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[jsonf1]

Not sure if anyone else has noticed but the season 2008 has barely come to a finish and allready everyone at Ferrari is talking about The drivers title of 2009 going to Kimi??????
I mean Massa performed a lot better then Kimi this year but nobody is talking about Massa and the drivers title 2009(at Ferrari)????
So what in the world does Ferrari know about Kimis this years performance that they don´t want to tell anyone else? It´s just weird because you would think that after this season everyone would be talking about Massa and the 09 drivers title. There just has to be something but I really can´t understand what. Some say that the changes they made to the car during the season didn´t fit Kimis driving but I have a feeling that is not the full story here, I think it´s kinda disrespectful towards Massa to just keep talking about Kimi winning the title.

[FerrariFan63]

No mention of Kimi here.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/72014

[onelapdown]

Not sure if anyone else has noticed but the season 2008 has barely come to a finish and allready everyone at Ferrari is talking about The drivers title of 2009 going to Kimi??????
I mean Massa performed a lot better then Kimi this year but nobody is talking about Massa and the drivers title 2009(at Ferrari)????
So what in the world does Ferrari know about Kimis this years performance that they don´t want to tell anyone else? It´s just weird because you would think that after this season everyone would be talking about Massa and the 09 drivers title. There just has to be something but I really can´t understand what. Some say that the changes they made to the car during the season didn´t fit Kimis driving but I have a feeling that is not the full story here, I think it´s kinda disrespectful towards Massa to just keep talking about Kimi winning the title.

Ferrari play some weird games in the media and I'm guessing this is one of them. Raikkonen has had a poor year by his standards and it's touch and go for me whether he gets a second wind or goes the way of Jacques Villeneuve and James Hunt and just fades away. I would imagine Ferrari are just trying to motivate him a bit.

[KyrosV]

I think massa will come up trumps next year. He wants the title. He knows where he needs to improve Plus.. No one can beat him at Bahrain, turkey or brazil, so there in the bag..

[8-ball]

I think massa will come up trumps next year. He wants the title. He knows where he needs to improve Plus.. No one can beat him at Bahrain, turkey or brazil, so there in the bag..

They may not be able to beat Massa at these three tracks but they can take him at the other 14 grand prix's.

Maybe with the new aero regs coming in they believe that the car set up will suit Kimi but I would say Massa has improved enough to challenge him. Plus there is also Hamilton to deal with and the BMW's so the title isn't in the bag for anyone. When Kimi is in the mood Massa will not be able to get near him

[stonemonkey]

Purely speculation but I felt from early in the season that Ferrari were favouring Massa, Kimi got a bit of stick about lack of pre season development work and testing but maybe that wasn't all his own doing. There was an announcement that Kimi is going to be doing a lot more pre season work this time so maybe it's his turn next year. I don't know if Ferrari work like that but it would be an explanation of his lack of motivation this year.

[EwanM]

Kimi probably will be back to his best in 2009
Unless he's just fallen out of love for the sport and is only there to drive with a heavy car, pick up points and challenge at Spa.
Maybe he'll be happy with the pay cheque so he can get his lips around a nice cold bottle of...

[racechick]

I think massa will come up trumps next year. He wants the title. He knows where he needs to improve Plus.. No one can beat him at Bahrain, turkey or brazil, so there in the bag..

I think Lewis could beat him at Turkey. If the McLaren tyres cud cope with turn 8 without Lewis having to back off.
Having said that Id like Felippe to be the stronger ferrari driver next year, he's earnt it.

[FerrariFan63]

I think Lewis could beat him at Turkey. If the McLaren tyres cud cope with turn 8 without Lewis having to back off.
Having said that Id like Felippe to be the stronger ferrari driver next year, he's earnt it.

Given the changes for next year, I wouldn't expect it to be the same teams next year which are kinder or harder on their tyres.

[EwanM]

Massa will be No2. It's sad but if they give Kimi an adequate program this year in testing he surely will be able to show his pace once more.
Massa isn't as good as Kimi - but Kimi has never worked to improve himself.
I wonder how good he'd be if he had the determination of Massa?

[McLaren Fan]

Ferrari have two problems with their star driver. The first one is that the car didn't quite suit his driving style. That takes a big edge of your performance and takes time to fix. If you look at the last third or certainly quarter of the season, with the exception of Brazil, Raikkonen was Ferrari's better driver. The second problem is Raikkonen himself. When he's on form, he's brilliant, but has too many off days. In 2005, people talk about the problems McLaren-Mercedes had, which is very true, but Raikkonen had a handful of off days as well, which helped to lose him the title. Broadening the discussion, people mention McLaren-Mercedes' poor reliability record etc. when Raikkonen was driving for the team, but, again, he wasn't really interested in testing the car or keeping up his fitness. The truth of the matter, for me, is that Raikkonen had the ability to be a legend of the sport, but not the commitment.

[Hanwombat]

Yup Kimi just isnt committed enough ^

[vintage]

i agree its not fair for massa but maybe they are trying to get kimi to pick himself up. By saying this, they are giving kimi confidence that he can come back to form in '09

[f1ea]

Ferrari favouring Massa at the beggining? Where do you get that from. After the 1st two races Massa's seat was even put in doubt.

Kimi was / is the star in Ferrari. But with changes next season i think from past, Massa will get his homework done before Kimi and bag some big early pts even if Kimi ultimately does better...

Massa has some tracks but also this yr he was dominating at unexpected tracks such as Singapore, Hungary, Monaco to some extent and others... So while Lewis was the best at managing conditions, Massa was much better at nailing tracks.

My guess is Kimi and Massa will fight all season, while Mclaren will be all behind Lewis; BMW on Kubica and Renault behind Alonso...

[megasyxx]

maybe he has plans to retire, so ferrari will want to give him a final push for the title. just my opinion, though.