He never trashed Massa, what are you on about? Michael and Alonso trashed Massa but Kimi certainly didn’t. People are just delusional when it comes to Kimi. He was a world class driver at his best but he fell off hard and got destroyed quite badly by Vettel and Alonso. He might be the most overrated driver ever.
Ideally, Alonso would trade his 2005 title to Kimi, and would receive the 2012 title from Vettel instead. Also, 2007 goes to Lewis, 2008 to Massa and 2010 to Webber.
@@georgiosioannispappas I'd rather go for Ferrari not filing a complaint on Michelin, Montoya winning 2003, and FIA not changing regulations in 2005 due to "lack of competitiveness". However, that would be parallel universe story xd
It is weird how Kimi was only ever beaten by his teammate at Ferrari, twice he looked like one of the best on the grid, but suddenly just dropped off the pace with Ferrari
From Monza 2008, where Vettel won with Toro Rosso he beat Kimi in all seasons, in all his teams, under all different conditions. Vettel won 4 titles against Kimi's 1, 53 races against Kimi's 21, made 57 poles against Kimi's 18. No, it is not reasonable or even possible that it was a conspiracy. Hamilton & Vettel made Alonso & Kimi became 2nd level drivers. Kimi's fans are a bunch of freak fanatics unable to accept reality.
@@rotorairgroup8409 Vettel was quite lucky in '10 and' 12! We all saw that in less superior cars like in '18 he couldn't do anything better than just spinning the car at every race. Then in' 19 when he got destroyed by Leclerc we all knew that this was going to be the painful end of his career.
Both lack what Senna had. Blistering one lap pace. Often Fernando or Kimi drop the ball in Q3. This why Schumacher, Hamilton and Verstappen are considered naturally faster even if they're not as crafty as Fernando or Kimi in the races.
@@samiahmed117 It's true that they are not the best at Q3, but they never had the faster car (except Kimi's 2005 McLaren). In 2010-2012 Ferrari was usually slower than McLaren and Red Bull and even 2012 Lotus sometimes. Alonso still managed to get just 4 and 3 less points than Seb.
@@samiahmed117 Kimi Lacking one lap speed? You must be talking about his 2nd stint at Ferrari (even then he litterally got the fastest lap in f1 history at monza in 2018 although that's been beaten now) Kimi had blistering one lap pace, he was too quick, pushing too hard leading to mistakes, his team literally didn't let him see the times of the other drivers in 2002 cause they knew he was gonna try matching them and possibly crash lol. Also that 2005 car still held lap records untill just recently im pretty sure
@@EmilForsberg_GRYBO lap records set back then shouldn't and can't be compared to today's cars where they need to have an entire race fuel load and simply had tyres that weren't nearly as durable
Exactly! Hamilton keep disobeying team orders, with no consequence. They had a 1-2 on Monaco, with Fernando first and Hamilton a few seconds behind. The team told them to keep positions, but Hamilton decided to keep pushing, finishing just 4 seconds behind. Since then, the relationship between them was broken. Back then, being the last to do the lap on qualifying was a huge boost, so the team ordered that they would have them one GP each. In Hungary, it was Fernando's time to do the lap, but Hamilton did not keep his part and positioned himself behind Alonso when there were few minutes remaining. He knew what that meant and decided to block him, preventing him to do a lap. What Fernando did was not right, but we have to see the whole picture: The pressure of being the reigning champion and being unsettled by an up and coming rookie, the really harsh treatment he received by the British media, and the lack of support from McLaren itself.
Except the best way to fight back against 'unfair treatment' is to just put your head down and get the results. By doing what he did in Hungary, he lost his pole and a potential win and with it the World Championship. Fernando screwed himself over in 2007
Actually about Hungary 2007 - at the time f1 McLaren mechanic Marc Priestly admitted that the team had internal agreement the drivers would take turns who will go first in qualifiyng. Because of the conditions the first driver had slight advantage. And in Hungary it was Alonso's turn to go first but Lewis refused to follow this agreement and went first. Then we saw on TV Alonso's response.
lewis was responding to the team screwing him over in the previous race in monaco where they screwed hamilton out of the chance at a win by changing his strategy to favor fernando
Good job. It's obvious the fact Ferrari built a car very opposite to Kimi's preferences and then politics ensured Kimi wasn't getting what he wanted from the car. Ultimately Kimi was the fastest driver on the planet, but Massa got lucky facing him in 2008, a year Kimi absolutely hated the car, but would have won the title 3/4 of the way through had he actually liked the F2008.
Few things you didn't mention here: - The "development" suspension actually happened to be the 2007 spec suspension, at least in the Monaco GP. - The Spanish GP being the first time Kimi was actually comfortable in the Ferrari, and incidentally dominated that race. The characteristics of the Ferrari were something that he struggled with throughout 2007. - There was media talk of Kimi "losing the desire to win", during 08 & 09, which CLEARLY wasn't true. 2008 Spanish GP & the 2nd half of the 2009 season should have completely shut down that lie. - Ferrari's contract extension for Kimi was due to end at the same time as Alonso's for Renault. - The CEO of Santander (Emilio Botin) openly hated Kimi Raikkonen. - Emilio Botín had a private talk with Alonso shortly after Ferrari extended Kimi's contract to the end of 2010. It was clearly set up, honestly. It does no service to consider it a "theory".
Kimi is a driver we all loved and were interested to see him win titles for being the guy who everyone thought as "Schummachers Nightmare",but the history of ferrari being a backstabber to it's own driver waqs something that killed careers of many drivers including nigel mansell and alain prost from classic era to seb as the last we have seen
Ferrari didn't kill Mansell's, or Prost's careers. Nigel went there from Williams because he thought they had a better shot for him, and Prost went there from McLaren to get away from Senna. Turns out, Ferrari were quite the shit show back then, though, and Mansell went back to Williams and won a title. Prost, after dragging the team all year, was removed from his duties, and took a sabbatical, then came back and won the title with Williams the year after Nigel. Prost retired after winning, Mansell was kind of kicked to the curb after winning, kind of like Damon was after 96. How did either of those careers get killed by Ferrari, if both drivers won a title with their next team?
@@Spike-sk7ql becauause they went to ferrari not just to seek shelter from there past teams but also to find a easy spot on the top of the grid because everyone knew that ferrari is a team with resources and talent and history and both of them knew that ferrari could be there next big shot. But sadly it turned out not be the sort of thing they hoped
I don't know how many people giving their expert opinions here even watched the 07 and 08 seasons. Let's get a few of the facts straight. Kimi was leading the championship going into the Canadian GP when he got wiped out by Lewis IN THE PITLANE. Kimi was effectively in the race lead when he retired. He got dinged out of either a potential win or a podium in Europe, Belgium, and Singapore after that. He drove home in second kn France with a car that was literally on fire and having to give up the race lead to Massa due to the issue. That's FIVE races where the car setup or reliability just took him out of the equation. And these weren't the only issues for him that season - he made an error and ran into the back of a Force India in Monaco. He didn't stand a chance that year due to all of this. While one may pin a driver hitting the barriers on the driver, every single person who understand F1 knows that a driver is helpless if the car is setup in a way that doesn't suit them. Regarding people understating the talent Kimi was, you're the kind of people who look at stats and decide how good a driver is. Schumacher, Kimi, Lewis, and Seb were all supported by Mercedes in their junior days and a lot of the guys worked with all four of them. Mike Krack (Aston Martin F1 Principal) was there during those times and he says without any hesitation that Kimi was head and shoulders the best talent of the four. And don't take his word on this, just tune into Beyond the Grid on Formula1.com and you'll see just about anyone who worked with all the four say Kimi is undoubtedly the biggest talent of the four. Kimi was an absolute legend during his Mclaren days when crappy internal politics didn't hold him back (he had a crappy engine making up for it though). There are always what-ifs, especially in sports, but for me the biggest ones were the reliability issues that single handedly robbed Kimi of the title in 2003 and 2005. I have a very simple way of reading the comments section. If someone says Kimi is overrated then they either grew up ideolizing MSC or (a far higher possibility) ended up watching F1 because of Netflix.
Just happend to see this and you are absolutely right and can you all imagine that he is STILL last Ferrari F1 Champion 2007. He is absolutely a legend with his cool, positively "akward", finnish behaviour and living a very happy life now (and then).
This was even said back in the day. Journalists said even in 2007 that they wanted Kimi out, something that they repeated in 2008 and 2009, so Ferrari could sign Alonso once Todt was out. People may have forgotten about it, but I watched those seasons and those rumors were on the air very frecuently.
Two very relevant things that weren't mentioned in the video were the financial crisis of 2008 & the ban on tobacco sponsorships. A deal with Santander meant Ferrari wouldn't have to worry with financial uncertainty. On the other hand, retaining Massa would mean Santander had a way to explore the South American market, while also getting Alonso into the team. As for Kimi's statements, you might not find the Canada ones, but in the 2008 season review, before the Spanish GP, Kimi gets asked about the driver line-up, a very similar question to the one you mention at 8:22 in the video. Kimi was leading the championship and Ferrari were just one point behind BMW. Kimi ended up dominating that weekend and Ferrari jumped into the lead of the constructors. Why would Ferrari want to change their line-up? Everyone has their own opinion, but at this point, and i know a good amount of people would agree, Kimi was clearly sabotaged.
Santander was already in the market here in South América, they were the main sponsor of Copa libertadores (South Américan champions league) in before even have a contract with Ferrari
I think a bit of both worlds... firstly Ferrari prefer Massa without doubt (so the performance of the car dropped) and secondly Kimi's hunger for wins stepped down a bit (the same situation as in Lotus days when he realised that team run out of money), if Kimi was in the zone, then there was nobody matching him, but motivation had always played a huge role throughout his career
It’s a conspiracy as to why they did it, but Ferrari 100% switched focus to Massa midway through 2008. There’s a video on here of the interview with MSC where he confirmed it. Look at kimis results at the start of 08 and end of 09 after Massa was out. It’s highly compelling.
as a newer f1 fan, i really appreciate niche videos like this because i would never realize this and investigate myself but it is all super interesting for me to hear and read. really been loving your videos to help me learn more abt the sport ☺️
I know Raikkonen doesn't seem the guy to let things get to him. But I think this is more down to his motivation. His Ferrari slump happened after all the "Alonso replacing him" stuff. But it's important to note he also he dropped off in 2013 after signing for Ferrari, even missing the last few races despite his operation being minor. I think its just how Kimi is.
He dropped off in 2013 because of the tyre regulation change that happened after Silverstone, the race where there were a dangerous amount of punctures due to how little air pressure teams were putting into the tyres to maximize grip. However, the Lotus car maximized these soft tyres, and it also bolstered Kimi's driving style, which prefers softer tyres. With the regulation change which put a very high minimum air pressure, it impacted his driving. Lotus were also working to maximize Grosjean in order to reduce Kimi's points bonus
That is spot on, the thing that is lacking with kimi is motivation, he was the fastest and if it was not for reliabilty, 2005 shouldve been his. One world champion was enough for him, that is why after 2007 he never really drove like before
I Remember Schumacher apologising to Kimi in 2008/09 as he acknowledged that they went through wrong way with setup and suspension upgrades It worth saying this as well Kimi was having understeer issues as a result which doesn't suit his driving style
Kimi might of also had some James Hunt - mindset. He won his first, he just wanted to enjoy it after that so subconsciously didn't try as hard. Some drivers are happy with a single title. Kimi always seemed like that to me.
@@ameEeeee3 Raikkonen could mirrored what Matt Kenseth pulled off in NASCAR that same year by taking the title with only a single win, had things gone more favorably. Such as McLaren perhaps finding that extra last bit of performance out of the MP4-17D had they shifted all their resources back to that car after it became apparent the MP4-18 was made of explodium.
@@sulphurous2656Raikonnen should have woon 2003 as he was the best driver possibly that season and we would have seen 2 guys winning the championship with only 1 win and showing that consistency matters
Well this isn't a conspiracy theory. Domenicali publicly admitted that Ferrari changed the geometry of the front end to favour Massa over Kimi. Indeed, despite Kimi complained about this change, Ferrari told him that the car was that and he needed to accept it. This imposition literally destroyed his season.
I think 2008 season was where Kimi lost his passion for F1. Previously he was cold and calm as always but he still had that love for racing in F1, however cold he appeared there was certain glow to him before 2008. Since then he really turned into "I Dont Care Anymore Mode".
About signing a driver that early, I have to say that Kimi signed for Ferrari in 2005, and Alonso signed for McLaren well before the 2006 season. So that happened back then. And the fact that Kimi led the championship after a great start to 2008 makes you wonder. I'm not saying it is the truth. Maybe someday pzople will talk, but yeah it was strange. And this era of F1 was different. A bit wild tbh
There is a clip from 2008 on youtube where Kimi is asked would he like to be partnered with Fernando at Ferrari in the future, so there definitely were real rumours about Alonso joining Ferrari. However I’m not completely sure if the thing about Montezemolo and Todt is correct. To my understanding Todt wanted to keep Schumacher while Montezemolo felt that Michael had too much power at Ferrari and wanted to replace him. Still the 2008 season is still a bit odd. Kimi lead the championship after four rounds and was in a good place to get that second championship. This theory does make some sense but its hard to say if it’s completely true.
Watching these races in period, the commenters also mentioned rumours about the Alonso hire to Ferrari-it was clear at the time either Kimi or Massa were going to be dropped in favour of Alonso. All I hope is that when Alonso retires he partners with Masterclass to give lessons for young drivers on how to sell themselves to any team, no matter what the results say. That dude must sleep with a copy of Machiavelli’s The Prince under his pillow, it’s wild.
I would not want any young driver to get an Alonso masterclass. Given the twisted, double-faced little tμГd§ we are getting in this new generation, getting such a mobster to teach the youngbloods, could be called Mafiaclass rather than Masterclass.
Championship standings in 2008 if the races from Germany to Singapore didn't count 1 Massa 68 2 Raikkonen 66 3 Hamilton 62 4 Kubica 57 5 heidfeld 40 Championship standings in 2008 if only the races from Germany to Singapore counted 1 Hamilton 36 2 Massa 29 3 kovalainen 27 4 Alonso 25 5 Vettel 22 ... 10 Raikkonen 9 Championship standings in 2009 if counted only the races from Hungary to the end of the season 1 Hamilton 40 2 Raikkonen 38 3 Vettel 37 4 Barrichello 33 5 Button 27 Championship standings in 2009 if only the races before Hungary counted 1 Button 73 2 Vettel 47 3 Webber 47 4 Barrichello 46 5 Truli 24 ... 11 Raikkonen 10 Tbh it seems kinda weird
I'm a believer in "never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity" and don't think that Ferrari made an intentional decision that "let's get rid of Kimi and sabotage his car". But they definitely mismanaged Kimi and didn't listen enough to his feedback. During Schumacher's time, if Michael said he wanted something done, it got done, no questions asked. But when Jean Todt quit after 07 Ferrari never did that with Kimi (until the second half of 09, when they had no choice, and we saw the results then). Massa's driving style was closer to what the engineers wanted to do, and rather than making the car work for Kimi, they left Kimi trying to cope with a car that didn't suit him.
It's an ancient Ferrari philosophy of "driver can't be bigger than team". They got rid of Kimi and Seb, back in the 90s they did it to Prost and Mansell and some argue that they even did that with Schumacher and Lauda (which I just find very hard to believe). That is also the reason why drivers like Senna and Piquet said multiple times that they would never ever drive for Ferrari.
@@whyareyoureadingmynickname8158 that's just horribly arrogant on their part. I'm conflicted because I'm glad they are reaping what they sowed and Kimi is still their last champion after so many years. But then again that means more drivers have to suffer... Charles is very talented and I want him to win too
Many people talk about his motivation. Why would he be motivated if his team is sabotaging him? He was still in the championship hunt after Silverstone.
Vettel won 4 in a row, at the height of his prime and then got clapped by Danny Ric. Nothing unusual about drop in form or another driver stepping up. Kimi made some mistakes in 2008 and some bad luck which cost him. That’s it.
My guess is it was a mix of Kimi losing a bit of motivation and Ferrari trying to set itself up for the future. If you believe the Schumacher retirement theory, then it seems plausible that Ferrari may have sabotaged Kimi to try and get him to leave. I also think Kimi just lost a little motivation. He accomplished his goal of being a champion and may have simply not cared as much. I don't think it was a James Hunt situation where he just focused on partying, but I think he just didn't have as big of a drive.
@@gandalf_thegrey i mainly say theory since it isn't 100 percent proven, I sadly highly believe its true. I think Ferrari has the same mindset Enzo had that no matter how good a driver is they are all replaceable at the end of the day its good ajd bad
@@gandalf_thegrey This is pretty much true. Schumacher only retired because he knew that if he fought, then Ferrari was going to sack Massa and Schumacher didn't want Massa's career in F1 to be cut so short.
Kimi Raikkonen likes his steering and front end set up a certain way no exceptions. Michael Schumacher was a consultant with Ferrari and I think Schumacher did not like Kimi coming to Ferrari and winning the championship his first year. It has been documented that Schumacher had the team change the steering and front end of Kimi's car without Kimi's knowledge. Once the car was put back the way Kimi liked and wanted it Kimi again was faster than Massa.
How typical of u British ppl to say 'Alonso' was petty in Hungary in 2007, clearly ignoring what lead to him doing that. Alonso was meant to be the lead car in qualifying that day. Yet, hamilton went AGAINST his team's orders and stayed ahead, despite alonso having done the same for him in earlier races. Alonso was livid, and this obviously was understandable, but the british bias, even to this day, paints HAMILTON as the victim of the whole scene, and alonso as the sole hand behind the downfall of their relationship. This is where their relationship soured, and it was hamilton who struck the first blow.
I never understood why Ferrari kept massa over kimi If they made kimi the second driver to Alonso he probably would have excepted it and still done a better job the Felipe.
@@MadeByPerspective Mika Häkkinen has talked a lot how hard it was to pick himself up after championship. Back then there was a lot more testing, so season was much more demanding from driver. Combining that Kimi hated PR I see clearly why he would lost some motivation.
Kimi was always a momentum based driver tbh Ride the highest highs and some of the lowest lows. And while the Mclaren had some major reliability problems for him, it was pretty much unavoidable. In order to improve the reliability of things like the engine, they would have had to detune it a decent bit, but then they would have been uncompetitive even with their Newey-designed aero package. Also, I don't think it is too conspiratorial to say that Ferrari upper management was starting to slip back into its old culture that made them a disaster of a team until Schumacher-Brawn-Todt. They already resented Michael after his historic 5th title matching Fangio's in 2002 and began engaging in talks for a replacement driver for him under the pretense of "securing their future". In reality, however, Ferrari upper management couldn't stand the fact that Michael Schumacher was becoming bigger than them as a brand and icon in the sport and so by 2005 they guaranteed themselves a future frontrunner that they could use to push Michael out (who didn't want to see Felipe's career cut so short). From there, Ferrari was pretty much starting to take plays out of Frank Williams' handbook and believing that they could simply make champions out of any person they put into their cars. Be it Raikkonen, Massa, Alonso, rumored Robert Kubica, etc. After sacking Schumacher and then Todt leaving by mid 2008, it was clear that Ferrari's primary interest was in maintaining the focus on themselves as a brand over and above their drivers.
I’ve always found this conspiracy one of the most convincing. It just makes no sense why they’d push out kimi instead of massa imo I recommend googling Botin Santander for anyone interested. It’s said Botin had a meeting with alonso telling him to not sign for bmw I do disagree about Di Montezemolo however, he actually (somewhat) defended kimi comparing his situation to a football player who hasn’t scored in 3 games and how it means nothing Money talks, not to mention it being 2008 it’s not beyond the realms of possibility Ferrari would want that big sponsorship bucks.
My only issue with this theory is what's mentioned at the end. I don't see a strong case for why Ferrari would ditch Kimi instead of Felipe. Sure, sometimes having two star drivers can create unnecessary drama like in 2007, but Kimi was possibly the fastest driver in the sport, so it seems strange to give that up. It's especially strange for Ferrari to sacrifice so much for sponsorship money like that too given that they're the most lucrative luxury business in the world. Additionally, Kimi returned to the team in 2014, which is hard to imagine happening if he knew that they intentionally sabotaged him.
There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Kimi was made a scapegoat for Ferrari in 2008. You must remember the GFC was just starting to take hold in 2008 and the forecast was global recession Ferrari already paid top dollar (USD51M) for easily the best driver on the grid in Kimi based on his 2005 performances alone and he succeeded immediately. Luca Di Montezemolo was not much of a fan of Kimi - anyone could see that and I dare say the feeling I recall from Kimi was more than mutual. Kimi is NOT a "kiss arse" guy. Alonso was/ IS and that's exactly what Luca wanted along with 100m Santander reasons and more importantly Ferrari's exposure in Spain and Latin America !. I MEAN THINK ABOUT IT PEOPLE WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU CHANGE THE CAR SET-UP MID SEASON TO THE GUY THAT JUST WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP...WTF Right had MS to do that ?????????????- Its despicable beyond compare. Alonso and Briatore disgust me I cannot for the life me understand why either one of them is still in F1 after Crashgate and Spygate. Further to this Kimi had 3 incidents during this brief time:- Canada Lewis ran into him..costing him at least 2nd place.. 2.France Kimi had a cracked exhaust demoting him from a certain win to 2nd. (after grabbing Ferrari's 200th pole). 3 Euro Gp he had engine hydraulics failure & retired in a race he was sure to win. These things put Kimi behind & Ferrari at this point had every reason to support Felipe given how they operate- It's a very small window, but the damage was already done. SURE NO TEAM WANTS TO JEOPARDISE THEIR CHAMPIONSHIP but things were close between ALL three drivers so it was easy to justify supporting Felipe when Kimi had those reliability issues - also in the background it kept Santander happy by supporting a Latin American driver till Alonso came on board. Anyone who knows Kimi could see he was not pleased when MS came in as a consultant early in 2008 & I distinctly remember an interview with him on the subject where he said word to the effect "its always good to have advice from someone with experience, but it's not like we don't know what we want from a car". Look what happened to Felipe .I don't mean ill of anyone But Karma was 10 fold at that team for a reason -especially after all the lies and deflecting they did in the press it was disgusting at that time. What happened to that F/Whit Alonso for 5 years a BIG FAT 0. What have Ferrari achieved since -you got it a big FAT 0. I was bit annoyed when Kimi went back to them n 2014 but he had now-here else to go after Lotus went broke! and he only was there to help rebuild the team with Vettel. Ferrari do look really good this pre-season -that car looks special to me. Sure Red Bull are favourites but I reckon we're in for a lot closer contest...Go Charles.
I think Kimi decided because there were not really any other viable rides available at the time he figured he could take as much money from Ferrari as they were willing to pay him. In many ways I think Kimi suffered a lot of the same fate Nigel Mansell did over their careers and that is both were rarely given the number one status on the team. Both had to scratch for everything the got.
It's sad that Kimi Raikkonen was always followed by misfortune during his vicious streak in the Mc Laren era, plus attempts to thwart him from world champion in 2007 (according to this theory). But at least he managed to win the title at that time and reaped lots of bonuses afterwards at Lotus
It’s oddly convenient it isn’t the first time a theory about Ferrari sabotaging their drivers when their contract’s not renewed has occurred. First with Raikkonen, now with Vettel, and one is blatantly more obvious than the other. If this happens with Leclerc in the future, I’m pretty sure the theories aren’t just plain theories anymore.
It's not much of a conspiracy. Ferrari have never been the same nor have they got back to winning since 2008. Raikkonen is likely to be their last champion for quite a while.
Well money talks and BS walks... unfortunately, it's a theory that makes perfect sense. And Why Kimi and not Massa? Because we're talking about peak Kimi here, Alonso wouldn't want to race against him in the same car.
Also the upcoming Santander Brazil IPO in 2009 Having the "2008 world champion Massa" as their marketing guy will have an insane impact considering he'll be the next brazilian to win a title after Senna.....
Kimi although a speed demon does need certain car characteristics to be championship winning fast. - He went back to Ferrari in 2014 which disputes any bad blood - You can see that Kimi had major struggles with the early hybrid era cars, like Daniel recently if you depend on your driving style to be fast and the car needs another you will struggle to adapt. No conspiracy for me here, Massa was Ferrari's future before the '09 incident. People forget that.
People forget there was a power struggle before 2008 which led Jean Todt left Ferrari and the new start of the clown era of Ferrari in 2008. There were rumours that they were trying to get rid of Kimi because of Santanders.
I have two comments. First: All Nordic drivers predominately prefer oversteer characteristics in a car, and Kimi is no exception. This is a fact that can be traced back as far as to to Ronnie Peterson if you like. However, oversteer characteristics is not necessarily always the fastest, but in order to get the full potential out of a Nordic driver, you need to have it. Secondly: As Nico Rosberg has said, Kimi could have achieved more if he had cared more: I think Kimis Finnish working class background hurt him some times during his career. He would have needed to engage a bit more in the "big picture".
I don't think he was sabotaged - He probably just felt satisfied after having became World Champion. Sports are like this: there's someone which needs to win Title after Title to prove him-/herself the absolute best, and there's someone thinking one is enough. Raikkonen had proven enough up to his Title to be remembered in the History of Formula 1, maybe he just was someone from the latter category.
Then why to continue as long as he did? He doesn't strike me as a person that would do it just for the money, knowing how much he disliked the media and constant traveling. Sure he might have felt a little bit more satisfied, but I don't think he lost the hunger to win races. Also Don't think he was there to prove anything to anyone, you never heard him complaining or blaming others even if things went many times unfairly towards him.
-Kimi wins championship in a first year with Ferrari -Alonso in a better car is 3rd, even behind rookie teammate -in 2008 Kimi has a good beggining -later Ferrari tries to sabotage him in kick him out in order to hire Alonso Ferrari.
i find it hard to believe that kimi just couldn’t keep up with massa in 2008 after thrashing him in the previous year
Curious 👀
@@MadeByPerspective
He never trashed Massa, what are you on about? Michael and Alonso trashed Massa but Kimi certainly didn’t. People are just delusional when it comes to Kimi. He was a world class driver at his best but he fell off hard and got destroyed quite badly by Vettel and Alonso. He might be the most overrated driver ever.
@@Reaz399 what did kimi do to you to hurt you this bad?
@@zXPeterz14 Nothing, I like Kimi but his fans act like he‘s the best driver ever because of his McLaren stint. He‘s insanely overrated by many imo.
Kimi and Nando deserved more championships than the number they currently have
Well thats saying vettel and lewis have more championships then they should have
@@Allblue1 it only says vettel has more than he should because neither Nando nor Kimi lost a championship to Hamilton.
@@blenzo8344 True alonso lost in 2010 & 2012 which means vettel loses to championships as for hamilton..
Ideally, Alonso would trade his 2005 title to Kimi, and would receive the 2012 title from Vettel instead. Also, 2007 goes to Lewis, 2008 to Massa and 2010 to Webber.
@@georgiosioannispappas I'd rather go for Ferrari not filing a complaint on Michelin, Montoya winning 2003, and FIA not changing regulations in 2005 due to "lack of competitiveness". However, that would be parallel universe story xd
It is weird how Kimi was only ever beaten by his teammate at Ferrari, twice he looked like one of the best on the grid, but suddenly just dropped off the pace with Ferrari
Its kinda weird how he was so insane at Lotus and somehow, coming back to Ferrari (the team he won championshop in), he just lost it all
From Monza 2008, where Vettel won with Toro Rosso he beat Kimi in all seasons, in all his teams, under all different conditions. Vettel won 4 titles against Kimi's 1, 53 races against Kimi's 21, made 57 poles against Kimi's 18. No, it is not reasonable or even possible that it was a conspiracy. Hamilton & Vettel made Alonso & Kimi became 2nd level drivers. Kimi's fans are a bunch of freak fanatics unable to accept reality.
@@rotorairgroup8409 right, so that Lotus was comparable in any way to those Red Bulls?
@@DaVinci-vj7ku Kimi beat Webber. But like in Ferrari as team mates & the Alfa Romeo he was not able to beat Vettel.
@@rotorairgroup8409 Vettel was quite lucky in '10 and' 12! We all saw that in less superior cars like in '18 he couldn't do anything better than just spinning the car at every race. Then in' 19 when he got destroyed by Leclerc we all knew that this was going to be the painful end of his career.
I miss kimi he is just a legend :(
Same here 🥲
I've always felt that Kimi and Alonso are the most talented F1 drivers since Senna. Unfortunately F1 is so unfair and they just got 3 championships.
Both lack what Senna had. Blistering one lap pace. Often Fernando or Kimi drop the ball in Q3. This why Schumacher, Hamilton and Verstappen are considered naturally faster even if they're not as crafty as Fernando or Kimi in the races.
@@samiahmed117 It's true that they are not the best at Q3, but they never had the faster car (except Kimi's 2005 McLaren). In 2010-2012 Ferrari was usually slower than McLaren and Red Bull and even 2012 Lotus sometimes. Alonso still managed to get just 4 and 3 less points than Seb.
@@samiahmed117 Kimi Lacking one lap speed? You must be talking about his 2nd stint at Ferrari (even then he litterally got the fastest lap in f1 history at monza in 2018 although that's been beaten now)
Kimi had blistering one lap pace, he was too quick, pushing too hard leading to mistakes, his team literally didn't let him see the times of the other drivers in 2002 cause they knew he was gonna try matching them and possibly crash lol. Also that 2005 car still held lap records untill just recently im pretty sure
@@EmilForsberg_GRYBO lap records set back then shouldn't and can't be compared to today's cars where they need to have an entire race fuel load and simply had tyres that weren't nearly as durable
@@samiahmed117 I'd disagree a bit, because Kimi was a race fastest lap magician
I think the most baffleing thing about the 2007 season is everyone calling Alonso petty when he was responding to Hamilton following quali orders.
💯
Exactly! Hamilton keep disobeying team orders, with no consequence. They had a 1-2 on Monaco, with Fernando first and Hamilton a few seconds behind. The team told them to keep positions, but Hamilton decided to keep pushing, finishing just 4 seconds behind. Since then, the relationship between them was broken.
Back then, being the last to do the lap on qualifying was a huge boost, so the team ordered that they would have them one GP each.
In Hungary, it was Fernando's time to do the lap, but Hamilton did not keep his part and positioned himself behind Alonso when there were few minutes remaining. He knew what that meant and decided to block him, preventing him to do a lap.
What Fernando did was not right, but we have to see the whole picture: The pressure of being the reigning champion and being unsettled by an up and coming rookie, the really harsh treatment he received by the British media, and the lack of support from McLaren itself.
Yes! He was just fighting back against unfair treatment…and was made to look the villain when it really takes two to tango
Except the best way to fight back against 'unfair treatment' is to just put your head down and get the results. By doing what he did in Hungary, he lost his pole and a potential win and with it the World Championship. Fernando screwed himself over in 2007
He literally threatened to expose the whole team and potentially run the team into the ground just because one a qualifying session. Seems petty to me
Actually about Hungary 2007 - at the time f1 McLaren mechanic Marc Priestly admitted that the team had internal agreement the drivers would take turns who will go first in qualifiyng. Because of the conditions the first driver had slight advantage. And in Hungary it was Alonso's turn to go first but Lewis refused to follow this agreement and went first. Then we saw on TV Alonso's response.
thank you. i'm tired of people ignoring the context of the incident
lewis was responding to the team screwing him over in the previous race in monaco where they screwed hamilton out of the chance at a win by changing his strategy to favor fernando
Kimi finished 3rd in the constructors by himself, what a legend
Nice to know I'm not the only one who caught that...
Good job.
It's obvious the fact Ferrari built a car very opposite to Kimi's preferences and then politics ensured Kimi wasn't getting what he wanted from the car. Ultimately Kimi was the fastest driver on the planet, but Massa got lucky facing him in 2008, a year Kimi absolutely hated the car, but would have won the title 3/4 of the way through had he actually liked the F2008.
Few things you didn't mention here:
- The "development" suspension actually happened to be the 2007 spec suspension, at least in the Monaco GP.
- The Spanish GP being the first time Kimi was actually comfortable in the Ferrari, and incidentally dominated that race. The characteristics of the Ferrari were something that he struggled with throughout 2007.
- There was media talk of Kimi "losing the desire to win", during 08 & 09, which CLEARLY wasn't true. 2008 Spanish GP & the 2nd half of the 2009 season should have completely shut down that lie.
- Ferrari's contract extension for Kimi was due to end at the same time as Alonso's for Renault.
- The CEO of Santander (Emilio Botin) openly hated Kimi Raikkonen.
- Emilio Botín had a private talk with Alonso shortly after Ferrari extended Kimi's contract to the end of 2010.
It was clearly set up, honestly. It does no service to consider it a "theory".
Kimi is a driver we all loved and were interested to see him win titles for being the guy who everyone thought as "Schummachers Nightmare",but the history of ferrari being a backstabber to it's own driver waqs something that killed careers of many drivers including nigel mansell and alain prost from classic era to seb as the last we have seen
Ferrari didn't kill Mansell's, or Prost's careers. Nigel went there from Williams because he thought they had a better shot for him, and Prost went there from McLaren to get away from Senna. Turns out, Ferrari were quite the shit show back then, though, and Mansell went back to Williams and won a title. Prost, after dragging the team all year, was removed from his duties, and took a sabbatical, then came back and won the title with Williams the year after Nigel. Prost retired after winning, Mansell was kind of kicked to the curb after winning, kind of like Damon was after 96. How did either of those careers get killed by Ferrari, if both drivers won a title with their next team?
@@Spike-sk7ql becauause they went to ferrari not just to seek shelter from there past teams but also to find a easy spot on the top of the grid because everyone knew that ferrari is a team with resources and talent and history and both of them knew that ferrari could be there next big shot. But sadly it turned out not be the sort of thing they hoped
Ferrari failed world champions, that's what's happening with charles now
I don't know how many people giving their expert opinions here even watched the 07 and 08 seasons. Let's get a few of the facts straight. Kimi was leading the championship going into the Canadian GP when he got wiped out by Lewis IN THE PITLANE. Kimi was effectively in the race lead when he retired. He got dinged out of either a potential win or a podium in Europe, Belgium, and Singapore after that. He drove home in second kn France with a car that was literally on fire and having to give up the race lead to Massa due to the issue. That's FIVE races where the car setup or reliability just took him out of the equation. And these weren't the only issues for him that season - he made an error and ran into the back of a Force India in Monaco. He didn't stand a chance that year due to all of this. While one may pin a driver hitting the barriers on the driver, every single person who understand F1 knows that a driver is helpless if the car is setup in a way that doesn't suit them.
Regarding people understating the talent Kimi was, you're the kind of people who look at stats and decide how good a driver is. Schumacher, Kimi, Lewis, and Seb were all supported by Mercedes in their junior days and a lot of the guys worked with all four of them. Mike Krack (Aston Martin F1 Principal) was there during those times and he says without any hesitation that Kimi was head and shoulders the best talent of the four. And don't take his word on this, just tune into Beyond the Grid on Formula1.com and you'll see just about anyone who worked with all the four say Kimi is undoubtedly the biggest talent of the four. Kimi was an absolute legend during his Mclaren days when crappy internal politics didn't hold him back (he had a crappy engine making up for it though). There are always what-ifs, especially in sports, but for me the biggest ones were the reliability issues that single handedly robbed Kimi of the title in 2003 and 2005.
I have a very simple way of reading the comments section. If someone says Kimi is overrated then they either grew up ideolizing MSC or (a far higher possibility) ended up watching F1 because of Netflix.
Just happend to see this and you are absolutely right and can you all imagine that he is STILL last Ferrari F1 Champion 2007. He is absolutely a legend with his cool, positively "akward", finnish behaviour and living a very happy life now (and then).
This was even said back in the day. Journalists said even in 2007 that they wanted Kimi out, something that they repeated in 2008 and 2009, so Ferrari could sign Alonso once Todt was out. People may have forgotten about it, but I watched those seasons and those rumors were on the air very frecuently.
@@MDE_never_dies Absolutely. They need a good and strong structure like they had with Todt-Brawn-Byrne-Schumacher if they want to be competitive again
Two very relevant things that weren't mentioned in the video were the financial crisis of 2008 & the ban on tobacco sponsorships. A deal with Santander meant Ferrari wouldn't have to worry with financial uncertainty. On the other hand, retaining Massa would mean Santander had a way to explore the South American market, while also getting Alonso into the team.
As for Kimi's statements, you might not find the Canada ones, but in the 2008 season review, before the Spanish GP, Kimi gets asked about the driver line-up, a very similar question to the one you mention at 8:22 in the video. Kimi was leading the championship and Ferrari were just one point behind BMW. Kimi ended up dominating that weekend and Ferrari jumped into the lead of the constructors. Why would Ferrari want to change their line-up?
Everyone has their own opinion, but at this point, and i know a good amount of people would agree, Kimi was clearly sabotaged.
Santander was already in the market here in South América, they were the main sponsor of Copa libertadores (South Américan champions league) in before even have a contract with Ferrari
I think a bit of both worlds... firstly Ferrari prefer Massa without doubt (so the performance of the car dropped) and secondly Kimi's hunger for wins stepped down a bit (the same situation as in Lotus days when he realised that team run out of money), if Kimi was in the zone, then there was nobody matching him, but motivation had always played a huge role throughout his career
Spot on, kimi would only have a good race if he felt right, he would drop his head if the car was not right or if the track was not his liking.
It’s a conspiracy as to why they did it, but Ferrari 100% switched focus to Massa midway through 2008. There’s a video on here of the interview with MSC where he confirmed it. Look at kimis results at the start of 08 and end of 09 after Massa was out. It’s highly compelling.
as a newer f1 fan, i really appreciate niche videos like this because i would never realize this and investigate myself but it is all super interesting for me to hear and read.
really been loving your videos to help me learn more abt the sport ☺️
Welcome to F1 fandom!
Your support is very much appreciated and I’m glad you could learn something new 😁
Loving the new videos recently mate, high quality and fun. Sustains my F1 addiction when there are no races.
Keep it up mate love the videos ❤
Thanks for supporting the channel mate! Glad I can keep you entertained during the off season 😄
I know Raikkonen doesn't seem the guy to let things get to him. But I think this is more down to his motivation. His Ferrari slump happened after all the "Alonso replacing him" stuff. But it's important to note he also he dropped off in 2013 after signing for Ferrari, even missing the last few races despite his operation being minor. I think its just how Kimi is.
He dropped off in 2013 because of the tyre regulation change that happened after Silverstone, the race where there were a dangerous amount of punctures due to how little air pressure teams were putting into the tyres to maximize grip. However, the Lotus car maximized these soft tyres, and it also bolstered Kimi's driving style, which prefers softer tyres. With the regulation change which put a very high minimum air pressure, it impacted his driving. Lotus were also working to maximize Grosjean in order to reduce Kimi's points bonus
In 2013 Kimi and Lotus fell out over money. KImi was not paid from 2012. This was a big motivation for him to accept a 2nd driver role at a big team.
That is spot on, the thing that is lacking with kimi is motivation, he was the fastest and if it was not for reliabilty, 2005 shouldve been his. One world champion was enough for him, that is why after 2007 he never really drove like before
It's obvious Ferrari sabotaged him...
@@sadsadasdsadasdsadas Good one
I Remember Schumacher apologising to Kimi in 2008/09 as he acknowledged that they went through wrong way with setup and suspension upgrades
It worth saying this as well Kimi was having understeer issues as a result which doesn't suit his driving style
Kimi might of also had some James Hunt - mindset. He won his first, he just wanted to enjoy it after that so subconsciously didn't try as hard. Some drivers are happy with a single title. Kimi always seemed like that to me.
I'm still shocked Kimi is gone
Btw these videos make the off season more bearable
He lost the 2003 championship by 2 points. I'd say that was a strong challenge
With 1 win only, leading more half of the season and the car wasnt supposed to challenge for title
@@ameEeeee3Kimi could've been the goat if he wanted to
@@ameEeeee3 Raikkonen could mirrored what Matt Kenseth pulled off in NASCAR that same year by taking the title with only a single win, had things gone more favorably. Such as McLaren perhaps finding that extra last bit of performance out of the MP4-17D had they shifted all their resources back to that car after it became apparent the MP4-18 was made of explodium.
@@sulphurous2656Raikonnen should have woon 2003 as he was the best driver possibly that season and we would have seen 2 guys winning the championship with only 1 win and showing that consistency matters
Well this isn't a conspiracy theory. Domenicali publicly admitted that Ferrari changed the geometry of the front end to favour Massa over Kimi. Indeed, despite Kimi complained about this change, Ferrari told him that the car was that and he needed to accept it. This imposition literally destroyed his season.
I think 2008 season was where Kimi lost his passion for F1. Previously he was cold and calm as always but he still had that love for racing in F1, however cold he appeared there was certain glow to him before 2008. Since then he really turned into "I Dont Care Anymore Mode".
About signing a driver that early, I have to say that Kimi signed for Ferrari in 2005, and Alonso signed for McLaren well before the 2006 season.
So that happened back then.
And the fact that Kimi led the championship after a great start to 2008 makes you wonder.
I'm not saying it is the truth. Maybe someday pzople will talk, but yeah it was strange. And this era of F1 was different. A bit wild tbh
A conspiracy? Involving Fernando? Surely not
There is a clip from 2008 on youtube where Kimi is asked would he like to be partnered with Fernando at Ferrari in the future, so there definitely were real rumours about Alonso joining Ferrari.
However I’m not completely sure if the thing about Montezemolo and Todt is correct. To my understanding Todt wanted to keep Schumacher while Montezemolo felt that Michael had too much power at Ferrari and wanted to replace him.
Still the 2008 season is still a bit odd. Kimi lead the championship after four rounds and was in a good place to get that second championship. This theory does make some sense but its hard to say if it’s completely true.
Watching these races in period, the commenters also mentioned rumours about the Alonso hire to Ferrari-it was clear at the time either Kimi or Massa were going to be dropped in favour of Alonso. All I hope is that when Alonso retires he partners with Masterclass to give lessons for young drivers on how to sell themselves to any team, no matter what the results say. That dude must sleep with a copy of Machiavelli’s The Prince under his pillow, it’s wild.
I would not want any young driver to get an Alonso masterclass.
Given the twisted, double-faced little tμГd§ we are getting in this new generation, getting such a mobster to teach the youngbloods, could be called Mafiaclass rather than Masterclass.
Championship standings in 2008 if the races from Germany to Singapore didn't count
1 Massa 68
2 Raikkonen 66
3 Hamilton 62
4 Kubica 57
5 heidfeld 40
Championship standings in 2008 if only the races from Germany to Singapore counted
1 Hamilton 36
2 Massa 29
3 kovalainen 27
4 Alonso 25
5 Vettel 22
...
10 Raikkonen 9
Championship standings in 2009 if counted only the races from Hungary to the end of the season
1 Hamilton 40
2 Raikkonen 38
3 Vettel 37
4 Barrichello 33
5 Button 27
Championship standings in 2009 if only the races before Hungary counted
1 Button 73
2 Vettel 47
3 Webber 47
4 Barrichello 46
5 Truli 24
...
11 Raikkonen 10
Tbh it seems kinda weird
I'm a believer in "never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity" and don't think that Ferrari made an intentional decision that "let's get rid of Kimi and sabotage his car". But they definitely mismanaged Kimi and didn't listen enough to his feedback. During Schumacher's time, if Michael said he wanted something done, it got done, no questions asked. But when Jean Todt quit after 07 Ferrari never did that with Kimi (until the second half of 09, when they had no choice, and we saw the results then). Massa's driving style was closer to what the engineers wanted to do, and rather than making the car work for Kimi, they left Kimi trying to cope with a car that didn't suit him.
This also (possibly) happened to Michael, whats with ferrari booting their best drivers?
I’ve heard the theory around Michael too 👀
Very very interesting..
It's an ancient Ferrari philosophy of "driver can't be bigger than team". They got rid of Kimi and Seb, back in the 90s they did it to Prost and Mansell and some argue that they even did that with Schumacher and Lauda (which I just find very hard to believe). That is also the reason why drivers like Senna and Piquet said multiple times that they would never ever drive for Ferrari.
@@whyareyoureadingmynickname8158 that's just horribly arrogant on their part. I'm conflicted because I'm glad they are reaping what they sowed and Kimi is still their last champion after so many years.
But then again that means more drivers have to suffer... Charles is very talented and I want him to win too
Spain 2008 proved why Kimi was on a different plane.....if he felt like it on the day
Many people talk about his motivation. Why would he be motivated if his team is sabotaging him? He was still in the championship hunt after Silverstone.
I think he was sabotaged by Ferrari, its just too suspicious that after winning the championship in 2007 to just get beaten by his teammate in 2008.
Vettel won 4 in a row, at the height of his prime and then got clapped by Danny Ric. Nothing unusual about drop in form or another driver stepping up. Kimi made some mistakes in 2008 and some bad luck which cost him. That’s it.
A thing Ferrari is somehow famous for, not being able to treat 2 vehicles equally
So happy to see you did this video from my Instagram submission a while ago and again recently, i absolutely loved you version of this story
Much appreciated mate thanks so much for your support 😀
@@MadeByPerspective thank you for keeping me occupied with great content keep up the great work!!
My guess is it was a mix of Kimi losing a bit of motivation and Ferrari trying to set itself up for the future. If you believe the Schumacher retirement theory, then it seems plausible that Ferrari may have sabotaged Kimi to try and get him to leave.
I also think Kimi just lost a little motivation. He accomplished his goal of being a champion and may have simply not cared as much. I don't think it was a James Hunt situation where he just focused on partying, but I think he just didn't have as big of a drive.
I might be mistaken but isnt the schumacher story that more or less proven?
At least its well know that Schumacher didnt actually wanted to retire
@@gandalf_thegrey i mainly say theory since it isn't 100 percent proven, I sadly highly believe its true. I think Ferrari has the same mindset Enzo had that no matter how good a driver is they are all replaceable at the end of the day its good ajd bad
@@gandalf_thegrey This is pretty much true. Schumacher only retired because he knew that if he fought, then Ferrari was going to sack Massa and Schumacher didn't want Massa's career in F1 to be cut so short.
Kimi Raikkonen likes his steering and front end set up a certain way no exceptions. Michael Schumacher was a consultant with Ferrari and I think Schumacher did not like Kimi coming to Ferrari and winning the championship his first year. It has been documented that Schumacher had the team change the steering and front end of Kimi's car without Kimi's knowledge. Once the car was put back the way Kimi liked and wanted it Kimi again was faster than Massa.
2:48 Kimi finished 3rd in the constructors championship
Kimi and Schumi were sacked by Di Montezemolo… ferrari really deserved their poor times tbh
How typical of u British ppl to say 'Alonso' was petty in Hungary in 2007, clearly ignoring what lead to him doing that. Alonso was meant to be the lead car in qualifying that day. Yet, hamilton went AGAINST his team's orders and stayed ahead, despite alonso having done the same for him in earlier races. Alonso was livid, and this obviously was understandable, but the british bias, even to this day, paints HAMILTON as the victim of the whole scene, and alonso as the sole hand behind the downfall of their relationship. This is where their relationship soured, and it was hamilton who struck the first blow.
The guy speaking isn't British lmaoo
Hes from Australia
English speaking nations* not just British. They’re all just listening to biased British media
What alonso did to his team after hungary qualifying is absolutely shameful.
Once again a great video! Keep it up! Need this while I wait for testing
Amazing Video man!
Thank you mate!
THANK YOU FOR SHEDING LIGHT ONTO THIS
i love kimi bc he was at the intersection between my childhood watching F1 and now my resurgent love for the sport today.
Cool video man. Love the pictures and string intro
Thanks mate! 😃
I think even in 2017 and 2018 he was used by Ferrari… I mean he could have won 2 races in 2017
Love all of your videos especially these and the Seb ones
Thanks for your support Joe!
4:22 You read the quote you posted incorrectly. Not "until the end of the year" as you said, "until the end of NEXT year" as your text says.
I never understood why Ferrari kept massa over kimi
If they made kimi the second driver to Alonso he probably would have excepted it and still done a better job the Felipe.
Or could it be that being a laid back guy Kimi just lost some motivation? He wanted to be champion and he achieved what he wanted.
A Kimi championship hangover is definitely possible 😂
@@MadeByPerspective Mika Häkkinen has talked a lot how hard it was to pick himself up after championship. Back then there was a lot more testing, so season was much more demanding from driver. Combining that Kimi hated PR I see clearly why he would lost some motivation.
Wouldn't be the last time he seemingly lost motivation and results dropped.
so funny to see Soren's name used in this video, Kimi Fan Page on Facebook was so cool back in the day 😂
Petty actions from alonso in hungary?😂
Dude go back and watch the whole qualifying to see why fer blocked ham in pitlane
Kimi was always a momentum based driver tbh Ride the highest highs and some of the lowest lows.
And while the Mclaren had some major reliability problems for him, it was pretty much unavoidable. In order to improve the reliability of things like the engine, they would have had to detune it a decent bit, but then they would have been uncompetitive even with their Newey-designed aero package.
Also, I don't think it is too conspiratorial to say that Ferrari upper management was starting to slip back into its old culture that made them a disaster of a team until Schumacher-Brawn-Todt. They already resented Michael after his historic 5th title matching Fangio's in 2002 and began engaging in talks for a replacement driver for him under the pretense of "securing their future". In reality, however, Ferrari upper management couldn't stand the fact that Michael Schumacher was becoming bigger than them as a brand and icon in the sport and so by 2005 they guaranteed themselves a future frontrunner that they could use to push Michael out (who didn't want to see Felipe's career cut so short). From there, Ferrari was pretty much starting to take plays out of Frank Williams' handbook and believing that they could simply make champions out of any person they put into their cars. Be it Raikkonen, Massa, Alonso, rumored Robert Kubica, etc. After sacking Schumacher and then Todt leaving by mid 2008, it was clear that Ferrari's primary interest was in maintaining the focus on themselves as a brand over and above their drivers.
I’ve always found this conspiracy one of the most convincing. It just makes no sense why they’d push out kimi instead of massa imo
I recommend googling Botin Santander for anyone interested. It’s said Botin had a meeting with alonso telling him to not sign for bmw
I do disagree about Di Montezemolo however, he actually (somewhat) defended kimi comparing his situation to a football player who hasn’t scored in 3 games and how it means nothing
Money talks, not to mention it being 2008 it’s not beyond the realms of possibility Ferrari would want that big sponsorship bucks.
Loved the violin intro! 😅
Thank you! 😄
My only issue with this theory is what's mentioned at the end. I don't see a strong case for why Ferrari would ditch Kimi instead of Felipe. Sure, sometimes having two star drivers can create unnecessary drama like in 2007, but Kimi was possibly the fastest driver in the sport, so it seems strange to give that up. It's especially strange for Ferrari to sacrifice so much for sponsorship money like that too given that they're the most lucrative luxury business in the world.
Additionally, Kimi returned to the team in 2014, which is hard to imagine happening if he knew that they intentionally sabotaged him.
Heard the music and thought I was on a Lemino documentary lol
There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Kimi was made a scapegoat for Ferrari in 2008. You must remember the GFC was just starting to take hold in 2008 and the forecast was global recession Ferrari already paid top dollar (USD51M) for easily the best driver on the grid in Kimi based on his 2005 performances alone and he succeeded immediately. Luca Di Montezemolo was not much of a fan of Kimi - anyone could see that and I dare say the feeling I recall from Kimi was more than mutual. Kimi is NOT a "kiss arse" guy. Alonso was/ IS and that's exactly what Luca wanted along with 100m Santander reasons and more importantly Ferrari's exposure in Spain and Latin America !. I MEAN THINK ABOUT IT PEOPLE WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU CHANGE THE CAR SET-UP MID SEASON TO THE GUY THAT JUST WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP...WTF Right had MS to do that ?????????????- Its despicable beyond compare. Alonso and Briatore disgust me I cannot for the life me understand why either one of them is still in F1 after Crashgate and Spygate. Further to this Kimi had 3 incidents during this brief time:- Canada Lewis ran into him..costing him at least 2nd place.. 2.France Kimi had a cracked exhaust demoting him from a certain win to 2nd. (after grabbing Ferrari's 200th pole). 3 Euro Gp he had engine hydraulics failure & retired in a race he was sure to win. These things put Kimi behind & Ferrari at this point had every reason to support Felipe given how they operate- It's a very small window, but the damage was already done. SURE NO TEAM WANTS TO JEOPARDISE THEIR CHAMPIONSHIP but things were close between ALL three drivers so it was easy to justify supporting Felipe when Kimi had those reliability issues - also in the background it kept Santander happy by supporting a Latin American driver till Alonso came on board. Anyone who knows Kimi could see he was not pleased when MS came in as a consultant early in 2008 & I distinctly remember an interview with him on the subject where he said word to the effect "its always good to have advice from someone with experience, but it's not like we don't know what we want from a car". Look what happened to Felipe .I don't mean ill of anyone But Karma was 10 fold at that team for a reason -especially after all the lies and deflecting they did in the press it was disgusting at that time. What happened to that F/Whit Alonso for 5 years a BIG FAT 0. What have Ferrari achieved since -you got it a big FAT 0. I was bit annoyed when Kimi went back to them n 2014 but he had now-here else to go after Lotus went broke! and he only was there to help rebuild the team with Vettel. Ferrari do look really good this pre-season -that car looks special to me. Sure Red Bull are favourites but I reckon we're in for a lot closer contest...Go Charles.
I think Kimi decided because there were not really any other viable rides available at the time he figured he could take as much money from Ferrari as they were willing to pay him. In many ways I think Kimi suffered a lot of the same fate Nigel Mansell did over their careers and that is both were rarely given the number one status on the team. Both had to scratch for everything the got.
It's sad that Kimi Raikkonen was always followed by misfortune during his vicious streak in the Mc Laren era, plus attempts to thwart him from world champion in 2007 (according to this theory). But at least he managed to win the title at that time and reaped lots of bonuses afterwards at Lotus
More f1 conspiracy theories please
I have many more ideas and stories on the way 🧠
It’s oddly convenient it isn’t the first time a theory about Ferrari sabotaging their drivers when their contract’s not renewed has occurred. First with Raikkonen, now with Vettel, and one is blatantly more obvious than the other. If this happens with Leclerc in the future, I’m pretty sure the theories aren’t just plain theories anymore.
If that mclaren was always reliable,, kimi would have more world titles
Also won the championship in a Ferrari in 07
The "sus" in the intro lmaoo
It's not much of a conspiracy. Ferrari have never been the same nor have they got back to winning since 2008. Raikkonen is likely to be their last champion for quite a while.
Love the intro mate
Thanks bro!
I see you went all BuzzFeed unsolved with that outro😂
Ryan and Shane forever ❤️
"Kimi finished 4th in constructors" xD
Alonso also lost his seat in Minardi when Alex Yoong came in with Magnum Corporation money to finance Paul Stoddart Minardi.
Oh yeah, definitely believe it. Kimi had too much talent for those results
Intro goes hard af
Cheers mate 😄
Do Nick Heidfeld 😂
You don't need conspiracies to see Ferrar isabotaging their drivers.
Only they don't do that on purpose.
Really deserved more championships, if only his prime wasn't during Ferrari dominance :(
Well money talks and BS walks... unfortunately, it's a theory that makes perfect sense. And Why Kimi and not Massa? Because we're talking about peak Kimi here, Alonso wouldn't want to race against him in the same car.
Also the upcoming Santander Brazil IPO in 2009
Having the "2008 world champion Massa" as their marketing guy will have an insane impact considering he'll be the next brazilian to win a title after Senna.....
Can anyone tell me the name of the song at the beginning. I checked the link in the description. But can't find the exact name. Please and Thanks👌
Kimi although a speed demon does need certain car characteristics to be championship winning fast.
- He went back to Ferrari in 2014 which disputes any bad blood
- You can see that Kimi had major struggles with the early hybrid era cars, like Daniel recently if you depend on your driving style to be fast and the car needs another you will struggle to adapt.
No conspiracy for me here, Massa was Ferrari's future before the '09 incident. People forget that.
Because of Santander Brazil IPO in 2009
as a Kimi fan ever since, it's true. at least i believe it is.
People forget there was a power struggle before 2008 which led Jean Todt left Ferrari and the new start of the clown era of Ferrari in 2008.
There were rumours that they were trying to get rid of Kimi because of Santanders.
Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease i know this off topic but can you do just 1 only 1 about Antonio Gio and Alfa romeo sabotaggin him?
I like these keep it up!!!!
Why does verstappen looks like a cod zombie character 💀
I have two comments. First: All Nordic drivers predominately prefer oversteer characteristics in a car, and Kimi is no exception. This is a fact that can be traced back as far as to to Ronnie Peterson if you like. However, oversteer characteristics is not necessarily always the fastest, but in order to get the full potential out of a Nordic driver, you need to have it. Secondly: As Nico Rosberg has said, Kimi could have achieved more if he had cared more: I think Kimis Finnish working class background hurt him some times during his career. He would have needed to engage a bit more in the "big picture".
You should do one about Alpine sabotaging Alonso to favour Ocon in 2022
XDDDD
And Gasly outscored the preferential driver in 2023, karma.
Kimi and Seb are now out of the sport, I wonder when Fernando and Lewis will follow. Kimi is just at another level when he's paired with anybody tbf
santander are trying the same against charles
please elaborate your conspiracy theory?
I don't think he was sabotaged - He probably just felt satisfied after having became World Champion.
Sports are like this: there's someone which needs to win Title after Title to prove him-/herself the absolute best, and there's someone thinking one is enough. Raikkonen had proven enough up to his Title to be remembered in the History of Formula 1, maybe he just was someone from the latter category.
Then why to continue as long as he did? He doesn't strike me as a person that would do it just for the money, knowing how much he disliked the media and constant traveling. Sure he might have felt a little bit more satisfied, but I don't think he lost the hunger to win races. Also Don't think he was there to prove anything to anyone, you never heard him complaining or blaming others even if things went many times unfairly towards him.
@@pekkanikula4448 Might be for the thrill of it, or still it's what you always have done and don't know what to do next if you stop.
-Kimi wins championship in a first year with Ferrari
-Alonso in a better car is 3rd, even behind rookie teammate
-in 2008 Kimi has a good beggining
-later Ferrari tries to sabotage him in kick him out in order to hire Alonso
Ferrari.
I love the shot of his face before lol
Would be funny if one of these conspiracy theories turn out to be true one day
Imagine that 😳
1:35 "Petty actions from Alonso in Hungary. Ah yes, let's forget about who caused the problem and blame it on the non british guy.
Bro had to put 2 disclaimers on the video, clearly knows how UA-cam viewers react 😂
Mclaren needs to go back to their silver/red colour scheme for their cars. Orange just isn't cutting it.
It does sound completely plausible
Its definetly conspiracy because kimi raikkonen in my oppinion never finished 3 in the conatructers standings
Foolish Theory. Even if Kimi would be waived the next year they would still give him everything while in there.
Ferrari is a such an Odd Team, that any theory about them could be true.
I know what i am doing so just be quiet.
- Missed legend