Kimi Raikkonen – Can he win at Ferrari?
When Kimi Raikkonen goes to Ferrari next year he’ll be filling some big shoes. Well, not that big. Probably size 9 or 10 but….
Ok, seriously, Kimi is going to face his biggest challenge next year. At McLaren there was never much pressure on him. At Ferrari he will feel the pressure not only from the whole of Italy, but from the majority of F1 fans around the world.
Was going to Ferrari a good move? From a financial point of view, certainly. Although this wouldn’t be the motivating factor as he’d get some good coin wherever he went. I personally think he’s going to find it hard at Ferrari. Sure, he’s going to have the advantage that they have a kick arse car and a great relationship with Bridgestone, but there is no doubt the team will take a little while to “warm up” without Michael Schumacher around.
A big part of winning in F1 is managing relationship. This is where Michael Schumacher excelled. He found the people he worked with best (Ross Brawn, Rory Byrne etc) and formed a bond so strong that he even took them to another team with him. Does Kimi have that same bond with anyone?
The importance of a special bond can’t be stressed. I mean, look at the success Jacques Villeneuve had with Jock Clear at first, but then when distance grew toward the end of his career the performance dropped..
The even bigger question for next year is tyres. With all the cars on the same control tyre next year, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the difference between Ferrari, McLaren and Renault even smaller.
And the million dollar question is, if you’re a Kimi/McLaren supporter, who do you support next year!? 
