Quote:
Originally Posted by Paradise City
He's not in it for the money. He's already received numerous, significant cash pay-outs in the course of his career i.e his following his first stint at Ferrari.
He's in it to enjoy himself but that's different from putting in the hard slog required to be, uh, competitive and to challenge Alonso. Part of that 'hard slog' is to play a little bit of politics as well - to defend his corner with the team. But he never had the appetite to play the smart political game.
|
I would agree with this. He had a situation at Lotus that was untenable but where could he go? Talked to Red Bull and Ferrari. he knew Ferrari, they knew him, paid well and up to date.
However the new formula, the F14T is a dog of a car, and the internal politics of Ferrari....
Well don't forget that after his championship year he let Massa carry a lot of the results with him being a support until Massa got Barrichello's spring bounce up and suddenly Kimi upped his game for the rest of the year.
Later he got dismissed when Alonso was taken on and had a sabbatical.
He is NOT political, and prefers support, probably likes it when he is the king of the team's focus. Then he is motivated. That happened at Lotus, which is why he had good results and the team is also probably free of the politics.
Going to Ferrari was probably a mistake because he wasn't going to be king, Alonso reigns there.
The car is hard to handle and Alonso makes Kimi look bad but the car may really as bad as where Raikkonen puts it.
When Alonso went to Ferrari, Massa was motivated but the subsequent years saw his decline and I wonder really if Ferrari is capable of running two top drivers.
Internal politics and division may be the norm and in that case the Todt-Brawn-Schumacher years were the exception because the 'outsiders' discipline ruled the day. They prepared two good cars but Michael's rule meant he was always preferred.
Under Italian management they may play the drivers off against each other and Kimi isn't going to flourish under that sort of management.