Quite right. I can't see Maldonado/Raikkonen being better for Williams development than Maldonado/Barrichello, unless Raikkonen brings in tons of dosh and doesn't want much by way of a salary.
Williams have only made 1 bad driver signing from what I remember and that is 'Alex Zanardi' who couldnt drive with carbon fibre brakes I take it Williams will replace Barrichello in the team?
slightly above average f1 driver when at his peak imo, never really been that impressed by him, can't see him doing any better than what they're doing now, next year with a bit of testing maybe
Well, when one considers the timing of it and its implications, signing Frentzen was probably the worst decision (and by his own admission) that Sir Frank Williams has ever made in motor racing.
I completely agree and have made a similar point elsewhere. Barrichello is hard-working and enthusiastic in spite of his 40 years. He also knows the car inside out and is not demanding in any way. He might not quite have matched Raikkonen's old one-lap pace but he's been more consistent and far more reliable - both as a person and driver. But if Raikkonen comes in through another Wrank Filliams error of judgement, it will be Barrichello rather than Maldonado who is shown the door. Your last point is very relevant Genji: if Raikkonen comes back, it will be because Wrank considers him a good draw for the sponsors; and I actually think he will not be demanding a big salary to return, since at the moment he has no realistic offers outside of F1 and has (inevitably) fallen short with his vain (if not conceited) adventure into rallying. His work ethic will be of little use for the all-important aspect of car development which the Williams team is in such desperate need of; and for this reason, I think that taking Raikkonen would give a final nod to those who think Frank Williams wants out. In my view, Williams as a team is washed up if they suck on a cheap lolli-pop.
I'd love to see Kimi back in F1, I've posted on here about it every now and then since January, F1 needs some characters not a load of yesmen, thats why Schumi is a breath of fresh air as he adds something else to the mix. My friend barely ever watches F1 now but the first thing he said to me when I met him this week was how excited he was by Schumi the other week as it was a throwback to old racing not the sanitized stuff you get these days. Thats what we need, some drivers with balls and attitude!
Most of the existing top drivers exhibit these qualities in abundance and what they also show is commitment, reliability, and the ability to develop the hardware not forgetting the work hard ethic, all of the latter clearly not part of the Raikkonen package as he has proved all too often in the recent past. Frank Williams having to consider the likes of Kimi Raikkonen, can only mean he is clutching at straws and the end of Williams is nigh.
Sounds inevitable: http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2011/09/raikkonen-poised-to-return-to-f1-with-williams/ James Allen's not one to bullshit. Raikkonen could really shake things up if he quickly adapts to the Pirellis, especially with seats at Red Bull and Ferrari likely to become available for 2013. I can dream...
I actually think Williams would be better off, after thinking long and hard about it, with someone like Bruno Senna. He brings sponsorship money, but he can also drive pretty well.
I really think this had very little to do with his attitude (or "work ethic"). Of course he did what was needed at the end of the season but all he could do was hope to pick up the pieces of McLaren's almost unbelievable catalogue of errors. In this sense, Raikkonen was rather fortunate that McLaren seemed determined to trip themselves up over and over again; eventually succeeding!
You could argue that Raikkonen was fortunate to win his title, but you can also say he was very unlucky not to win two titles before that. So....
Well Mifune, I thought it was obvious which title we were talking of? Thomsen spoke of Kimi Raikkonen's world title and as far as I remember, he only did it once; so that's the one I'm discussing. If you want to talk of something else, create a thread about it and I'll see if it interests me.
I really hope Kimi returns, I really liked hm as he was super super fast naturally and was a very clean racer too! If he gets his motivation back he is a strong contender once more! Come on Frank, get him back! Although personally I would dump Maldonado!
