Kimi Raikkonen

Team: Ferrari

Team Mate: Felipe Massa

Date of Birth: 1979-10-17

Place of Birth: Lappeeranta,Finland

Nationality: Finnish

Residence: Chigwell, Espoo


Profile

After finishing second in 2005 Kimi Raikkonen's season came crashing back down to earth last year after failing to win a single race.

The Finn was hampered with an unreliable car, which also lacked pace and was perhaps the final straw that broke the Finn's back and forced his hand to move on.

However, all isn't lost for the blue eyed speedster, as many believe that he's a force to be reckoned with especially now that he has adopted the scarlet overalls at Ferrari.




Felipe Massa

Team: Ferrari

Team Mate: Kimi Raikkonen

Date of Birth: 1981-04-25

Place of Birth: Sao Paolo, Brazil

Nationality: Brazilian

Residence: Sao Paolo, Brazil



Profile

Though 2005 proved to be a disaster for Felipe Massa, his move to the Scuderia last season provided him the perfect opportunity to showcase his talents.

In 2006 Felipe Massa came of age leaping ten places in the Drivers' Championships to finish behind Michael Schumacher.

With Schumacher retired, Massa will be hoping to continue where he left off last season after winning his home race in Brazil.







Fernando Alonso

Team: McLaren

Team Mate: Lewis Hamilton

Date of Birth: 1981-07-28

Place of Birth: Oviedo

Nationality: Spanish

Residence: -


Profile

The Spaniard was always touted to be the sport's next sensation. After his debut season in 2001 with the Minardi Team, Alonso could manage only testing duties the following season for Renault. However, he earned himself a full-time drive with the French Constructor in 2003 and was quick to prove his worth. He became the youngest driver to start from Pole Position and doubled his distinction with his first race win at Hungary.

Despite ending up without a win in the Ferrari-dominated 2004 season, Alonso retained his blue and gold uniform for the 2005 season and dominated the early part of the Championship. Although McLaren came back strongly towards the latter half of the season, one always felt that Alonso had done enough to break seven-time Champion, Michael Schumacher's dominating reign over the sport.

A double World champion, Alonso has it all to prove once again this time at McLaren. With Schumacher retired his job may be slightly easier, although the driver he replaced at McLaren - Kimi Raikkonen will be just as determined to ensure ots not a hat-trick for Alonso.





Lewis Hamilton


Team: McLaren

Team Mate: Fernando Alonso

Date of Birth: 1985-01-07

Place of Birth: Tewin

Nationality: British

Residence: -


Profile



Lewis Hamilton introduced himself to McLaren team boss Ron Dennis, as early as 1994 at the Autosport Awards, asking if he could drive for the team one day. Four years later, when Hamilton was just 13 - he was signed to the McLaren Driver Development Support Program.

A young karting driver with much promise, Hamilton began racing in single-seaters in the 2001 British Formula Renault Winter Series. He secured a full-time drive in the Formula Renault UK Championship the following year and went on to win the title in 2003.

After achieving reasonable success in F3, Hamilton secured his first test in a McLaren F1 car in December 2004. The following year, he dominated the Euroseries ASM Championship, winning 15 of the 20 rounds. He also won the Ultimate Masters of Formula 3 at Zandvoort.

Last season, Hamilton won the GP2 championship in his first attempt. The title coincided with a vacancy at McLaren following the departure of Montoya to NASCAR and Raikkonen to Ferrari.

After much speculation over whether he, de la Rosa, Paffett, or even Hakkinen would secure McLaren's second seat alongside World Champion Alonso, the Briton was considered the best man for the job!

Hamilton will be the first driver with prominent African or Caribbean ancestry to compete in F1, since Willy Ribbs tested a Formula One car over two decades ago.




------------------------------------

Driver's Championship
Points


Kimi Raikkonen
10


Fernando Alonso
8


Lewis Hamilton
6


Nick Heidfeld
5


Giancarlo Fisichella
4


Felipe Massa
3


Nico Rosberg
2


Ralf Schumacher
1

------------------------------------
A little late, but thats fine.

Austrailian Grand Prix


Well,A fantastic start to the Formula 1 Grand Prix season for 2007. With yesterday's excellent qualification, Kimi Raikkonen continued his excellent form onto the race day.

Qualifying in the pole position, Kimi had an excellent start maintaining his position at the front of the pack. Running light on fuel, he quickly got down to business and pulled clear ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Nick Heidfeld both of whom beat Fernando Alonso to the first corner, pushing him down to fourth place. After the initial shuffle at the head of the pack, it was mostly formation running up till the pit stop window.

Massa who started the race at the back of the grid as a result of an engine change penalty had a brilliant overtaking two cars in the first lap and then picking his way through the back of the field to come up to 16th position by lap 4. At this point, his progress was impeded first by David Coulthard and then by the Hondas of Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button. The Hondas were the big disappointment of the day, severely under performing, especially compared to their performance last year. Massa managed to pass Button (who had earlier been passed by Barrichello) on lap 17 and starts chasing Rubinho once again.

In the meanwhile, Kimi Raikkonen continued to put in some extremely fast laps to prepare for his first pit stop which was expected around lap 18-20. Lap 18 was the fasted of the race so far by Kimi who immediately pits in the next lap from the pole position, relinquishing it, in a historic moment, to debutant Lewis Hamilton who briefly led the race till his own pit stop on lap 23, one lap after Alonso's pit stop. With that, Kimi reclaimed the lead. He continues to put in the fastest lap times to further increase the gap between himself and Hamilton.

Felipe Massa finally pits for his only pit stop on lap 30 for a new set of harder tyres and fuel worth 12 seconds, enough to take him to the chequered flag on the single stop. With the pit stops completing, Massa breaks into the top ten after starting from the back end.

Next Kimi Raikkonen moves into the pit late for his second and final pit stop on lap 42 and comes out just behind the McLarens and regains the lead within four laps when both the McLarens pit. The order changes for them though with Alonso coming out in front of Hamilton after a super quick pit stop and a particularly slow outlap by Hamilton. This sets the order for the top four in the order Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Nick Heidfeld.

With the second round of pit stops finishing up, Felipe Massa moves upto the sixth position and starts hunting Giancarlo Fisichella in his Renault for the fifth position. It was one of the best fights of the race with Massa constantly trying to overtake Fisichella but never being close enough.

In the end, Massa had to settle for the 6 place, a much better result than expected at the start of the race. And with that, the first race of the season was won by Kimi in his Ferrari debut at Melbourne Australia

How it Finished -

1 Kimi Räikkönen
2 Fernando Alonso
3 Lewis Hamilton
4 Nick Heidfeld
5 Giancarlo Fisichella
6 Felipe Massa
7 Nico Rosberg
8 Ralf Schumacher
9 Jarno Trulli
10 Heikki Kovalainen
11 Rubens Barrichello
12 Takuma Sato
13 Mark Webber
14 Vitantonio Liuzzi
15 Jenson Button
16 Anthony Davidson
17 Adrian Sutil
Ret Alexander Wurz
Ret David Coulthard
Ret Robert Kubica
Ret Scott Speed
Ret Christijan Albers.

Next stop Kuala Lumpur

Kimi Räikkönen is going to win the F1 championship. I think many people will have him as thier favourites. Always had been doing well for Mclaren but found himself unlucky being involved in unfortunate accidents and problems with the car. First race with Ferrari and a great win it has to be said. Alonso did well in his first race in a Mclaren Mercides, I am sure he willg give Kimi a run for his money. Ferrari look strong with Kimi and Massa, althought today Mclaren did very well indeed 2nd and 3rd. Hamilton becomes the first driver to finish on the podium in his first race. Congrats to him.

Yeah, Hamilton looks like a great talent and has a bright future ahead of him. I just hope he doesn't play secomd fiddle to Fernando. Massa had a great race today. From the back of the grid to 6th place was great to see.

I'm missing the German Legend already.

Well barring any huge improvements in the McLaren car, Kimi will run away with the championship, Hamilton looks fucking good too, he would have come second had McClaren not fucked him over with his and Alonso's pit stops, but that's the way it works I guess.

Kovalainen was entertaining too, so erratic

Kovalainen was the main thing keeping me awake(race started at 3:30 am here). He was off the track more often than on. He seemed a little excited on his F1 debut I think.

And Hamilton will definitely be hindered by being second driver to somebody like Alonso. He'll learn a lot from him i'm sure, as Alonso knows what it's like to attract the spotlight early in your career and push on. He also strikes me as a real professional. But at the same time, the no.2 usually has to make a fair few sacrifices for the team when they're behind a championship contender. Just look at Barrichello in his Ferrari days.

But it's also his first season in F1, so a title was never to be expected so soon. It's amazing just how easily he's taken stepping up to this level, how he's handled himself with the media and his fellow drivers. I only heard about him in late January, when I found his profile on Skysports. I was surprised by the success he's had at every level he's raced at before this, from carting all the way to GP2. He usually puts in a good first season, then blows away the competition second time round. I couldn't believe I hadn't heard about him before.

So while he'll play second fiddle to Alonso this season, i'm sure he'll do enough by the end to show his worth. He seems to have everything to make it right to the top. The way he was throwing the car about into the corners so confidently(and with the World Champion behind him) was incredible for a driver of his age and experience. I'm really excited about what the kid could achieve, and will be following his progress closely.


I'm happy for Kimi though. I've been saying for the last 2 years now that he's the best driver around, he was just so unlucky with the technical problems he suffered with McLaren. It seemed like every race he was leading, he would end up having to stop when it was all going well. You have to feel sorry for the guy, all that talent going to waste for so long.

The same can be said about Button now though. He finished last season extremely well, and was clearly lifted by that first win. He took the decision to stick with Honda, and his car is underperforming again. I can't imagine how he feels when you couple that with Hamilton's emergence. You could tell when he was asked about Lewis both before and after the race, that he didn't enjoy the subject at all.
He's worked his way up to being the top man in British F1, and he finally gets his first win after so many years of underachieving. Then the new season starts and he's stuck in a crap car, while Hamilton comes out of nowhere into one of the best cars on the circuit. He's also lapping him and getting all the attention of the British public that was once given to Button.

It must be gutting for him.

As you say, if McLaren don't close the gap on Ferrari, then this could be as uncompetitive as it was at times with Schumacher. It will be great to watch more battles between Alonso and Hamilton though, which is the main interest for me atm.


Looks like it could be a good season.

Hamilton was awesome in his first race. I think it will be a McLaren v Ferrari, Alonso v Räikkönen all season

Look at the list of young talents F1 has got this season

Kimi, Alonso, Hamilton, and the prodigy of last season Nico .... all of them had a good race.....

Lewis is better than Alonso but McLaren didn't want to let it show... thus 2 second longer pit stop...

Added some profiles and standings to first post.

And here, Kimi's setting the pace -

Alonso and McLaren, unstoppable!

Highlights: http://www.albania-sport.com/mat.php?idm=4184

Alonso is the freaking man! The pride of Spain i tell ya.

Alonso supports Liverpool FC, enough said

He's a madridista. I'm pretty sure i have a pic of him in a real jersey at the bernabeu. When i get home later i'll look for it.

He is a Real Madrid fan. Before el classico (that we won 2-0) was the race. The gates were 2 be opened earlier cause they wanted the fans 2 watch the race. Fernando Alonso was also going 2 come for a honeary kick off or something. He is a self proclaimed Real Madrid fan.

Ahh thats crap, when he won his first title the ESPN STAR Sports race commentators said that he was a Liverpool FC Supporter. Crap. Anyway that Hamilton dude is certainly impressing everyone.

Have to say Alonso,,,but Hamilton looks good for a future world champion...

Hamilton to claim his first F1 victory? Or at the very least, to become the first driver in the history of the sport to get a podium finish on his first 3 races? Or will this be the race where he's brought crashing back to reality?

Either way, this kid is some talent. He's come straight out of GP2 with absolutely no fear. In his first race, he bettered Alonso(double World Champion) for much of the time, and took all of the corners at astonishing pace and with such confidence. Then in his second race he over-takes 2 Ferrari's on the first corner and holds them off with little problem. He's led both races at one point, has over-taken top drivers on the first corners of both, and has been a match from some very accomplished drivers.


Does anybody with a good knowledge of this circuit know how easy/idfficult it is to over-take from the start here? Has it been a common thing in past seasons, or should it not be expected? Also, who usually has the advantage? The driver in the inside, or the outside of the track?

Pole Position, the fastest lap of the race and the Bahrain Grand Prix win for Felipe Massa vaults the Brazilian back into the title battle after a flawless drive this afternoon at the Sakhir circuit. Lewis Hamilton finished his third Grand Prix in second position ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Nick Heidfeld, while Fernando Alonso had to be content on this occasion with fifth position.

The championship standings make interesting reading with Alonso, Raikkonen and Hamilton all tied on 22 points while Massa get the full ten points today and is now on 17 after three Grand Prix.

The start saw Massa lead the way into turn one and while Hamilton had his now trademark first-lap attempt to try and find a way ahead of his Ferrari rival. Unlike Malaysia the rookie was unable to find a gap but he kept the pressure on Massa until the first round of pitstops.

Massa made no mistakes at the front of the field and as both Hamilton and Alonso struggled for pace during the second stint pulled out a ten second advantage ahead of the final stops. Hamilton would find a better turn of speed on the harder tyres in the final stint, but despite closing down the gap to just over two seconds, Massa was in full control on his way to his first win of the season.

"It was a perfect afternoon," said Massa. "Now we have a good break to give me plenty of time too think about this nice result. The first races I did not get the results I wanted.
Something was missing, but today we put everything together."

With Massa taking his third career win, Hamilton was also delighted with his third straight podium. "It is sweet to get three successive podiums," said Hamilton. "I am happy with that and this weekend we have definitely closed the gap to Ferrari. To have another second I could not have asked for more. There is only one more step and I will be pushing hard for that in Barcelona."

Kimi Raikkonen started third and finished in the same position. The Melbourne winner lost out to Alonso at the start however and would regain the position in the first round of pitstops. Raikkonen took the chequered flag 11 seconds behind team-mate Massa.

The second stint would prove costly for Alonso as he struggled with his second set of tyres. Nick Heidfeld took full advantage of the situation with a lovely move around the outside of Alonso to claim fourth position, a place he would retain to the chequered flag. Alonso put the pressure on in the final laps, but had to settle for fifth position this time out.

VIDEO :http://www.albania-sport.com/mat.php?idm=4266

Ferarri is going to win.
After 2 unsuccessful seasons.

Catalunya GP:
1st Massa
2nd Hamilton
3rd Alonso

Now Hamilton is on top of the drivers championship table. Truly amazing, for a rookie.
Massa is getting his form back, great job winning two races in a row.

Highlights: CLICK HERE

Results for Monaco GP:
1st Alonso
2nd Hamilton
3rd Massa
4th Fisichella

Raikkonen did a good job controlling his car, ran 46 laps with the same set of soft tyres, quite impressive.
Alonso and Hamilton are now tied with 38 points at the top, Alonso leading because of winning more races.
Ferarri needs to start working now.

*I'm surprised no one voted for Massa in the poll.

oh yeah.I feel salvation as now ferrari know how a driver with a f*cking pathetic luck can do.Kimi is my favorite driver.But mclaren's my team and i'm glad kimi took his bad luck to ferrari
i mean he was so unlucky through the race it was amazing.

anyway great drive by the lads,both fernando and lewis.....Fisi a lap down

i said it once, ill say it again, monaco as 'sexy' as it is is TOTALLY useless as a race track!!! WHY do you get rid of suzuka (probably the best race track along with Spa) and keep the boring monaco GP where overtaking is near enough impossible!!!! lol Kimi's luck is unbelivable!!! he always had a slower car in front of him!! and in true monaco style, you cant overtake!!!

even if the 2 mclarens were allowed to race each other, where extaly are they suppose to try and overtake? its crazy!!! hate the damn monaco GP...................

Plus no safety car or rain this time. Only 3 cars quitted the race. BORING!

Yeah Kimi's bad luck in this game was hilarious, when Nick Heidfield came out the pits, he got right between of Button and Kimi, and there was only a 0.4s difference between them. Right after that, Button became far ahead.

Verry dangerous crash of Robert Kubica in Forumla One:
DWONLOAD - WYSLIJTO

pass: footrmvball.go.pl

I hope Kubica is all right.

Heard it's a broken ankle, hope there's nothing serious.
He's such a talented driver, hope he recover soon.

Canadian GP:
1st Hamilton
2nd Heidfeld
3rd Wurz
4th Kovalainen

The race was very exciting, much better than the previous two.
However, Kubica's crash was stunning, I hope he is all right and recover soon. He is a driver with great talent.

Alonso was overtaken by Sato at the last lap or so. =D Mercedes getting overtaken by a Super Aguri, HAHAHA!

It's so good to see Hamilton win his first race, this lad is a breath of fresh air for F1. I might even get back into watching it again after many years of ignoring it!

Just to say that I voted for Hamilton and McLaren when the topic was first opened


But what can you say about Hamilton? Typically over here in the English press, he was built up after that first podium finish. Then there were actually a few people criticising him after the Monaco GP, simply because he hadn't won a race yet. This is the way it always goes with British sportsmen. No doubt he'll be lauded tomorrow.


I thought he'd do something special this season, but he's exceeding my expectations. He looks to be not only the most consistent driver, but also not far from being the most the most talented. He loves to overtake and is fantastic at it, he takes every corner aggressively and gets the most out of the car at every opportunity. But most importantly, he can be ruthless with the way he'll cut people off and hold his ground. He isn't afraid of anything, just like all the greats before him.

He's also an exemplary professional, and the way he handles the media will win him a lot of fans. They were talking before the race about how he could be the man to attract the US audience that has been lacking throughout the years. He has the right story; the young rookie taking on the rest of the field, partnered up with a 2 time World Champion and surpassing him and everyone else with consummate ease and class. A nice, honest lad, a potential role model and most of all: a winner.


I'm definitely tipping him to win at least one more race now he has this added confidence to build on. To win the Championship in his début season would be quite incredible, but I wouldn't put that past him either. In fact, he has to be the favourite. He's not been off the podium once so far, and has now shown he has the ability to lead - and win - a race under tough circumstances.

I can't wait for Silverstone now, how good would it be if he could win there?

I live about 5 or 10 minutes away from Silverstone so I might actually bust my arse to get some tickets this year. Such an expensive day out though.

Oh and just for record I rode my bike round the Silverstone track once so we'll have to see if he can match my lap time .

It was quite a good race, the canadian grand prix. Hamilton winning his first race in Formula 1, massive result for him. He has been consistent for the entire season, being on the podium for all the races so far this season and that is not easy we all know that.

Did anyone see that crash (If I remember it was Kubica) geez the car flipped over thrice, it was totally broken. The modern safety equipment really came in handy, the last I heard was from the commentators saying that his condition is stable and he is in a hospital in Montreal. I hope that he recovers soon and we see him back in a Formula 1 car. Such a shame about Massa he got black flagged. I quite like him and he was doing well and could have finished on the podium but it wasnt to be. Good for Wurz, that he finished on the podium. Sato got amongst the points as well, he also went past Fernando Alonso which was relaly fun.

That crash was unbelievable. And to think he wants to race again this sunday Is lucky he is alive at all really.

Dude is seriously lucky to still be alive! Just imagine the rush you would get if that happened to you though.

Ders my version...



Cut from this torrent from DaRmEtH - F1 Canadian Grand Prix 2007 Race [ITV UK]Eng[XviD] DaRmEtH.avi

Yep he wants to race this Sunday, I think he needs atleast 1 week of complete rest. If he wants to drive in the grand prix in America he will have to start Practise from Friday. I dont see the team taking the risk, he should be rested simple as. Did anyone read that Fernando Alonso feels that the Mclaren team favour Hamilton rather than him.

^Yeah I read that, apparently he's thrown some big hissy fit over it. All because he's not centre of attention anymore. What a baby!

I couldn't believe it, the nerve. It was only a few weeks ago that his team told Hamilton not to challenge him, so that he could win without competition. In one of the earlier races, Hamilton was playing the role of backing up Räikkönen and Massa, so that Alonso could push away from the pack. They've been on his side all season.

Now Hamilton takes the spotlight off him, without any favouritism shown by his team, and he can't stand it. Bitter, and unsporting behaviour.

If he hadn't damaged his car on the same chicane 4 times, he'd have had a (small)chance. He can't blame anybody else. But somehow has.

I rarely watch F1, well I do, but not half as much as you guys. Seeing what happened previously with Hamilton asked to slow down for Alonso, and then Hamilton deservedly so goes onto win the race at the weekend and a podium finish, to me it seems like sour grapes.

Alonso still wants all the attention, he wants Hamilton to play second fiddle to him. He obviously wants the team to be giving him more and more chances, and allow Hamilton to take centre stage later. This was one of the reason why I really didn't understand and couldn't believe the team could tell a rider to slow down for another rider, surely in competitive sport it shouldn't matter?

Reminds me of a few years ago when there was a lot of debate when ferrari told barrichello i think it was to slow down for schumacher.

Yes it does. I think Fernando Alonso is a really good driver but he is a person with alot of attitude (in a bad way) Hamilton is British I agree but they would certainly concentrate on him winning more because he is the former champion, or it can be 50/50, which is not wrong at all. I remember at the start of the season he said that the only thing good in the new McLaren car is the color of it... I mean how rude can you get. Plus he had a drive throught penalty, he will obviously finish low down the grid.

He's scared that Hamilton will take his title off him.

Eat that Fernando


I'm looking forward to seeing that Sebastian Vettel too. He's only 19, but has a good history in practices when he's had to come in(he's taking Kubica's place after his crash). Hopefully the lad can do something impressive tomorrow. As long as that doesn't involve taking points off Hamilton.

LMAO! Who voted for Takuma Sato and Super Aguri? XD

After Sato laid down the pass on Alonso back in Montreal, i have regained faith.




Or maybe he'll just crash.

Really happy for Hamilton again. Good result for him. Alonso was quickest driver throught the practise runs but when it really mattered Hamilton delivered the goods and finished on pole position. Massa and Kimi in 3rd/4th position respectively. Kimi after a few races has finished up and has a decent chance.

I got sent a funny text the other day, and rather than create a thread in the humour section I thought it belongs here. It's pretty predictable but never the less...

"20 years ago 21 white men chasing a black man would have been called the Klu Klux Klan, now they call it Formula One."

Made me chuckle at least.

Hamilton wins again, first Brit for 25 years, fucking different gravy this lad is, class above.

Thats class. He's been awesome. And at that age, different gravy. This guy is set for great things. Hope he continues his great run.