Bleacher Report - Articles by Prasanna Venkatachalam

Kimi Raikkonen: Unluckiest of the Luckiest

Prasanna Venkatachalam — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 22:21:18 -0400

Formula One drivers are considered to be one of the luckiest men in the universe. After all, they get to race with the most technologically advanced cars around some of the most exotic places in the world; however, it is not all easy, as it requires amazing skill and computer- like precision.

Gaining this skill also brings forth enormous amount of money and gorgeous female companions. When someone mentions an unlucky Formula One driver, it is common that the name Vitantonio Luizzi comes to mind.

After all, he is on sidelines along with others talents such as Christian Klien, while some untalented driver walks around the paddock instead of trying to find another job. But lately, when someone says ‘unlucky,’ the name Kimi Raikkonen seems to be popping into everyone’s mind.

Kimi Raikkonen has all the ingredients that qualify him as a worthy Formula One driver: He drives for the most revered team in the business, Ferrari; he is the fifth highest paid sportsman in the world, earning an astrounding $51 million per year for his services, and he has a gorgeous spouse, Scandinavian model Jenni Dahlman. In other word, Raikkonen has always been lucky.

Until the 2008 campaign got underway, Raikkonen always seemed to be able to do the impossible; he fought his way into Q3 in his first ever F1 outing for Sauber; he consistently outperformed all of his teammates; he made his car dance around the track to set record breaking fast laps.

Despite achieving these feats, Raikkonen showed himself to be a down-to-earth calm person, which gained him the infamous nickname, ‘The Iceman.’

However, Raikkonen’s nickname was put to test couple of races into the 2008 season, especially after winning his 17th victory of his career, at the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.

After the race, the champion was quoted as saying “this was probably the best weekend I’ve ever had in my career,” and “it was a perfect weekend for us.”

At the point, it has been almost a year since he has been on the top step of the podium. Lady Luck is cruel that way; she gave something extraordinary, and took everything back from him.

Following the amazing weekend in Barcelona, Raikkonen’s almost second place in Monaco was ruined after he lost control of his car; he finished the race in ninth place.

In Canada, Raikkonen’s chance of win denied by Lewis Hamilton, when the Brit ran into the back of the Finn’s Ferrari, and took both of them out of contention.

In France, he started from Pole position and had to give way to his teammate Felipe Massa after the Finn’s exhaust broke off.

At Silverstone, he was catching up championship rival Hamilton for the lead; however, during the pitstop, the team decided to leave Raikkonen on the used tyres, and he was unable to keep up the pace with the pack.

During the European Grand Prix, he suffered an engine failure following a disastrous pitstop. At the Belgian Grand Prix, Raikkonen’s certain victory was stolen by Hamilton who cut the chicane in an overtaking attempt; soon after, Raikkonen spun out and placed his Ferrari into the wall.

After the Spa accident, Raikkonen was quoted as saying that he gave up fighting for the championship on 2008, and he promised to come back stronger for 2009.

Raikkonen once again crashed out of the Singapore Grand Prix with handful of laps remaining. At the Japanese Grand Prix, he overtook Hamilton going into the Turn One, only to have the Brit out-brake everyone else and forced Raikkonen off the road; Raikkonen eventually finished in 7th place. That finish mathematically ended the chance of Raikkonen retaining the title.

Raikkonen vowed to fight back for 2009 with the Ferrari’s latest contender, the F60. According to him, the car suited his driving style better than the previous year’s F2007; however, the Ferrari was awfully slow compared to others, and the Finn and his teammate found themselves at the bottom of the pack.

In Albert Park, Raikkonen put his car into the wall, and he eventually retired. The premature end of the Malaysian Grand Prix, one of Raikkonen’s two victories in 2008, saw him classified in the 14th place after a gamble with tyres didn’t pay off.

An underpowered engine saw him get overtaken several times, bringing him a 10th place finish in the Chinese Grand Prix. Despite these hardships, Raikkonen managed to bring home a sixth place finish at the Bahrain Grand Prix, preventing the historically worst season for Ferrari.

There is an old saying that goes something like “in life, you make your own luck.” However, this has not been the case for the Iceman, as he is still pursuing his 18th victory, and I, for one, don’t want Lady Luck to melt the ice....

The Most Humble And Deserving British World Champion

Prasanna Venkatachalam — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 22:42:37 -0400

Nigel Mansell, Lewis Hamilton...

WAIT!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Actually, We are yet to find one!!!!!

Lewis Hamilton: Astounding Or Atrocious

Prasanna Venkatachalam — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:25:18 -0400

When Lewis Hamilton lost the World Championship in his rookie season by one point, I was one of the many who admired the rookie’s talents. When the 2008 season began with Lewis’ victory at Melbourne, I personally thought that it was THE best way for a driver to start his championship bid after a disappointing first year.

However, as the season progressed, I have slowly switched sides, and recently have become a fan of www.lewishamiltonsucks.com. I am sure that I am not the only one to share this view of the Briton, and I began pondering how anyone can turn their back on an amazing driver such as Hamilton.

Although many claim that the hatred against Hamilton is purely based on his African American roots, many also argue that they are rather tired of his antics. For me, personally, the latter is very valid.

While Robert Kubica, in a recent interview, declared that all drivers respect one another, Hamilton made this comment when asked about the Kimi Raikkonen’s driving skills at Spa: “That’s the way he drives. If you don’t have the balls to brake late, that’s your problem…” This statement wouldn’t have enraged many Ferrari and Raikkonen tifosis if Hamilton had only stopped speaking after that. However, he took the liberty to comment on Felipe Massa’s position in the championship: “Massa is the one who has to work damn hard to keep up with me.”

In a previous interview, he has openly talked about his superiority over all the other drivers from the past and the present: "I'm no No 2, whoever you put me next to - even Michael Schumacher." Although I agree that every driver should consider himself second to none, blatantly claiming supremacy over a legend such as Michael Schumacher is rather primitive.

Even though one can state that Schumacher was also arrogant, and that arrogance is required to become a champion in this sport, Schumacher has seldom shown his arrogance off the track. He might have driven reckless, he might have gotten into fights with David Coulthard over racing incidents, and he even might have even purposefully blocked the Rascasse hairpin in Monaco in 2006 to secure pole position; but no one has ever called that man arrogant, because he did what a racing driver is ought to do: drive, fight and win at any cost.

Hamilton does have something in common with Schumacher, as he will also do anything to win. He will drive his heart out as he declared in an interview: “I'm a racer, I do the best job I can on the track and I race my heart off.” That statement would have been acceptable if he had only decided to stop there; however, he continued on to say that “There’s no-one that puts more heart into it than me.”

My question would be this: why would people spend millions purchasing Formula One teams, and hire drivers who don’t want to put their ‘hearts’ into this sport or who don’t want to win the World Championship?”

Everybody agrees that Hamilton is a good driver, but he is also not a perfect driver. Whether in racing or in life, everybody makes mistakes; the highlight of Hamilton’s faux pas came in Canada when he disregarded the red light at the end of the pit lane, and ended Raikkonen’s race.

During the Thursday press conference at France, Anne Giuntini from L’Equipe asked Lewis the following question: “Sorry to disturb you, Lewis, but is it what you call a small incident involving Kimi being a victim? Is it smaller than a mistake that would annoy only you?” Instead of providing a straightforward answer, Hamilton reflected with this rhetoric: “That’s what I just said, didn’t I?”

Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that a little “arrogant?” Kimi made a similar mistake in Monaco when he ran into the back of Adrian Sutil, but he had the “balls” to openly confess to the heart stricken Force India driver.

Hamilton’s self proclaimed superiority over the other drivers goes deeper when he blatantly admitted that he has a more athletic than most drivers. At the Thursday press conference in Britain, Hamilton was asked the following: “At the Reebok launch the other day you were quoted as saying you thought you were fitter than Jenson. Is that the case?” Hamilton’s response was obvious: “I’ve noticed that Jenson has a bit of a belly and so… I’m only joking! I was just trying to be positive.” I think anyone can agree that one can be positive about themselves without putting anyone else down. When Jensen Button threw down the gauntlet and invited Lewis to a triathlon, Lewis initially agreed only to back down a while later due to concerns shown by his management.

I am completely aware of the fact that there are people who are ready to say that I am reading between the lines here, so here is a final quote from the omnipotent Hamilton himself from a TV interview, where he was questioned about his feelings from Turn One in Hungary, where he and Heikki Kovalainen lost their first and second place on the grid, respectively: “Hungary was a disappointing first corner for me. As you know, when I’m racing, generally no one overtakes me. And if they do, it’s only on the inside, and that’s a big gift. When I got overtaken on the outside, that’s something I swear would never happen again.” I don’t think it can get any clearer than that.

Hamilton: I am the best.

In my opinion, Hamilton has to realize that he indeed is a human being and not a demigod as he thinks he is. When a manufacturer such as McLaren provides a car such as the MP4-23, a driver has to be able to extract 100 percent from the car, and provide results. There is no surprise that Lewis is winning Grands Prix with that car; however, what’s more surprising is the fact Fenando Alonso was able to finish fourth in the Italian Grand Prix after starting eighth on the grid with an inferior Renault.

What’s truly mind-blowing is the fact that Sebastian Vettel was able to produce a victorious drive in the treacherous conditions in a Scuderia Toro Rosso’s STR4. What was even more astonishing was that Vettel was reluctant to make any correlations between himself and Schumacher:

However, Vettel’s record breaking achievement seems to be getting overshadowed by the British press, who simply cannot stop praising Hamilton. I have also noticed that the majority of Lewis Hamilton’s fans are British, and there is something fundamentally wrong if the majority of your fans are of the same nationality as you; I mean, does anyone here remember Sanjaya Malakar?

Kimi Raikkonen vs. Felipe Massa: Battle of the Prancing Horses

Prasanna Venkatachalam — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 17:31:24 -0400

With six more Grands Prix to endure, Ferrari is currently celebrating the dominating victory of Felipe Massa at the European Grand Prix, held on the historic streets of Valencia, while scratching its head wondering how to resolve its reliability issues.

Massa showed excellent pace all weekend long. He took pole position during Saturday’s Qualifying session, exhibited superior driving style throughout the race, demonstrated the capabilities of his F2008 to McLaren’s MP4—23, and took the historic first win at the high-speed street circuit.

Meanwhile, the weekend was anything but dainty for the defending World Champion, Kimi Raikkonen. The Iceman seemed to be on top form as he set the fastest time during Friday’s second practice session.

However, the rest of the weekend wasn’t smooth for the Finn as he, once again, suffered in qualifying. The Ferrari ace only managed to claim fourth place on the grid, which he then lost to his fellow countryman Heikki Kovalainen, going into Turn One.

The Iceman spent the rest of the race trying to overtake him, before accidentally knocking over refueler Pietro Timpini while exiting the pits a little too early.

Shortly thereafter, Raikkonen’s engine let go, producing his second DNF of the season; his first DNF came in Canada.

As a result, Raikkonen sits third in the Driver Standings, 13 points adrift of Championship leader Hamilton.

Raikkonen’s lackluster performances in the last eight races, and Massa’s dominance in the last two races, make an avid Formula One fan wonder who the Scuderia is going to favor in the Championship for the remainder of the season.

While Raikkonen is the $50 million prized possession the Scuderia managed to steal from McLaren at the end of 2006, Massa has been the only hope the Italian Squad has got at the moment to win the Championship title.

The Iceman has claimed in his own words that he is still in the Championship fight despite his recent slump in performance, although Massa’s driving has spoken the words clearly on his behalf.