Kovalainen managers will go in the coming days Maranello factory and Domenicali says whether there is a contract or not 2013. Kovalainen's manager Martin Anayi did not want to comment on Kovalainen's situation in any way.
Racing drivers are selfish, egotistical and arrogant; that tends to be why people employ them. When it comes to selecting your line-up, in any form of motorsport, the two simple goals tend to be: win the championships for drivers and teams. So, employ the best two drivers to do it? As we have seen on countless occasions in the past, that particular formula can often end in catastrophe.
Over the weekend of the Italian Grand Prix, Ferrari’s home race, all of the attention was on Lewis Hamilton and his possible switch from McLaren to Mercedes. That was great news for the red team, as they remained very much out of the spotlight. Behind the scenes, though, Luca di Montezemolo and Stefano Domenicali have a very tough decision on their hands. We already know - because the team confirmed it on their website - that the pair had a lengthy discussion on Monday.
Think back to the glory years. Michael Schumacher dominated and, although he was treated badly at times, Rubens Barrichello assisted for team glory all the way through from 2000 to 2004. After the episode of Monaco 2005, the Paulista finally slung his hook. But he put up with Austria, 2001 and 2002, because there was simply no other competitive seat that he could have filled. The McLaren and Williams arrangements were sorted and so Rubens lived with the stress. This was ideal for Ferrari; one driver had the edge, meaning the pair of them couldn’t fight each other, to easily sew up double titles time after time. Of course, big reasons for this were the particular struggles of their closest rivals, developing Michelin tyres as the Ferrari-Schumacher-Bridgestone partnership went from strength to strength.
Fernando Alonso is no idiot. His current circumstances are familiar to 2005 and 2006: race-winning car, slower team-mate and a half decent shot at the title. The problem for Ferrari now is that too many other cars are finishing between Alonso and Massa. Back at Renault, Giancarlo Fisichella may have been slower but, as the grid wasn’t as full of such competitive cars, losing a place or two didn’t prevent them from winning the teams’ title. This leaves Montezemolo in a tricky position.
Equally, Ferrari know as well as anybody that running two star drivers can end in, quite literally, a tragedy. In 1982, there was fierce competition between Gilles Villeneuve and Didier Pironi. In front of their home crowd at Imola, the latter disobeyed team orders to win. Two weeks later, Villeneuve was on the limit in qualifying at Zolder, desperate to beat his team-mate, when he struck the back of Jochen Mass at high-speed and lost his life. Pironi suffered career-ending injuries in Germany that summer and Keke Rosberg won the title for Williams.
What Ferrari needs is a proven race winner, hungry for success and deprived of any for the past four years. A cool-headed Finn with experience and respect for his employer and team-mate. I don’t mean Kimi Räikkönen. I mean the man who McLaren used to replace Alonso. Step forward, Heikki Kovalainen.
Friday 14th September 2012 RSS 'Hamilton to complete Brawn jigsaw'
McLaren's hopes of retaining Lewis Hamilton are fading with reports he could be lured to Mercedes by big money and the chance to work with Ross Brawn.
In the wake of the Belgian GP reports emerged claiming that Hamilton is off to Mercedes next season to replace the retiring Michael Schumacher. All parties, though, were quick to deny.
The rumours refused to die down with Hamilton questioned about the matter several times during the Monza weekend. The Brit refused to give a 'yes' or 'no' answer, adamant he's focusing on the title race and his management team on his future.
XIX Entertainment, Hamilton's representatives, are believed to be locked in negotiations with McLaren while having also spoken to Mercedes about the British driver.
And while Sportsmail claims McLaren are only willing to offer Hamilton a deal "worth considerably less than his existing £15million-a-year terms", Mercedes have put an offer on the table that matches his "current deal while bonuses could push the sum towards £60m over three years."
Hamilton, the report claims, is "shocked by McLaren's unwillingness to at least match his current salary."
But it's not all about the money.
Added to it Mercedes have sweetened the deal by offering Hamilton "undisputed" number one status while the 27-year-old is "excited by the prospect of working at Mercedes under Brawn."
The report continued saying that, despite just one win in three seasons for Mercedes, Hamilton is "understood to be satisfied that, with Brawn at the helm and the backing of one of the planet's biggest car manufacturers, Mercedes can provide him with a car capable of realising his dream of emulating Ayrton Senna's record of three World titles.
"Key to this belief is the fact that Mercedes, along with Ferrari and Renault, are developing the new V6 turbo engine scheduled to be used in Formula One from 2014.
"Brawn admitted that while McLaren will remain a Mercedes customer, the fact his is the 'works team' means they are privy to all of the research and development of the new engine and are therefore better placed to design their car around it."
As for Brawn's point of view, the Mail says he views Hamilton as the "final piece of the jigsaw" needed to put Mercedes at the front of the pack.
Meanwhile, Swiss publication Blick has put forward Sergio Perez as Hamilton's possible replacement at McLaren after the Sauber driver raced to a very impressive runner-up result behind the Brit at last Sunday's Italian Grand Prix.
Although the 22-year-old is a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy, Scuderia president Luca di Montezemolo recently said he won't race for him next season as Perez needs "more experience", paving the way for McLaren to swoop in.
QUOTE (Vesuvius @ Sep 14 2012, 20:58) Great from Martin...once again, he is really a big Kimi fan what did he say this time?
Can't remember all of it exactly but something like "Kimi is a great driver, a really, really smart bloke, provides great feedback to the engineers even though he doesn't say much, apart from ordering drink, its no secret i've always been a fan of his."
There was much more than that and i'm sure i've missed some out or got a few bit slightly incorrect but it was insightful & quite funny!
Mw wont let kimi slip away from him this time if lh leave mclaren
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