It appears there have been few tears[='(] shed at Ferrari following 2007 F1 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen’s departure to make way for Fernando Alonso next year, with Stefano Domenicali contending that the Spaniard is ‘better’[funniest joke in the entire world] at development and motivating the team than the no-nonsense Finn, and has the potential to be ‘similar to [Michael] Schumacher’.
Raikkonen claimed the crown in his first season with the Scuderia two years ago, but in 2008 his form dropped off dramatically, amidst accusations that his commitment had gone and his heart was no longer in it.[Absolutely bullshit!] Despite[After all those podium finishes it is still a "despite"?!?!] a brief resurgence after team-mate Felipe Massa’s Hungaroring accident thrust him into the role of de facto team leader over the second half of 2009, the writing had long since been on the wall for the man from Espoo and rallying beckoned.
Following Alonso’s first two visits to Ferrari’s Italian headquarters, an engineer remarked that ‘in two days he has seen more of the Maranello factory than others in two years’[Is the engineer new too? It may be true,but it does not mean that Alonso "has seen more of the Maranello factory" just because he sat on one more toilet bowl than kimi]– understood to have been a scarcely-veiled reference to the Oviedo native’s predecessor– and now team principal Domenicali seems to corroborate such sentiments.[LOLS]
“Ferrari needs someone for the team similar to Schumi,” [Cloning in some society is regarded as an ethnic issue i guess that does not include Italy.]he told German publication Auto Bild, explaining the need for a more natural leader. [ Alonso, leader?!?!?! You must be kidding me. All he had led was nelson piquet crash]“[Raikkonen is] very fast, but also very closed. In a car that is capable of winning, he was and is perfect – but if the car needs to be developed and the team fired up, Alonso is better.”[ Of course, he excel in crashing the car so that Ferrari have to further develop the car in order to meet the need of a man who can drive as well as a new born.][ Okay...i got to admit Alonso is a very talented driver but just don't really like him.]
Prior to arriving at McLaren-Mercedes for his ill-fated single-year sojourn at Woking back in 2007, Alonso had boasted[He finally got one thing right.] that his development skills could produce as much as an extra second’s worth of lap time from a car. However, that season saw the 28-year-old fall out spectacularly with team-mate Lewis Hamilton and more particularly the McLaren management and team principal Ron Dennis, with whom he rarely saw eye-to-eye.[ That's what you get from being overly confident of your so called "development skills. Less talk, More work man...] There are fears that the presence of two Latin characters at Ferrari in 2010 in the political Alonso and apolitical Massa might lead to similar friction – but Domenicali is swift to dismiss such notions.
“I’ve spoken to Fernando about [what happened at] McLaren,” the Italian revealed. “He felt betrayed,[ He felt betrayed?!?! I wonder who started it first?? Lewis got on really well with hekki...and almost everyone else] and also that his relationship with Lewis was not always correct. At Maranello that will not happen – I can guarantee that.”[ He says this albeit he probably just brought a 10 million insurance to cover the cost of machinery in the event of a argument which result in a nasty fight between their two talented drivers]
In Raikkonen’s defence,[Finally someone with some common sense] it has been noted by former ITV-F1 commentator James Allen that one of the reasons the 18-time grand prix-winner was hired in the first place was that his predilection for doing his talking on the track was regarded by then Ferrari team principal Jean Todt as a strength rather than a weakness.[ How is showing that one is capable of winning championship a weakness. It is better than someone who boasted that he can develop a car perfectly.] However, his friend Tony Wilander’s comments when it was first announced that Raikkonen would be joining the Prancing Horse were perhaps the most telling of all.
“How will the Ferrari team be with Kimi?” he mused. “Very different from Schumacher’s. Let’s not forget that Michael arrived at Ferrari together with people who had already worked with him at Benetton. Kimi, by contrast, doesn’t know anyone. On top of that, Kimi’s less of a perfectionist, and he will not visit the factory as often. However, I’m sure it will be enough to win the championship.”[ Great speech...definitely deserve an Oscar for this.]
It has also been reported that the 2010 Ferrari F1 challenger will feature distinctive nose bumps, like those seen on Red Bull Racing’s RB5 this year.