The State of the Raikkonen....

It has been well documented that current world champion Kimi Raikkonen has not had the best of seasons so far. The Fin came to Ferrari last season on a wave of high expectation and he duly delivered in round 1, winning the Australian Grand Prix. The kettle lost some steam there after and it was several more rounds before Raikkonen managed to claw back some form.

In the French Grand Prix at Magny Cours he regained the upper hand over team mate Massa and started to look like a serious contender again. Massa had a few problems heading towards the end of season and fell out of title contention. Raikkonen was left to battle the McLaren duo of Alonso and Hamilton by himself although Massa helped when he could. The McLaren team helped as well, making some terrible tactical decisions and by the time they reached Brazil Massa moved over to let Kimi through to take the win and the title that Hamilton had lost.

This season has been slightly different. Massa has showed better form and maturity than last year and has managed to get his Ferrari to work much better the majority of the time, out qualifying Raikkonen 9-4 (up to and including Belgium). Raikkonen has apparently struggled to get heat into the tyres for the one lap blast of Q3. That seems not to be the only problem, his races have lacked sparkle and although he has remained in contention his last win was back in late April at Barcelona.

This brings us to Spa-Francorchamps this last weekend, a circuit where Raikkonen has dominated the past few years, the ultimate drivers circuit. He made a small mistake in qualifying and ended up P4 on the grid 4 tenths of his team mate who was in P2 and running heavier.

Lap 1, corner one Raikkonen went off the circuit to get better traction on the run off area and blasted up through Eau Rouge to get side by side with Massa and then preceded to push Massa across the track towards the grass, it was a dangerous move and not very team mate like. Massa let him go. Raikkonen was on a charge.

Lap two of the race leader Hamilton, made a mistake exiting the hairpin at La Source and Raikkonen looking very racy got into the slipstream and passed the Brit up the hill to take the lead. Later in the race the lead went to over 5 seconds but Hamilton whittled away at it to be just 2 seconds away with three laps to go. The rain came and suddenly Hamilton was all over the back of Raikkonen who looked like he was in a different race, Hamilton half spun!, Raikkonen regained the lead and then spun at the next corner, rejoined and accelerated over a curb and headed straight into the wall, it was all a bit panic stricken and not at all like a world champion.

I was sitting watching this with my mouth hanging open. I can only conclude that the Ferrari is rubbish in the wet (reference Silverstone earlier in the year where between them the Ferrari drivers spun an amazing 8 or 9 times in the wet) or that the "Ice Man" was totally rattled. He claimed it was a do or die situation, win or nothing - well he certainly got nothing in terms of results and points plus another dent in his reputation. Certainly not the attitude of a champion or of one attempting to be a double world champion.

Over rated? Desperate? I certainly think so...

Part 2 - After Singapore....

Mmm...Qualified 8 tenths off Massa's pole winning pace, had a lackluster race after the safety car, set fastest lap while (again to no avail) and then bounced the Ferrari off the wall in a very, very un-F1 star like way.. I rest my case. Naturally I would prefer he gets his act together and helps Massa to the championship.

THERAT

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