pasted from mymbonline, some of the smilies might not show up

the following is some chunk of info from Mark Hughes' column from Autosport, May 3, 2007

"No-one either at ferrari or mclaren is going on record about specific comparisons, but you can be assured that the views expressed below originate directly from a collection of key personnel at those teams".......

ON ALONSO v. KIMI
"...they have yet to see the Raikkonen-like devastating high-speed precision that wrings every last gram of speed from the car..... the raw speed doesn't seem to be coming as easy as it did to Kimi."

ON MS v. KIMI
"...in the expectation that it would take most of the season to get back to the previous level of sophistication. Instead they were amazed to find that Kimi had the mental alaccrity to be at that level before the season had even begun. Each new level they explained he soaked up like a sponge-albeit with little in the way of verbal confirmation. With Kimi, everything is in the doing, not the saying. He's undemanding, very relaxed-and so the initiative has to come from the team. But when they do that, he responds. He may have a reputation for leaving the circuit early, but whenever they require him to stay longer, he does so without complaint. But with Kimi they realise they need to pull the process along whereas with Michael it was almost impossible to feel the distinction between him pushing them and they pulling him. But that's fine, they say. They can work with Kimi just as well. What they very much appreciate-and what made them a bit uneasy about the idea of Alonso (aka Donkey ) being Michael's replacement-is the way Kimi will never wash his laundry in front of the world when things aren't going smoothly. One thing the Ferrari engineers have been amazed at is just how much oversteer he likes in a car. The more you dial in, the faster he seems to go. It gives him instant direction change but his great feel, precision and speed of input can then dampen down what would normally be negative consequences of that. At first they struggled to believe just how he could do that-but now they know. They have also seen a little insight into that fantastic high-speed precision the McLaren guys used to rave about. When he's in the zone, they say, he's forced them to recalibrate their ideas of what is possible. When that was said to me, I thought I might be misinterpreting it, so to make sure, I said: "What, even after Michael?" I received a straight-in-the-eyes response: "Yes."

ON MASSA v. KIMI ("Heart of the Massa", Autosport May 10, 2007)

"Eeckelaert, in the unique position of having extended engineering relationships with both Kimi and Felipe, says: 'Felipe has speed enough to be a top, quick F1 driver, but whether he has the mental stamina not to give up when things go badly-thats another story ( ) . We'll see this year. He's a bit calmer now and he's a very nice chap, maybe too nice (just as i said )..... ..... Maybe on a qualifying lap Felipe is as fast as Kimi and he will do him sometimes, as he's already shown. In terms of average pace though, Kimi will be difficult to beat; in the race, when the car is more difficult to drive, the tyres are overheating, it's heading into oversteer and the traction and braking are bad. Thet's where Kimi has this ability to lose the minimum of lap time, just like Michael. But Kimi is 10 years younger[than Michael] and he's an animal. An absolute animal!'


Sorry EG

k, im not

 

k, guess none of em showed up, thats weird, they show up on 6speed. i dunno **** about computers, im sure there is a perfectly logical reason

 

its hating on you !

hmm you know what i think about htis !

 

Funny how results so far tell a different story. I hopw Kimi wakes up soon.

 

yes, i know your in denial

 

he has to wake up soon


interesting read: http://www.homeofsport.com/f1/news/item.aspx?id=19121

 

Kimi > everyone (except Alonso, Hamilton, Massa, Fisichella, Kubica, Heidfeld and Wurz)

 

That is EXACTLY what I was thinking.

Imagine my shock when the May issue of F1 arrived to me. That ugly Mug of Kimster on the cover.

E

 

lol...it's on my coffee table now. At this point SCOTT SPEED > KIMI

 

hey guys, cool it... Did you notice that MS was at the track this weekend? Well, it turns out he'd been coaching Kimi on qualifying strategy but the kid got it wrong. This was the intended gameplan:

 

Thanks for the belly ache, Nola!

 

i gues you know better than the people in the article

 

 

Nah, I was just quoting Sunday's result...

 

Owned.... with that manaco pic...

Hmm hell at least MS has the first parking spot

 

If I write an article can I therefore be deemed correct?

The automobile and racing press is full of half witted clowns. I drove a C32 around the big track at willow faster than the yahoos at car and driver managed with a 997TT. Does that mean the C32 is faster? I sure doubt it! Clearly it just means I am a skilled professional! (thats a serious joke too!)

Kimi can drive but he cant tune a car very well at all. Given the better car and a well sorted chassis he can dominate but he cant seem to make the his car shine this year. He got passed by the SA Honda (but so did Alanso). SA has what 40 people working for them? MS is a great driver and he also managed to tune the cars when they were not perfect. There are great drivers and great test drivers. Sadly Kimi seems to be the former with little skill in the latter part. Trouble is... you need skill in both departments to have success in F1. Kimi needs Alexander Wertz to come set up his car and then he will succeed in pulling in the crown.

 

totally agree with you ... now when do i get to ride with you ?

btw we are having a karting event in LA the 30th of this month you should come Mr! since i missed out seeing you out in the track cuz my car broke down

 

It's extremely ironical....and, really sad, at least so far. I have cheered for Kimi for a long time; I think he's perhaps the fastest f1 driver. But he also appears to be the MOST unfortunate. Bad luck just seems to dog him no matter when he was at McLaren or now at Ferrari. I fervently hope that he gets up there in the points again, but right now, he just isn't in the Top 3. End of story. Fantastically, and shocking as it might be, Rookie Hamilton could possibly just win the championship. We'll see and hope Kimi does better, but I wouldn't be on that vs. the McLarens.

 

I have not once heard Kimi say "I am determined to win"

 

I too believe that Kimi is unlucky, that he is one of the fastest drivers and from what we read he doesn't make too much effort to work with his engineers to tune the car. But I am "not" quite convinced that he is slow!

- In Monaco in the qualifying he was driving as fast as the McLarens prior his mistake to hit the wall. Everybody agrees that it is very easy to do in that track, Hamilton crashed as well but he was lucky to do it during the practice session.

- In Canada, he got passed by T.Sato because he had debris in his front wing which was screwing his car's aerodynamics, he got penalized for pitting during Safety Car (he had no option there since he was running out of fuel). He still finished fifth which I don't think is bad all things considered. He was a bit slower than Massa in the beginning of the season and that in my mind was expected since he had to adjust to the new car and as the rest of the Michelin drivers to the new tires. So whether he is slowing down or not, I believe that it remains to be seen.

I believe that Hamilton is first because he doesn't take any risks, Canada was the only place he outpaced Alosno in qualifying and that's because Alonso screwed up the last chicane (Alonso was faster in sectors 1&2). Everywhere else Alonso was faster but was taking too many risks like in Spain where he did that high risk maneuver with Massa in the first corner of the race.

 

Maybe he doesn't feel a need to say it....he makes $50 MILLION in salary this year.

Kimi has talent, no doubt....I just hope he doesn't turn into a has been paycheck collector like Ralf/Fischi are and JV was.

 

i just cant imagine he doesnt wanna win after 03 and 05

its gotta be the tires, lately the teams have asked brodgestone to make better (grippier) front tires, i hope they go through w/ it

btw,
i still think kimi can be as fast, if not faster than ms was against massa last year, ****, the guy was 38

 

Def. he wants to win... and says so all the time. But if the car is not perfect then he quickly also says "that's the best possible result for us"... I don't hear him ever saying that he is determined to win. I'm not attacking the guy of anything, but I think his McLaren days made him too much of a conformist.

 

At this point and after having watched the interview that Speed Channel did of each of the F1 drivers prior to the USGP and Lewis' post-race interview, I must say, w/ only some reservation which may evaporate as the season continues on, that he is THE finest driver w/ the best car in F1 today. The results and performance speaks for itself.
While I'm a huge fan of Kimi's, he's damn lucky that he got his $51M salary at Ferrari before this season, b/c the only one who would get that now would be Lewis Hamilton. Kimi has no chance of winning the Championship this season. Nada, none. Really too bad: I so wanted to see him win.

Prediction: Hamilton wins Championship in his rookie year if the McLarens stay as reliable and bulletproof as they appear to be!