It’s looking more and more like Kimi Raikkonen will be with Ferrari through 2011. The German Newspaper Bild-Zeitung is reporting he is just about to sign a contract keeping him in Ferrari red for a few more years.

If this happens to be true, I’m a little shocked. Kimi hasn’t had a good year so far and for the defending F1 champion to be in the middle of a world of speculation about his driving and controversy about his actions out of the car isn’t what I expect from him. Firstly, although Felipe Massa has had his share of mistakes and even some criticism (I don’t know why) for his drive in Germany, he is driving much better than Raikkonen from practice to qualifying to races. It is true that the F2008 hasn’t been great lately and McLaren are steadily improving, but Massa continues to challenge McLaren whereas Raikkonen isn’t. He seems lackluster and without edge.

Now, everyone has their bad moments they have to work through, but I would have thought that damage control would be important to Kimi during these bad times just to limit criticism and even bad publicity, but I see just the opposite. I see a frustrated and almost angry Raikkonen in unfamiliar territory with no idea how to handle himself. There have been two incidents lately that are hard to argue against. first was the Cahier shove (although an Oscar should go to Cahier) and now in Germany he he was involved in a bump which resulted in a young girl being knocked to the ground crying. Now Kimi didn’t run into the girl, rather the book her mother (I’m guessing it was her mother) held out to him to sign knocked her down, but what follows on camera wasn’t good at all. The only reaction from Kimi was to look back to see what happened while walking away. What he should have
done was take 2 minutes and go back to see if she was alright. Now that would be good publicity.

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This German Grand Prix was sort of a for gone conclusion for me. Lewis Hamilton was fast in practice, grabbed pole position and was miles ahead of everyone on the track throughout the race. He really
was very strong this whole weekend and his mean passing toward the end of the race sending Massa very wide was a show of dominance.

I will be the first to admit that I have ‘bashed’ Nelson Piquet Jr. all season and now am beginning to eat my words. He did have some pretty good luck however when he pitted for a lot of fuel just seconds before Glock hammered the wall sending the safety car out. Lap 37 he was in 14th and 2 laps later when just about everyone pitted he was 3rd. Nevertheless Piquet was faster than Alonso and more importantly for his career he was mistake free.

I’m having a hard time figuring out the Ferrari drivers. Massa to me is faster, more aggressive, and just plain better than Raikkonen which I though I would never say, but at the same time I say he is more aggressive, it has been suggested he opened the door for Hamilton on the final pass. I’m not sure I agree with that at all. Lack of grip and overheating brakes were Massa’s undoing making it seem like he simply opened the door for Hamilton. Massa is known to be an aggressive hot headed driver and he did what he had to do in that situation. Kimi Raikkonen looks like an average driver in a Ferrari so where has he gone? This race he did nothing to impress me until it was far too late when he made a bit of a charge, but in the end he finished right where he started in 6th.

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Lewis Hamilton outlasted Felipe Massa to take the pole for tomorrows German Grand prix. He and Massa traded fast laps throughout qualifying seemingly with no competition from other drivers.

For Fernando Alonso, it was a strange but good day. He qualified ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and both BMW-Saubers, but team mate Piquet jr. didn’t manage to get past Q1. Alonso seems happy with his qualifying, but as always he is concerned about the race.

“I’m very happy,” he told ITV Sport’s Louise Goodman.

“It’s a nice surprise because we went into qualifying with some doubts [and were] unsure about the car performance.

“In fact Nelsinho [Piquet] went out of Q1 and we were a little bit concerned.

“Race pace is always one of our biggest problems,” he said.

“We slide too much so we wear the tyres more than the others and then at the end of the stints we are not as quick as the others.

Both BMW-Sauber drivers seemed off the pace toward the end of qualifying. In Q1 things looked good, but from there on in they were off the pace. Heidfeld went out in Q2 after making a mistake and running wide on his last flying lap. Kubica managed Q3 but will start alongside Raikkonen in 7th.

Mario Theissen doesn’t sound too optimistic:

“Obviously we expected more from qualifying. Both our drivers had not been happy with their cars in the free practice. In addition to this, we faced further incidents. In the first part of qualifying Robert got stuck behind a car. Nick spun off in the second part of qualifying which may have cost him Q3. From the given positions it will not be an easy race for us. The weather predictions are unstable. In our situation a wet race would certainly help.”

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The first half of this season has been a strange and unpredictable one for me. After diligently following pre-season testing and reading notes from all of the teams, the running order I figured would be much the same as last year. I figured either Lewis Hamilton or Kimi Raikkonen would have a fairly substantial lead in the drivers championship and either Ferrari or McLaren would be firmly atop the constructors championship.

I couldn’t decide which driver or which team would be out in front, but had a good idea Hamilton or Raikkonen would be squarely on top. Thankfully this isn’t the case as we enter the second half of the season. A good fight between drivers throughout the whole season could not be better and the fact we have a fight between three drivers makes this season the best in a while.

There are a few reasons we are in this great position. BMW-Sauber has entered the mix and disrupted ‘normality’ at the front between Ferrari and McLaren. Traction control and engine braking are gone now and life at the front without them isn’t as easy as drivers thought it would be. Lastly, stupid mental errors are rampant and appear just about every race.

Take the normally bullet proof Ferrari and McLaren of last year and there is no resemblance at all as the consistency and focus factor jumps from one driver to another race to race. If you hadn’t watched a race all season and hadn’t read or listened to any news, you could easily figure this out just by looking at the current point totals of the leaders. A three way tie for first with these leaders having only 48 points has got to be the lowest in years. Last season after 9 races Lewis Hamilton was leading with 70 points and in 2006, Fernando Alonso led at this point with 84 points.

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The ugly incident prior to the British Grand Prix where Kimi Raikkonen pushed photographer Paul-Henri Cahier to the ground after he allegedly touched Raikkonen and stepped on his equipment has drawn a defensive statement from Cahier and one that gets my back up.

Following the incident involving Kimi Raikkonen and Paul-Henri Cahier on the starting grid of the British Grand Prix in Silverstone, that saw the finnish driver assault the photographer, we decided that it was necessary to clarify a few points.

It is quite acceptable and fitting for a renowned photographer like Paul-Henri-Cahier to respond to the incident publicly on his web site, but another to slant it in his direction. The word ‘assault’ in the opening lines serves only to suggest that this was an unprovoked incident and Cahier takes no responsibility.

There never was any contact between the two men, nor did Paul-Henri ever touch Kimi’s equipment. Furthermore, the distance at which Paul-Henri Cahier was taking a picture, although close, was completely standard. The photographers who take pictures at Grand Prix races are all professionals who have been accredited by the FIA, and as the dozen other photographers who were standing next to Paul-Henri Cahier prove, there was nothing unusual or unethical about this situation.
Finally, Paul-Henri Cahier has been an F1 photographer for almost fourty years and has been close to the greatest champions, but none of them has ever behaved in such a rude manner.

It is understandable that drivers might get irritable because of the pressure they undergo, but Kimi Raikkonen never even attempted to express his discontent in a non violent way.
Paul-Henri Cahier luckily did not suffer any injury, and so does not intend to take any action, but he regrets the arrogance with which Kimi Raikkonen treated someone who was merely doing his job.

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Lewis Hamilton has now put his name in the books as one of the best wet weather drivers after mastering Fuji, Monaco, and now Silverstone. His performance in the rain yesterday can hardly be considered a fluke as he was clearly the fastest and most consistent on the track.

Ferrari are troubled with silly mistakes. The decision to leave worn intermediate tires on Kimi’s car was an error simply not acceptable and only matched by Renault doing the same thing with Alonso. Granted some of the choice is left up to the driver, knowing what the weather might bring is up to the pits. It’s hard to believe Ross Brawn would do the same thing.

Felipe Massa had a horrible day and I put a lot of the blame on him for letting frustration get the better of him as the race progressed. This wouldn’t have happened if his team had given him the chance to get out of the danger area of the grid and start near the front.
On the other hand, his car seemed undrivable as every time he touched the throttle he went around and around and around. It’s amazing he kept going and didn’t hit a wall.

Strategy master of the day has to easily go to Ross Brawn. While Ferrari were scratching their heads and messing around, Brawn quietly had Rubens Barrichello (on full wets) challenging for 2nd.

Pass master of the day has to go to Nick Heidfeld. Finally having figured out the car, he out performed team mate Robert Kubica and made 2 great passes taking 2 cars at once both times to secure his 2nd place.

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I must say it was an exciting British Grand Prix that threw it’s weather straight in the drivers faces beating up on Ferrari, but shining down on Lewis Hamilton.

It was Lewis Hamilton who tamed Silverstone today and did it in nothing less that great form. Lewis had a spectacular start from 4th almost passing team mate Heikki Kovalainen in first by the first corner. Both drivers drove head to head even touching until as expected Hamilton passed kovalainen quite easily on lap 5, most likely as a result of team orders.

It was Hamilton’s race to lose. He drove a perfect race and his only challenge came from Kimi Raikkonen after kovalainen spun on lap 10 Raikkonen began to challenge Hamilton, but after both pitted together and Hamilton took on new intermediate tires and Raikkonen elected to stay on his used intermediates Hamilton never looked back. By the end of the race he had lapped all but Nick Heidfeld in 2nd and Rubens Barrichello in 3rd, yes Rubens Barrichello in 3rd. When just about every other car on the grid spun at least once, Hamilton, Heidfeld, and Barrichello held it together finishing 1,2,3, but Hamilton was clearly in a league of his own today.

Heikki Kovalainen started on pole, but the super start and fast pace of Hamilton sent him back to 2nd by lap 5 and a spin on lap 10 down to 4th. Despite 2 spins, Kovalainen drove a good race, but in the rain he just didn’t have the pace to make up lost ground.

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There was an interview in the Times Online F1 Blog where Bernie Ecclestone was asked who he thought were the top 5 drivers in F1 so far this year and a few comments as to why. You can see it at the link above, but here’s Bernie’s list anyway followed by mine. You will see I differ from him seeing things a little differently.

1. Fernando Alonso
2. Lewis Hamilton
3. Kimi Raikkonen
4. Robert Kubica
5. Felipe Massa

and another driver from a lesser team who has potential:

Sebastian Vettel

I’m a bit surprised at him putting Massa down the list in 4th after he questions Raikkonen’s desire to win on and off the track. Massa is a driven guy, of that there’s no question this year anyway. Massa’s putting his driving where his mouth is and not only that, he’s driving clean of late. Well, I put him 4th in my list as well.

He thinks Robert Kubica along side Lewis Hamilton and he would blow Lewis away. That’s a competition I’d like to see.

My list does vary a bit from Ecclestone and yes it is objective without favoritism.

1. Fernando Alonso

Despite not liking him too much, I can’t place anyone currently racing above him. He is an electrifying driver always pushing to the limit. He makes any car look much better than it is just like Michael Schumacher did. He complains about his car this year because his hunger to compete is stronger than it is. This year if he was at McLaren, he’d show Hamilton and the others what winning is all about.

2. Robert Kubica

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What’s happening now in F1 is brilliant. We’re beginning to see cracks in the armor of the normally strong leaders and a level of immaturity on the part of Hamilton. The evidence is on the track and it shows in the standings when looking from 2007 to 2008.

The first thing staring me in the face it the lower point total by not only the top driver this year Robert Kubica, but also Lewis Hamilton in 2nd. Both drivers have a lower total than Hamilton did as the leader after 7 races last season.

Apart from Alonso being out of the picture, the usual names still remain, but with far less confidence than last year. Many mistakes have been made on track so far in 2008, mistakes that are showing the vulnerability of the normally better drivers. When first looking toward this season just after the end of 2007, most considered it a pretty good bet that Ferrari and McLaren would do battle for the top just as before with all 4 drivers capable of grabbing big chunks of points in every race. Now, introduce BMW-Sauber into the mix and I see both Ferrari and McLaren back on their heels a little.

I saw a fine example of that when Hamilton punted Raikkonen from behind in the pits. Hamilton comes into the pits in first, and leaves his pit in 3rd. The difference is Robert Kubica, not Kimi Raikkonen. Hamilton didn’t just see Ferrari in front of him, he saw BMW-Sauber as well and the possibility of only 6 points with 2 other teams grabbing 10 and 8 points. When you look at it, this is a big deal not only for Hamilton, but for McLaren as well.

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After 6 races so far this season, interesting discussions are starting to take place in the internet forums and the media with 2 questions the center of attention. How good is Felipe Massa and who is the better driver on Ferrari at the moment? I could have posted those questions before the start of this season and the answers I received would have easily been Raikkonen as the better driver and Felipe Massa is ok, but mistake prone and not championship quality. They would have been stupid questions then. Now, I really do ask those questions because Felipe Massa is starting to turn some heads and finds more positive media than Kimi Raikkonen right now.
With preconceived ideas of who was the better driver, the season started in Australia with both Massa and Raikkonen making mistakes. It was an all around terrible weekend for Raikkonen who after car trouble only qualified 16th. In the race, Raikkonen succumbed to engine trouble, but had 2 ‘offs’ of his own making. Massa didn’t fair much better with a spin on lap 1 and a ‘kiss’ with Coulthard later. He also succumbed to engine trouble. So it was a bad race for Ferrari in general, both Raikkonen and Massa made mistakes yet in the days following, rumors started around the paddock that Massa’s days at Ferrari may be numbered. “He’s mistake prone, not consistent, etc..”, with these remarks stemming from previous seasons. Instead, look at 2008 as a separate year and don’t think about previous years and what you got was Australia poor for both drivers, end of story.

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