Kimi Raikkonen’s first lap incident at last week’s British Grand Prix saw him collect the barrier before rebounding back onto the track and into the path of the a number of back-markers.
Felipe Massa who, like the Ferraris, had been wrong-footed during qualifying, made a dog’s breakfast of the start and found himself staring at the gearbox of a Caterham when Raikkonen rejoined the track.
Evasive action proved futile as Massa slid into Raikkonen’s wayward Ferrari, making it the second time in three races that the Brazilian was eliminated by circumstances beyond his control.
Understandably, Massa was frustrated. Not only are the pair former teammates, but Raikkonen replaced him at the Maranello team after a poor showing in recent years. Now the spotlight has turned to Kimi, his struggles in the 2014 spec-F1 cars and his motivation.
Kimi Raikonnen himself has commented that he will probably not peruse a drive in Formula One beyond his contact with Ferrari in 2015. Several off-track incidents have left him with severe back trauma, and suiting up against the scintillating talent of F1 young guns like Valterri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo make a return to his former glory increasingly unlikely.
English born F1 journalist and NBC presenter Will Buxton has written two articles on his personal blog, which are scathing of Raikkonen’s actions and questioning whether the FIA should have forced him to sit out the next race in Germany.
“I do not believe that Kimi Raikkonen should be on the grid for the German Grand Prix in two weeks’ time,” he wrote after the race. Kimi’s “staggering racing negligence” was to blame, and while he discounts the FIA’s argument that Kimi’s actions were not out of step with most other drivers he believes the driver’s reluctance to participate in track walks left him unaware of track conditions.
Buxton copped a bit of flack from Raikkonen fanboys keen to defend their homeboy. Despite requests that his readers not resort to personal attacks, Buxton however labelled the FIA and their stance “moronic”.
He summarises his argument with the following.
“[Raikkonen] did not join in a safe manner as he was at a speed the FIA has admitted was too high, and he was also not in control of his vehicle as the manner in which he rejoined the track resulted in an accident entirely of his making.”
Replays show that Raikkonen was in relatively clear air when rejoining the track, so Buxton’s argument that he rejoined unsafely and on the racing line holds as much water as a tennis racquet.
As for the question of control, I can only suggest that no accident wouldn’t have occurred if wasn’t a rain gully inches off the racing line at such an angle that running over it sends a car into the air and ultimately into the wall.
Buxton then attempts to justify his harsh position by naming and shaming some of F1’s recent offenders. “If it had been a Grosjean, Maldonado, Gutierrez or Perez, I can’t help but feel points would have been the bare minimum,” he says.
What he fails to acknowledge is that all of these drivers were involved in ill-advised overtaking manoeuvres or reckless incidents involving other drivers. Kimi on the other hand was simply a victim of shonky and unpredictable track conditions.
Where Buxton does redeem himself is by questioning the FIA’s zero tolerance policy for cars that exceed track limits before qualifying only to ignore breaches from both Fernando Alonso and Sebastien Vettel during their scrap.
While some fans applauded their leniency, it only highlighted their hypocrisy. Wiping drivers times during qualifying after legitimately losing control, as happened to Jenson Button recently, is juxtaposed by drivers deliberately and repeatedly leaving the track during the race to gain an advantage.
While we search for answers to the declining viewership of F1, we should be demanding the FIA to ensure that no tracks reward drivers for leaving the track limits and amend facilities to ensure their cars are not compromised when rejoining the track after a legitimate off. All this should be done long before exploring gimmicky regulations like double-points at the final race, artificially changing the sound of the cars and introducing titanium plates to produce sparks.
In the meantime who do you side with, Kimi or Will?
The AntiCrust
Guest
I know that close only counts in "horseshoes and hand grenades", but when I look at Kimi's career there have been many seasons he was just on the wrong team at the wrong time. The year he lost a championship to Schumacher (best wishes), by two points, Schumacher won 6 races that season and Kimi had only one win. The years with McLaren with engines self destructing, or rear wings flying off. Even at this point in his career, he may be down just a little, but in equal cars I think he would easily be one of the top 4 current drivers.
The AntiCrust
Guest
I totally agree with you about Buxton and his career progress, look at his change this season doing the grid walk, and that "glue hair"...he's definitely having a career crisis stirring in his bowels, maybe he should be cool and go take a "s**t" when something important is going on to show he can be "cool" as well.
The AntiCrust
Guest
When Kimi came back onto the track, he probably didn't know of that large curb, as he isn't a fan of "track walks" anymore. And there was no coming traffic on the right side of the track. Maybe Buxton's thoughts are being jumbled by all the hair product he uses to keep that "Bob's Big Boy" coiffure from moving with cars roaring by at over 150 mph.....
Karen Jennings
Guest
Will Buxton is not an F1 Journalist, he's a commentator for the GP3 series, if Buxton is an F1 Journo then by submitting this post into the public domain so am i. Raikkonen has long been regarded as a safe pair of hands on the racetrack, and with much justification, he's always been a firm but fair competitor, to even consider him in the same vein as Grosjean, Maldonado etc etc says more about Will Buxtons motives than it says about Raikkonens eligibility to race. Buxton likes to pontificate on his "blog", the fact that no premier motorsport publication employs him to write opinion pieces tells its own story. The simple truth is that Buxton is simply courting controversy in order to have his monicker mentioned and he's picked on what might at first though seem an easy target, and one guaranteed to illicit a response, the governing body saw no reason to impose a penalty on Raikkonen, and they have more information than anyone, especially a blog writer like Will Buxton.
Elie
Guest
Dhev- Kimi fans are not in a minority thats the thing-he is globally the most liked racer. Even the Chinese fans - who probably dont even known where Finland is love him. Why ?- because he is genuine - this is the word that is not normally attributable to F1 - with so much sponsorship, image & self promotion. Unlike other drivers he is not a "show boater"- and he is an honest man- this is why he is often misunderstood because everyone else lies and covers up- with him what you see is what you get.. He doesnt say "i drove 150%"- because thats not possible, he doesnt say a "technical fault caused the accident"- he says "i spun" & if it is technical failure he tells you exactly what it is .. power surge etc, understeery car & his problem adapting to lack of feel-- theres no hidden agenda - it always comes from an honest place.. Thats why he is loved.. But its also why hes an easy target because he doesnt hide behind lies and other garbage.. The great eg was Ferrari resigning him.. Even though they paid to terminate him in 2009- Ldm had to apologize to him for the media nonsense of 2009 (it was a condition of him returning) and everyone knows it was all to do with Santanders money at the time, in fact Alonso was already pre-signed mid way through 2008.. He is the best thing that happened to F1 since 2001 & it will be a real pity to loose him regardless of when it happens.. He was pretty much beating everyone last year with a car thats on a 1/3 budget.. So all he needs is a car that suits his style and he can be right at the front -so let hope he gets that soon.
Elie
Guest
We are talking about the incident at Silverstone Good people only deal with the facts Goodbye
sennaQLD
Guest
Would love to see him in a williams right now.There would be none of this going on.
sennaQLD
Guest
Most over rated of all time.Nigel Mansel.
Tommie.Benadie
Guest
Lee, I agree with your response but I do believe Red Bull had interest in Kimi. May not have worked out for a number of reasons but if I was kimi I would certainly have pushed hard to make that Red Bull deal work. I know they’re not doing to well at the moment but they’re in any event still performing a damn shot better then the Ferrari at the moment and they are the most likely team to get it right and challenge MB in the 2nd half of the season. I cant help but to believe that Ferrari is somehow neglecting Kimi at the moment and its sad to see. We could potentially loose a real racing champion simply because of team politics. We all know Kimi is not interested in politics and is only concerned about racing. I mean no disrespect to Ferrari and the team is a legend in their own right but I’m personally not sure if Ferrari is the right fit for Kimi. In my opinion he should never have left McLaren to go to Ferrari and Im by no means a McLaren fan either. I know Kimi won the championship with Ferrari but I still had the feeling even back then that he didn’t really fit in well with the team. Kimi clearly doesn’t care about what others say or think and he made it very clear that he knows what he’s doing and that’s what I like most about him. I sincerely hope he stays in F1 for at least another 4 or so seasons and I would like for him to win at least one more championship still. For some reason it just doesn’t seem right that Kimi is a 1 time Champion only. I must admit that I didn’t realise what happened before the corner as per Andrews comments and that could be a factor I agree but the reality is still that Kimi made a clean attempt to come back onto the track to continue racing which is what he does best but unfortunately a poorly designed section next to the track caused the end of his race and effected his changes of hopefully learning more and improving the car at the scheduled test run that was planned ahead. I hope it works out for both Kimi and Ferrari because at the current rate were witnessing a true champion fade possibly into oblivion and that would rob the sport of a true racer and champion of which frankly there are not too many of them left in F1 nowadays.
Andrew Nicholas Wiid
Guest
The problem is the replays only show footage from the corner where you see him veer off the track . . . The incident took place before that point and, as previously stated, I am of the opinion that there was damage done and caused him to go off circuit. There should be some onboard footage of the drivers around Kimi, you can clearly see that there was an incident.
Rodney Gordon
Expert
Wow, I haven't seen this on any replays but I can't discount it as a possibility.
Lee
Guest
Under think you'll find thats either a mistake or lie from a hater.
Lee
Guest
Spot on !! Finally an explanation as to what really happened. Even though it looked quite obvious.
Andrew Nicholas Wiid
Guest
You guys are forgetting something very important . . . Kimi was hit by another driver . . . Cannot remember exactly who collided with him, but there was contact and as an ex race steward, I am of the opinion that something had to have been damaged on his car. I believe this is what caused him to leave the circuit and failed whilst attempting to return to the track causing him to lose control. Regardless of all of that info, which the FIA would have been privy to, he was not reckless in returning to the track and up until the moment where he "lost control", he had done nothing wrong. Therefore no penalty needed to be given out.
Lee
Guest
Well put man. I agree except for signing for wrong team. He couldn't stay at Lotus doing voluntary work and unless Red Bull or Mercedes come knocking where else would you go? For those out there questioning his motivation he wants to be a world champion again thats why he went back to a TOP team even though they are hardly that at the moment. But it was too risky for him to go anywhere else. I've got a feeling its all gonna blow up in the second half of the season. If Ferrari keep wiping Fernandos arse and brushing Kimi aside I think he might just lose his cool eventually.
Lee
Guest
Exactly. The majority on here have probably followed for much longer.
FrozenNorth
Guest
The all time most over rated driver in the sport.
Dhev
Guest
Awesome, I've just finished a comment where I'd only seen the bad talk about Kimi, glad to see someone else on my wavelength
Dhev
Guest
To all those still behind Kimi ( the minority ) Love you all
Dhev
Guest
It's always so easy to be behind a person when he's doing well and lambasting him when he's not, it's so cliche. Kimi is a good driver, he's here to race, he's not here for the big head celeb status, you guys are used to that in other sportsman so you expect it of him. I'm so sick of you headless chickens with the super powers of hindsight. He made a mistake, remember this is the same guy who holds the record for finishing races. If he thought he would create a crash he would have taken avoiding action. The thing is all this crap that's happen is thanks to F1 Management. They are so good at deflecting the real cause ( themselves ) on others. They go on about being the top of safety, yet they bring in a crap load of changes at once, these changes have caused unpredictable cars to most drivers. Last years car would have joined just fine. He's proved over and over he's a good driver, and this whole story about him wanting to or should leave F1 has been going on for years and years and years. Years on you are still spitting out the same garbage. I don't know how any driver keeps up the spirit and interest in F1 when it's fans and management are such big pricks as you lot.