downforce
Race Winner
When people have previously discussed a potential Kimi Raikkonen return to Formula 1 and in the last few days how it will actually go, a lot of people come to talk about motivation and hunger and say it isn't there, they mainly point towards 2008 + 2009 and say he drove awful seasons then having already become world champion.
Ignoring 2008 I'd like to just talk about his 2009 season, for me he was one of the best 3 drivers of the year along with Button and Hamilton. (thats just my opinion!!)
Ferrari like McLaren had just spent every last moment developing the 2008 car to death right up to the last race in 1 of the closest fought driver championships of modern times and had barely spared a 2nd thought for the 2009 model. And when it arrived it, like the McLaren, was awful and by all acounts a real handful to drive. Again like McLaren they had all the initial KERS balance issues to sort out as well instead of focusing on downforce etc. And with the testing ban it was hard to change it much. Unlike McLaren they just wrote the season off halfway through the year to focus on 2010 so the car never really got much better past that point and he was left to deal with what he had.
Now lets look at all ferrari results that year.
Raikkonen: 15, 14, 10, 6, DNF, 3, 9, 8, DNF, 2, 3, 1, 3, 10, 4, 6, 12
Massa : DNF, 9, DNF, 14, 6, 4, 6, 4, 3 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Fisichella : _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 9, 13, 12, 10, 16
Badoer : _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 17, 14, _ _ _ _ _
Okay Badoer had not raced since 1999 but he had been test driver for the 2,000's and done thousands of miles every year up till 2009 so he wasn't comletely rusty, but he certainly looked like a civillian. He may be a grey area but then there is fisi.
Fisi had been racing in F1 since 1996 and had been racing for force india up till Monza and had at the previous round gotten their 1st ever pole, points and podium so he certainly wasn't out of touch but he could not score in it either.
Massa in 2008/9 was one of the best drivers in F1 at that point IMO and ferraris golden boy at the time (how times change), and his results were not much of an improvement on Raikkonens in the 1st half of the year.
So this all shows it was a dog of a car and a real handful, yet he got their 1st podium at the traditional drivers circuit.
After Massa was out I believe he could then get free reign a bit more over the car as the new lead driver and then ferrari really was carried by Kimi back to some salvation with a run of 4 podiums with a win. Plus a further 2 point scoring finishers at the end of the year. Despite them no longer developing the car.
I would say he was very motivated and driving that car to positions few other drivers in the world could have gotten it to. I don't think 2009 can be used as a reason to say he wasn't that great or his motivation wasn't there. I think he put in a blinding performance that year.
what are your opinions on his 2009 season?
Ignoring 2008 I'd like to just talk about his 2009 season, for me he was one of the best 3 drivers of the year along with Button and Hamilton. (thats just my opinion!!)
Ferrari like McLaren had just spent every last moment developing the 2008 car to death right up to the last race in 1 of the closest fought driver championships of modern times and had barely spared a 2nd thought for the 2009 model. And when it arrived it, like the McLaren, was awful and by all acounts a real handful to drive. Again like McLaren they had all the initial KERS balance issues to sort out as well instead of focusing on downforce etc. And with the testing ban it was hard to change it much. Unlike McLaren they just wrote the season off halfway through the year to focus on 2010 so the car never really got much better past that point and he was left to deal with what he had.
Now lets look at all ferrari results that year.
Raikkonen: 15, 14, 10, 6, DNF, 3, 9, 8, DNF, 2, 3, 1, 3, 10, 4, 6, 12
Massa : DNF, 9, DNF, 14, 6, 4, 6, 4, 3 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Fisichella : _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 9, 13, 12, 10, 16
Badoer : _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 17, 14, _ _ _ _ _
Okay Badoer had not raced since 1999 but he had been test driver for the 2,000's and done thousands of miles every year up till 2009 so he wasn't comletely rusty, but he certainly looked like a civillian. He may be a grey area but then there is fisi.
Fisi had been racing in F1 since 1996 and had been racing for force india up till Monza and had at the previous round gotten their 1st ever pole, points and podium so he certainly wasn't out of touch but he could not score in it either.
Massa in 2008/9 was one of the best drivers in F1 at that point IMO and ferraris golden boy at the time (how times change), and his results were not much of an improvement on Raikkonens in the 1st half of the year.
So this all shows it was a dog of a car and a real handful, yet he got their 1st podium at the traditional drivers circuit.
After Massa was out I believe he could then get free reign a bit more over the car as the new lead driver and then ferrari really was carried by Kimi back to some salvation with a run of 4 podiums with a win. Plus a further 2 point scoring finishers at the end of the year. Despite them no longer developing the car.
I would say he was very motivated and driving that car to positions few other drivers in the world could have gotten it to. I don't think 2009 can be used as a reason to say he wasn't that great or his motivation wasn't there. I think he put in a blinding performance that year.
what are your opinions on his 2009 season?
) and quite fast there, but his run from Hungary to Monza was special, and he really did embarrass Fisichella, who probably didn't so much wrong and is in Le Mans because of it!
