Swindon Music

Does anyone else think Ferrari were handed the win at Spa?

Let me explain:-

Last year at Spa Lewis Hamilton was relegated to third I think, because of the cutting of a corner (the last Chicane), so, how is it, that Kimi raikkonen at the first corner can use the whole run off area to gain speed, overtake (from what I saw) 4 cars, rejoin the circuit in second without giving those places back and then go on to win the race with no penalties imposed?

Strange decisions yet again this year......

This is the only video I can find and its not conclusive, he doesn't appear to overtake many cars but he definately gets an advantage by keeping up his momentum while other cars were slowing down, even though he took the long (and dirty) way round.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8229552.stm

Thanks for posting that - it has reminded me of what a spawny lucky bastard Raikonnen is -

Example, last season, Monaco, shunts of Sutil in the Force India, retires Sutil but he carried on unscathed.

Spa, this year as shown in the clip, he goes off at the end of the straight and causes carnage behind him through everyone having to avoid him, he escapes while 4 other drivers are put out....The guy is a retard behind the wheel and a danger to everyone, thank god he is gone at the end of this season and is not even worth paying £20 a year yet alone the reputed £20,000,000.

One person 'earning' that in a year is proof alone that there is no God.

Don't hold your breath, Ted Kravitz thinks he will be rejoining McLaren.

quote
"Raikkonen only left McLaren because his relationship with then-team boss Ron Dennis deteriorated when he signed Fernando Alonso. Is history repeating itself at Ferrari?

How Lewis Hamilton would feel about having Raikkonen in the other McLaren is another matter.

As a matter of interest, in the McLaren post-race press release, every quote - with the exception of Hamilton's - praises Kimi for his win.

Given that most McLaren people would rather undergo root canal surgery than publicly praise Ferrari, one can't help thinking there's a bit of 'preparing the ground' going on here."

from TK's blog

Oh I bloody hate him, I really hope he doesn't make his way over to McLaren. He has the most ratty, smug, punchable face ever. I properly hate him. He is never even pleased when he wins, he's just 'oh yeah, I won..' Smug Bastard.

Spa was the most bizzare race I think I've ever seen. Feel very very sorry for Fisichella, as he said in the post race conference, he was consistently faster and it was just Raikkonen's use of KERS to overtake that lost him the race, it was a quality drive from a very good driver and I hope we see much more him in the next few races.

If there was an advantage to running wide there, everyone would have been doing it or they'd have people there monitoring what the drivers are doing. Cars with KERS are often overtaking around 4 cars off the line, Kimi must played it smart at Spa and waited until after La Source before kicking it in.

Oh no, please tell me this is not so.

I heard he tested a Rally car and was quite good at that and may move to that format, although, if he is moving to McLaren, I cant see him staying on the same wages thats for sure.

I dont know what McLaren are thinking of if thats the case as with Hamilton and Kovallainen they have the perfect match.

ahh, now that makes sense, thats why he was trying a bit of off road racing at Spa.

Could be that Ferrari want Kovi when they get rid of Raikkonen, when does the transfer window open?

Well that scuppers my theory and Kimi Raikkonen will definately be gone next season
Fisichella makes Ferrari switch

Kimi has a contract with Ferrari until the end of next year. I'd imagine that's going to stick because there's no real reason to replace him for next year, especially with the stuff surrounding Renault and Alonso at the moment.

I reckon Kimi did the off track bit deliberately, he did it last year as well & overtook Massa when he came back on track, doesn't seem accidental to me. Although there almost always seem to be accidents at the first corner at Spa, so maybe it was a subconcious thing, although i doubt it, Ferrari don't do things innocently judging by their history over the last 10 years or so.

Still Fisi in a Ferrari for the rest of the season, should help shake up the drivers championship, another potential regular points scorer to mix things up. It could be a strange end to the season, if the title contenders are regularly fighting for the small points, will definately help Jenson if both Ferrari's are doing well.

There has always been much more leeway in the first corner, the assumption usually being that it's accident avoidance rather than blatant ignoring the track boundaries. I take the point though - it did look a little bit deliberate, so maybe it was, but I don't think it's in any of the teams' interests for drivers to feel as though they have to try and stay in an ever-decreasing gap rather than protect the car during the busiest 30 seconds of the race. (and this from me the professional Ferrari-hater lol )

Tim i'm totally with you on the use of run off areas for accident avoidance, but there wasn't an accident in front of him to avoid, & he did the same thing last year, also last year he used the run off at Pouhon to overtake Hamilton just before he (Kimi) crashed.

In this years race Jenson also took to the run off area at the start to avoid a car directly in front of him that had spun, the difference being that when Jenson rejoined the track, he eased off the throttle & allowed the couple of cars he'd overtaken to repass him, avoiding a possible penalty.

It always seems to be Ferrari that get away with it, i remember a few years ago at Hockenheim, Schumacher going off at the hairpin & overtaking on the run off before rejoining the track, same result, no penalty even though yet again it affected the outcome of the race.

And, to add a bit more to it, wasnt Hamilton also penalised last year for almost, and I say almost, going into someone on the first corner and I believe that may have been a Ferrari. Although, blatently, massa tried taking Hamilton out by cutting across a chicane....

But then, I look at it another wayas well, and this is really precious, the smug look on Massa's fathers face when Massa crossed the line and then his face 10 seconds later when Hamilton crossed in Brazil.....for everything else there's mastercard....bahahahahahaha