All things considered, no one has had a more disastrous time than McLaren. Let's delve a little deeper!
NOTE: I am not proud of the puns.
The aftermath of the season opener left a huge Raikkonen fan like me in ecstasy. I was sure the season was going to be great, after all I had already made a pre season bet for Kimi.
However, things haven't been the same since. Yes yes yes, the tyre management is ace in the dry, and Kimi is still scoring points, but recently Lotus fans have had to endure rough times.
James Allison's departure has damaged the title hopes. With Mercedes on the rise, and Ferrari and Red Bull pulling away, 4th place is not good enough but unfortunately that is where the team is heading.
Maybe I'm being hard on the team? All I know is performances have been lacklustre.
His place as 2nd driver has been firmly cemented now.
This helps his confidence levels as has been shown. Without any pressure, he can concentrate on his driving. The first five races are proof, first lap and other laps incident free. That's a win in my eyes. Granted Monaco showed us the old Grosjean, but that's Monaco for you!
Team principle Eric Boullier (also Grosjean's manager) has always stated that Romain is a future world champion in the making. At the minute this statement is a little hard to materialize in my mind. Considering the losses Lotus are currently enduring (Allison leaving, big sponsors selling shares) I don't think anyone can be world champion at this team for some time.
First of all, can he do it? Yes.
I have been extremely critical of Kimi recently. With bloody good reasons too. After the best start possible, he lost ground in Malaysia.Next followed a string of 2nd places, two of which he should have won (Spain was far beyond his reach).
His performance in Monaco was extremely poor. A race he was supposed to do well in, he hit major flop, granted not all his fault, a particular Mexican became very bumper happy.
The lowest point this season so far was in Canada. Kimi just looked like he didn't care any more. Which is grand for personality, but when it comes to challenging for the title, it's not good enough.
Hopefully getting lapped will have kicked his ass into gear. Silverstone is by far a Lotus track. Not a winning opportunity, but a starting point.
Even though this equalling points record thing is great, it's not doing anything for the drivers championship. It's all well and good if Kimi gets on or two points on Vettel on a run of three or four races, but then it's a giant set back when Vettel wins and Kimi flops. Right back at square one.
It's sad to see a season where McLaren and Mercedes's Lewis Hamilton are no longer race winning contenders, and yet Kimi still struggles to be on top of the podium.
I'm negative at times, but I always do believe. Although I am starting to question if he really does know what he's doing.
There's nothing I can say here that you are not already aware of. This is a disaster for "Britain's Best."
Revolution over evolution in the car's design did not help. Keeping the old car should have been a no brainer, not they're following William's into a dark descent. An abyss with no return is impending.
I have no idea how a driver can go from the heights of last year to the depths of this one.
His temperament on track this year has been tragic. The crap car excuse can only stretch so far, he has to accept some blame.
So far he has failed to do it. The events with Button in Bahrain, I thought Perez was entirely within his rights. However the events at Monaco I cannot defend. Not only did he attempt an entirely dangerous move on Raikkonen, he then had the gall to say it was Kimi's fault.
I would love to have been the one to punch him. It would have been great to read the headline "Checo Wins __ Grand Prix" and he genuinely thought he had a championship winning opportunity. The team has let him down on this basis, but his own attitude has not helped.
To make the most of this mess, he needs to keep out of trouble and stay positive. Something he's doing better than his team mate.
I've always thought Jenson was the best at what he does. Last season, he proved he was Britain's best after he (in my opinion) out shone Lewis Hamilton, just like the season before that.
This year, Jenson has shown his darker side. A whiner, less likeable character. He blames everyone else for his mistakes, including Perez whenever he should take a leaf from Paul di Resta's book and aim his frustration to the people who need it.
THE TEAM. They have delivered a heap of metal that is not performing as well as the budget that they allow. Granted constantly complaining isn't helping matters, it might get someone in R&D to get motivated. It won't help the British cause going into Silverstone, but everyone loves his smile!
Results have been fluctuating to say the least, It seems to be going from extremely well, to extremely dire. If they follow the current patten, Silverstone will be a nightmare.
Luckily enough Fernando is an expert of the track. Hopefully he'll seal the win this year. I also think Massa has a chance to bag a long awaited win.
Barring an odd Bahrain and devastating Monaco, this season has been excellent, even by post 2009 Massa standards.
Consistency is the best way to describe his on track performance. I also personally believe Massa's five year wait for a win is coming to an end. The dream would be at Interlagos, but in this day and age of Formula 1, what I want never happens.
The up-and-down nature of Alonso's season is not helping his title charge. As I see it right now, Fernando is the single contender to Vettel. And The German is currently coasting to a 4th world championship.
Fernando should be aiming to generate consistency. Beating Vettel simply won't be enough, opportunities have never been greater, the only thing letting him down is his qualifying. Ferrari's last pole position was Silverstone last year. With the British Grand Prix coming up, now is his best chance to turn everything around.
Fernando also needs to watch for a resurgent Kimi, but the best chance for a drivers championship at Ferrari is now.
As the saying goes, if you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything They have again managed to fluke, lie and deceive their way to the top.
The focal point of the season is obviously the disgrace that occurred at Malaysia. But I'm not getting into that again, and you read my feelings here & here, the incident which I have dubbed Twat-gate following an hilarious tweet.
Mark Webber has only made a few bad mistakes this year. The first was that Christ awful haircut. The second was at the Chinese Grand Prix where he t-boned the Toro Rosso.
He handled the Twat-gate scandal with relative ease, simply not letting Vettel away with it. He called him up on it and made sure the world knew he had been wronged. It was the team who had let him down, but why would anyone want to disturb the golden child at Red Bull?
Webber won the only Grand Prix I have attended (Silverstone 2012) so I have a soft spot for this guy. His problem is that he is in the shadow of a fake driver. But I'm not getting into that again.
This could very well be Webber's last season at Red Bull. If it is, I would like him to walk away with at least one win.
Why is he still on top? Three-fold answer:
1) He is still a major fluke. Nobody can defend that anymore.
2) He's a cheat. Malaysia, if you are still disillusioned, get your head looked at. You may have a severe mental disorder.
3) He hasn't put a foot wrong. Did I just compliment Sebastian Vettel? His lowest finishing place this year? 4th. When did he last achieve that? 2011, and I don't need to go into detail of what happened in that year.
While Kimi has failed, Fernando has flopped and Hamilton is no match for Red Bull, he has seized the opportunity to take the early advantage. And he might not let it go.
I had to explain to someone recently why there is no use in hoping Vettel's car will fail or he'll retire: because that kind of bad luck doesn't happen to Vettel.. It has nothing to do talent, it's pure fluke.
The way I see it, if Vettel grabs pole, Houston60 doesn't mind missing the race. His performances in Europe are mixed... Between 1st place and 3rd but when the Asian tracks hit, it's all Vettel town. Considering nothing looks like picking up for Kimi, and Alonso can't find consistency, Vettel may very well have walked away with the championship already.
But I always believe in one man:
#KINGKIMI
No comments:
Post a Comment