The fast and the safe by Heikki Kulta

The fast and the safe

Turun Sanomat 10.7 2010 23:34:25

Britain's GP-column 10.7.

You can make a quick driver safe, but you cannot make a safe driver quick...

This striking saying from British motorsport says that you can make a fast driver safe but you can't make a safe driver fast.

We have Finnish examples - both from WRC and F1.

The young Ari Vatanen was superfast but couldn't stay on the road with his speed, no matter what. When he started to stay on the road Vatanen became a real top driver and a champion in WRC.

The young Mika Häkkinen also made a bunch of easy mistakes. When Häkkinen finally mastered his job even Michael Schumacher couldn't keep up with his speed.

Mika became a real top driver and a double champion in F1 who lost his 3rd consequent title due to a DNF - not due to his own mistakes.

There is an ongoing different story of growth in the motorsporting world. Kimi Räikkönen is a top driver and a F1-Champion but as a rallydriver the man from Espoo is a green fruit just like a summer strawberry with a slightly red color on the other side.

The saying in the beginning fits especially this moment's Rally-Räikkönen. The speed comes from the backbone but isn't yet combined with reliability. Kimi is going through the same school the young Vatanen or the young Henri Toivonen went through back in the times. As soon as the WRC-Citroen starts to stay on the road the result will be guaranteed.

No driver in rally has ever started practically straight with a WRC-car. Kimi did drive four rallies with FIAT but you can't see that even as a rallydriver's pre-school - not to mention the actual stairs upwards.

The powers in a WRC-car are of a completely different class than those cars that a rallydriver normally uses while climbing up through the junior-series. This also makes Räikkönen's learning years exceptional.

There is a way out if there isn't enough patience because in F1 several men in powerful positions admit that Räikkönen's comeback would be good for the genre.

Quick learners are for example Lewis Hamilton, who started his F1-career straight as a winner in McLaren but there is some difference between him and Räikkönen who started straight with Citroen's WRC-car. Hamilton did first go through all the small formulas on the F3- and GP2-level.

Silverstone/Heikki Kulta

Fonte: Turun Sanomat/Tradução para Inglês: Nicole

Mais um ótimo texto de Heikki Kulta sobre Kimi e o que ele vem fazendo no WRC. As pessoas pensam que é fácil, sair da F1, chegar no WRC e arrasar, fala sério! É óbvio que não é e o que Kimi vem conquistando é muito bacana, por isto o texto de Kulta é tão oportuno.

Beijinhos, Ice-Ludy