Planet-IRL

Alonso to Ferrari… Kimi to…?

Alonso to Ferrari… Finally. The rumor of all rumors came true, although not exactly how Alonso and Ferrari were expecting. Originally the deal had been written up that Fernando would start at Ferrari for the 2011 season after Kimi’s and Felipe’s contract had expired. However, the process was expedited only recently and we will see the Spaniard in a shiny red horse at the Bahrain GP.

I’m going to go out on a limb and admit I’m disappointed with this move. When I compare the results of Kimi against Massa in Qualifying there is a dead split: Kimi – 3, Massa – 3. When I compare race results between the two, Kimi – 3, Massa – 2 (I did not included Australia where both drivers DNF’d). Looking at that data, the last 4 races we have seen Kimi Raikkonen at peak form with no team mate support with Luca Badoer and certainly very little with Fisichella who is still adapting to the car. Nothing against Alonso, I was hoping to see a season of Kimi and Felipe taking that prancing horse back up to the front.

That being said, the rumors of Kimi back to McLaren are growing louder and louder. If history would teach us anything it’s that McLaren loves driver controversy. On numerous occasions they’ve had teammates that would not speak to each other (Senna/Prost, Hamilton/Alonso.) Could Hamilton and the Iceman fall into that same category? Where ever Kimi ends up, teams will need to be at their best to compete with a potent 2010 Ferrari driver line-up. And Fernando, don’t count on your next Brazilian teammate crashing into any barriers on purpose – chances are, he might even be in front of you.