Eye on the 2008 F1 title – Part 3 – Kimi Raikkonen

Time for part 3 of this miniseries – Kimi Raikkonen. It would be fair to say that before the start of 2008 season Kimi Raikkonen was probably the hottest candidate for 2008 title. The Ferrari car looked strong during the winter testing, the 2007 title took lots of pressure from his shoulders and all the woes of being in the new team were things of the past. His start to the season was a bit shaky with quite a lot of mistakes in Australia. Two race wins and two podiums from next 4 races put him to the top of the championship standings and well back into the contest. Two races later however he finds himself out of top three …

Current position: 4th
Points: 35 (7 behind the leader)
Results so far this season: 8 – 1 – 2 – 1 – 3 – 9 – DNF

Here is what is working for him:

- Ferrari car that is faster than the car of the current championship leader
- He is a quick no nonsense driver
- As season 2007 has shown he can fight back from much bigger deficit than current 7 points
- Several Ferrari friendly tracks are coming up
- He feels probably less pressure than the other title chasing drivers as he has one title under his belt already

What is working against him:

- Qualifying form – Raikkonen has been outqualified by his team mate Felipe Massa 5-2 so far this season. If this continues it will be difficult for Raikkonen to beat Massa …
- Unlike Kubica and Hamilton he still needs to fight off the challenge of his team mate (both McLaren and BMW Sauber still claim there is no number in their teams but I do not believe they really mean it)
- Ferrari is not as relaible as it used to be
- Raikkonen does seem to be making a bit too many mistakes – Australia, Monaco …
- His mental state – sometime it looks like he just does not care …

Can he do it and win his second consecutive F1 title ?