MotorsportsNewsWRC

Kimi’s Bad Luck Continues: Crashes Out Spectacularly In Rally of Mexico

K keshy
Posted onMar 6, 2010 at 8:19 PM

Ex-F1 driver Kimi Raikkonen has crashed out of Rally Mexico in spectacular fashion.

Raikkonen, who swapped F1 for rallying when Fernando Alonso replaced him at Ferrari, rolled his Citroen C4 six times on the final gravel stage of day one. Both Raikkonen and his co-driver Kaj Linstrom were unharmed, but the car was destroyed in the accident and he was forced to retire.

He finished 30th in Rally Sweden last month after a number of mistakes dropped him well down the order. He was also out of contention before his big accident in Mexico, but showed real potential on an asphalt stage when he set the fifth fastest time.

He will now have to wait until early April for another chance to prove his talent at the next round of the WRC in Jordan.

Source: ESPNF1

Post Views: 649
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    netmatrix
  • Mar 6, 2010
He may be doing spectacular barrel rolls in rallies. But nothing is as spectacular as his bank rolls. hahaha
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    LOL
  • Mar 7, 2010
he's overated anyway
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    dawg
  • Mar 7, 2010
Poor Kimi he might find it hard to listen to a co-driver since he already had trouble listening to his F1-team managers.

According to someone who had the good fortune with working with Raikonnen, he is an utter genius, but lacks people skills, some say he is a little but autistic, which explains it.

His fallout with Ferrari is not down to his driving skill but down to his people skill. He is abit of a recluse, and in F1 you need the leadership skill to inspire the team and give proper feedback to develop the car.

That was what made Schumacher a winning combination is that he knew how to inspire a team and give proper feedback to further develop and fine hone the car to his advantage.

Alonso has that skills, see how he manage to hone his uncompetitive renault to win the inaugural singapore GP in 2008. So it is a good choice for Ferrari to take Alonso.
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    FVel
  • Mar 7, 2010
dawg says:
Alonso has that skills, see how he manage to hone his uncompetitive renault to win the inaugural singapore GP in 2008. So it is a good choice for Ferrari to take Alonso.
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Yes and No.

Yes, he's a great Champion and one of the most complete drivers amongst his peers, both in terms of racecraft and car development and able to wring the best out of even underperforming cars

No, Singapore 2008 is a very bad example to quote in order to illustrate Alonso's capability. That race is tainted by the Piquest Crashgate. Fueled light; dive into pits; dive back out, deliberate crash by teammate; safety car; leapfrog the entire field who had not pitted.

Alonso's following victory in Japan 2008 was a better testament to his abilities. Singapore Crashgate was a non-event.
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    dawg
  • Mar 7, 2010
True FVel, but his performance in the Singapore GP was an indication that he got Renault's act together (not referring to his team mate parking his car is spectacular style).

Despite the crash he did manage to put up a good performance to secure the win.
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    ...
  • Mar 7, 2010
maybe at that corner..he accidentally push the KERS button..hehe..
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    speed
  • Mar 8, 2010
but than maybe kimi is going into rally to better his people skill??hmm

still respect to kimi as his bold enough to break through his comfort zone and venture into other kind of races, not all f1 driver got that kind of guts :respect:
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    FVel
  • Mar 9, 2010
dawg says:
March 7, 2010 at 4:12 pm

True FVel, but his performance in the Singapore GP was an indication that he got Renault’s act together (not referring to his team mate parking his car is spectacular style).

Despite the crash he did manage to put up a good performance to secure the win.
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With a track like Singapore, it is very difficult to pass, no matter the car behind is faster. When you get a driver of Alonso's calibre in front of you, it's probably impossible to pass him. Piquet's deliberate crash put Alonso to the front, in a track where it is easy to keep the faster cars behind.

If you absolutely must use Singapore 2008 as a benchmark of Alonso's abilities, then people would be more acceptive of your opinion if you quoted his performance during qualifying where he was very much in the running for at least a top 3 grid position until a fuel pressure malfunction caused his car to stop.
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    BabyGodzillaGTi-R
  • Mar 9, 2010
Sometimes i wonder if Alonso has a hand of coming out with idea / engineering of the Singapore crash gate saga...
I don't like him to the core but i got to hand it to him for being the best driver out there for being dirty to the core.

He pushing Massa in the 2007 European GP for the win.
And brake testing David Coulthard in the European GP again some years back..

Some times i wonder how come he woke up after his accident in Brazil 2004.
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    FVel
  • Mar 10, 2010
It's speculation whether he was privy to the Crashgate plans, but whatever his part, it's history now. People think what they want and no amount of arguments will change a person's opinion. I have no comments on whether he was involved.

Personality-wise, he's not exactly the nicest person on the paddock. But then again, neither is Senna or Schumacher.

That said, I believe his tussle with Massa at the European 2007 GP is a fair one. He was right not to yield the line and so was Massa.
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