Räikkönen to miss final 2 races because of back surgery
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@diceman Turun Sanomat is a big newspaper in Finland, right?
If so, then this sounds reliable.
@andae23 Yes, they are the most reliable F1-media in Finland, so I guess it’s true.
@diceman Cheers.
Author of this news in ts.fi (Kulta Heikki) is consireded one of the best F1-journalists althought he is pretty much unknown to public worldwide, maybe because he mainly publishes only in Finnish and only for “Turun Sanomat” which is only 3rd biggest daily newspaper in Finland. Started writing about F1 since 1978, he obviously has gained many very, very good sources because he has managed to make many major headlines before mainstream media. And always right, so far. It is said here that if it’s from him, it’s certain ;)
It says Valsechi will probably get the fill in job. What about Jerome D’Ambrosio?
Shame to see Kimi out for the season, he always makes the races a little more interesting. Get well soon Kimi.
@prisoner-monkeys I think Jerome is, he is listed in the driver page on the Lotus F1 website and as a test driver on the official F1 website.
THis can be a serious dent to Lotus’ championship hopes too. It would be best to give someone with some experience to drive, not ruin someone else’s chances for Young Driver’s test. As such they get very few opportunities. Someone like Heikki Koavolainen would be a good choice. D’Ambrosio would be another choice, but just feel that Heikki would be able to perform better and might give Lotus a flicker of hope for challenging Ferrari.
Whoever they take, it’s not a difficult problem compared to the headache Ferrari just got dealt. Back injuries are nasty enough to begin with, but if Raikkonen needs surgery, that creates a real problem for Ferrari. Back injuries can and frequently do plague people with them for months, if not years to come. At the very least, he’ll start the season under an injury cloud. If I were Stefano Domenicali, I’d be looking at dropping Raikkonen entirely.
No chance it’ll be Heikki thats for sure.
Due to the last minute nature it’d have to be someone close to the team, or in direct relation to the team.
Valsechi or D’Ambrosio are the only ones I can think of.Whoever they take, it’s not a difficult problem compared to the headache Ferrari just got dealt. Back injuries are nasty enough to begin with, but if Raikkonen needs surgery, that creates a real problem for Ferrari. Back injuries can and frequently do plague people with them for months, if not years to come. At the very least, he’ll start the season under an injury cloud. If I were Stefano Domenicali, I’d be looking at dropping Raikkonen entirely.
While it’s very true that this will be a problem for Ferrari given that back injuries do require mid-to-long term rehabilitation, I think it’s far, far too early for anyone to suggest that Ferrari start looking at a replacement for him.
In my view, I’m guessing that this has something to do with the fact that Kimi’s championship aspirations are over for this year, his pay situation and the fact he’s moving to Ferrari for next year. He’s clearly got some serious back problem, but I wonder if he’d be having surgery if he was still in the championship hunt? I suspect that with all things considered, he decided to sacrifice the final two races of the season and get his back seen to so that he can be as fit and healthy as possible when he returns to Ferrari next year.
I don’t think it’s too soon at all. I know first-hand what it’s like – I jarred my back in 2005, and even now, I still wake up in the middle of the night with my back in pain because I’ve twisted the wrong way in my sleep.
It sounds cruel to suggest that Ferrari should consider replacing him just hours after the issue was made public, but the last thing they want is to find that the worst-case scenario has come true and Raikkonen is out for the season, and now they have to pick the best from a bad bunch to fill the second seat. Of course, whoever they approach will have to be mindful that the team will want Raikkonen if he is still available. Maybe it will inspire the team to realise that they can’t wait for drivers to come up through the other teams before they are ready for Ferrari. They should probably go straight to Raffaele Marciello.
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