Even though he finished fourth in the first GP of the season and kept the current constructors’ champions off the top spot, Kimi still got it in the neck from a lot of F1 fans this weekend, mostly on social media.
At 37 he’s the oldest driver on the grid although he doesn’t have the greatest number of F1 starts of the current cohort of drivers (in third place, as far as I can tell, behind Alonso and Massa.) Some of his critics suggested he was past his sell -by date and questioned if he should still be racing in F1.
So, was his performance lack- luster? Was he going through the motions, or was he using his experience to hold up the pack? Was he being a great wing man for his team mate by keeping Max Verstappen at bay who in turn got held up Lewis Hamilton and thus preventing Hamilton from having a go at Vettel for the top spot? Max said in the post race interview that he was quite surprised he was “so close to Kimi” the whole race.
Ferrari won (thanks Seb!!) and thanks to both Seb and Kimi, took top spot in the constructor’s championship by four points: so is there life in the old dog yet?
Should Kimi even be racing in F1 2017? Over to you and let us know in the comments.
Raikonnen isn’t at Ferrari now to win – he’s there to be Riccardo Patrese.
Again i agree Cav. Kimi has his moments but IMho he should step aside. There are some very talented young drivers ready to make their mark but now we are down 2 more cars it’s even more of a bun fight for a seat than it ever was. Like yourself,i am a devoted Ferrari nut and i have a parking space in my heart for Kimi but he really did luck into his world championship as the two McLaren driver’s had some in fighting. Yes,he has good days but these are getting fewer. Sorry Kimi..I really like you chap but let the kids take the wheel.
Kimi would never accept to be Vettel’s wing man. The easiest way for Kimi to get rid of Max was to hit the throttle a bit harder. He simply could not keep up with Vettel … in the same car and same tyre strategy. On the other hand Max was able to keep up with Kimi and that makes me wonder … what if the boy would drive the RedHorse instead of the RedBull?