Kimi. Thanks for opening your mouth. You are right!
quoteKimi Raikkonen: F1 must look 'stupid' to outsiders
Kimi Raikkonen says Formula One must look "stupid" to outsiders as "politics and bulls***" reaches crazy levels in the sport.
A decision this season to change F1's qualifying system to an unpopular new format -- and an inability to change it back after it flopped at the first round in Australia -- has exposed the web of politics the sport has to negotiate in order to get things done. The ineffective governance of the sport prompted an open letter from the Grand Prix Drivers Association last week, and even though Raikkonen is not a member he agrees that the current situation is embarrassing for F1.
"There is so much politics and bullshit in F1 that it is crazy sometimes," he said. "People from the outside must look at us and think 'what stupid people, what are they doing?'.
"I don't think it is good for anybody, but unfortunately it is how F1 is and it's been like that for years. Now there are bigger stories about it, but if you take ten years ago there was still politics and it's just the evolution of it."
But Raikkonen is willing to put up with the frustrations of F1 in order to be able to drive the fastest cars on the planet.
"If you want to do racing on circuits then for sure F1 is still the top level and the fastest cars. Obviously things can be improved, but if you want to look at racing on circuits, then F1 is still that way. I enjoy a lot when I did rallies and also some NASCAR stuff, but they are all so different how they are run and how the atmosphere is. Those things are different but there are good and bad things in that, nothing is perfect."
Raikkonen took two years out of F1 in 2010 and 2011 and tried his hand at rallying and NASCAR. He says drivers in other categories are just as talented but have different skillsets.
"If you take the top rally guys it is absolutely amazing what they do. If you take the top NASCAR guys it's not like we can jump in and suddenly beat them. They own the things that they do, but if they came here they would be in trouble also. It depends what you are used to and what you do, but if you just want to look at the highest level of racing at race circuits, for sure it is F1."
quoteFormula 1: No deal reached over new qualifying format
Formula 1 bosses have failed to agree on a new format for qualifying after a meeting at the Bahrain Grand Prix. Teams discussed the failure of the new elimination format with F1 commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone and Jean Todt, president of governing body, the FIA. Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff said Todt and Ecclestone refused to revert to the 2015 system despite teams' wishes to do so. An entirely new system proposed by the FIA will be discussed again next week.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said all parties had agreed that the new system introduced on the eve of the 2016 season - where the slowest car is eliminated every 90 seconds in three sessions - was not the way forward.
Horner said: "There is an unwillingness from the promoter and FIA to go back to 2015. The teams would go back. A compromise has been put on the table now for the teams to consider. "Let's have a look at what's been out on the table today. The bottom line is if we don't agree to a compromise, then we're stuck with what we've got and everybody agrees that what we've got isn't right."
Horner and Wolff both said they did not know why Ecclestone and Todt were so opposed to reverting to the 2015 system, whereby all eligible cars ran to the end of a session before the slowest few in each are knocked out, gradually reducing the number of cars over the three sessions.
Todt said in a news conference on Saturday that race promoters had asked for a different system because they feared the 2015 approach was not exciting enough. Ecclestone has made it clear he wants to find a way to shuffle the grids so that the fastest cars are not always at the front.
None of the people involved in the meeting would reveal the details of the new system that the teams will analyse before another meeting to decide whether to agree it at the end of the week.
But Horner hinted it might involve a system of combining more than one lap time to determine a driver's grid position. Horner said the plan "needed a bit more investigation, perhaps with an aggregate time of two laps rather than a single lap. So it needs to be properly thought through and considered before voting on it."
Quote: Bradamante wrote in post #24I want 21 races in Middle East. When there is no champagne, Kimi gets the podium.
It's really crazy, but it's true. For some reason, Kimi is always very strong in Bahrain and Abu Dhabi!
It's a real shame that Kimi had a poor start. But a great recovery to make early passes and keep in clear air. If Hamilton's car wasn't damaged, I'm not sure Kimi could have kept P2. That was the maximum amount of points he could score today.
What is really exciting is Kimi having more points than Seb..
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Sun Apr 03, 2016 10:09 am
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Kimi. Thanks for opening your mouth. You are right!
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our 
on for me! 
