Ardent Kimi Raikkonen fan Gautam TP believes that the Flying Finn has a strong chance to win in Belgium today. He gives us an account of Kimi's past performances at Spa-francorchamps.
Spa Francorchamps is known for its sudden change in weather. Few minutes, the shining sun will go angry and sad. The white clouds turn black and it can punish the drivers with pouring rain. It tests the skill and determination of every Formula One driver while they blister their cars through the public roads, while they weave around left right through the quick and slow corners, while they go high and come low through the countryside up hills and down hills. Like the awesome Eau Rouge, you enter the downhill approach at more than 250KPH and exits at the uphill while maintaining the high speed.
2001 :
Kimi Raikkonen has been amazing in SPA right from his times with Sauber C20 through the Mclarens to the Ferraris. On his very first Belgian outing, he set an impressive sixth fastest lap in the Friday practise and set an astonishing third fastest time in the Sunday warmup only to be pipped by Schumacher and Hakkinen. Qualifying 12th on the grid he blistered through the Eau rouge, quick exits from Bus Stop, he climbed to seventh putting some impressive lap times that beat his teammate fair and square. The race was short lived due to transmission problem.
2002 :
The Mclaren wasn’t the quickest to Ferrari and Williams. But Kimi was brilliant to top the timing sheet on Friday in the practise and qualified an impressive 2nd to split the Ferraris of Schumacher and Barrichello. He was quick only to be pipped by Schumacher during the Sunday warmup. However the race pace was slow and he had to retire from an engine failure.
There was no race in Belgium in 2003.
2004:
The Mclaren was again slow and unreliable due to the various changes in rules and regulations. The out-of-box aerodynamic characteristics designed by Adrian Newey in MP4-19 wasnt enough to draw the quickest times. But the MP4-19B introduced in the later part of the season was bulding on its speed. Come SPA, Raikkonen put quick laps on Friday and qualified 10th on Saturday. He took the lead as early as lap 11 and won the only grandprix win for Mclaren.
2005:
A quick Mclaren chassis and a fast Mercedes engine meant Kimi had the best car of the field, but plagued by unreliability in many races. In SPA, he was quick right from the Friday free practise and qualified 2nd. Mclaren engineers were brilliant analysing kimi’s position throughout the race and Kimi put in strong laps to come ahead of Montoya after his second pit stop to take the race lead. He was the winner again at SPA.
There was no race in Belgium in 2006.
2007:
Switching to Ferrari in 2007, he had to fight it tight with a strong Mclaren package. Raikkonen took pole position at SPA in the qualifying. He was quick throughout the race. Making no mistakes, he made sure the road to world championship is wide open and won his first Word Driver’s Championship in 2007.
2008:
2008 again proved Kimi likes to own everyone in this classic circuit. Kimi qualified 4th for the race. He did a brilliant race start to overtake Kovalainen and Massa to come second and took the lead from Hamilton in a strong Mclaren by lap 2 itself. The race involved epic wheel to wheel maneuvers between Kimi and Hamilton. Victory was well within reach, however Kimi lost the car control and crashed in the penultimate lap.
The second half to the 2009 Formula One Season started last week by the race in Valencia. Kimi earned a well deserved podium finish. Coming to the race in SPA, Kimi looks determined to win again.
Rules and regulations have brought in a lot of challenges and changes in cars and track layouts. He always looks magical when it comes to SPA. The aura of speed he leaves with every Formula One fan is so strong. He has defined the racing line around SPA FRANCORCHAMPS for all these years. If he wins again at SPA this weekend, he will do it by reviving the hopes of a million fans who follow him and Ferrari like a myth. Only time will tell whether he emerges as the King of SPA once again.
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publisher
said:
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... Kimi indeed - a good chance to get there! KERS button will be very very handy today! |
Srikanth
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... kimi is assured of a podium atleast, but trulli is experienced enuff to win...likely podium will have trulli kimi and ruebens while i hope fisi comes 5 or 6th.....i think sutil can come in points too, he's good and consistent in races and the car i strong enuff this race.... |
a guest
said:
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... If he passes Kubica and Barrichello at the start he has a great chance! Nick is a great defender, but F60's race pace is pretty good! Yes he has a chance to make it at top again ! Great article :) |
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