I've tried several times to form a comment over on jbroomy's blog about the Monaco GP and each time I try to contain myself within a character limit I only come up with gibberish. So when faced with gibberish commentary, naturally I decided to turn it into a blog entry. Some Coors Light has also helped the gibberish process along too.
First off, I'm bummed that Adrian Sutil of Force India did not get the race result that he fully deserved. He had posted an inspired drive to that point at Monaco, there is no denying that, especially when you look at the fact that he completely outclassed his veteran teammate Giancarlo Fisichella. And I'm sure the prying eyes of F1 did not miss that drive by Sutil. Fisi is no slouch. For a young driver trying desperately to make a name for himself, I fully understand Sutil's anguish regarding the accident.
But it was just that. A racing accident.
Let's not use this as an opportunity to belittle and attack Raikkonen as if he were some reckless and incompetent hack behind the wheel. I understand that he has made some haters across the F1 fan landscape, and that's cool. I have my hates too. I can't stand Fernando Alonso. Can't stand the guy. Every time he did those goofy little animal-impression dances after a GP win, I went into a tirade about how much I hated the guy. My friends that witnessed some of those beautiful tirades thought they were laugh out loud funny occasions. I didn't see the humor, but hey, we each have our quirks.
I watched the crash at Monaco that jbroomy has highlighted. I saw Raikkonen get bad loose under acceleration on a wet track and start swapping. I mean bad swapping, like really nasty swapping. Three swaps maybe four, but Raikkonen kept the car off the walls ... at Monaco. Off the walls at Monaco while being out of control is not a/n {expletive of jbroomy's choice} driver, that's not a car breaker, that's a car saver. A driver worthy of a World Championship title and a race seat at Scuderia Ferrari and a Ferrari car that has number 1 stenciled on it.
The argument being, "Well, if Kimi was so great he shouldn't have been out of control in the first place."
Amen. I agree. He shouldn't have been out of control, but doesn't that go with racing? He did make that mistake under acceleration, and as pro racers do, he saved it. If the track had been clear leading into the chicane, Kimi would've had a "moment" and he would've corrected and gone about his business of chasing down Sutil (which he was doing). Sutil was in front of the faster Ferrari by racing clean and smooth and being mistake free, and I love that about Sutil's drive.
I don't think Ferrari owe Force India or Adrian Sutil an apology for anything. I genuinely don't. If Sutil and Force India are that sensitive, well, Formula 1 is probably not the place for them.
Should I go into the times that Kimi Raikkonen has been screwed? A rear wing flying off? Anyone remember that? How exactly was that Kimi breaking the car?
But you don't hear Raikkonen complaining. That's the kicker right there. The dude that has every right to whine about bad luck doesn't do that (at least to my knowledge). The Iceman just continues to go about his business of driving an F1 car as best he can, which in my humble opinion is pretty damn good. I tend to think that being an F1 Champion takes some talent.
I admit that I sound like a crazed Raikkonen fan, and yeah, I am a crazed Raikkonen fan.
Pick a driver and cheer very loudly, or pick a team and cheer very loudly. That's a big part of being a race fan. I've followed Raikkonen from Sauber to McLaren to Ferrari and will follow him to the point that he calls it quits, and believe me I know when to #### at the Iceman for driving like a ####. Monaco was not one those times.
Great post/rant, bc. Nothing wrong with taking up for your driver. The incident could be seen two different ways, much like Busch and Dale Jr at Richmond, with plenty of passion and emotion clouding some views.
I saw broomy's thoughts on Kimi. While I don't condone belittling a champion like that, I must admit I've been upset enough before to do it myself. So now both of you have had your say, and you're both right.
photo~ I was trying very hard to type a rant here. Yes, Monaco in the wet is difficult, I think we all agree on that. I'm not very good at ranting. Let's just say that jbroomy ticked me off and that motivated this blog because I couldn't formulate a comment on his blog.
I did watch Monaco. I was impressed with the talent on the wet. There were multiple weather related racing accidents. I saw alot of gives backing off more than the guy behind them. That made for some key spots to pass. I wouldn't blaim alot of drivers. More the weather and not being what was expected. Still a great race.
np2001~ An indifferent opinion here is very valuable for me. Weather makes F1 very interesting, and yes, teams and drivers get screwed from time to time. No one's fault, it just happens. Racing in the rain is one of the many things that I love about F1.
I hope you share that point of view had the situation been if Kimi had been taken out by Sutil....you actually may say the same thing but you can be assured the rest of the 'red army' would be out for Sutil's blood, lol
My Monaco blog was written only minutes after the race finished and my mind is was in a pretty dark place and my mouth had only just stopped streaming expletives.
In hindsight I'm sure it was a racing accident. If Kimi had any intent at all, I'm sure even the most hard-line Raikkonen fan would agree something should be done. It was just awful luck for Sutil and just like you have followed Kimi through his career, since I could understand F1 I've supported the Force India team - through from their Jordan years. They were heading for their best result in years and to have that happen to them was a little unjust.
And I still believe that had the incident been the other way round, Ferrari and the FIA would be taking long, hard looks at penalising the other guy.
I've never like Ferrari, and Raikkonen to a lesser extent, but what really got me going is the comment by the Ferrari team member after the race, where basically he refused to even acknowledge the FI team, let alone offer some sort of apology. I understand sport, I understand racing, but surely there was room for a little sportsmanship there, even if it was just for the cameras.
I'm with Tez and jb on this one. The lack of apology (and the historically aristocratic disdain) by Ferrari was what I found distasteful.
Although I have not read it, I presume Kimi and/or Ferrari had some comment acknowledging the unfortunate outcome of Kimi failing to control his car while driving in a straight line (albeit at high speed over a dip - NO, not Sutil).
Tez, jb, Dave: thanks for the comments (and sorry for my late response here).
I'm not against Ferrari apologizing to Sutil and Force India for PR purposes, not at all, I just don't think Ferrari are obliged to offer an apology for a racing incident. The accident was extremely emotional because it was Monaco and Sutil was posting an incredible drive, but I saw nothing malicious in Raikkonen's actions on the track. Kimi lost the points lead because of that incident, so basically the mistake was self-penalising for him.
I'm a Raikkonen fan, not a Ferrari fan. Actually right now my favorite F1 team is BMW Sauber.
Just for the record, if the roles had been reversed, you bet I would've been furious. However, I can honestly say that I would not care if Force India offered an apology or not, and if the hypothetical accident was just a racing incident, I wouldn't hold any grudges against Sutil.
I'm a mechanical engineer and sci-fi geek by nature, and I love sports. Once upon a time I played some sports and was pretty good at them, but somewhere along the line I found I could actually make good money in the engineering business. So now I will write about sports and my goofy thoughts about them. Somewhere in these ramblings there might be some value for someone. I'm not sure.
