Bleacher Report - Articles by Soren Thygesen

The Kimi-Spa Ultimate Fantasy

Soren Thygesen — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:58:20 -0400

So, Kimi had a great race in Hungary 2009. 2nd position with a car that's not really podium material at most tracks. It got me thinking. Spa is his favorite circuit. And Kimis natural skill combined with a love for possibly the last of the great circuits in F1 might just even things out with the frontrunners.

Here is how I see the race in Spa playing out:

Imagine Kimi qualifying like say 17th. Random grid position. Let's say the car is actually not any better than that, because Ferrari stopped developing and is now concentrating on the 2010 car.

But at the race start, the Kimi-gear suddenly kicks in and he starts a glorious onslaught, blowing past people left and right on the track. Kimi is told to slow down by a scared Ferrari team on the radio. They think they are reading the data wrong. "But.. but, you can't go through Eau Rouge in 7th gear full throttle in the wet - and with KERS fully applied...!??"

Kimi doesn't react to the team radio. They think they hear him laughing but can't be sure as it also sounds like machine code. He only goes faster. A high framerate camera catches an image by chance. It shows Ice forming around the edges of Kimis F60. Some drivers pull off to the side of the road, chanting: "That's not possible. It's just not possible!"

He proceeds to lap the entire field twice. Drivers now resign by going into the pits to park their cars, just so they can stand and watch and marvel at Kimis drive.

Kimi is on his own now on the track, driving like a man possessed. Track marshalls have tied themselves down in fear of being sucked into the vortex created by Kimis speed.

Hamilton looks at the red blur going by and mumbles to himself "Kimi makes me want to be a better person". Some drivers are seen openly crying and saying they are scared. Webber utters - "Why do we even bother? He is not in the GPDA because he clearly isn't human!"

Time itself starts to slow down. Nicole have stopped jumping. All electronic equipment at the Spa circuit breaks down and there is fear of a rift in the time-space continuum. Animals are summoned by the vibrations of the earth created by Kimis awesomeness. They start to gather at the track alongside the spectators to witness this wonder of nature and raw force.

The vibrations travel and resonate around the globe and the lost city of Atlantis is raised from the ocean floor. Stars and planets now start to drift apart in distant galaxies and the universe is audibly coming apart at the seams..

Luckily Kimi then crosses the line after the final lap and slows down. There are no cheers. No airhorns. Kimi lifts his hands in victory - but the circuit is enveloped in silence. People are just gazing at him in stunned awe. All TV screens are showing white noise.

He does his Spa victory donut and pulls into parc fermé. One reporter dares to run up to him while the rest is just covering from afar. "Kimi! What.. I mean.. How.."
Kimi: "For sure the car felt good today. I was really focused on the race. I think so I could have gone a little faster but there was no need to risk it. Lets wait and see what happens at the next race."

The Scuderia measured the temperature of his car after the race. It was at absolute zero. Minus 273 degrees C. It had to be sealed off. It only started to heat up after Kimi had left the circuit. Tests are now being performed on the car by the US government.

Yes. I think I would like his race to go something like that.

Malaysian GP 2009: The Kimi POV

Soren Thygesen — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 08:31:00 -0400

There has been plenty of talk already about the disastrous start of the 2009 season for Ferrari. So I thought it would be interesting to recap the Malaysian GP from Kimi Raikkonens point of view.

Lights out!

Kimi gets a great start but not as good as Alonso who goes from ninth position to third! Kimi goes from seventh to fifth at the start. Timo Glock, who started in third place, said at the press conference that he had a good getaway but suddenly Kimi and Alonso was past him on both sides and he just couldn't believe it.

After a couple of laps, Kimi is stuck behind Alonso together with Webber and Glock losing a lot of time. The Spaniard is hardly easy to pass and especially not with KERS on-board the Renault. Alonso is on a one-stopper so Kimi needs to get by him quick. They get close in the corners but Alonso pulls away immediately after.

On Lap 11 though, Raikkonen pulls off the best overtaking move of the race. He goes high in a corner then snaps back down on the inside of Alonso, pushes the KERS button and away he was. Alonso probably did the same to defend but too late.

And that was it when it comes to highpoints of the race for any Kimi fan. Well almost. But I will get to that later.

Before his first pitstop, Kimi has fought his way up to fifth place. Not a bad position. There is reports of rain coming but no clear sign yet. Raikkonen pits on lap 19 and Ferrari then decides to put him on full wets on a completely dry track...As most of you know the wet tires are very soft and will quickly be destroyed on a dry track. A seemingly wild gamble.

Kimi had to run almost three laps in the dry on full wets before the rain came. That cost him at least a minute in lap time. People pass him left and right. When rain hits on lap 22 everybody pits for tires. But we hear Kimi on the team radio saying his tires are completely destroyed. No surprise there.

He still fights like a champion on worn and destroyed tires. He is doing 1.57-1.58 laps while those around are doing 2.01-2.02 and 2.03 laps on fresh wet tires. Quite a feat actually. But he is about 40 some seconds behind the car in front of him, so he is too far behind to make up any places. I believe he was in 14th position at that time.

However, the Ferrari strategists are not done yet. It has been raining at a normal pace up til now and Kimi is due for another pitstop. As he pulls into the pits the heavens really open up and its just torrential rain now. Ferrari only have the intermediates ready for Kimi and they have to put the wrong tires on - again. But as it turns out, it didn't matter much in the end.

Now everybody is pitting for full wets. They go out and it is just mayhem on the track. People spinning off here and there. Even Vettel spins and has to retire. SC is deployed on lap 32 and the race is red flagged on lap 33, never to restart again.

People drive to the grid, some hoping for a restart, some not. We hear desperation and frustration in Massas voice over the team radio as he screams for another visor for his helmet. Rob Smedly tries to calm him down by calling him "Felipe Baby". Come again Rob?

The Ice(cream)Man

Kimi goes straight into the garage. Takes off his race gear, hits the shower, grabs a coke and an icecream and are just his cool self as ever. Reports are coming in of a problem with his KERS system again. Luca is talking to the press stating that they might get Kimis car ready for the restart. At the same time images of Kimi maxing and relaxing in shorts are rolling over the screen. His critics rant about it. His fans love him for it.

So another pointless weekend for Ferrari. Double meaning intended. Massa 9th, Kimi 14th. 0 points for Ferrari after two races. Their strategy failed miserably both in qualifying and in the race. If the tragic event of the earthquake had not hit Italy on Monday, the Italian press would have had an even greater field day with Ferrari.

And another great win for the Brawn team - even in chaotic conditions they pulled it off. The lap Button did to pass Rosberg in the first pitstop was just plain scary. 1.36.6. 1 second quicker than the next non-Brawn car! 1.8 and 2.6 seconds faster than Kimis and Felipes fastest laps respectively. Jenson is clearly on a roll and very comfortable in the car.

Aero updates will be coming to the F60 for China. Rumor has it that Ferrari is spending $30 million on a new chassis/rear end with the trick diffuser to have ready for Spain. But will that bring one second or even 1.5 second to the car? Not likely. It looks like the Tifosi are in for a long season.

Lewis Liar, Pants On Fire: The Hamilton-Trulli Incident, Melbourne 09

Soren Thygesen — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 14:01:16 -0400

Lewis Hamilton has indeed undeniably been caught lying to the race stewards in Australia. We know this for a fact because of the new transparency policy where hearing statements and radio traffic is now made public.

This is, of course, regarding the passing and letting past Trulli during the last safety car period in Melbourne last weekend. Because of Lewis being untruthful, he has been stripped of his 3rd place and his points from Australia.

Here is a breakdown of the events:

Trulli ran wide in a corner during the last Safety Car period and Hamilton then passed him. The team told him on the radio to let Trulli past him again while they checked with race control if Lewis was allowed to do so. Lewis then slows right down to let him by. Trulli now has the choice of either passing Lewis or come to a complete stop on the track. The last not being an option, he chooses to pass.

After the race, Lewis was interviewed and he told reporters that the team told him to let Trulli pass. When Trulli then gets investigated for passing under the Safety Car, the race stewards summons Lewis to clear up the events. The Race Director asks Hamilton if he had consciously allowed Trulli to overtake. Hamilton insisted that was not the case.

This is commonly known as lying. Or as the FIA put it: “Deliberately misleading”. As a result of that lie, Trulli is slapped with a 25 second penalty and loses his 3rd place and chance for any points.

But the plot thickens. Hamiltons explanation for passing Trulli, was that he was busy reading the Safety Car instructions on the dashboard display. Race stewards checked the times for posting these instructions and it didn't add up with his statement. The display was long cleared before he claimed doing this. This is another lie from Lewis.

Now with the transcripts and radio communication released, even more deception comes to light. Here is not only proof that the team told Lewis to let Trulli pass, but also that the McLaren Team Manager, David Ryan, also lied about this fact to the stewards.

McLaren Team Radio:

Team: Lewis, you need to allow the Toyota through. Allow the Toyota through now.

LH: OK.

LH: He's slowed right down in front of me.

Team: OK, Lewis. Stay ahead for the time being. Stay ahead. We will get back to you. We are talking to Charlie.

LH: I let him past already.

Team: OK, Lewis. That's fine. That's fine. Hold position. Hold position.

LH: Tell Charlie I already overtook him. I just let him past.
(You will find a transcript of the McLaren team radio here: http ://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74159)

From the Sunday hearing after the race:

The Stewards and the Race Director questioned Lewis Hamilton and his Team Manager David Ryan specifically about whether there had been an instruction given to Hamilton to allow Trulli to overtake.

Both the driver and the Team Manager stated that no such instruction had been given. The Race Director specifically asked Hamilton whether he had consciously allowed Trulli to overtake. Hamilton insisted that he had not done so. (Source: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74158)

After the announcement had been made that Lewis was indeed stripped of his points, Martin Whitmarsh did his best to put out the fires. He seemed like a man desperate of keeping the level of trust that McLaren had gained since the scandal of 2007. But in doing so he only became untruthful himself. He said to reporters: "A discussion was occurring and before that discussion was finished, Trulli had re-passed."

This is what the radio transcript says:

LH: I let him past already.
Team: OK, Lewis. That’s fine. That’s fine. Hold position. Hold position.
LH: Tell Charlie I already overtook him. I just let him past.

Hamilton had himself let Trulli re-pass. He stated this twice over team radio. Trulli did not re-pass on his own accord. But Whitmarsh is saying that Trulli chose to re-pass by himself. This is also a lie.

McLaren can count their lucky stars if being stripped of points in Australia is all they get slapped with for this. Lesson learned: Don’t lie to the race stewards. FIA did right to right this wrong. Trulli was without fault in this case and deservedly got his 3^rd place finish reinstated.

I cannot help but think about that this is the behavior from the current reigning world champion. It's not a dent in the image of F1. This is a massive dent in the image of Lewis Hamilton. Before these events, public opinion about him was divided at best. Now he has received a blow that will stay with him for the rest of his Formula 1 career.

Brawn, Button and Barrichello – Attack Of The Killer B's?

Soren Thygesen — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 08:27:37 -0400

Just when you thought the big sensation of 2009 was the fact that the McLaren is off the pace, the BrawnGP team rose out of the ashes and stole the limelight.

Brawn, Button and Barrichello.
Will they be the trio to beat this year? I will go ahead and say yes. Here’s why.

Button and Barrichello set testing times that were up to a second ahead of the competition in Barcelona this week. Stint times show that their race pace is about as fast as McLarens ultimate qualifying pace in Barcelona: http://ellincedelpaddock.com/racesimbutton.pdf

Evil tongues say that this speed is achieved by running underweight to attract sponsors. But that makes no sense whatsoever. BrawnGP is set budgetwise for 09 and they have literally no time for playing games.

Felipe Massa have been quoted for saying that the times of the BGP001 car are unreachable at the moment. And even if they ran without ballast and put it back in the car, it would still be very quick.

Williams Technical Director Sam Michael said that if they indeed have that pace, they will be lapping the field in Melbourne.

After having seen the speed of the BrawnGP team, Flavio said: “When I arrived here I was still optimistic regarding our opportunities. That is no longer the case.”

Those are ominous sounding qoutes, but lets take a look at the BGP001. Here are some of its distinctive features and strong points.

-Designed without KERS in mind. Making it easier to play around with ballast for optimal weight distribution.

-An incredibly low nose. A direct contrast to the other teams. Some with much “taller” noses. This looks to be as low as possible according to regulations.

-Snug and small sidepods and inlets. Lesser cooling needed as no KERS is installed in the car. A high positioning for optimal airflow towards the rear.

-A frontwing where the main part is made as narrow as possible. This is achieved by a clever design of the endplates which in return directs the flow around the front wheels.

-Mercedes engine. Believed to be around 50 bhp up from the Honda engine of last year. Even with 1.000 revs less. Very smooth power delivery according to Barrichello.

-“Double decker” diffuser. Exploits the regulations by making it a part of the crash structure thus creating a larger diffuser area.

-“Snow plough” bargeboard. Sits under the chassis of the car and tunnels the airflow very effectively to the diffuser area. Williams has showed a similar design to this. (Interestingly enough, Williams was the only other team to dip below the 1.20s in the Barcelona tests.)

There are several other strong features of the car. But all these combined makes it an ingenious little packet. It boggles the mind that this car almost didn’t see the light of day.

So what are we looking at? A repeat of 1992? Nigel Mansell in an almost unbeatable Williams FW14B with active suspension?

Maybe not that extreme, but there is a very real possibility that Button and Barrichello will dominate in Melbourne. And with no in-season testing allowed, who knows how long this domination could potentially last.

It would certainly bring about the greatest fairytale in F1 history. Two drivers almost written off by the F1 community now fighting for the championship. Not the ultimate scenario for a Kimi fan like myself. But I think I could live with that.

A content looking man

All through the winter, there has been talk about how the new regulations could upset the traditional order of the pack. How it might bring some of the mid-field contenders right up to the front.

Well, this is it. I believe this has indeed happened. Get ready to eat some humble-pie. I have already had a slice myself and I’m ready for seconds.

Last year I published a story where I wrote the following about Barrichello: “How are you going to celebrate when you realize that switching teams turns out to be the worst decision you have ever made?”

You might see me licking the plate in about two weeks time. What the executive branch in Honda are doing then, I dare not to think about..

Schumacher Is Gay! All Together Now... (Humor)

Soren Thygesen — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 12:28:41 -0500

A seedy tale emerges in the wake of the Brazilian GP.

What can you do when you just drove the race of your life and still lost out on a world title mere seconds after you crossed the line?

And how are you going to celebrate when you realize that switching teams turns out to be the worst decision you have ever made?

When your name is Felipe Massa and Rubens Barrichello, the only thing to do was hit the town after the race on Sunday and drink. A lot. The chosen place was a bar called “Disco” in downtown Sao Paolo.

According to the Brazilian newspaper Lance, Massa arrived somewhat later at the bar than Barrichello. Rubinho was already in a drunken stupor when the “World champ for 39 seconds” showed up. Massa apparently wasted no time in catching up with Barrichello.

Severely animated, the two Formula 1 drivers stumbled onto the stage of the bar and Michael Schumacher was chosen to be the butt of the joke. Pun intended.

Rubens grabbed a microphone and started belting out the words “Schumacher viado!” “Schumacher is gay!” Eyewitnesses say that Massa was a bit reluctant at first. But when Rubens threw his arm around him, the amount of caipirinhas got the better of the little Brazilian and he decided to join in the chant. Eventually the rest of the clientele in the bar joined in the sing-along.

Is Schumi planning a comeback? To the insults, I mean.

It would be easy to draw some conclusions to Barrichello's motives here. Being in the shadow of the seven-time champion during his entire six-year stay with Ferrari can cause frustration. And when he finally did break out of Schumacher's shadow, it was only to find himself in a backmarker team.

But Massa? Schumacher's prodigy? I can hear Schumacher now: Et tu, Massa? Et tu?

The Brazilian GP Breakdown: Felipe Massa Vs Lewis Hamilton

Soren Thygesen — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 20:36:16 -0500

Pain.

That must be what Felipe Massa felt on his home ground after being informed that he wasn’t the world champion after all. Imagine having the title taken away from you 500 metres before the finish...

But what a race and what an end to the F1 season!

We can take nothing away from Felipe Massa's performance. He drove like a champ in Sao Paolo. And he has done so for the last three years on this track. Lewis Hamilton's performance was rather mediocre compared to his race in China two weeks earlier. But my congratulations go to Hamilton for winning the drivers championship.

However, I do believe that it was this years incredible McLaren and the way it heated its tires and never broke down that is the real reason behind Hamilton becoming champion. In short: It was the reliability of the McLaren that gifted Hamilton the championship - more than his skills.

If we are honest, for a champion, his mistakes are numerous. Not to mention the number of times he was penalized in 2008. Controversial as some of the penalties may be - he was still investigated repeatedly. This has severely dropped his popularity in the paddock. But I hardly think that is of much concern to Mr. Hamilton at the moment.

I took the liberty of adding the points together with the old 10-6-4-3-2-1 points system. And Hamilton comes out with 80 points compared to Massa with 83. Not to take anything away from Hamilton, I would still like to see a points system that rewards wins to a greater extent than today's system.

Sebastian Vettel impresses again. He surely is a force to be reckoned with.

I knew that from the first time I saw him in the Friday practice sessions at the Turkish GP in 2006. He had just turned 19 the month before. And he shot right up to number 1 on the time tables in the second session in the BMW Sauber.

And when the track becomes wet he apparently just gets better. His win in Monza 2008 was a demonstration of pure skill and determination. I’m not sure the sports world has really grasped what an enormous achievement that was.

Some say Hamilton is a rain master. I don't know. All I know is that anyone who watched the Brazilian GP of 2008 saw Hamilton getting parked by a youngster in a Toro Rosso.

Side note to this. McLaren and Hamilton sometimes seem out of sync with their press statements. After the Brazilian GP, McLaren stated that they advised Lewis to “let Vettel through” to avoid any danger. At that time Glock was ahead of him and letting Vettel thru would mean putting Hamilton into a position where he would lose the championship.

McLaren say that they “knew we should catch Glock on the last lap..” I’m sorry McLaren, but that comes across as totally untruthful. No one could have predicted that the Toyota's would do such a slow last lap. And McLaren are not being helped by Hamilton that said he did everything he could to keep Vettel behind.

“To have lost the position to him, there was nothing I could do. I was pushing and pushing to get closer to him, taking more risks," Hamilton said.

This is not the first time I have learned to take any press statement from McLaren with a pinch of salt.

What about Kimi Raikkonen—the outgoing champ? He did his job as expected for the Ferrari team. Kept Hamilton behind him and brought home the constructors title for Ferrari along with Felipe.

He did struggle with understeer again as he has most of this season. And knowing how bad the Ferrari is/was in the rain, he did a fantastic job. He was set to pass Alonso but there was no need to risk it as long as he was ahead of Lewis and the team told him to play it safe.

Raikkonen said in the press conference that he was happy to have secured Ferrari the constructors title but he also looked kind of relieved that this season is over and done with. This quote is taken from Mark Hughes column in Autosport, May 2007: "One thing the Ferrari engineers have been amazed at, is just how much oversteer Kimi likes in a car. The more you dial in, the faster he seems to go."

Kimi then, has an extreme preference for oversteer in his car. To then be presented with a car that understeers like a supermarket trolley, must be very tough to cope with. But as usual, you never heard any gripe or complains from the pragmatic Finn. He now has 9000 kms of winter testing ahead of him.

Ferrari seems determined to give him a car that works for him. And if they manage that, I am certain that we will see the Kimi Raikkonen that gave him the championship last year. To put it this way—if he took 10 fastest laps with this year’s car, I really want to see what he can do with a car that really suits him. Memories of his race in Japan 2005 spring to mind where he went from 17th to 1st on a normal two-stop strategy.

A few words go to the entire Glock issue. A lot of conspiracy theories have been floating around. Glock being paid by McLaren to slow down and so on. Something that has caused pictures like this to emerge:

But let's break it down. The rain started falling again in Sao Paolo on lap 64 of 71. The only reason Glock got ahead of Hamilton in the first place is because both Toyotas gambled and stayed out on dry tires.

Had they changed to wets like the rest of the front runners, Glock would have been behind him and Lewis would still have won the title. It almost worked out for Toyota but the tarmac just got too wet on that last lap and both Glock and Trulli could hardly keep it on the track—much less concentrate on a championship battle going on around them. We all remember Kimi Raikkonen at Spa don't we?

The best proof of Glock's innocence is that Trullis final lap was the exact same as Glock's final lap: 1.44. Trulli was behind Hamilton the whole time but it just goes to show that they both drove as fast as they possibly could in those conditions.

Hamilton won it. Maybe fairly but not squarely. Luck, reliability and having the fastest car in cool and/or wet conditions had a lot to do with it. Personally I don't think Lewis is the stuff of legends.

He has shown time and again during this season that he still cracks under pressure, has very questionable behaviour on track and can sometimes look pretty average when placed midfield. But the minute he is at the front of the pack he has really shone at times.

Time can either prove me right or wrong on the legend bit.

Motor racing can be cruel sometimes and Massa and Kimi was on the receiving end this year. Team mistakes, engine failures and having a car that wont heat its tires properly will take the championship away from you. But for Ferrari to still pull off the constructors title is quite a feat. So again I will congratulate both Hamilton and Ferrari with their titles.

Now Formula 1 fans face a race drought of five months ahead of them. I for one will be keeping a close eye on the on track testing that is set to start in December. There is a lot of changes that the teams will have to come to terms with in a relatively short amount of time. The big rule changes have brought hope to the midfield teams that it might upset the expected order if they were to strike gold. Especially with the KERS energy recovery system.

So this might be a very interesting winter to follow. Stay tuned!