Raikkonen: Ignorant?

AgentOraiste

Y he no polite??


Seriously though, listen to interviews, radio chatter, even the interview with Coulthard this weekend, is he a bit of an ignoramus?

ottostreet

No, don't think so. He's a Finnish driver who speaks in a 2nd language for work. It's just their nature to be quite abrupt I think!

The fact that Kimi remembered DC's comments from Spa 2009 while on the podium show that he seems to remember jibes, which suggests a sensitivity!

Myrddin

It could be worse, he could be shoving his finger in everyones face every second weekend

Kimi is a legend, he's no time for media sh1te, just give him a fast car, a track & let him do his thing. You have to respect that

SilverScreen

Shouldn't it be 'arrogant' not 'ignorant'? It kind of bugs me when people mix up those two words, since they have different meanings.

I wouldn't really consider him rude as such, he is trying to do a stressful job and use every ounce of concentration. If I had an engineer rabbiting in my ear every few minutes I would probably be the same.

Andrew76

It's a pity there aren't more characters like him in F1. I guess sponsorship and the corporate side of things doesn't let them speak freely in front of the camera. Effectively telling the team to feck off and leave him alone during the race was genuinely funny.

OP: Youtube Brazil 2006 I think it was for his infamous "I was taking a sh1t" comment when asked why he wasn't at some Schumi presentation. There was also the ice-cream incident at Ferrari. :pac:

AgentOraiste

Zero1986 wrote: »

Shouldn't it be 'arrogant' not 'ignorant'? It kind of bugs me when people mix up those two words, since they have different meanings.

I wouldn't really consider him rude as such, he is trying to do a stressful job and use every ounce of concentration. If I had an engineer rabbiting in my ear every few minutes I would probably be the same.

I know the difference, i stand by ignorant

Sparks43

You can say what you want about Kimi

But in reality he doesnt give a chit:D

Fast cars and Ice cream is all he wants

De Hipster

Definitely NOT ignorant...he said himself "yes, yes, yes... Leave me alone, I know what I'm doing"

Abrupt, perhaps.

cadaliac

No, not ignorant. Arrogant possibly, but not ignorant.

As mentioned above, the "no I was taking a sh1t" comment when asked if he was watching the presentation to Shumacher made it for me.

He has an attitude alright, anti-establishment and a bit of desire to be different.

He can be rude alright though. I will grant you that.

Please Kill Me

He's Finnish. Hakkinen was very similar. Seemed abrupt and cold. I think it's just the way they are.

iDave

at least he refrained from colourful language unlike that Vettel ****er. ...oops

lolie

Meself and the brothers were/are fans of kimi's but we agree he sometimes borders on being a bit of a d1ck.
But his radio msg's should be played more often though.

Infoanon

With 19 wins Kimi can be as arrogant as he wants - as DC said in commentary Kimi either races or sleeps (or parties !) - his radio was more his pure race mode shining through.

AgentOraiste

Infoanon wrote: »

With 19 wins Kimi can be as arrogant as he wants - as DC said in commentary Kimi either races or sleeps (or parties !) - his radio was more his pure race mode shining through.

Is vettel or hamilton a díck?

ZETOR_IS_BETTER

Kimi is a legend!

F1 wouldnt be the same with out a straight to the point Finn
I get tired listening to the same answers from the other drivers

Cookie_Monster

AgentOraiste wrote: »

Is vettel or hamilton a díck?

vettel is, always with the finger waving and generally comes across as up himself.

Hamilton is hit and miss, he has days where he comes across as a spoilt juvenile brat and others where he's very grown up and decent. Varies wildly though

Terrontress

See what the Guardian say about Kimi's radio transmissions. I agree entirely!

http://m.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2012/nov/05/kimi-raikkonen-f1-robots?cat=sport&type=article

Cookie_Monster

would certainly make an interesting race if they
a) allowed all broadcasts to be heard by fans at will
or
b) banned all telemetry for one race just to see the difference

It's one more little thing that makes rugby a great sport, the ability to always hear the ref and decision and conversations with him.

either way there should be far more audio played throughout races, it adds another dimension and I'm sure there's plenty of more in depth and interesting radio left out when instead we just get to listen to Alonso in Italian for no reason at all... would love to have heard what else Kimi said

Terrontress

It seems that English is the global language of F1, even if a driver and engineer aren't native English speakers. Therefore I reckon for the global tv audience it's good to broadcast Alonso's Italian messages for a bit of variety.

De Hipster

Terrontress wrote: »

It seems that English is the global language of F1, even if a driver and engineer aren't native English speakers. Therefore I reckon for the global tv audience it's good to broadcast Alonso's Italian messages for a bit of variety.

Ah but to make it relevant to the spectator Bernie should insist that it's translated & subtitled!

On the point of being able to listen to all broadcasts - I reckon if there was a dedicated online broadcast channel for each team - it might make some interesting listening.

StephenHendry

i like kimi in that he is a really good driver and that he doesn't seem to give a sh1t about anything other than racing, partying, ice cream etc. to answer you question OP, he would appear to be ignorant, arrogant whatever !!! buts its what most f1 fans like him for

Daniel S

Zero1986 wrote: »

If I had an engineer rabbiting in my ear every few minutes I would probably be the same.

Kimi can't win races without an engineer, so he would want to show him a bit of respect. Being an F1 engineer is pretty much as hard as it gets for engineers.

Why would he tell Kimi to keep the tyres warm?
"Yes, yes, yes I am doing all the time!"

No, Kimi, you weren't. He can tell from telemetry that you weren't otherwise he wouldn't be telling you repeatedly to keep them warm.

I am a big fan of Kimi, but he'd want to cop on.

Please Kill Me wrote: »

He's Finnish. Hakkinen was very similar. Seemed abrupt and cold. I think it's just the way they are.

Finnish people aren't all cold/abrupt, look at Kovalienen for example. He's pretty chatty. Or "The Dudesons" if you want to go for an extreme!

EauRouge79

One of the best pieces of TV ever was Kimi being asked by Martin Brundle during his gridwalk, what he made of the fanfare on the grid about Michael Schumachers retirement a few years back .
He replied with something along the lines of," I missed it because I was taking a ****! !!!!
Brilliant.

Ghost Train

When Kimi started in F1 he was alot quieter and more reserved. The bit of attitude he has now is fun and all but think people would get tired of it pretty quick if it was all he was about.

ottostreet

He was a 21 year old boy with no exposure when he started. I think 12 years later, he's allowed to be more confident in himself, considering what he has achieved!

ratedR

I'm probably repeating what a lot of people have said, but I think that may just be a bit of a Finnish trait, coupled with a personality that has no time for media or corporate fakeness. Theres possibly a bit of arrogance when he's in the car, but his team should know that he doesnt want to be spoken to while he's driving. As for how he acts in front of the camera, it's probably just not for him. I'm not sure I'd be very comfortable in the same situation for instance, and would probably give away as little as possible about myself too.
It doesnt mean he's not a decent bloke away from the cameras.

Personally I think he's a legend, theres no **** about him. He does his job and tells it like it is. F1 driver interviews are crap generally. Theres never an awful lot to say and everything else is a PR answer.

Jimoslimos

Well he does have a sense of humour about it

Kimi Raikkonen has given his entire Lotus team T-shirts emblazoned with his now-famous radio message during his Abu Dhabi Grand Prix victory.
The 33-year-old Finn took his first win since his return to the sport this year and his team's first since the 2008 Japanese Grand Prix.
On Friday 500 T-shirts carrying the slogan: "Leave me alone, I know what I'm doing" arrived at the factory.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/20267305

Fair play to him, some drivers like having a myriad of info fed back to them, some don't.

Myrddin

Lol, thats brilliant. Kimi tee's ftw

ScumLord

He seems like a very genuine guy, it was one of the highlights of the year for me.

Part of the problem with F1 these days is they're all to media savvy, they're trying to sell themselves in the same way pop stars are trying to be kid friendly to hit the largest audience. There's no real confrontation like you had back in the Senna days.

If they put those on sale they'll make a mint.

bbsrs

Buttonftw wrote: »

If they put those on sale they'll make a mint.

For sure , I already did a search to see if they were available from Lotus.

Jimoslimos

Deleted User wrote: »

If they put those on sale they'll make a mint.

No doubt there be a flood of imitation knock-offs available.

Would seriously love to get my hands on one of the 500 originals though!

the culture of deference

Myrddin

the culture of deference wrote: »

Want

Prettyblack

the culture of deference

Jimoslimos wrote: »

No doubt there be a flood of imitation knock-offs available.

Couple of knock off shirts and stickers appearing here


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KIMI-RAIKKONEN-LEAVE-ME-ALONE-I-KNOW-WHAT-IM-DOING-T-SHIRT-LOTUS-F1-GIFT-/321021881774?pt=UK_Men_s_T_Shirts&var=510088076880&hash=item4abe652dae

Cookie_Monster

Jimoslimos wrote: »

Well he does have a sense of humour about it


http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/20267305

Fair play to him, some drivers like having a myriad of info fed back to them, some don't.

shows he's a genuine guy with a sense of humour if nothing else IMO

Deleted User wrote: »

If they put those on sale they'll make a mint.

DO WANT!!!!

freestyla

Not ignorant, he trusts his ability to deliver the best when needed. It's called SISU in Finland.

There were GP weekends this year when he admitted making mistakes, like Bahrain when he choose wrong side on his only overtake attempt on Vettel,
and India he choose wrong car setup just before qualy.

It's also true you can see a lot of typical Finn guy attitude in Kimi although he lived abroad for a long time. Not so social unless has something valid to say, or when it's beer+sauna party!

Anyone come across a high-res pic of that? Wouldn't mind putting one up on cafepress if the image quality was decent.


As for that last post, when it comes to Bahrain, he probably thought, I thought, and I can understand the team thinking, that he's have better chances later in the race. I still maintain the team set him back at least 30 points this season with silly pitstops. Anyway, there's always next year and we'll all have our tshirts right?

H3llR4iser

It's his character. Very likely, the people thinking it's strange, "arrogant" or "ignorant" didn't follow much F1 in the '80s, let alone know who a certain James Hunt is.

F1 teams and engineers today are used to quite literally babysit drivers during the race, "do x", "set y to z", "push", "take it easy" and on and on and on.

Some drivers simply don't need that; Some teams do it brilliantly - hear the difference between Hamilton's and Button's pit radios, Jenson is left to take decisions for himself more often than Lewis.

Some other teams, like Renault, don't do it too well - Raikkonen has racing for the big part of two decades, knows the car and the rules, hence "leave me alone, I know what I'm doing".

paddy147

The man is a cool customer.

He knows what he needs to do,and when he trying to concentrate and someone is constantly in his ear annoying him,then yeah,tell him to "Leave me alone"

And its all the more sweeter with the win too.

Hes a bit of a party animal away from the track and he has pulled some mad stunts too,in other forms of motoring,dressing up is some mad costumes for the craic.

Hes a funny fcuker and he plays on the fact of how everyone thinks of him....:D


"I was having a sh1t"...

"I dont care what happened to the others"....(55 seconds into video)


"The hotel looks nice"

For all Kimi's bluster about the win meaning more to the team than to him look at how he reacted when he crossed the line.

paddy147

Deleted User wrote: »

For all Kimi's bluster about the win meaning more to the team than to him look at how he reacted when he crossed the line.

"WooHoo,Yes,thank good the race is over,now you can shut the fcuk up annoying me on the radio"...:pac::pac::D