Just to throw some more fuel to the fire...
Raikkonen to lead Ferrari decline - Lauda
Former champion doubting Raikkonen
17/10/06 11:15
Kimi Raikkonen is unlikely to 'plug the hole' left at Ferrari in 2007 and beyond by departing race driver Michael Schumacher.
That is the concern of triple world champion Niki Lauda, who also referred to the likely sabbatical next year of technical director Ross Brawn.
"If these enormous holes are not effectively plugged," Lauda told the Austrian news magazine Profil, "(Ferrari could) go downhill."
Lauda observed that Raikkonen, often criticised for being lazy, is the 'glaring opposite' of seven time world champion Schumacher, who is retiring after sixteen seasons.
He said of 27-year-old Kimi: "He wants to step into a fully prepared team and worry about nothing.
But to succeed Ferrari needs the kind of leadership that Schumacher could deliver."
Lauda predicts that, in the Raikkonen era, development of the 2007 Ferrari could begin to decline after the first half of the coming season.
He said: "After six months it will become clear if Ferrari has a future or not."
Let's analyze this...
We all know what the departure of MS is going to be for Ferrari. The modern Ferrari Team has been built around him, and that’s one of the reason of MS’s success. You don’t need to be a good F1 pilot to say that...
Don’t even mention the departure of Ross Brown, nobody, not even MS would be able to fill that hole. Why would we hope for Kimi to do so?
I don’t know if Kimi wants to step into a
“fully prepared team” and win races and championships, that’s a bold statement from Mr Lauda.
It is obvious that Ferrari’s power is going to decline, their Pilot #1 and Technical Director are leaving, what do you expect?
“After six months it will become clear if Ferrari has a future or not."
Well, you sure are one outstanding fortuneteller Mr Lauda if you need 6 months to know for sure whether Ferrari is going to keep its winning performance or go down the hill…
And please boys, don’t hate me becouse of this post; but as I’ve told you before, I’ve had enough of this old pilot’s point of view and advices to new pilots. They are not smarter than us, they just have the microphone.
"I've already altered the deal, pray I don't alter it any further" -Darth Vader to Lando Calrissian. The Empire Strikes Back.
"Progress is not always made by reasonable men." (McLaren Racing).
"We have optimised the lateral optical interface of the building." (Translation: "My factory has a lot of windows.") Ron Dennis.-
