More Patience For Schumacher And Raikkonen

Raikkonen scored his first WRC points because He finished in the 8th. place after a mistake free performance. Know He is looking forward to the Turkish rally. This is what he said after the rally: "From the beginning my goal was to get to the end of the rally and I'm really pleased that we've been able to do that even though the conditions were difficult," said Raikkonen. "As the stages went on I've learned more and more, and my confidence has grown bigger as well. We came to Jordan with very little experience of the car on gravel and now we've practically doubled it. I'm getting to know the car better now, but the important thing as well is that I've really enjoyed these three days. We're making progress, which is why we are here, and hopefully this will continue on the next round in Turkey".


Picture courtesy of http://www.rallye-info.com/

In F1, Red Bull made an excellent performance in the Malaysia Race. The team already made the 3 pole positions in the first 3 races, and in this one they also won the race with Vettel in first place and Webber in 2nd. Third place was for Nico Rosberg who surprisingly is doing better than his team mate Michael Schumacher who had bad luck because He had to abandon the race because of a loose wheel nut in lap 10. I think that like Raikkonen in the World Rally Championship We also have to give more time to Schumacher to start winning races. We know what He can do, He just needs to adapt to the new F1 technology. Wait and see, He will start wining races.

Picture courtesy of http://www.bbc.co.uk/

Raikkonen's Jordan Adventure

Kimi Raikkonen is ready for the Jordan Rally this Thursday, His main objective is to finish the rally and compare himself with the other drivers and from there try to reduce the time gap. We have to remember that the Jordan rally will be only Raikkonen’s fourth-ever world championship rally, and only his eighth-ever rally of any description. Like I said before we have to give him more time to adapt to the World Rally Championship. He is a brave person. He came from F1 champion to a novice rally driver. It looks to me that He chose what He likes to do over earning more money, and I like that way of thinking.

Kimi just tested his Citroen C4 WRC in the south of France for two days. He said after the test "The test went really well: we were able to have a bit more time in the car, which is what I need most. There was no real pain in the back and I’m feeling good: I’m looking forward to the rally. But Jordan is probably the most unfamiliar territory we will face so far".

Don't miss the Jordan Rally that starts this Thursday April 1st. You can follow it on http://www.wrc.com/

Picture courtesy of http://www.wrc.com/

Ferrari Is The Fastest. For Now

The Formula 1 season started and the Ferrari Team is running faster than anyone. They did a top two finish in Bahrain (Alonso first and Massa second). The other teams have to catch up with them, like McLaren-Mercedes (Hamilton and Button), Mercedes Benz GP Ltd (Schumacher and Rosberg), and RBR-Renault (Vettel and Webber).

Niki Lauda said this about Schumacher's performance "I’d suppose he needs about three races to get back up to the same level he was at. When you take all that into account, he did a superb qualification lap, even compared to Nico who was only three-tenths faster. My guess is that in Kuala Lumpur he will have regained that ability to switch on for a fast lap that every permanent driver has to have." Meanwhile Ross Brawn from the Mercedes Benz GP team said "We accept we were not competitive enough and we have work to do to close the gap to the leaders, We have a development plan that should bring the required improvements."

We will have to wait and see what happens in Australia next weekend. Enjoy this new season!

Picture courtesy of www.mercedes-gp.com

We Will Be Much Stronger. Raikkonen Said After Mexican Rally

Sebastien Loeb with Citroen won the Mexican Rally and is the current leader of this year's World Rally Championship. After the Rally last stage Loeb said "I had a good advantage today and I wouldn't take any risks for being the first car to take the road. I drove calmly the last two stages, and tried to maintain the concentration."

Picture courtesy of http://www.rtve.es/

Kimi Raikkonen couldn't finish the rally because He had an accident in the first stage of the rally. He said after the accident "I had bad luck, the car came all the way trough a braking zone, We touch the border of the road and the car turned over several times" Then he said "I expected good things from this rally, but it is only my seventh race and I am still learning. It is normal that when you are learning something takes you by surprise, and that is what happened". Kimi felt sorry that He couldn't race more, but then He said "I am sure that in the next race We will be much stronger".

This is the video of Kimi's accident and what He said after the accident:

Raikkonen Started His Transition from F1 To WRC

Kimi Raikkonen completed his first ever World Rally Championship (Rally Sweden) finishing in 30th. place. 37 minutes behind the leaders. He is competing for Citroen. Generally He set good stage times within the top ten overall. His problem was that He drove into a snow bank on the opening day. Without this incident He would have finished within the top ten and scored points on his debut. According to his Citroen boss Olivier Quesnel He is in a learning process and We have to be patient (including the media).

Kimi said this after the event "It was a really encouraging event, which allowed me to learn so much. From the start to the finish I felt I was improving all the time, which is what I expected from having more time in the car. Sure, we still have a lot to learn because the whole feeling is so different to what I had in Formula 1. But I'm getting a good idea of how to use the pace notes now and I understand the car a bit better as well. We wanted to have some more experience of the car and especially get to the finish, so we have achieved everything we wanted this weekend. Now I'm looking forward to driving gravel on the next rally in Mexico; it should be a bit easier for me I think".

Source from http://www.wrc.com/

The fans have to give Kimi more time to adapt from Formula 1 to the World Rally Championship. It is a transition that takes some time. He is a good driver, I think that He should do well in this Championship, and start scoring his first points soon.

Picture courtesy of Benjamin A Ward from http://www.rallysweden.com/

Is It A Car Or An Airplane?

This is an incredible jump made by Travis Pastrana with a Subaru Impreza WRX STI. He jumped 82 meters over the waters of Rainbow Harbour in Long Beach to establish a new world record. Enjoy the video.

The World Rally Car was flying like an airplane.

Picture courtesy of http://www.topgear.com/

The Experienced And Skillful Vs. The Young And Ambitious

The Michael Schumacher return saga continues as He impresses in his first Formula 1 testing session of 2010 in Valencia. His best lap was 1:12.947 and was 3rd. just behind Massa (Ferrari) and La Rosa (Sauber). He said "I feel like a young boy again and really enjoyed myself out there". As you can see He looks happy doing what He knows best which is to drive an F1 car. It is going to be very interesting to watch Schumacher who was born in 1969 competing against the young drivers like Lewis Hamilton (25), Felipe Massa (28), Fernando Alonso (28), Sebastian Vettel (22), and his teammate Nico Rosberg (24). It is the competition of The Experienced and Skillful (Schumacher)Vs. The Young and Ambitious. So far, Schumi is doing pretty well.

Picture courtesy of http://news.bbc.co.uk/