Defending F1 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen has urged that there is no cause for concern at Ferrari, despite enduring a second successive comprehensive defeat by Lewis Hamilton and McLaren-Mercedes in the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim.
Kimi Raikkonen has insisted that there is no reason to panic in the wake of Ferrari's second successive defeat at the hands of arch-rivals McLaren-Mercedes in the 2008 Formula 1 World Championship in the German Grand Prix this weekend.
The emphatic, almost effortless manner of Lewis Hamilton's pass on Raikkonen's team-mate Felipe Massa towards the end of the race was symptomatic of the two teams' differing fortunes at this stage of the season, with the Silver Arrows riding the crest of a wave on the back of two consecutive dominant triumphs - and three victories from the last five grands prix to Ferrari's one - and the scarlet machines not seeming to have any kind of answer.
Indeed, defending F1 World Champion Raikkonen was never really a factor throughout the Hockenheim weekend, not even coming close to threatening the podium as he both started and finished in sixth place - battling with theoretically slower cars throughout and slipping some seven points adrift of Hamilton in the title standings come the chequered flag.
"This was definitely not the kind of race we had been hoping for," the 27-year-old mused afterwards. "We have struggled all weekend, and we have to try and understand why.
"Usually our race pace is good, but today that was not the case, because I almost always suffered with a lack of grip; only in the final stages did the situation improve a little bit, but it was never enough to be competitive.
"We have a test in Jerez, where we will try and improve the car so as to arrive in Budapest in better shape. This is definitely not a crisis, but we have to study carefully the handling of the car to understand if we have taken the right road in terms of development."
"This was not a good day and there's no point denying it," added a frustrated team principal Stefano Domenicali. "Our rivals were stronger than us and we have to work out why, without however getting caught up in nebulous and superficial analysis.
"For the first time this season in a race, we did not have the pace we had expected to run at, with both Kimi and Felipe. We suffered constantly from a lack of grip.
"The safety car offered us the opportunity to give it another go and all things considered, I think we made the right choice in terms of strategy, but when your pace is inadequate, it is therefore difficult to get a good result. We have to work well over the coming days to react in the right manner to return to the level we were at just two races ago."
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Ferrari is in a temporary dip, that's all. Watch who's there at the end of the season - Kimi all the way.
Say what you like Daniel S but don't ever use 'there' in place of 'their' the correct word is 'their team'. If you have to write English, write correctly otherwise write in Italian or Spanish or even Arabic. Yahoo accepts all languages. Thanks.
I think it is a team order, Dennis has admitted.
Let's be honest, Heiki letting through Lewis was a team order. Just because they don't communicate it over the radio (like ferrari did) doesn't make it any less of a team order. The drivers are instructed to "do the right thing" before the race by the McLaren team which in my eyes is the equivilant of "let him through if he catches you".
Lewis would have overtaken Heiki anyway but it would have taken a while and made it more difficult for him to catch Massa and Piquet.
Daniel, everything you said is corect. It was a team order ....Heikki is not a Minardi driver to be slow as he was in front of Hamilton?? About Ferrari's-it is only one example, Austria 2002
Daniel s what you are saying has no basis whats so ever, if memory fails you ferrari asking barrichello to let schumacher to win i guess thats history but that was ferrari......and it was proven it was team order.....so before you get in here with your flab check your facts rights hamilton won fair........and thats was a great drive by him.......
When were you ever panicked, KR? The coolest guy on earth?
You'll get a better car next time and fight for the podium and championship again. Just watch out for Lewis and Massa as both have good cars and getting mature and stable behind their wheels.
Great day for McLaren and Hamilton. I was just surpised at the pace of the ONE McLaren versus the "other" McLaren. Team orders are an obvious case at McLaren even though they say it does not exist, but seeing Heikki give way to Lewis at lap 16 or so showed how team orders are there at the Silver Arrows.
Can someone explain to me why only one McLaren rather than both McLaren's showed great pace throughout the race?
I think it is the "secret" way McLaren and Ron Dennis run there team and how much they favor Lewis over every other driver (Heikki and Fernando in 2007).
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