Have anyone else noticed how much is going on right now in this sport?
I'm going to talk about issues regarding:
- Kimi Räikkönen
- Ferrari and Lotus
- Kimi's replacement
- Nico Hülkenberg and Pastor Maldonado
- Heikki Kovalainen
- Team Williams and the drivers
- McLaren and Sergio Perez
At first Lotus and Räikkönen were fighting about money. Then Kimi decided not to race because of his back pains. Some people speculated that he was lying but I don't believe in that. Back pain is the biggest problem with older F1 drivers. Everyone has had back pains, even Alonso has the same problem but not as bad.
The Iceman was sure that he would have surgery after the 2013 season, but after visiting Ferrari's factory he had a discussion with Luca di Montezemolo. Suddenly he decided to have surgery before the end of the season. My first reaction was that did Luca effect Kimi's decision to have surgery earlier? Who knows?
Luca di Montezemolo has stated that he knew nothing about Kimi's plans but thought that it was a good idea to have surgery now so that he would be in better condition before the 2014 season.
Some even speculated that Kimi helped Ferrari (his next team) by skipping the last races with Lotus so that Ferrari would have one team less to fight against. True or not but I think it will help them and hurt Lotus much more.
Some said that Lotus saved money when they don't have to pay Räikkönen for more points, but the truth is that Lotus also gets money depending on their position in the constructors championship.
Kimi could have secured the 3rd spot for Lotus or even the 2nd! They would have got much more money with that.
The team that is 2nd in the standings gets so much money that they can afford to pay their motors for the next season and maybe even the drivers salary. Now they will probably be 4th and they will loose millions of dollars.
Grosjean can't help them alone with this situation. They need a driver like Kimi or they can't keep up the good pace. So this is the part where we can start talking about Kimi's replacement.
At first everybody was sure that Valsecchi would get a shot and I understand why, he is the reserve driver. The only problem is that he has never competed in a Formula One race and they need points like hell right now. They don't have time for Valsecchi to develop when there is two races to go.
Team Lotus needs somebody that is experienced and available. Now who could that be?
First there was Nico Hulkenberg that could probably drive for Lotus next year. He said no. WHY?!?
He hasn't got his salary either from Sauber who also has money issues just like Lotus so he could leave any time he wants. Still he decides to stay with Sauber. Maybe he got nervous and thought that if he fails with Lotus in the two remaining races he looses his seat at Lotus next year? Just a theory so don't hate me for that comment. It was just a thought and maybe a stupid one.
Then there was Pastor Maldonado who's sponsors have failed to support Williams. He could have probably left right away as well but didn't. Was he also afraid or did his money truly run out? Lotus would have needed Maldonado's money also so he could have had a chance next year as well, but now it doesn't look good. We shall wait and see.
Some people said that Buemi could jump in the Lotus. I don't understand that because he works for Red Bull as the number 3 driver and they don't wanna send him anywhere. Trust me they don't.
After all these choices we come to a man who has beaten all his teammates in his career except Lewis Hamilton at McLaren, which was in his words the most difficult time of his career mentally. He has won the race of champions beating Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Loeb and many others. He almost won the first ever GP2 series with a car that wasn't even the best. This man is a GP winner but didn't get a seat this year when Caterham ran out of money. He is Heikki Kovalainen and Lotus chose him.
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| Heikki Kovalainen after winning the Race of Champions |
This is Heikki's last chance to show everybody that he still has what it takes to be in this series. If he fails then everything is over for him and he can start doing something else. I wish him luck.
Team Williams is next on the list. They decided to kick out Pastor Maldonado when he can't support the team financially anymore. He even stated to the press that the team only wanted his money. Sad but if he has problems to beat Valtteri Bottas who is a total rookie then he isn't probably what Williams needs.
Valtteri Bottas on the other hand has only just started his career and has a great mentor to help him.. Mika Häkkinen.
The new driver for the team is Felipe Massa who has found his motivation again. He is not the number two driver anymore but the leader of the team! He will bring Williams back to the top. Just watch out for the young boy Bottas. He is waiting for the right moment to attack the top drivers on the track.
McLaren has had problems this year and are kicking out Sergio Perez. He had a chance but they wanted more from the young driver. Perez himself has stated that McLaren is a chaotic team with no order and that they are not fair.
Former F1 driver Jan Magnussen's son Kevin is probably going to replace Perez. They have actually said it already but no names have been written down on any contracts. So everything is still possible.
Now I have written more than I would wanna read so it's best to stop here.
If you have questions or wanna leave a comment please do.
