2008 couldn't have been worse for Ferrari. After the last evening's Singapore GP, they have lost the lead in the constructor's championship also now. My favourite driver, Kimi Raikkonen, being out of form for most of the season and Felipe Massa committing horrible mistakes after doing all the hard work has cost Ferrari a lot. They can only reconcile to the fact that the last year's driver's champion Kimi being virtually out of contention this year, Massa was putting up a good fight against Lewis Hamilton of Mclaren Mercedes. However, that reconciliation also seems to be going out of hand with only 3 races to spare and Lewis/Heikki looking really good in their cars.
Truth be told, Mclaren have outpaced Ferrari all this year round and God forbid whenever it has rained, Ferrari has been trying just to stay on track and not aquaplane all the time. It was horrifying to see Kimi crash out in Spa. I am an ardent fan of Kimi's style of driving but Lewis has impressed me equally this year. He absolutely is the best wet race driver for me. Even so, I still hope that Kimi will put all the bad luck and results behind and look forward to 2009 now that Ferrari have confirmed the extension of his contract till the end of 2010.
When I started following Formula 1 in 2005, all I could wish was for Kimi to win. His classy overtaking maneuvers and his smooth driving was just amazing. But if you didn't know Kimi from before and just saw him this season in the last few races, you would say what a horrible race driver !! I couldn't agree more. Even if I were to spare him the unfortunate crash in the pit-lane due to Lewis's mistake, it was still awful for him after the first few races in the season.
The Kimi I knew was so aggressive, he used to show his anger by smashing things in the garage when his car gave away due to a mechanical failure after a fantastic start or a good piece of driving. These days, I have seen him mellowed down a lot. Not very sure about this but he seems to shrug off the responsibility of bad driving very casually. He is not the master of public speaking but he hasn't been able to speak up with driving skills either this year. Well, I am not enjoying his driving lately and I am afraid neither are many others. I guess I will have to be now the Kimi 2005-2007 fan.
I will still follow Kimi for the rest of his career but I will welcome the fresh blood more. Getting more and more impressed with Sebestian Vettel and the company. Lewis is good but he seems very arrogant. Another amateur Fernando Alonso to be observed for the coming year but until Renault finds a good car or he finds a good team for himself, chances are he'll be lying somewhere in the midfield only.
I hope for a good showdown to the end of 2008 season and will eagerly wait for the 2009 season.
