing of his F2008. For the detailed explanation, I have quoted Kimi’s version at the official Press Conference after the race :

“I didn’t have a very good start. I got to the side of him on the braking. Then I got a little bit squeezed on the inside and I tried to slow down and get behind him, but he just turned in a little bit. The unfortunate thing for both of us is that I broke the front wing and he had a puncture. It didn’t help for either of us. We chose to use the front wing for the whole race because it takes too long to change it and it wasn’t too bad. I knew pretty much what had happened. I hit the rear wheel of Heikki and the bottom of the end plate came off.”

Ferrari had also a bad choice of tyres. “Yeah, if I’d chosen now I would go onto the harder tyres at the first pit stop but it’s too late. I think the first set of soft worked pretty well for me, but the second set, when it was new, was quite difficult and it was at a point when we needed to be faster, so that’s one of the reasons that we lost second place”

Despite all the above problems, Kimi could actually score fastest lap in the last laps of the race. That means F2008 still have its strong speed Kimi needs to catch more win at the next races. I just can’t wait to see Kimi fight back at my favorite race : Monaco GP in 2 weeks…

Don't Make Mistake Again, Kimi!

On the contrary to Barcelona GP, this week seems to be a hard week for Kimi at the Istanbul Park GP. After gearbox problem during Friday practice season, Kimi made a mistake that forced him to start from front row in P4, behind his main contender Lewis Hamilton who will start from P3. Kimi was disappointed on this position, although he admitted it to be his mistake to make a poor lap on the final qualification session (Q3). "I am a bit disappointed but I made mistakes on my second lap in Q3 and I have to accept that," said the world champion. "I didn't go into the final corner before the pit straight quite right and lost a lot of speed."

But, apart from the bad start position (on the second row plus on the ‘dirty’ track at the anti-clockwise circuit of Istanbul Park), Kimi is still positive about getting as much point as he can to save his leading in the championship. It is not easy, but with a car as strong as F2008, I believe Kimi’s chance to win this race is still big. I put a big hope on McLaren’s fuel strategy, as Kimi said : “Of course, there's a question mark over fuel loads and we won't get an answer to that until the first pit stops tomorrow afternoon."

Well, 2 bad days are more than enough! Go get a victory Kimi, and close this weekend with a sweet win !

Gearbox Problem at Istanbul Practice

Another F1 GP week has started this Friday at Turkey, the Istanbul Park GP. Another chance of victory for our reigning world champion, Kimi Raikkonen! Starting the first practice session, Kimi has a grearbox problem in his F2008, forced him to do only one lap time. Massa reached the top speed in the other F2008 at the end of 1st practice session. At the 2nd session, Ferrari has to find the perfect setting between the car and the Bridgestone tyres. And finally, with the standard grooved slick tyres, Kimi could record a best time of 1:27.543s.

When we are looking at the competitors, McLaren seems not quit far from Ferrari (at the practice session). Lewis Hamilton record a time lap of just 0.036s behind Kimi. So, the main contender of this race would still be McLaren and BMW Sauber. Let’s see what Kimi can do at the qualifying session this afternoon, as like he said, starting position will much affect the race, just like what we have seen at Barcelona last week.

Keep the pace, Kimi !

 

Kimi's New Hairstyle

Just 'launched' at Barcelona....

 
I prefer his 'mohawk' hairstyle, this new one make him look older ??

Resigning F1 Rumours - Can It Be True?

Barcelona GP has been the most perfect race for Kimi during his career in F1. Everything goes well from Friday practice session, qualifying, to the Sunday race. And all ends with 9 points leading in driver championship. “It was a perfect weekend for us in Barcelona," said Kimi.

Friday practice session
Ferrari has set up few changes for the test session, which Kimi claimed to be worked out very well, and fit his needs.

Qualifying Session
Kimi made a stunning best time with a lap of more fuel than his team mate Massa, which proved his speed.

The Race
Kimi dominating the race regardless of 2 times of safety car involvement, and he did that without having to push the car. Meaning, he could have been faster!

Looking to how strong Ferrari at the moment can be quite frightening for its competitors. Look at a soft threat from Kimi’s words : “I’ve got such a big lead it gives me a little safety for the championships. It takes only one bad result and it’s gone, but we can afford a bad result. The others cannot — and that is going to help me.”

But Kimi’s words of how perfect the Barcelona win eventually trigger a rumour about his career. Rumour had spread out about Kimi’s possibility of resigning F1 if he won the world champion for the second time end of this season. Ferrari denied the rumour, of course, but Kimi said nothing about it. I will be very disappointed if Kimi did left F1, just reminded me to his senior Mika Hakkinen! I agree that Kimi doesn’t like controversy, and he is a ‘self-person’ who cares mostly of his personal goals.

Anyway, it’s only rumour. We won’t know the truth until the last race this year. The more important thing is to keep fighting for the next races to come !