Does Ferrari's Driver Lineup Pose a Big Problem?

• If you want Kimi to drive specifically well for a particular race and he doesn’t feel like it, he won’t, which we have seen this year, along with the whole middle portion of last year. 
  
• If you want to talk to Kimi about important set-up issues, you won’t get great info out of him, because he doesn’t care enough and just wants to go back on his yacht. 
• He’s talked about retirement at different times, and as Schumacher said: if you’re even thinking about retirement, you need to get out, because in F1 you need 110 percent concentration 100 percent of the time. 

I will say driving wise, when Kimi does care, I’d argue that he’s the best driver in the world at this point, and has been since Schumacher retired (Although the talented Hamilton is almost there as he gains more experience every time he steps into a car). 

The “No. 1 driver team vs. the No. 1 and No. 2 driver team” issue

Ferrari of all teams should know: a team is a great success when there is one main driver, and one driver helping him and the team out.  One attacker, one defender, One completing one objective, one completing another.

When both drivers are fighting, you get emotions going all around, tangling and tripping over each other.  It destroyed McLaren last year; it made Massa furious last year. 

Prost and Senna wanted to kill each other; Mansell and Piquet wanted to kill each other.  I could write a whole article on A. how haveing 2 great drivers doesn’t work, or does work externally but doesn’t at all internally, and B. how a No. 1 and No. 2 works perfectly because everyone knows their mission and everyone has a known objective: like a massive clock with hundreds of gears all working off of each other. 

So what would I have done?  Well I obviously would have to get rid of one of them because of this the No. 1 driver issue, although I don’t know everything about each driver so I can't say which one I'd choose. 

It’s apparent that Schumacher and Massa have a strong connection, so I know Ferrari would have to dig deep to say “Felipe, we’re trading you.”  With Kimi, you would probably have to force him into retirement. 

It’s just there are a couple of young drivers that haven’t been picked up by the big teams yet.  They will be the future great drivers, and Ferrari is not jumping at the opportunity to grab “Their Hamilton” or “Future Schumacher.”

I’ve been saying since the beginning of 2007 (and I have proof of it) that Vettel is the guy Ferrari should be trying to get, and then I was talking 2009. 

Now by the time a position opens, Vettel will be with McLaren or BMW Sauber, because he’ll be done doing his time in the "lesser" teams after 2009.

That’s what bugs me the most: not just keeping Felipe and Kimi for 2009, but also for 2010!  Who knows which great young drivers may pop up next year, and Ferrari won’t be able to take advantage of them either.

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