Raikkonen to Sauber, Leclerc to Ferrari Next Season

[SVP Skins]

Great for Kimi if you ask me, now he will be able race for the team instead of being the lapdog he was being treated like.

 

[Marc Collins]

I'm not crapping on anyone. Just stating facts. Kimi WAS a rookie. He's not now. Getting rid of a veteran driver than can give Mercedes a run for their money is not smart.

Half the drivers on the grid could give Mercedes a run for their money if in a competitive Ferrari. 80 or 90 per cent of the performance difference is the car; the remainder the driver. Any of the drivers in F1 could beat Hamilton on a good day if they had the identical car. Hamilton might still win the season, but the points would be very close across the field if all the cars were equal.

 

[motoliser]

Ferrari missing out big time on having a chance to beat Mercedes!!!

Daniel Ricciardo was the right choice cause he beated Vettel while they were in RedBull.

Anyways Vettel's luck is over because Leclerc is very poor talented so no more wingman for the German and Ferrari will definitely sink.

 

[HK2014]

Ferrari missing out big time on having a chance to beat Mercedes!!!

Daniel Ricciardo was the right choice cause he beated Vettel while they were in RedBull.

Anyways Vettel's luck is over because Leclerc is very poor talented so no more wingman for the German and Ferrari will definitely sink.

"Leclerc very poor talented" are you serious ?

 

[LEDzZzEPP]

What..?, we have Kimi in F1 for another year (at least), ...great!

btw...(smile or not smile bla bla bla),....I prefer Kimi's casual laugh, that the constant but false laughter of other pilots

 

[Durge Driven]

I think mid season driver swaps would be better

I don't see the point of both drivers not having the rest of this season to get better acquainted with the new cars / teams

Alonso should go too, he is the cork in the bottle, largely determined Stoffel's fate and has excluded at least one new face from their big chance to impress

 

[RichardHessels]

I respect Kimi very much, but these days just driving fast is not enough. Kimi is a sponsors worst nightmare (the companies that pay for everything in the end). The guy rarely shows any emotion.
So it's difficult for the public (future customers) to connect with him. His driving was sometimes extremely good and many times quite unimpressive. You can say a lot about drivers like Verstappen, and that's just the point. After a week they are still talking about his actions instead of who won the race.
So some young blood could stir up the old patterns of Batman and Robin at Ferrari.
Because if Vettel would leave (for what ever reason) or worse, Ferrari would be empty handed.
With just Kimi and a rookie you won't become world champion (anymore).
Kimi gives the audience the feeling he's doing a profession instead of driving out of passion.
Leclerq has proven to be very fast and consistent this season.
And be frank, driving a formula 1 car is not rocket science.
So many more factors decide who will win the race or the championship.

 

[AUS_DougII]

Leclerc in Ferrari, first thing that came to my mind = $$$$$$$$$$€€€€€€€€€€€$$$$$$$$$$

"I'll take 'How to best show that I don't know what I'm talking about' for $300, Alex"

 

[DaVeX↯]

Ahem...sorry if I will sound rude but you guys forgot a couple of things...
- Sauber is now Sauber-Alfa Romeo, this means they have a Ferrari engine and they already had the last evolution of it (even before Ferrari for testing purposes)
- Le Clerc was able to put that car high on grid so I would expect the same from Kimi since more experience means more consistency on track
- Kimi will help developing the Sauber car, will be the first driver inside the team and Leclerc will be the salt on Vettel tail
- Red Bull with Honda engines wouldn't be on top as Merc and Ferrari at the very beginning and we will see some good/fun fights between Kimi and Verstappen (they already proven this to us so I wouldn't expect less)

Kimi is a sponsors worst nightmare (the companies that pay for everything in the end). The guy rarely shows any emotion.
So it's difficult for the public (future customers) to connect with him. His driving was sometimes extremely good and many times quite unimpressive. You can say a lot about drivers like Verstappen, and that's just the point. After a week they are still talking about his actions instead of who won the race.

Really??? People loves Kimi even if not on podium for his way of act out of car, his "bwoah" could be one of the most successful brand, put him in any TV spot and people will love it. I know people waiting his interviews after race to listen him because they love his character. About Verstappen I prefer not spoil my opinion or I will upset someone because being a good driver doesn't save him from being...(insert random bad words)

 

[Frosty]

 

[snyperal]

love when people talk garbage in f1 today if all cars was even there be not only hamilton n vettel muts will talk about but talk about how average they actual are the way f1 will always be look at **** team find a driver whom performs over n beyon in a crap car n thats whom is actually the driver to watch. if anyone has eva done any racing setup n car is one aspect skills to peddle a crap car n perform is a skill money cant buy.

Very difficult to read your post. Can anyone translate?

 

[RichardHessels]

Ahem...sorry if I will sound rude but you guys forgot a couple of things...
- Sauber is now Sauber-Alfa Romeo, this means they have a Ferrari engine and they already had the last evolution of it (even before Ferrari for testing purposes)
- Le Clerc was able to put that car high on grid so I would expect the same from Kimi since more experience means more consistency on track
- Kimi will help developing the Sauber car, will be the first driver inside the team and Leclerc will be the salt on Vettel tail
- Red Bull with Honda engines wouldn't be on top as Merc and Ferrari at the very beginning and we will see some good/fun fights between Kimi and Verstappen (they already proven this to us so I wouldn't expect less)

Really??? People loves Kimi even if not on podium for his way of act out of car, his "bwoah" could be one of the most successful brand, put him in any TV spot and people will love it. I know people waiting his interviews after race to listen him because they love his character. About Verstappen I prefer not spoil my opinion or I will upset someone because being a good driver doesn't save him from being...(insert random bad words)

Listen just to be clear, i like Kimi very much in his actions and his personality.
But for people half my age he or less he is not someone the younger generation can connect with.
Dunno if anybody noticed but F1 is the most commercialized sports in the world.
So just driving fast is not enough anymore. It's a full package. On track and off track.
I'm sure Kimi will do a great "job"at Sauber.

 

[Koen Verlinde]

"Leclerc very poor talented" are you serious ?

Well, except for Baku, it still isn't clear why he is hyped so much. Sure he does well in qualifying but Sauber in general has improved a lot as Ericsson is better as well.

So, yeah, he ain't bad for sure, but this hype I don't really understand. Alonso in a much worse car has gathered more points, so what is it about Leclerc that makes people think he's "again" some new Senna?

 

[keto95]

So, yeah, he ain't bad for sure, but this hype I don't really understand.

You should recognize a supertalent when you see one.

so what is it about Leclerc that makes people think he's "again" some new Senna?

This Dutch article may convince you. Let's say that if a driver can promote to Ferrari only 6 months after his debut in F1, he must have something going. I personally forsee the new Prost in him.

 

[Koen Verlinde]

mwoah, the article goes on a lot about stuff that isn't connected to Leclerc, at the very least not directly and other drivers have wiped away competition in the lower classes to just meet a standstill when they get into F1. Except that 6th position (1 point according to the old rules, which I still use as a benchmark), he finished 9th and 10th which in todays F1 means points, but in old F1 meant nothing.

Supertalent? Mwoah. Obviously it's not my job to look out for them, but I'm not convinced at the moment. That Sebastian and Kimi are growing old and one of them would have to go seems more of a reason for this change than Leclerc's talent to me as has been shown so far.

And let me say that dutch articles about F1 are kinda tainted to young talent cause somehow, between the lines they can't stop saying that Verstappen is the best ever. All other young drivers benefit from this kind of media.

 

[keto95]

And let me say that dutch articles about F1 are kinda tainted to young talent cause somehow, between the lines they can't stop saying that Verstappen is the best ever.

That's Dutch chauvinism which I hate btw; it's far from being objective. Leclerc has the brains to become WDC, Verstappen hasn't.

 

[Paul Glover]

This is brilliant

 

[jpalesi]

mwoah, the article goes on a lot about stuff that isn't connected to Leclerc, at the very least not directly and other drivers have wiped away competition in the lower classes to just meet a standstill when they get into F1. Except that 6th position (1 point according to the old rules, which I still use as a benchmark), he finished 9th and 10th which in todays F1 means points, but in old F1 meant nothing.

He's still trouncing Ericsson, something someone like Wehrlein couldn't do.
As far as old points go, you can take any driver and make him look bad with old points.
Magnussen & Perez : 6 pts. Hulkenberg : 5 pts. Ocon : 4 points. Alonso : 2 pts. etc...
Doesn't look too flash heh ?

I find it great that Ferrari finally takes a chance on a young driver, something they haven't really done since Massa and Alesi.

 

[motoliser]

Please no more kids in F1...I dont like to see races ending prematurely because of these precocious youngsters!!!
They need to learn how to behave at the wheel in first place, therefore driving licenses should be mandatory to join F1.

and before anyone says that the older drivers also end races prematurely the amount of times you see that hapening to great drivers is once in a year

 

[Turk]

I respect Kimi very much, but these days just driving fast is not enough. Kimi is a sponsors worst nightmare (the companies that pay for everything in the end). The guy rarely shows any emotion.
So it's difficult for the public (future customers) to connect with him.

I don't know about all that. Kimi is incredibly popular, and can achieve as much respect and publicity by muttering something under his breath as a young driver would doing a world tour.

I'd say he is a nightmare in the sense he doesn't desperately want to be a famous F1 driver and is prepared to tell people to feck off if it suits him. But I'd say advertisers are bending over backwards to get his name on their brand, his just not that interested.

Saying little and showing no emotion is a good thing too, it means he less likely to get in trouble over something he said or did.