Pull your finger out McLaren! or you'll lose Kimi!

[stido]

Kimi Raikkonen is by far one of the best drivers in f1, 3 years into f1 and is becoming a superstar, ppl say he is no Michael Schumacher, that might be true, but look how damn long Schumacher's been in the business!

all i got to say is if mclaren dont pull their socks up they will lose one of there greatest assets, coz i am sure other teams would grab kimi at any possible opportunity.


what u peeps think?

[Mr V]

All depends what the other top teams have in place driver wise.

If Kimi can't see that he is in a top 3 team and that things will turn around then he'll spend most of his career moving from team to team.

Personally, i believe that Kimi's not like this and will stay faithful to the McLaren cause, he knows how good they are afterall, dispite this set-back.

[RWC]

There's no grounds at all to worry yet.

give it a few months and if mac are worse off than now and contract time was comming up,the thought MIGHT cross his mind to change teams

[RaceFreak]

Kimi will jump to Ferrari at his first opportunity.

[GP Racer]

Originally posted by RWC
There's no grounds at all to worry yet.

give it a few months and if mac are worse off than now and contract time was comming up,the thought MIGHT cross his mind to change teams

But go where?

He's already in a top 3 team, and has challenged for the championship. Yes, Mac is abit down now, but everyone knows they'll do whatever it takes to come back.

I think if anything, Kimi, along with JPM, and Ralf, need to hone their leadership skills, and begin building there respective teams around them, like Michael, Jenson, and Webber have done, instead of looking around for a different ride.

IMHO that is the missing quality, that will keep Kimi and JPM from winning a championship, not their cars...

[freud]

To be honest, if I were Ron Dennis, I would exchange Kimi for Mark Webber any day. Webber is right up there with Michael and Montoya.. Kimi is not.

[Mr V]

Originally posted by GP Racer

I think if anything, Kimi, along with JPM, and Ralf, need to hone their leadership skills, and begin building there respective teams around them, like Michael, Jenson, and Webber have done, instead of looking around for a different ride.

Just out of interest, had Button and Webber been in the Williams for the last couple of years, do you think they would have been able to "hone" their leadership skills?

We are talking about different teams here, and it's easier to "lead" in a team like Jaguar or BAR, given their team-mates experience, or indeed, lack of it!

[Mr V]

Originally posted by freud
To be honest, if I were Ron Dennis, I would exchange Kimi for Mark Webber any day. Webber is right up there with Michael and Montoya.. Kimi is not.

To be fair to Kimi, whilst the McLaren isn't that fast, and Kimi has no points on the board, he has been the faster of the 2 McLaren drivers.

[BootsOntheSide]

McLaren still have plenty of time to get a winning car together. It's still early days, adn they're roughly as competitive as Williams were at this stage last year - the only disadvantages are reliability and in having no driver with teh courage or raciness of JPM - DC and Kimi are much more cautious, and not ideal for wrestling the car into places it doesn't belong.

Assuming that Michael doesn't have a sudden change of heart and retire after one more season, Kimi will be at McLaren in 2005. Kimi V JPM will be a great duel - and I really hope it's in competitive hardware. If Kimi can't compete, his stock will be damaged ot the point that he won't get a good drive elsewhere. If he does well and McLaren continue to decline, who knows where he'd go? Toyota? BAR? Renault? Any of those teams could overhaul McLaren in the near future.

[300kph]

To move Kimi on its present position may still be pre mature. McLaren is on its down side at the moment but we know what the team is capable of and IMHO, they have reached their lowest point already in Australia.

Kimi, although he often tagged as the less agressive due to its smooth driving style, is one of the most talented in modern F1 racing and I think he can only move to Ferrari, otherwise he'll stay at Mc.

[pole2pole]

If Mclaren give this guy a car which is = to ferrari he will be winning races

[Kicking-back]

Originally posted by freud
To be honest, if I were Ron Dennis, I would exchange Kimi for Mark Webber any day. Webber is right up there with Michael and Montoya.. Kimi is not.

Obviously you were doing something other than watching F1 in 2003.


I think Kimi will "do a Mika" and stay with McLaren his whole career.

Hakkinen certainly got his reward for remaining loyal during an uncompetitive time - when the McLaren package was far worse than it is now.

[Fondmetal]

whats the deal with adrian newey? once regarded as the best f1 designer/aerodynamicist? has he been given a back seat role at mclaren? is he still involved in the cars design? sad to see him demoted by the likes of geoff willis, gascoine

[ollie86]

Isn't Kimi tied to McLaren for a few years though? I remember reading an article which hinted that Ferrari may try and snatch him when (or if) Schuey goes in 2006. At the moment I doubt we should worry, Kimi finished 2nd last year with just one win, if McLaren improve and he can win 2 or 3, coupled with last season's consistency and people will wonder why they were worrying back at the start of the season!

[oziengineer]

I don't think that Mclaren need to start fretting just yet. But, Kimi hasn't actually renewed his contract. I read that mclaren could shock the world by punting kimi and keeping david, like that will happen. But, ron dennis aint that dumb. But, they definitely need to do something about their lack of speed.

[twig]

....and im sure they will do something about their lack of speed.

the pace they had in Malaysia was far better then their speed in Australia. Remember how off the pace they were, then on friday, Kimi was fastest in one of the sessions...... now if that isnt a pretty good improvement on pace, i dont know what is.

Kimi also was holding down a competitive 3rd if you all forget.

[Mouser]

Mclaren already has great drivers. They just need a reliable engine,so Kimi can stop being distracted by nagging thoughts of an engine dying in the middle of
his race.

[Kicking-back]

McLaren always comes back stronger than before after a bad patch.

[enemy-ace]

Originally posted by GP Racer
I think if anything, Kimi, along with JPM, and Ralf, need to hone their leadership skills, and begin building there respective teams around them, like Michael, Jenson, and Webber have done, instead of looking around for a different ride.

This is really not a good comparison due to the quality of teammate of the respective drivers. Webber and Button whilst handling the leadership role well were virtually given that position. Ferrari it goes without saying is Michael's team.
JPM and Ralf are very close on track with the edge slightly going Montoya's way. And Kimi while IMO being the better of DC still has to deal with Coulthard's experience. It is not easy coming in and taking the leadership position of a veteran driver of the quality of DC. In the end as well both Mac and Williams are ultimately lead by their team principles moreso than other teams.
Kimi will stay at Mac and when JPM joins next season Ron Dennis will still be the No.1 and let his drivers burn up the track. Sit back and enjoy!

[freud]

Originally posted by Kicking-back
Obviously you were doing something other than watching F1 in 2003.


I think Kimi will "do a Mika" and stay with McLaren his whole career.

Hakkinen certainly got his reward for remaining loyal during an uncompetitive time - when the McLaren package was far worse than it is now.

Your comments are based on nothing but emotions and assumptions. Kimi will do a Mika is absolute ridiculous. Kimi will move on to any team who is willing to pay him more than what he gets at Mclaren. You watch a few GPs on TV and you start thinking that you know everything about formula one. Being a f1 driver is a job in itself. You have to show up every morning and you are required to work for certain hours. And obviously you are always looking for a better paycheck.

Kimi is a great prospect for f1. But, at least for now, he is not a complete driver. He can collect points, which he did last year, but he cant win championships. Webber is more mature/better than him and Button is a better driver as well.

[enemy-ace]

Originally posted by freud
Kimi is a great prospect for f1. But, at least for now, he is not a complete driver. He can collect points, which he did last year, but he cant win championships. Webber is more mature/better than him and Button is a better driver as well.

These are assumptions as well considering that Webber hasn't really had a quality team-mate to measure himself against. And Button has been getting better but hasn't really dominated in any of his teams.
While I agree that Kimi isn't the complete driver yet, he has, considering his lack of experience coming into F1, been brilliant. He has outperformed his much more experienced team-mate from the word go, and it hasn't been due to reliabilty issues or team-favoritism.

[freud]

Well many beleive that had Webber been driving the Mclaren last year he would have done a better job then what Kimi did. Anyway, I dont want to go there now. KR has been hyped up by the media, fact remains that he is a very young racer who still has to learn and gain experience before he can arrogantly claim to be 'that damn good'. He's been criticizing the Mclaren team since the start of winter testing last year. He is simply not that damn good and not on the point in his career where he can say such things.. its better to keep your mouth shut that criticize your car all the time. If he was that great, there would be no reason for Ron Dennis to reportedly pay $20 million a season to get JPM and try his best to buy him out of his cotract for 2004.

[enemy-ace]

Originally posted by freud
If he was that great, there would be no reason for Ron Dennis to reportedly pay $20 million a season to get JPM and try his best to buy him out of his cotract for 2004.

Link to back this up?

[freud]

I read it somewhere.. you will see in a few months when the announcement comes out. This is not the main topic of the thread so I dont want to go off-topic anyway.

[enemy-ace]

Well the thread is concerning Kimi's future with Mclaren; so it isn't competely off-topic.
As for having read it somewhere, I remember reading that a millionaire Russian was going to buy Jordan!
So if you don't mind I think I'll take your prior statement with a large shaker of salt.