Comments on: Prost: Kimi’s off year will be good for F1

By: Olivier

Olivier — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 23:00:21 +0000

I read Prost’s quote on the Europe 1 website. Here’s a quick translation:

“Kimi has a lot of fans. It is sometimes difficult for him to work with a team. The Ferrari people have particularly disliked his distant relationship with engineers, but he is a superb driver. What will he become? He will try to race in rallies, but he is a bit lazy, he likes to party, and drink a bit. When taking a year off, one must be extremely serious, prepare physically and mentally. This risks being difficult for him. People in the F1 community might have a hard time trusting him again in 2011.”

He believes it is bad news.

In the same interview, he talks about Mercedes having always wanted to have their own team. He goes on to say that “Mercedes has always wanted German driver to have the image of a national team. I am also not sure that the Mercedes people were Button fans. In the end, a Rosberg-Heidfeld team is likely, unless there is another surprise.”

He is happy about Button going to McLaren. “Hamilton is intrinsically faster than Button. But we’ve seen this year how great a finisher Button is. It could make for a great balance. Now, he might be a bit disappointed, but really, did he have a choice? He was offered the choice to stay under certain conditions, and not just monetary ones. Did the new management [Mercedes] need him? That’s the real question.”

He also gives a slight edge to McLaren over Ferrari. “The Hamilton-Button appears a bit stronger to me. At Ferrari, we have 2 Latin drivers [Alonso-Massa] in a Latin team. That won’t be easy to manage, even they are both exceptional drivers. That’s the miracle of F1. When everything goes bad, and no one can say that things are going well right now, we still manage to have a new team, Mercedes, and then 2 or 3 other teams with top drivers, who can make us dream”.

Whew! Translation, even shoddy, is hard.

By: Benalf

Benalf — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:34:39 +0000

It is quite impressive to see how the team who won both WC could not retain any of its drivers…strange, isn’t it?
I wonder if Brawn wants more competitive drivers or drivers with more PR/money capabilities?

By: Nelson DB

Nelson DB — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:04:51 +0000

maybe Alain wanted to say Kimi’s sabbatical will be good for him , not for f1.
I don’t understand how loosing a top driver could be good for f1..
sadly i think we won’t see anymore Kimi in f1 if he take a sabbatical.
till mercedes won’t announce the second driver there is still a little hope to have Kimi on the grid next year..

By: niko

niko — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 13:20:45 +0000

The best opportunity to be competitive in rally is 2011, when the car specification will change. I think Kimi planned to skip f1 after 2010 and start a rally carrier in 2011. In this case they should drive in some events in 2010, and I think it is still a plan. But the best practice for 2011 is not a WRC, rather a S2000 spec car, which will be the base of the new spec WR cars.

As he has never race with a WRC, I think Miko is right, Kimi has no chance to be in the top5 or top10. Some good stage results, and many crashes…

By: Mikka

Mikka — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 10:48:03 +0000

All hype. He might like rally and all that, but I think he will only drive those rallies he’s supposed to do according to what’s left of his contract with Ferrari.
It would be pretty unrealistic if he could match the other rallydriver’s pace in a different class. Although F1 and WRC are both racing with cars with 4 wheels, they are driven in a completely different way. It’s like comparing badminton to tennis. Even if a tennisplayer maybe could play badminton very well, he’d be far far away from close to the professional badmintonplayers skills. It would be pretty strange if a guy from a different class/category could walk in and perform at top level without any practice or experience in same category. The rallytalk about Kimi is pure media-moves from Ferrari to get some marketing from him. Until Kimi doesn’t drive another car than Fiat( =Ferrari )in a rally, there will definitely not be any rallying for Kimi after F1.
Carreerwise it’s a strategic suicide to step down to a lower level as well. It’s either stop completely, or continue to fight at top level. That’s probably why he doesn’t wan’t to drive for a team that “doesn’t have a winning car”.
If he isn’t ready to lower his salary quite a bit to join Merc next season, he can start writing his Book-of-life. And that would be one of the most depressing moments in F1 history.