There has been lot of talk about the number of GP's in Formula 1 since we heard there will be two races at USA. There are countries who have and have had two races. For example in Italy there was Monza and Imola (San Marino) and Imola was dropped. There was two races in Germany, Nürburgring and Hockenheim, and now it has been changed like every other year there's race at Nürburgring and at every other at Hockenheim. Now there's two GP's at Spain, Barcelona, with name of Spanish GP and Valencia, with the name of European GP. Valencia is nice looking place but the track hasn't given much action on the races so most of F1 fans would like to drop the new track away from the calender. And Barcelona is a track where F1 has been for so many years and everybody knows the track very well. Also there's rumours French GP would be back in F1 and it would be every other year and Spa every other year. And now, as we all know, USA will be back in F1 calender at 2012, but at 2013 there will be anoter race at USA too, at New York. This has been made fans thinking about the calendar kinda lot because is there much space for new races? I think it's bit unfair when one country can have two races. And isn't Russia coming to calender too? There's just no space for so many new races.
And when thinking about F1 races around the world, there comes one question. F1 goes places like Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, which aren't much of motorsport countries. And then there's small country here in the North Europe. Finland. We have had three champions in F1 history: Keijo "Keke" Rosberg, Mika Häkkinen and Kimi Räikkönen. Had other known names too like Mika Salo and Jyrki Järvilehto (known as JJ Lehto). And right now we have Heikki Kovalainen, and sooner or later Valtteri Bottas will join F1, too.
We have great history in F1 and we don't have a race track here. Fact is we don't have any big tracks here where to have international races. We are a small country with around 5 million people, and on places where F1 goes there can be much more people in one city than in whole Finland. But if I would start to think about what if there would be a race track build around. Basicly, the track should be here in southern Finland, close to Helsinki because Helsinki is our biggest city, our capital, and the city which is most get used to visitors from other countries. But where to build the track then? There can't be a street circuit at Helsinki because roads there are made with some stones ages ago, which is not good for racing cars. So there should be good asphalt made, but it takes away something from the city's history. Plan Helsinki street circuit failed.
More possibilities around Helsinki? Well, Helsinki area has 3 big cities, including Helsinki there's Espoo and Vantaa which are big cities too. All these 3 cities are very close to each others. I don't know much about the Helsinki area but I think there's not really much places around where would be possible to build about over 5 kilometres long race track. But there's Helsinki-Vantaa airport which is the main airport of our country, so maybe somewhere close to the airport could be good? Maybe, but, again a question, how far would hotels of drivers and teams be? I don't know exactly but the distance might not be best possible.
If F1 track is build somewhere else around Finland, then comes some trouble. Basicly F1 races take much visitors. We are small country and many of us love sports, specially motorsports, but how many of us could actually go and see the race? There would come so many tourists from other countries to see the Finnish GP. Where to suddenly put all those people when the track is somewhere else than around Helsinki? For example I know that my city has 3 or 4 hotels and that really isn't enough. In Helsinki there is many hotels but could the city be able to handle so many tourists at the same time? I don't think so.
Also the Finnish GP should be at May, June, July, or August. That's the summer time here in Finland and most people are on summerholidays. But that's not the main reason. Other times of the year would be just basicly too cold for F1 which is get used to air temperatures which are mostly over 20 degrees. At Septempber it starts to be more cold and more rainy. Then could be F1 too but weather would be too boring. And then since November and December until March or April there can be snow around which isn't F1 thing. Also, when there would be Finnish GP at summer, people would realize it's not all about snow and cold here as some people think. Here can be over 30 degrees at summer, it's totally possible. Even it's likely to be around 25 but then people would see...
So I was thinking too, if I would imagine there is a F1 track in Finland, I started to think about those people who have came to watch F1. I can imagine warm summer day, about 40 year old fat men there on the grandstands with glass of beer and not wearing a shirt. Yuck that could be just... ughh.. But just too Finnish. I don't like that at all but that would be just too Finnish that I can imagine it.
I think it would be great if there would be F1 GP at Finland, but there should be many sollutions found before making a track here. But making a track here would bring here other international racing series too, not just F1. Rally is still a big thing here even we are great F1 lovers here too. We just have rally roads here in natural, they don't need to be made. But a race track needs to be made if we want to be a perfect racing country. But if ntelligent people get together, find a good place for the track, money for development and gets everything together, it could be a good idea which I definitely would support.
Oct 26, 2011
Oct 23, 2011
Sad week for motorsport
I'm feeling very sad. I know all the motorsport fans are feeling sad. This week just has been very hard week for us. First, 16th October Dan Wheldon looses his life at fatal and huge accident at Indy Car race. There was huge and horrible crash where was 15 cars on the same accident. Dan Wheldon was 33 years old and had two kids. He was a great driver and had already some big victories. Dan's death and the horrible accident stopped the motorsport World on that Sunday. I heard about the accident on the day it happened and heard Dan was taken to hospital. I was feeling horrible on that evening because I had a feeling he might not survive, but we all racing fans prayed togehter.. but later we heard the news nobody wanted to hear...
In one week we slowly got over what happened to Dan. But then, today came. I took my laptop just to check Twitter fastly. First tweet I saw was "RIP Marco Simoncelli". I didn't want to believe it was true. But I had to. My eyes turned to tears. I just can't accept this. 24 years old young MotoGP talent was dead. I knew he is a great driver. I followed MotoGP still couple years ago when it still was free at Finnish television and I liked Simoncelli. I have no bad memory about him. And on Simoncelli's accident, he was so unlucky.. on his situation there was nothing to do..
On these two very sad moments we all motorsport fans have been together. This has touched everybody who loves motorsport, even those who don't follow MotoGP or Indy Car. One thing is sure - Indy Car safety must get better! They should look at Formula One. There the safety level is great. Of course in motorsport there's always risks no matter how safe the series would be, you can't know what's going to happen next. And drivers know the risk. But they drive because they love racing.
I am out of words, but I can't describe how sad I feel about loosing two great motorsport stars. I don't even watch Indy Car really but Dan's death touched me very much, I cried and it's not a secret, I cried for Simoncelli too.. We are all praying for families of Marco and Dan, hope them to stay strong. All racing fans are together on these situations, no matter what serie we watch, no matter what team or driver we support. This touches everybody.
I hope Dan and Marco are happy at heaven, and can meet great legends like Senna, and race with them...
RIP Dan Wheldon and Marco Simoncelli, you are on thoughts of every motorsport fan in the World... You will be never forgotten!
In one week we slowly got over what happened to Dan. But then, today came. I took my laptop just to check Twitter fastly. First tweet I saw was "RIP Marco Simoncelli". I didn't want to believe it was true. But I had to. My eyes turned to tears. I just can't accept this. 24 years old young MotoGP talent was dead. I knew he is a great driver. I followed MotoGP still couple years ago when it still was free at Finnish television and I liked Simoncelli. I have no bad memory about him. And on Simoncelli's accident, he was so unlucky.. on his situation there was nothing to do..
On these two very sad moments we all motorsport fans have been together. This has touched everybody who loves motorsport, even those who don't follow MotoGP or Indy Car. One thing is sure - Indy Car safety must get better! They should look at Formula One. There the safety level is great. Of course in motorsport there's always risks no matter how safe the series would be, you can't know what's going to happen next. And drivers know the risk. But they drive because they love racing.
I am out of words, but I can't describe how sad I feel about loosing two great motorsport stars. I don't even watch Indy Car really but Dan's death touched me very much, I cried and it's not a secret, I cried for Simoncelli too.. We are all praying for families of Marco and Dan, hope them to stay strong. All racing fans are together on these situations, no matter what serie we watch, no matter what team or driver we support. This touches everybody.
I hope Dan and Marco are happy at heaven, and can meet great legends like Senna, and race with them...
RIP Dan Wheldon and Marco Simoncelli, you are on thoughts of every motorsport fan in the World... You will be never forgotten!
Oct 14, 2011
Respect
I just have to do this. Today I got enough. This blog text will tell my views about Felipe Massa and about being his fan. I am doing this to hopefully make people understand why I am his fan. I have got so much critism because I am his fan and I don't understand it. The situation of Massa fans today is exactly same as the situation of Felipe himself. It seems like today you have to support only those drivers who win. Everybody has their good and bad times, and when a driver has a bad time of his career, should fans stop supporting him? No way! Real fans support their favorite driver no matter what. I think it's ridiculous to stop supporting a driver who maybe haven't won for sometime. There's somebody called Lewis Hamilton who is not having best time of his career right now, and so is Felipe Massa. But nobody is critical to Hamilton fans. Hamilton himself got critism, also Massa gets. But for some reason Massa fans get the same critism as the driver himself. Do people seriously think you can turn our heads? We have our reasons to be his fan. I still believe in him, no matter what. I am stubborn enough to support him and I am so damn proud of it! Nobody can turn my head even people so hardly try me to leave him. Felipe needs support of real fans and he believes in us, he has only few real fans anymore, but we are strong, we never give up!
Massa is on hard situation at Ferrari. The team doesn't support him anymore and it makes his feelings down. He is not doing his best and big reason is the Ferrari team and how Alonso is suddenly number one on the team. Ferrari have forgotten everything Felipe has done for them in the past years. Many people say Massa isn't strong anymore after his accident. I don't believe in that, not at all. What did Massa do after his accident? Yes. He took two podium places and lead the championship. To make you notice, this was THE BEGINNING OF THE SEASON. At the start everything seemed to be okay so Felipe did well too, he thought the team will support both drivers like they did when Massa and Räikkönen were team mates. But the truth started to come out slowly. That day turned everything upside down. I never forgive that day. On that day I started to hate Ferrari team. I lost all the respect I had. German GP 2010. Felipe Massa was going to win a race, clearly, and one year after his horrifying accident. He was going to show to everybody he is back. He was going to do what we all wanted to say, back to victories after recovering from accident. And then the shit happens. Fernando Alonso thinks is ridiculous that Massa was clearly faster than him and was leading the race. Alonso just couldn't accept Massa is in fact faster than him. He starts to cry in radio it's ridiculous. Most ridiculous is Alonso himself!! So sure the team wants that mr. cheater is happy, so they give a team order to Massa. At the end Massa listened the order, even he didn't want to. I 100% understand his feeling. I can imagine how did he feel... It just breaks my heart.. I don't want to remember that day. Since that day Felipe become just a play button of the Scuderia Santander Fernando Ferrari. Since that day Felipe lost his trust to the team. He started to realize the team isn't same as before. The only care about Fernando. AFTER ONE YEAR OF ACCIDENT THEY GIVE A TEAM ORDER LIKE THIS. That is just heartless!
Now comes the part that some are asking: "Why did he listen to team order, why didn't he leave the team bla bla". Well, the answer is easy. He's a racing driver and if he would leave the team, where would he have gone then? There was no free places at the top teams. And we all know, Felipe is honest and fair person. So he stays until the end his contract at Ferrari, because at the end he is loyal and ther's no places at the top teams. Now all are saying he could go to smaller team, but is that what Massa wants? No it isn't. He knows he can still win and he is a top driver no matter what people say. He wants a car with he can win. Atm Ferrari is the best he can have, but there he is not allowed to win. His fans would like to see him anywhere else, but he just can't leave yet. I just hope he leaves the team after 2012, and finds himself from Red Bull, McLaren or Mercedes for 2013. Any of them is way better than Ferrari. And that one who comes to Ferrari after Massa will fail his career. It's a fact. Nobody is allowed to fight against Alonso. People can talk about Hamilton or Vettel or coming to Ferrari, but fact is, that will not happen.
2011 has been a bad year for Felipe, yes. But I understand him. I think his selfconfidence is very down... he needs a good result.. but I know it's so bad to race when you know you have no support from your own team. Felipe is very emotional person.. I remember how I read an article at the beginning of 2008 that Felipe Massa can't be World Champion of Formula One because of his too nice personality. That has been proven to be bull shit, because Massa lost the title by one point at 2008. To bad luck and Alonso's cheatment at Singapore. So saying that Massa can't win championship because of his personality doesn't make sense. And at 2008 he had a great support of the team. Everything was okay.
One thing also I have noticed and heard also from trustable source that Massa's mom doesn't like Alonso. Nowdays we can only see Massa's dad and his brother at Ferrari garage. Ana Elena Massa is not going there because she can't stand Alonso. She stays away to avoid mess at the team. I think it's hard for Felioe's dad and brother too to be there....
I become Massa's fan at 2006, just before he took his first podium. I noticed he was improving his performance, becoming better and better. 2006 season really was season of changes for me, because I supported Kimi Räikkönen before that. I was tired to Kimi and McLaren which always had issues. Championship fight was between Alonso and Schumacher. And as most people know I have always hated Alonso. So I supported Schumacher to be champion. And on supporting Schumacher I noticed his team mate Felipe, and soon Felipe took his first podim which made me his fan. I loved so much how emotional and happy was Felipe about his first podium, it was simply so amazing to see.. soon after that he took his first pole position and victory at Turkey which made me so proud, Felipe made tears to my eyes, I cried when he won.. again he was so emotional, it was so great, I just cannot describe with words how did it feel... And then another emotional victory at his home GP, at Brazil. This all made me his great fan, and I will never stop.
I have to thank Felipe Massa for many things. I totally changed as a person too thanks to him... Thanks to him, I started to love Brazil as a country, got more interested about the people, language... I feel like I am much better person than before, I feel like I am more open, way more happy, everything! I feel so big love to Brazil and have met great people from Brazil who mean so much to me. I will support Felipe forever, he can be sure about it. He knows I support him. I will fight for him, always. I never met him, but I hope someday I can... He is great personality, a great driver... everybody has ups and downs. Felipe is having a very hard part now but I feel deep in my heart everything will turn to better... we just need to believe in little positive things. Felipe is loosing fans which is very sad and unfair fact. He have also had very bad luck in last races. This all makes me sad because he haven't deserved things like that. He deserves much better.
Feels like almost everyone have forgot what Felipe Massa can do. He can win races, he can make great overtakes, he can be champion. But only if he has the support. And when the support of team is almost nothing, when he is loosing fans, when a old fan of his goes in front of his eyes and says horrible things... (yes. This has really happened. Heard from trustable source and knowing this just breaks my heart). There are soome great true fans left and we have done things for Felipe he has been very happy about, we want to give him a reason to smile. We want to make him happy. We want to make him know we support him no matter what he does.
And, people should not talk bad to other people just because they are supporting different drivers. It's not fair because we all have our views. Sometimes it's very hard to be Massa's fan nowdays, but, there wouldn't be any challange on it if everything would be easy. I am ready to face and fight against anyone who comes in front of me to tell me something that doesn't make sense. I am not a person who loves to fight, but, I always fight for those who I care about. Family, friends, or a special F1 driver. I will be on the side of important people, specially if they face something which is not fair. Ferrari team often puts words to mouths of their drivers, I know Felipe can't tell his real feelings... I can feel what he feels. I know he doesn't always tell the truth for media. I just can see it all from his eyes. I can read everything.
My wish is that F1 fans would let others to support who they want and stop to be critical to people who doesn't support same driver as they do. There are people who support drivers of Hispania, Virgin, Lotus, which defenately are not winning. I respect that very much. It's something great that some people can support drives who can't even score points. It's the reason why those drivers want to come out from the garage.
Back to Felipe.. I could write so much about him. But if I would write everything, this text just would be endless. There still will be many texts about him from me, you can be sure about it, for sure! And just one thing. Never under rate Massa fans. We are stronger than people can believe. For us there has happened so many great things thanks to being his fan. We don't like to talk about those things on public. Those are things that we, his fans, just share together. And we have a feeling things like that haven't happened to fans of other drivers. That makes us more proud. For fans of other drivers we might look like group of ridiculous fan girls and fan boys, but the truth isn't that. We know more than many others. Why don't we share those things? Because those who are not real fans are not worth to hear those things. Deal with it.
Felipe Massa, seus fãs verdadeiros estará sempre com você, sempre.... Você pode confiar nos,
Massa is on hard situation at Ferrari. The team doesn't support him anymore and it makes his feelings down. He is not doing his best and big reason is the Ferrari team and how Alonso is suddenly number one on the team. Ferrari have forgotten everything Felipe has done for them in the past years. Many people say Massa isn't strong anymore after his accident. I don't believe in that, not at all. What did Massa do after his accident? Yes. He took two podium places and lead the championship. To make you notice, this was THE BEGINNING OF THE SEASON. At the start everything seemed to be okay so Felipe did well too, he thought the team will support both drivers like they did when Massa and Räikkönen were team mates. But the truth started to come out slowly. That day turned everything upside down. I never forgive that day. On that day I started to hate Ferrari team. I lost all the respect I had. German GP 2010. Felipe Massa was going to win a race, clearly, and one year after his horrifying accident. He was going to show to everybody he is back. He was going to do what we all wanted to say, back to victories after recovering from accident. And then the shit happens. Fernando Alonso thinks is ridiculous that Massa was clearly faster than him and was leading the race. Alonso just couldn't accept Massa is in fact faster than him. He starts to cry in radio it's ridiculous. Most ridiculous is Alonso himself!! So sure the team wants that mr. cheater is happy, so they give a team order to Massa. At the end Massa listened the order, even he didn't want to. I 100% understand his feeling. I can imagine how did he feel... It just breaks my heart.. I don't want to remember that day. Since that day Felipe become just a play button of the Scuderia Santander Fernando Ferrari. Since that day Felipe lost his trust to the team. He started to realize the team isn't same as before. The only care about Fernando. AFTER ONE YEAR OF ACCIDENT THEY GIVE A TEAM ORDER LIKE THIS. That is just heartless!
Now comes the part that some are asking: "Why did he listen to team order, why didn't he leave the team bla bla". Well, the answer is easy. He's a racing driver and if he would leave the team, where would he have gone then? There was no free places at the top teams. And we all know, Felipe is honest and fair person. So he stays until the end his contract at Ferrari, because at the end he is loyal and ther's no places at the top teams. Now all are saying he could go to smaller team, but is that what Massa wants? No it isn't. He knows he can still win and he is a top driver no matter what people say. He wants a car with he can win. Atm Ferrari is the best he can have, but there he is not allowed to win. His fans would like to see him anywhere else, but he just can't leave yet. I just hope he leaves the team after 2012, and finds himself from Red Bull, McLaren or Mercedes for 2013. Any of them is way better than Ferrari. And that one who comes to Ferrari after Massa will fail his career. It's a fact. Nobody is allowed to fight against Alonso. People can talk about Hamilton or Vettel or coming to Ferrari, but fact is, that will not happen.
2011 has been a bad year for Felipe, yes. But I understand him. I think his selfconfidence is very down... he needs a good result.. but I know it's so bad to race when you know you have no support from your own team. Felipe is very emotional person.. I remember how I read an article at the beginning of 2008 that Felipe Massa can't be World Champion of Formula One because of his too nice personality. That has been proven to be bull shit, because Massa lost the title by one point at 2008. To bad luck and Alonso's cheatment at Singapore. So saying that Massa can't win championship because of his personality doesn't make sense. And at 2008 he had a great support of the team. Everything was okay.
One thing also I have noticed and heard also from trustable source that Massa's mom doesn't like Alonso. Nowdays we can only see Massa's dad and his brother at Ferrari garage. Ana Elena Massa is not going there because she can't stand Alonso. She stays away to avoid mess at the team. I think it's hard for Felioe's dad and brother too to be there....
I become Massa's fan at 2006, just before he took his first podium. I noticed he was improving his performance, becoming better and better. 2006 season really was season of changes for me, because I supported Kimi Räikkönen before that. I was tired to Kimi and McLaren which always had issues. Championship fight was between Alonso and Schumacher. And as most people know I have always hated Alonso. So I supported Schumacher to be champion. And on supporting Schumacher I noticed his team mate Felipe, and soon Felipe took his first podim which made me his fan. I loved so much how emotional and happy was Felipe about his first podium, it was simply so amazing to see.. soon after that he took his first pole position and victory at Turkey which made me so proud, Felipe made tears to my eyes, I cried when he won.. again he was so emotional, it was so great, I just cannot describe with words how did it feel... And then another emotional victory at his home GP, at Brazil. This all made me his great fan, and I will never stop.
I have to thank Felipe Massa for many things. I totally changed as a person too thanks to him... Thanks to him, I started to love Brazil as a country, got more interested about the people, language... I feel like I am much better person than before, I feel like I am more open, way more happy, everything! I feel so big love to Brazil and have met great people from Brazil who mean so much to me. I will support Felipe forever, he can be sure about it. He knows I support him. I will fight for him, always. I never met him, but I hope someday I can... He is great personality, a great driver... everybody has ups and downs. Felipe is having a very hard part now but I feel deep in my heart everything will turn to better... we just need to believe in little positive things. Felipe is loosing fans which is very sad and unfair fact. He have also had very bad luck in last races. This all makes me sad because he haven't deserved things like that. He deserves much better.
Feels like almost everyone have forgot what Felipe Massa can do. He can win races, he can make great overtakes, he can be champion. But only if he has the support. And when the support of team is almost nothing, when he is loosing fans, when a old fan of his goes in front of his eyes and says horrible things... (yes. This has really happened. Heard from trustable source and knowing this just breaks my heart). There are soome great true fans left and we have done things for Felipe he has been very happy about, we want to give him a reason to smile. We want to make him happy. We want to make him know we support him no matter what he does.
And, people should not talk bad to other people just because they are supporting different drivers. It's not fair because we all have our views. Sometimes it's very hard to be Massa's fan nowdays, but, there wouldn't be any challange on it if everything would be easy. I am ready to face and fight against anyone who comes in front of me to tell me something that doesn't make sense. I am not a person who loves to fight, but, I always fight for those who I care about. Family, friends, or a special F1 driver. I will be on the side of important people, specially if they face something which is not fair. Ferrari team often puts words to mouths of their drivers, I know Felipe can't tell his real feelings... I can feel what he feels. I know he doesn't always tell the truth for media. I just can see it all from his eyes. I can read everything.
My wish is that F1 fans would let others to support who they want and stop to be critical to people who doesn't support same driver as they do. There are people who support drivers of Hispania, Virgin, Lotus, which defenately are not winning. I respect that very much. It's something great that some people can support drives who can't even score points. It's the reason why those drivers want to come out from the garage.
Back to Felipe.. I could write so much about him. But if I would write everything, this text just would be endless. There still will be many texts about him from me, you can be sure about it, for sure! And just one thing. Never under rate Massa fans. We are stronger than people can believe. For us there has happened so many great things thanks to being his fan. We don't like to talk about those things on public. Those are things that we, his fans, just share together. And we have a feeling things like that haven't happened to fans of other drivers. That makes us more proud. For fans of other drivers we might look like group of ridiculous fan girls and fan boys, but the truth isn't that. We know more than many others. Why don't we share those things? Because those who are not real fans are not worth to hear those things. Deal with it.
Felipe Massa, seus fãs verdadeiros estará sempre com você, sempre.... Você pode confiar nos,
nós nunca deixá você, Felipe Massa do Brasil...
Oct 9, 2011
Japanese GP - The day of Button and Vettel
Japanese GP is now over, and I think it's time to look what happened during the race and tell my views :)
Sebastian Vettel started from pole, with Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber behind him. Button had a great start but Vettel started to block him when going to the first corner - Button's car went little bit to the grass and he had to slow down to avoid contact and not no go too far on the grass. As the result, Hamilton was over to take the second place from his team mate. After the first corner it was Vettel, Hamilton, Button, Massa, Alonso, Webber.
After the moment between Vettel and Button, Button said on the team radio Vettel should have penalty from the situation. I am not sure what to think, the move wasn't really bad but Jenson had to go to the grass and slow down. At the end it didn't have much meaning, because Button won the race anyway.
Alonso overtook Massa thanks to DRS, and both Button and Alonso were able to overtake Hamilton later, because he had somekind of problem (maybe his tyres?) and he came to the pits. Later, Vettel came to the pits. Button staid out for one lap later than Vettel and after his own pitstop, he was able to get back in front of Vettel
Later after pitstops there was again a contact between Massa and Hamilton.. And I think it was Hamilton's fault again. I said this straight after the race, I think Hamilton should have had a penalty again. He have got a penalty from smaller things this season, and actually because stewards have given penalties easily this season I expected both Vettel and Hamilton getting penalties from what happened today, but on both situations there was investigation but no futher action. Massa was on the race line but Hamilton blocked and drove on him, and it caused a small part falling to the track on the race line. Nothing bigger this time, Hamilton was lucky not to cause more harm, but I just can't understand.. Hamilton said after the race that his mirrors were moving so much that it was impossible to see anything from them. Get new mirrors, or glasses maybe? I was called obressed at Twitter earlier today because I think Hamilton should have had a penalty. And not because it was with Massa, no matter who with the contact would be I would think the same. Sorry that too often Massa gets the hit from Hamilton that I'm maybe looking like I am only supporting my own driver and not looking at the things in general. No, I do both, I support Massa no matter what and at the same time I can look at F1 in general. So this is only my opinion, I don't say that everyone should agree with me, because it's a fact that we are all different and have our views. So again, nothing personal.
Later there was Safety Car on track. I was surprised when I saw it coming to track, I was expecting to see someone off the track or something, but the SC was caused my pieces on the race line caused by accidents between Massa and Hamilton, and Webber and Michael Schumacher.
Later there was many fights happening on the track and I am happy to the race in general. The race was entertaining even there wasn't rain or anything, all the time there was something happening that made it exciting. I wanted to see way more laps. And big concratulations for Jenson Button for a great victory at Japan! And, big congratulations to the youngest double world champion ever, Sebastian Vettel. As expected, his title was confirmed at Suzuka, and it was 11th time in the history when the title was confirmed at Suzuka. It was sure for months Vettel will be champion this year, incredible pace I have to say.
Also, I think this race was very positive for Team Lotus. They looked competitive all the time during the race, finally had fight with some drivers and they staid on the same lap with leader Vettel. For team like Lotus it's a big thing, so I have to congratulate them also!
Now, after Vettel confirmed the title, I hope the season kind of starts again at Korea next weekend. Vettel is the champion, now it's time to hard racing and maybe little bit more risky drive. Sure there's still fight for the second place on championship, but I hope we will see very exciting races at the end of the season. Not many races left, Korea, India, Abu Dhabi, Brazil.. For me it feels like the season just started not much time ago, and soon it's over.I don't want to think about it being over yet, because nothing entertains me more than F1. I think me and all other F1 wants want to enjoy every second of racing with our full hearts, our love to the sport never stops.
And here at the end, results of Japanese GP:
Sebastian Vettel started from pole, with Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber behind him. Button had a great start but Vettel started to block him when going to the first corner - Button's car went little bit to the grass and he had to slow down to avoid contact and not no go too far on the grass. As the result, Hamilton was over to take the second place from his team mate. After the first corner it was Vettel, Hamilton, Button, Massa, Alonso, Webber.
After the moment between Vettel and Button, Button said on the team radio Vettel should have penalty from the situation. I am not sure what to think, the move wasn't really bad but Jenson had to go to the grass and slow down. At the end it didn't have much meaning, because Button won the race anyway.
Alonso overtook Massa thanks to DRS, and both Button and Alonso were able to overtake Hamilton later, because he had somekind of problem (maybe his tyres?) and he came to the pits. Later, Vettel came to the pits. Button staid out for one lap later than Vettel and after his own pitstop, he was able to get back in front of Vettel
Later after pitstops there was again a contact between Massa and Hamilton.. And I think it was Hamilton's fault again. I said this straight after the race, I think Hamilton should have had a penalty again. He have got a penalty from smaller things this season, and actually because stewards have given penalties easily this season I expected both Vettel and Hamilton getting penalties from what happened today, but on both situations there was investigation but no futher action. Massa was on the race line but Hamilton blocked and drove on him, and it caused a small part falling to the track on the race line. Nothing bigger this time, Hamilton was lucky not to cause more harm, but I just can't understand.. Hamilton said after the race that his mirrors were moving so much that it was impossible to see anything from them. Get new mirrors, or glasses maybe? I was called obressed at Twitter earlier today because I think Hamilton should have had a penalty. And not because it was with Massa, no matter who with the contact would be I would think the same. Sorry that too often Massa gets the hit from Hamilton that I'm maybe looking like I am only supporting my own driver and not looking at the things in general. No, I do both, I support Massa no matter what and at the same time I can look at F1 in general. So this is only my opinion, I don't say that everyone should agree with me, because it's a fact that we are all different and have our views. So again, nothing personal.
Later there was Safety Car on track. I was surprised when I saw it coming to track, I was expecting to see someone off the track or something, but the SC was caused my pieces on the race line caused by accidents between Massa and Hamilton, and Webber and Michael Schumacher.
Later there was many fights happening on the track and I am happy to the race in general. The race was entertaining even there wasn't rain or anything, all the time there was something happening that made it exciting. I wanted to see way more laps. And big concratulations for Jenson Button for a great victory at Japan! And, big congratulations to the youngest double world champion ever, Sebastian Vettel. As expected, his title was confirmed at Suzuka, and it was 11th time in the history when the title was confirmed at Suzuka. It was sure for months Vettel will be champion this year, incredible pace I have to say.
Also, I think this race was very positive for Team Lotus. They looked competitive all the time during the race, finally had fight with some drivers and they staid on the same lap with leader Vettel. For team like Lotus it's a big thing, so I have to congratulate them also!
Now, after Vettel confirmed the title, I hope the season kind of starts again at Korea next weekend. Vettel is the champion, now it's time to hard racing and maybe little bit more risky drive. Sure there's still fight for the second place on championship, but I hope we will see very exciting races at the end of the season. Not many races left, Korea, India, Abu Dhabi, Brazil.. For me it feels like the season just started not much time ago, and soon it's over.I don't want to think about it being over yet, because nothing entertains me more than F1. I think me and all other F1 wants want to enjoy every second of racing with our full hearts, our love to the sport never stops.
And here at the end, results of Japanese GP:
1. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1.30.53,427 3
2. Fernando Alonso Ferrari +1,160 3
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault +2,006 3
4. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault +8,071 3
5. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes +24,268 3
6. Michael Schumacher Mercedes +27,120 3
7. Felipe Massa Ferrari +28,240 3
8. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari +39,377 2
9. Vitali Petrov Renault +42,607 2
10. Nico Rosberg Mercedes +44,322 3
11. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes +54,447 3
12. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes +1.02,326 3
13. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari +1.03,705 2
14. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth +1.04,194 3
15. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1.06,623 2
16. Bruno Senna Renault +1.12,628 2
17. Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth +1.14,191 3
18. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault +1.27,824 3
19. Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault +1.36,140 3
20. Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth - 2 laps 3
21. Jerome D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth - 2 laps 3
22. Daniel Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth - 2 laps 3
23. Vitantonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth - 2 laps 3
Fastest lap: Jenson Button, 1.36,568 lap 52.
DNF: Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari
Oct 4, 2011
Japanese GP Preview - Vettel goes old school?
In the up coming weekend it's again time of Formula One action. The circus turns now to Japan, to the legandary Suzuka track.
According to the weather forecast of Formula1.com, it should be sunny weekend. We have seen many rainy races at Japan in last couple years, so sunny Japan is welcome. But, rain always makes the race so exciting. And who knows what the weather will be before we really see it?
Suzuka plays big part in some of the most legendary Championship title fights in Formula One history. Most of us remember Senna vs Prost, Häkkinen vs Schumacher etc. About ten years ago the championship was often taken at Suzuka. And now, Sebastian Vettel, is on a situation he needs a one World Championship point more than Jenson Button to be the World Champion, when going to Suzuka, the arena of the legandary champions. That's likely to happen this weekend. Only way to make him not to win the championship at Japan is that he scores no points. And the way Seb has done this season so far, points on every race, makes me believe it's more than likely we can congratulate the youngest double World Champion in the Formula 1 history at Sunday. That means Vettel would take the record away from it's current keeper Fernando Alonso.
Vettel has been unstopable this year, so I really hope we can see more fight on the top and others would really challange him, not make him to take the double championship easy. I think Suzuka is a track were McLaren could be close to Red Bull. Both Ferrari and Mercedes are big questions, I think Ferrari will be behind Red Bull and McLaren, then Mercedes. But on the middle field it will be close. At Singapore, Force India was very strong, and on some tracks Sauber has been better, even Toro Rosso. Williams still has hard times going on, they need something positive. And the weekend at Singapore was very bad for Lotus Renault GP, they were on positions where they shouldn't be. Let's see if they turn back to their real level at Japan.
On the view of drivers, I am still waiting to see Felipe Massa on podium. I hope it happens at Japan. Massa have had lot of bad luck this season, other drivers crashing on him, team making mistakes at pitstops.. and on the other races his pace haven't been enough. It seems when Massa has a chance, something will happen which ruins his changes. Some Massa fans maybe will be thinking why I haven't wrote anything about him yet. As you all know I am a huge fan, a real fan of Felipe, and I am planning for a long blog text about Felipe in the end of the season, because I know when I start to write about Felipe, it will be veeeeeeeery long and emotional text. So, that's what you'll get sooner or later.
Also I would like to see Mark Webber getting a good start. He have had good races but chances for top positions have been ruined on the start. Webber have had so many bad starts this season, he needs to get it all togehter.
So, I think this weekend Sebastian Vettel goes old school and takes the championship at Suzuka - as many of the big champions have done.
Or, maybe, Lewis Hamilton crashes Vettel out from the race and the ensuring of the championship turns to Corea? (Ironic, nothing personal ;P)
According to the weather forecast of Formula1.com, it should be sunny weekend. We have seen many rainy races at Japan in last couple years, so sunny Japan is welcome. But, rain always makes the race so exciting. And who knows what the weather will be before we really see it?
Suzuka plays big part in some of the most legendary Championship title fights in Formula One history. Most of us remember Senna vs Prost, Häkkinen vs Schumacher etc. About ten years ago the championship was often taken at Suzuka. And now, Sebastian Vettel, is on a situation he needs a one World Championship point more than Jenson Button to be the World Champion, when going to Suzuka, the arena of the legandary champions. That's likely to happen this weekend. Only way to make him not to win the championship at Japan is that he scores no points. And the way Seb has done this season so far, points on every race, makes me believe it's more than likely we can congratulate the youngest double World Champion in the Formula 1 history at Sunday. That means Vettel would take the record away from it's current keeper Fernando Alonso.
Vettel has been unstopable this year, so I really hope we can see more fight on the top and others would really challange him, not make him to take the double championship easy. I think Suzuka is a track were McLaren could be close to Red Bull. Both Ferrari and Mercedes are big questions, I think Ferrari will be behind Red Bull and McLaren, then Mercedes. But on the middle field it will be close. At Singapore, Force India was very strong, and on some tracks Sauber has been better, even Toro Rosso. Williams still has hard times going on, they need something positive. And the weekend at Singapore was very bad for Lotus Renault GP, they were on positions where they shouldn't be. Let's see if they turn back to their real level at Japan.
On the view of drivers, I am still waiting to see Felipe Massa on podium. I hope it happens at Japan. Massa have had lot of bad luck this season, other drivers crashing on him, team making mistakes at pitstops.. and on the other races his pace haven't been enough. It seems when Massa has a chance, something will happen which ruins his changes. Some Massa fans maybe will be thinking why I haven't wrote anything about him yet. As you all know I am a huge fan, a real fan of Felipe, and I am planning for a long blog text about Felipe in the end of the season, because I know when I start to write about Felipe, it will be veeeeeeeery long and emotional text. So, that's what you'll get sooner or later.
Also I would like to see Mark Webber getting a good start. He have had good races but chances for top positions have been ruined on the start. Webber have had so many bad starts this season, he needs to get it all togehter.
So, I think this weekend Sebastian Vettel goes old school and takes the championship at Suzuka - as many of the big champions have done.
Or, maybe, Lewis Hamilton crashes Vettel out from the race and the ensuring of the championship turns to Corea? (Ironic, nothing personal ;P)
Oct 3, 2011
Confusing WRC weekend (Part 2)
I have to continue where my old blog text ended, because I have heard so many new things after yesterday and they need to be correced ;)
So, first of all, Petter Solberg have been dropped away from results of French rally, because his car was too light. That means Mikko Hirvonen moves up one position to 3rd, and now actually the real drivers World Championship situation looks like this: Sebastien Loeb and Hirvonen are 1st and 2nd, both with 196 points. Sebastien Ogier is 3rd with 193 points.
And more news: It seems like Ogier is not allowed to fight for championship, which is actually sad to hear. I hoped to see a great World Championship fight, but it seems like Citroen is going to use Ogier to play the championship for Loeb. When asked from Citroen, they want to be champions and they definitely want the name of the champion is Loeb as so many years in a row already. Sad for young Ogier who is really in the fight too, and first time in his WRC career.
What if Hirvonen and Loeb would be both out at the last rally by accident and Ogier would have a real possibility to be champion - what would Citroen do then? I would like to see...
So, first of all, Petter Solberg have been dropped away from results of French rally, because his car was too light. That means Mikko Hirvonen moves up one position to 3rd, and now actually the real drivers World Championship situation looks like this: Sebastien Loeb and Hirvonen are 1st and 2nd, both with 196 points. Sebastien Ogier is 3rd with 193 points.
And more news: It seems like Ogier is not allowed to fight for championship, which is actually sad to hear. I hoped to see a great World Championship fight, but it seems like Citroen is going to use Ogier to play the championship for Loeb. When asked from Citroen, they want to be champions and they definitely want the name of the champion is Loeb as so many years in a row already. Sad for young Ogier who is really in the fight too, and first time in his WRC career.
What if Hirvonen and Loeb would be both out at the last rally by accident and Ogier would have a real possibility to be champion - what would Citroen do then? I would like to see...
Oct 2, 2011
Confusing WRC weekend
Rally France has been finished now. The weekend was full of action and rumours, it was actually bit hard to follow. The weekend started with crazy collision between Kimi Räikkönen and Henning Solberg. They were moving from SS2 to SS3 and as I wrote on my earlier blog text about Räikkönen, Solberg was in front of Räikkönen even Kimi's starting number for the SS3 was higher that Solberg's. Kimi had to overtake Solberg, but Solberg didn't see Kimi was behind. Solberg was warming his tyres and brakes and made a strong breaking - then Kimi hit his car. Kimi's car got so bad damage that he was out. Kimi had possibility to continue at super rally, but made his decision not to continue the rally. Solberg continued the rally normally.
Then at SS3 it was turn of the big champion Sebastien Loeb. Loeb had a problem on his engine and he was out of the race. Loeb made the same decision as Räikkönen and he also didn't continue at super rally. This gave possibility to Mikko Hirvonen and Sebastien Ogier to collect good points to catch Loeb on the World Championship fight.
During the SS3 also both Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala had problems - both were out of the road but were able to continue but lost too much time. Both were dropped about one minute behind the leader Ogier.
Later on SS7 Hirvonen made another mistake which helped Petter Solberg to get in front of him. Later Solberg was even able to take the lead, but on SS11 he had a puncture which dropped him down from the lead.
Then at SS13 Kris Meeke was on action - he crashed his car out again. He was in front of Hirvonen and Latvala so the Finns won positions by his crash. Other Mini driver Daniel Sordo was on second place very close to Ogier all the time.
At Saturday there was a big bomb dropped. There has been rumours about Ogier going to Ford and Hirvonen going to Citroen, also more rumours about who will drive Volkswagen at 2013 when the team makes it's debut to WRC. But Finnish MTV3 told they have heard from very trustable source that Ogier has made a three-year contract with Ford. That would actually mean Hirvonen would be out of the team, because Latvala already has a new contract with Ford. But also, Ogier has contract with Citroen until the end of 2013. But Ogier and his team mate Loeb cannot get along together. Ogier is tired to hear team orders and also the French team is behind Loeb who has been on the team for many many years already.
Latvala told to MTV3 that he knows for sure there's something going on driver roulette at the moment. He told he has been talking with Ogier and he gets along with Ogier - there's no problem with him. Also Latvala sees it positive if Ogier comes to the team, because Ogier has much knowledge from Citroen about asphlat, which has been the weak part of Ford for years already. It has been common that Citroen beats Ford at asphalt rallies.
But then the other way. Ford has been team for Finnish drivers for years. To be honest, I never thought Hirvonen would leave Ford. The relationship of Hirvonen and the team seems so deep. There has been Grönholm, Hirvonen, Latvala... Also, Citroen is so French team and everybody is behind Loeb. That pisses Ogier off. Couple years ago Daniel Sordo was the other driver of Citroen and he never won races - he was there just to make sure to be second at asphalt and try to take as much points away from Ford-drivers as possible. And now, Sordo drives for Mini, and feels like we can see a different Sordo now. Sordo was really fighting for victory this weekend with Ogier! It's sensational for Mini who came to the series just couple months ago and also for Sordo himself, who has now found the way up on his WRC career. So, the question is, does Hirvonen want to drive with Loeb? They have been rivals for years. Would be interesting to see but I guess that it would be very hard to go to Citroen.
Later during the rally the top remained close, but one SS before the last SS (Power Stage) it seemed like Sordo has no possibilities to challenge Ogier anymore.
Before going to Power Stage, Latvala was 4th and about 2 minutes in front of Hirvonen. It was not a surprise that Ford was going to play with tactics and do something to get Hirvonen in front of Latvala. And it did happen before Power Stage - Latvala arrived to the check before Power Stage two minutes too early, which gave him a two minute penalty. This dropped him to 5th place and Hirvonen in front of him.
Then on the Power Stage, Hirvonen was before Latvala on the starting list. On his turn, Hirvonen drove the fastest time. Power Stage is important stage, because fastest man of the stage gets 3 World Championship points, second gets 2 points and third gets one point. Then was Latvala's turn and he did not slow down - he keeped pedal on the metal and drove 2 seconds faster than Hirvonen. This made him to lead the Power Stage. I was watching the Power Stage from tv and Finnish commentarie went mad. He started to scream and called it as a big failure from Ford again. The way he saw it was like Latvala could have slow down to make sure that Hirvonen will be in front of him on the Power Stage results too and by this get as much points as possible to catch Loeb on the World Championship points. Well, that's true too, yes. But who actually wants drivers to slow down? In the end, Latvala won the Power Stage and took the 3 points. Sordo was second and Ogier third. Hirvonen was dropped from the Power Stage points.
If Latvala could have slowed down, he wouldn't be on Power Stage points and Hirvonen could have one point more now. Of course every point is important, but I think it was good that Latvala was able to race and drive as fast he can. And Latvala finally took his first Power Stage win of the year, so I have to congratulate him. In general I think there are too much tactics at WRC. It's not nice for fans. If Latvala could have slow down at Power Stage too after taking penalty of 2 minutes on purpose, I think that would make Ford and Latvala look ridiculous. But it didn't happen.
Sure Ford wants to play the champinoship for Hirvonen, and now, after rally France, Loeb is on the lead with 196 points. Then Ogier and Hirvonen are behind him, both with 193 points. Basicly during the season I was sure that Hirvonen is not able to fight for championship. He won the first rally of the season - Swedish rally. But after that, no victories for him. Citroen has been the clear leader, but inside the team there is so much action thanks to Ogier who doesn't want to be number 2. And because the gap to Loeb is so small, it's sure that Ogier is not going to listen any team orders. Hirvonen has Latvala who will play for him. So, Hirvonen is on the fight, but for some reason this year we haven't seen the real Mikko Hirvonen. There has been lot of bad luck too, but in general, something has been missing. But now, he is back on the championship fight really, thanks to what have happened on last two rallies.
And not to forget, big congratulations to Dani Sordo for finishing on 2nd place, which is highest position on Mini's short WRC history so far! Nice to notice that Mini is really in and WRC is not just domination of Citroen and Ford anymore. WRC really needs more factory teams, and it's very good Volkswagen will also join at 2013.
Two rallies left. Interesting to see what will happen. This weekend happened a lot. What if Ogier or Hirvonen can be champion this year? That would be a big surpirse.
Then at SS3 it was turn of the big champion Sebastien Loeb. Loeb had a problem on his engine and he was out of the race. Loeb made the same decision as Räikkönen and he also didn't continue at super rally. This gave possibility to Mikko Hirvonen and Sebastien Ogier to collect good points to catch Loeb on the World Championship fight.
During the SS3 also both Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala had problems - both were out of the road but were able to continue but lost too much time. Both were dropped about one minute behind the leader Ogier.
Later on SS7 Hirvonen made another mistake which helped Petter Solberg to get in front of him. Later Solberg was even able to take the lead, but on SS11 he had a puncture which dropped him down from the lead.
Then at SS13 Kris Meeke was on action - he crashed his car out again. He was in front of Hirvonen and Latvala so the Finns won positions by his crash. Other Mini driver Daniel Sordo was on second place very close to Ogier all the time.
At Saturday there was a big bomb dropped. There has been rumours about Ogier going to Ford and Hirvonen going to Citroen, also more rumours about who will drive Volkswagen at 2013 when the team makes it's debut to WRC. But Finnish MTV3 told they have heard from very trustable source that Ogier has made a three-year contract with Ford. That would actually mean Hirvonen would be out of the team, because Latvala already has a new contract with Ford. But also, Ogier has contract with Citroen until the end of 2013. But Ogier and his team mate Loeb cannot get along together. Ogier is tired to hear team orders and also the French team is behind Loeb who has been on the team for many many years already.
Latvala told to MTV3 that he knows for sure there's something going on driver roulette at the moment. He told he has been talking with Ogier and he gets along with Ogier - there's no problem with him. Also Latvala sees it positive if Ogier comes to the team, because Ogier has much knowledge from Citroen about asphlat, which has been the weak part of Ford for years already. It has been common that Citroen beats Ford at asphalt rallies.
But then the other way. Ford has been team for Finnish drivers for years. To be honest, I never thought Hirvonen would leave Ford. The relationship of Hirvonen and the team seems so deep. There has been Grönholm, Hirvonen, Latvala... Also, Citroen is so French team and everybody is behind Loeb. That pisses Ogier off. Couple years ago Daniel Sordo was the other driver of Citroen and he never won races - he was there just to make sure to be second at asphalt and try to take as much points away from Ford-drivers as possible. And now, Sordo drives for Mini, and feels like we can see a different Sordo now. Sordo was really fighting for victory this weekend with Ogier! It's sensational for Mini who came to the series just couple months ago and also for Sordo himself, who has now found the way up on his WRC career. So, the question is, does Hirvonen want to drive with Loeb? They have been rivals for years. Would be interesting to see but I guess that it would be very hard to go to Citroen.
Later during the rally the top remained close, but one SS before the last SS (Power Stage) it seemed like Sordo has no possibilities to challenge Ogier anymore.
Before going to Power Stage, Latvala was 4th and about 2 minutes in front of Hirvonen. It was not a surprise that Ford was going to play with tactics and do something to get Hirvonen in front of Latvala. And it did happen before Power Stage - Latvala arrived to the check before Power Stage two minutes too early, which gave him a two minute penalty. This dropped him to 5th place and Hirvonen in front of him.
Then on the Power Stage, Hirvonen was before Latvala on the starting list. On his turn, Hirvonen drove the fastest time. Power Stage is important stage, because fastest man of the stage gets 3 World Championship points, second gets 2 points and third gets one point. Then was Latvala's turn and he did not slow down - he keeped pedal on the metal and drove 2 seconds faster than Hirvonen. This made him to lead the Power Stage. I was watching the Power Stage from tv and Finnish commentarie went mad. He started to scream and called it as a big failure from Ford again. The way he saw it was like Latvala could have slow down to make sure that Hirvonen will be in front of him on the Power Stage results too and by this get as much points as possible to catch Loeb on the World Championship points. Well, that's true too, yes. But who actually wants drivers to slow down? In the end, Latvala won the Power Stage and took the 3 points. Sordo was second and Ogier third. Hirvonen was dropped from the Power Stage points.
If Latvala could have slowed down, he wouldn't be on Power Stage points and Hirvonen could have one point more now. Of course every point is important, but I think it was good that Latvala was able to race and drive as fast he can. And Latvala finally took his first Power Stage win of the year, so I have to congratulate him. In general I think there are too much tactics at WRC. It's not nice for fans. If Latvala could have slow down at Power Stage too after taking penalty of 2 minutes on purpose, I think that would make Ford and Latvala look ridiculous. But it didn't happen.
Sure Ford wants to play the champinoship for Hirvonen, and now, after rally France, Loeb is on the lead with 196 points. Then Ogier and Hirvonen are behind him, both with 193 points. Basicly during the season I was sure that Hirvonen is not able to fight for championship. He won the first rally of the season - Swedish rally. But after that, no victories for him. Citroen has been the clear leader, but inside the team there is so much action thanks to Ogier who doesn't want to be number 2. And because the gap to Loeb is so small, it's sure that Ogier is not going to listen any team orders. Hirvonen has Latvala who will play for him. So, Hirvonen is on the fight, but for some reason this year we haven't seen the real Mikko Hirvonen. There has been lot of bad luck too, but in general, something has been missing. But now, he is back on the championship fight really, thanks to what have happened on last two rallies.
And not to forget, big congratulations to Dani Sordo for finishing on 2nd place, which is highest position on Mini's short WRC history so far! Nice to notice that Mini is really in and WRC is not just domination of Citroen and Ford anymore. WRC really needs more factory teams, and it's very good Volkswagen will also join at 2013.
Two rallies left. Interesting to see what will happen. This weekend happened a lot. What if Ogier or Hirvonen can be champion this year? That would be a big surpirse.
Oct 1, 2011
What the Iceman is going to do?
In the last couple of weeks, the future of the Finnish "Iceman" Kimi Räikkönen has been a very popuar headline on the press and F1 & WRC rumours. It feels like almost every month there is a new rumour about Kimi and his future since he left the F1 series, thanks to Ferrari who bought him out and got Fernando Alonso to the team. Kimi didn't find a F1 race seat which could be competitive enough, so he made his choice and went to the World Rally Championship.
In WRC the results haven't been what Kimi wants. Of course we all know that rally is much different World than F1 or any other series on track. This year, it has been very hard to know what's going on at Kimi's mind. It's hard to get a straight answer from him, because he really don't know what he wants to do. Kimi has become a multitask driver, by trying Nascar this year and there has been plans about joining Le Mans, maybe Indy Car too?
These rumours become out again couple weeks ago, when Räikkönen visited at Williams factory. Williams haven't been competitive this season, but the team is changing the main persons inside the team and will get Renault engine for next season. Some people say Kimi is interested on a race seat with Williams. That would mean Rubens Barrichello would be out from the team, because Pastor Maldonado is likely to stay on the team thanks to the big sponsor money which he brings for the team. Some sources say Maldonado's sponsor would pay Kimi's salary too, because we can all expect Kimi wants a high salary which might be too much for Williams right now. Hard to say. Does Kimi really believe Williams can be on the top again?
Kimi has been away from F1 for two seasons now. Everybody would like to see him back, even many people are critical about Kimi's behaviour etc. but we all know what Kimi can do when he is on his best. Two years is a big break and there has been lot of new things Kimi needs to get used to if he comes back. There are new Pirelli tyres which are totally different compared to the old Bridgestone tyres. There is DRS, and we have heard critical comments from Kimi about the DRS. Kimi thinks with DRS overtaking is not real racing anymore. But if the rule will be changed as FIA is planning, that would be also one positive point for Kimi to come back. Now the cap between drivers must be under one second before the driver who's gonna overtake is allowed to use DRS on the DRS activation zone. FIA is planning to make the cap smaller. It might be under half second.
Räikkönen told today to Finnish MTV3 that he wants to race and not to be a team boss. Kimi already has a own team at motocross and his own WRC team Ice One Racing. His team lost all it's team points of this season, because Kimi didn't join the rally Australia. There's an amount of races that all teams must drive to be able to collect team's WC points, but because Kimi skipped Australia, his team is not able to drive enough races this season. Fans started to think after that, is Kimi even motivated to drive rally? Sad for those fans at Australia who went to see WRC just to see Kimi and wasn't able to see him. I didn't see any comment from Kimi about what happened with rally Australia. He doesn't care about his fans, it sadly seems. He didn't tell he has no plans to go to Australia even he was on the participant list.
This weekend at rally France, Kimi crashed to Henning Solberg's car when they were moving to the next special stage. Kimi had to overtake Henning because Kimi's start position to the Stage was higher than Henning's. Henning was in front of Kimi and warming his tyres and brakes. Henning had no idea Kimi was behind him, and when he made the big breaking, Kimi crashed to him. Kimi's car damaged. And Kimi decided not to continue at super rally even he was able to do it. He told today to Finnish MTV3 that he did not continue because he doesn't know what he wants from his future.
So, even Kimi himself doesn't know what he wants. Most of fans would like to see him back at F1. This is time for decisions for Räikkönen. But whatever he does, he will be followed by his loyal fans.
In WRC the results haven't been what Kimi wants. Of course we all know that rally is much different World than F1 or any other series on track. This year, it has been very hard to know what's going on at Kimi's mind. It's hard to get a straight answer from him, because he really don't know what he wants to do. Kimi has become a multitask driver, by trying Nascar this year and there has been plans about joining Le Mans, maybe Indy Car too?
These rumours become out again couple weeks ago, when Räikkönen visited at Williams factory. Williams haven't been competitive this season, but the team is changing the main persons inside the team and will get Renault engine for next season. Some people say Kimi is interested on a race seat with Williams. That would mean Rubens Barrichello would be out from the team, because Pastor Maldonado is likely to stay on the team thanks to the big sponsor money which he brings for the team. Some sources say Maldonado's sponsor would pay Kimi's salary too, because we can all expect Kimi wants a high salary which might be too much for Williams right now. Hard to say. Does Kimi really believe Williams can be on the top again?
Kimi has been away from F1 for two seasons now. Everybody would like to see him back, even many people are critical about Kimi's behaviour etc. but we all know what Kimi can do when he is on his best. Two years is a big break and there has been lot of new things Kimi needs to get used to if he comes back. There are new Pirelli tyres which are totally different compared to the old Bridgestone tyres. There is DRS, and we have heard critical comments from Kimi about the DRS. Kimi thinks with DRS overtaking is not real racing anymore. But if the rule will be changed as FIA is planning, that would be also one positive point for Kimi to come back. Now the cap between drivers must be under one second before the driver who's gonna overtake is allowed to use DRS on the DRS activation zone. FIA is planning to make the cap smaller. It might be under half second.
Räikkönen told today to Finnish MTV3 that he wants to race and not to be a team boss. Kimi already has a own team at motocross and his own WRC team Ice One Racing. His team lost all it's team points of this season, because Kimi didn't join the rally Australia. There's an amount of races that all teams must drive to be able to collect team's WC points, but because Kimi skipped Australia, his team is not able to drive enough races this season. Fans started to think after that, is Kimi even motivated to drive rally? Sad for those fans at Australia who went to see WRC just to see Kimi and wasn't able to see him. I didn't see any comment from Kimi about what happened with rally Australia. He doesn't care about his fans, it sadly seems. He didn't tell he has no plans to go to Australia even he was on the participant list.
This weekend at rally France, Kimi crashed to Henning Solberg's car when they were moving to the next special stage. Kimi had to overtake Henning because Kimi's start position to the Stage was higher than Henning's. Henning was in front of Kimi and warming his tyres and brakes. Henning had no idea Kimi was behind him, and when he made the big breaking, Kimi crashed to him. Kimi's car damaged. And Kimi decided not to continue at super rally even he was able to do it. He told today to Finnish MTV3 that he did not continue because he doesn't know what he wants from his future.
So, even Kimi himself doesn't know what he wants. Most of fans would like to see him back at F1. This is time for decisions for Räikkönen. But whatever he does, he will be followed by his loyal fans.
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