2007 French Grand Prix
From Frikipedia
So then, Kimi Raikkonen wins at Magny-Cours. Dull, plain and instantly forgettable, the fact that we were at Magny-Cours didn't help either.
Kimi is a confusing creature. Hailed as the greatest driver ever in 2001 when he joined Sauber at the tender age of 12, he has currently achieved little more than being beaten by Sauber team-mate Nick Heidfeld, before outperforming David Coulthard and latterly Juan Pablo Montoya at McLaren on just over half the available occasions, two drivers that nobody really rates anyway. Of course, there was his title challenge in 2005, when a mixture of reliability problems and general mess-ups allowed the consistent Fernando Alonso to claim the crown, but all in all Friki has seen little from Raikkonen to really be able to explain away his enormous salary he earned from decamping to Ferrari for this season. Other than, of course, Ferrari have more cash than they know what to do with.
It almost seemed criminal to Friki that so many criticised the levels of fanboy support for the likes of Jenson Button when Kimi was just as ardently thrapped over whilst displaying a similarly underwhelmng record. Nevertheless, at the start of the season, everything seemed to make sense. Kimi dominated in Australia to the point that Friki rather flippantly assumed the title was over already. Ferrari were better than McLaren, and Kimi seemed far more assured than Felipe Massa. QED.
Since then, though, Kimi has failed to notch up anything like a good performance. Almost to a race he has been outperformed by Massa, and last time out in America, his gamble to start the race on the slower tyre compound smacked of desparation, particularly when he fluffed his lines at the start. In France, though, he was back to the kind of imperious skill he had shown in Melbourne. Beating Tyler in the drag race at the start, and displaying a Chin-esque turn of speed in the final pit stop window to leapfrog Massa and take the win.
The question is, mind, is Kimi now going to deliver on his bucketloads of hype and lead the Ferrari challenge to the championship-leading McLarens? Or will we get to Silverstone only to find he has returned to a depressingly humble position behind Massa for the foreseeable future?
Contents |
Race Result
1 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 70 Laps in 1:30:54.200
2 Felipe Massa Ferrari +2.414
3 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes +32.153
4 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber +41.727
5 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber +46.801
6 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault +52.210
7 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Mercedes +56.516
8 Jenson Button Honda +58.885
9 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota +1:08.505
10 Ralf Schumacher Toyota +1 Lap
11 Boobens Honda +1 Lap
12 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault +1 Lap
13 David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault +1 Lap
14 Alex Wurz Williams-Toyota +1 Lap
15 Heikki Kovalainen Renault +1 Lap
16 Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda +2 Laps
17 Adrian Sutil Spyker-Ferrari +2 Laps
DNS Scott Speed Toro Rosso-Ferrari Didn't turn up again
Rtd Christijan Albers Spyker-Ferrari Tried to fuel without paying
Rtd Anthony Davidson Super Aguri-Honda Crash
Rtd Jarno Trulli Toyota Bang, Wallop
DNS Tonio Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Ferrari Didn't turn up again
Friki Review
Whilst the Ferrari twins waltzed off into the distance for a win as crushingly comfortable as McLaren's recent victories in Monaco, Canada and the US, the McLarens were left to toil behind in their wake. Lewis scraped another podium thanks to the fact that there was nobody quick enough to capitalise on his rather dodgy three stop strategy, whilst Fernando Alonso, forced to start 10th after gearbox problems in qualifying, kept the fans entertained with a series of weel-to-wheel duels with both Ickle and Giancarlo Fisichella. It was all for naught (well, two), however, as his decision to switch to a two stop strategy left him redundantly heavy at the start of his final stint and allowed Fisi and Icky to comfortably stay ahead of him. A poor return for an excellent drive.
The BMW place was taken by the BMW of Robert Kubica, returning to the wheel after nearly killing himself and his nose in Canada. He finished well clear of Ickle, but Nick may potentially have had an excuse of a damaged car after getting tangled up in Jarno Trulli dozing off on the run to the hairpin on the first lap, a move which eliminated himself and compromised Forehead's chance of a decent score after the two Renaults had somehow managed to qualify well.
After turning up for two races in a row, STR couldn't be bothered with Magny-Cours, so energy drink fans were left to chuckle themselves over the recalcitrant form of the Red Bull cars, who spent all race being quite rubbish. Adrian Newey is a designing god. Ralf sucked, as did The Goo, sadly, Sato being very slow and The Ant crashing at the first corner into the ghost of an STR.
Nico toiled in the Williams and faded out the points late on. However, people's champ Adrian Sutil put in another strong performance, easily beating team-mate Albers, who attempted the old fuel-n-run trick on his pit stop, only to take the fuel hose and half his pit crew with him. Amateur.
The best news of the weekend was a return to form for Jenson Button. Much derided in this Tyler-centric season, he proved that he'd lost none of his ability to score random bits of points by somehow wrestling his Honda around to 8th place, beating Boobens for almost the first time all year. A happy Button indeed.
Overall then, 8 races down, and two wins apiece for the "big four". To coin an old cliche, "it's a game of two halves". To coin a more relevant one, "it's still anyone's game".
Incidentally, people moaned that it didn't rain at Magny-Cours. Friki isn't sure why, but those wet (literally) dreams should be rewarded next time out at Silverstone, as it has been raining constantly on England since early June.
Friki's Unanswered Questions
- Should Friki put a tenner on Kimi4tehwin at Silverstone?
- Or will he just finish 4th again?
- Why did the powers that be at Magny-Cours bother resurfacing the track when this was the last ever GP here?
- WHEN WILL IT STOP RAINING?
Unofficial Friki F1 Race Points in association with Celtic Crosses
1 Jenson Button 5 Celtic Crosses (Driving legend.)
2 Kimi Raikkonen 4 Celtic Crosses (Mr Inconsistency.)
3 Fernando Alonso 3 Celtic Crosses (Mr Entertainment.)
4 Giancarlo Fisichella 2 Celtic Crosses (Mr Dependable.)
5 Adrian Newey 1 Celtic Cross (Mr Convenient-Excuse.)
6 Adrian Sutil 1/2 a Celtic Crosses (Mr You-Wouldn't-Catch-Me-Doing-That.)
Unofficial Friki F1 Championship Standings in association with Celtic Crosses
=1 Ickle 10 Celtic Crosses
=1 Lewis Hamilton 10 Celtic Crosses
3 Adrian Sutil 9 1/2 Celtic Crosses
=4 Giancarlo Fisichella 9 Celtic Crosses
=4 Takuma Sato 9 Celtic Crosses
6 Jarno Trulli 8 Celtic Crosses
=7 Fernando Alonso 7 Celtic Crosses
=7 Alexander Wurz 7 Celtic Crosses
9 David Coulthard 6 Celtic Crosses
=10 Jenson Button 5 Celtic Crosses
=10 Heikki Kovalainen 5 Celtic Crosses
=10 Robert Kubica 5 Celtic Crosses
=10 Kimi Raikkonen 5 Celtic Cross
=10 Scooch 5 Celtic Crosses
15 Nico Rosberg 4 1/2 Celtic Crosses
16 McLaren 4 Celtic Crosses
17 Felipe Massa 3 Celtic Crosses
18 Mark Webber 2 1/2 Celtic Crosses
=19 Boobens 2 Celtic Crosses
=19 Safety Car man 2 Celtic Crosses
=21 Adrian Newey 1 Celtic Cross
=21 Scott Speed 1 Celtic Cross
=21 STR 1 Celtic Cross
=24 Brighton 1/2 a Celtic Cross
=24 Canada 1/2 a Celtic Cross
=24 The Goo 1/2 a Celtic Cross
=24 Tom Varndell 1/2 a Celtic Cross
28 GNER -5 Celtic Crosses
Review
Squeaky bum time in the Unofficial Friki F1 Championship in association with Celtic Crosses, as now 5 drivers are separated by a single celtic cross at the top of the leaderboard. Worryingly for current leaders Tyler and Ickle, pre-season favourites like Alonso, Raikkonen and Sutil are beginning to rise ominously towards the top.
