Raikkonen expects F1 exit after 2015

F1 Fanatic Round-up

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In the round-up: Kimi Raikkonen expects to retire from Formula One again at the end of next season.

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Raikkonen likely to retire at end of 2015

“Until my contract is finished and then I will probably stop. That is what I think is going to happen.”

F1 ‘very stupid’ to drop Monza (Autosport)

Raikkonen: “You hear how they might drop that race and it would be very stupid in my opinion for Formula 1 and for everybody. Hopefully it will never happen.”

Wolff ends wait for women drivers

Claire Williams: “She will be doing exactly what Valtteri [Bottas] would have been doing [when he was a test driver]. She’s got the responsibility that she would have to set up the car. She knows the car, she’s done a lot of preparation in the simulator. She’s perfectly competent to do tomorrow’s session without causing any hindrance to the team.”

Sergio Perez: “Susie would be better in the kitchen”

Thanks to MikeJohnno for the tip.

‘Standing restarts will work’ (Sky)

FIA race director Charlie Whiting: “Two things drivers were concerned about. One was fairness. Fairness being a leader is more likely to lose his lead from a standing start than he is from a rolling start. Whether that’s true or not, I’m not quite sure.”

Hamilton inspired by Muhammad Ali (BBC)

“I think about Muhammad Ali. He sat on the rope and let [George Foreman] have the upper hand until he decided it was the right time to turn it around.”

Rosberg struggles with fatherly advice (F1)

“He doesn’t really give advice in that regard. If he does it’s not so easy to take the advice. In hindsight I would always take it but in the first moment it’s never so easy to just accept it, I’ll often try to argue the point.”

Q&A with Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg (F1)

“Our car was really strong [in Bahrain], with a lot of awkward slow-speed corners and angles – so tracks in that mould are good for us. Having said that, this track here in Silverstone is significantly different: high-speed corners – so this weekend might come down a bit hard on us.”

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Comment of the day

@Petebaldwin doesn’t buy Bernie Ecclestone’s threats about Monza:

There is absolutely no chance at all that Monza will be dropped. Bernie is just playing one of his little games to try and grab more money in a new contract.

Having no race in Italy and losing a track like Monza just won’t happen.
@Petebaldwin

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On this day in F1

Fernando Alonso led the first 32 laps of the French Grand Prix ten years ago today but Ferrari used a four-stop refuelling strategy to get Michael Schumacher into clear air so he could jump ahead of the Renault driver and win.

On the final lap Rubens Barrichello displaced the other Renault of Jarno Trulli for third place:

Image © Ferrari/Ercole Colombo

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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153 comments on “Raikkonen expects F1 exit after 2015”

  1. France 2004: Was this just before Trulli got sacked!?

    1. That 4th place was the last points he scored in a Renault.

      1. He had fallen out with Flavio sometime after his win at Monaco hadn’t he? It really looks like he just wasn’t trying too hard to hold that Ferrari back! Fairly lacklustre stuff from Jarno.

        1. I think that moment was the last straw. A real shame. I always wondered what he could have achieved at Renault in 2005…

          1. Not much more than Fisichella I’m positive.

          2. @mashiat
            Why not? Overall he was beating Alonso in 2004 and was leading him in the points up to his last race with Renault before getting sacked even after not scoring points for 4-5 races straight following France 2004, which I’m sure can be partly attributed to his falling out with Flavio…

    2. From what I’ve read about it, things started to go downhill very early on in the season. Briatore wanted Alonso to be the team’s number one driver – if someone would win a race, it would be Alonso. Then comes along the Monaco GP, where Trulli beats Alonso fair and square (Trulli took it easy passing the backmarkers, Alonso took more risk and hence he crashed). So Trulli won the Monaco GP, and not Alonso – that one did not go down well with Briatore.

      The error from Trulli during the French GP was silly, but it gave Briatore the ultimate opportunity to put Jarno back in his place. As a result, Trulli performance started to degrade (although that pole at Spa was magical). He got replaced by Villeneuve, who didn’t do any better.

      1. Mr win or lose
        4th July 2014, 12:15

        Apart from Hamilton, Trulli was the only teammate who could fight Alonso. He fully deserved his win in the Monaco GP, although he was helped somewhat by the Schumachers. I never understood why he was punished so heavily for his minor mistake in France. From that moment he lacked all confidence and Villeneuve didn’t perform any better. I guess it served Renault well that year.

      2. It started when Trulli fired Briatore as him manager and got some other guy. It’s much simpler than you are making it out to be. His preference might have only been a consequence of the reason I stated. You can expect that Briatore wasn’t the most professional guy, and also probably vengeful, and that’s why he wanted suddenly to see Alonso beat him so bead.

  2. Two things:
    1 – I’ll probably quit F1 at the end of 2015 as well;
    2 – Sergio Perez is a total jerk, isn’t he?

    1. Imagine someone like Vettel or even Hamilton saying something like that…we would never here the end of it.

      What a complete moron.

      1. Sorry, please delete.

        1. I don’t see why you would want that deleted! You are absolutely correct!

    2. Perez is fine. The media is a jerk.

      1. Can you explain what you mean by that. I don’t speak spanish so I can’t verify the video myself but if F1f here is quoting perez as saying that then, yes, he is a complete jerk.

        1. Nira Franco:”On Friday there will be a woman for the first time in 22 years, what do you think?
          Sergio perez:”Yes Susie, a great driver and showing that women can also be in this difficult world. Hope she does well, it is also difficult to judge her work just in one practice. She is not familiar with the car, the cars are hard to drive. Silverstone is a hard circuit so don’t expect too much from her.”
          NF: “But would you like to have a woman as team-mate because we are very complicated”
          SP: “No no, imagine if a woman beats you that would be bad, would be better to have her in the kitchen.”

          Copied that from a commment on youtube. Interpret that how you will.

          1. That’s pretty funny

            we need more light hearted jokes, at least two before each Grand Prix, and 1 per driver during the mid season break and the end of year break. Hopefully Bernie can make this a rule.

          2. Haha, that’s totally different :D

          3. Thank you for the translation. With more context, it seems like some mild sexism, lazy stereotypes, and bad judgment – for both Franco and Perez.

    3. 2- Incomprehensible on this day. What.a.total.idiot. Checo ranks pretty high on people who shouldn’t really be allowed near a microphone.

    4. The title of that Perez interview is a textbook example of a sensationalist headline. Not only it is not a direct quote, but it’s also out of context. His last remark was clearly a joke, and it wasn’t a joke about women, but a joke about himself and inflated egos of male drivers.

      1. @maroonjack To be clear on one point, the headline attributed to it in the round-up (“Sergio Perez: ‘Susie would be better in the kitchen'”) is how the video was titled at the time the round-up was posted. Since then the person who posted the video changed the title on it.

        1. @keithcollantine It wasn’t a complaint about you, but more about the original poster of the YouTube video. I know that for the most part you use the same titles as the original articles/sources.

          1. @maroonjack No problem, I didn’t think it was, just wanted to be clear after noticing the change.

      2. Its amazing how many people read the title, assume the worst & sound of on it without even reviewing the article/video/actual source themselves and form their own opinion.
        My biggest issue is when I trust the site you’ve read the article title on and assume its legit, and then find its sensationalist and completely different once in context.
        Doesn’t stop people regurgitating nonsense as the truth because they read it on what most people assume is a reputable site.
        It makes me go elsewhere for my news and feel sorry for those mislead.
        @keithcollantine I fully understand these are not your headline titles but those of the original stories.

    5. No, he’s not a jerk, it was a joke, but actually very true as well. I like him even more now.

      1. Sadly, I didn’t find that joke very funny at all.

        1. Well,I guess that is your problem for not having a sense of humor

  3. I expect there will be a take-down claim on that Perez video in 3… 2… 1…

    1. Hasn’t happened so far!

  4. “Ferrari posting a witty tweet (RARE!) :-)”

    1. maybe they contacted the lotus guy who made kimi’s stay at that team such a pleasure to follow on twitter :-)

  5. Jack (@jackisthestig)
    4th July 2014, 0:11

    Oh dear Sergio! I wonder what sort of trouble another driver would get into if they said Perez would be better suited to selling burritos at the side of the track?

    1. Tortas ahogadas could be better suited for him

    2. I am Mexican and I’m not even mad about this comment i find it actually funny. People needs to relax and have a sense of humor.

  6. Perez didn’t quite say it the way that the headline makes it sound. Still, not a happy choice of words.

    1. Agree. He referred to a particular situation, not to all women drivers. Still, expect a riot out of your home, Checo…

    2. @ironcito he said it exactly the way it says in the headline…

      1. No. The headline suggests that he meant something like “women can’t drive, they should stay in the kitchen”. He actually said that Susie is a good driver, then he was asked if he would like a woman as a teammate, to which he answered that no, because losing to a woman would be too much, so she better stay in the kitchen. As if to say that it was for his sake (or men’s) that women stay in the kitchen, so they don’t start beating men. It’s still not the best comment, but not what the headline and the video title imply.

        1. @ironcito it’s a minimal difference and a huge offence… he’d not say the same about Hulkenberg or any other driver…

          1. It’s a big difference, in my opinion. It’s the difference between “a woman can’t drive” and “I’d rather not race against a woman because she could beat me”. If he had used a different phrase instead of “stay in the kitchen”, it wouldn’t have been taken so badly. But I suppose we disagree.

          2. I agree with Diego. Perez is actually making fun of himself by saying that his ego would be bruised if he’s beat by a woman. That’s a huge difference from stating that women should be in the kitchen. One degrades them, and the other is more self-deprecating. I mean… instead of a knee-jerk reaction in the name of political correctness, just stop and think for a minute about what’s actually intended. It might just avoid so many of the mindless witch-hunts we see these days.

          3. omarr-pepper
            4th July 2014, 1:37

            @ironcito @fer-no65 maybe he should have complimented Susie by saying in the end something like “and that’s why I should train more so she can’t beat me”.
            That kitchen comment sounds like the cavemen era.

          4. Stupid anyway you look at it.

            Agree with @fer-no65 and Omar. His sexist attitudes are everywhere in those responses, not just the kitchen comment.

            What I find most puzzling is how can someone be so insensitive to the reporter herself… “Imagine that, a woman beats you, You’ll be the butt of the joke”.

          5. Well as a woman, now that I know the contextual nature of his statement, it’s kinda funny, however he is a tad naive to think that it wouldn’t be taken out of context by the media.

      2. Roughly translated:

        Q: On friday there’s going to be a woman for the first time in 22 years, what do you think about it?

        A: Yes, Suzie. A great, great driver, and, well, showing that women can be in this difficult world and I hope he can do well, it’s difficult to judge a job in practice, she doesn’t know the car, these cars are very difficult to drive, Silverstone is a tricky circuit, so don’t expect big things from her.

        Q: would you like to have a women as team mate?

        A: No, no, imagine when a woman beats you, that takes the biscuit, better she goes to the kitchen, to the kitchen rather than cars.

        1. I hope she puts up a better time in practice than Perez lol. I have been a Suzie fan for a while and I think it would be great to see her in an F1 race. She has a great attitude and a positive personality. Perez was very disrespectful, regardless of how he worded it. Suzie has done nothing to warrant that kind of comment, even if it was in jest.

        2. I see nothing wrong with that; it’s a little humerous, and sort of complimentary

          1. Agreed, it was just a little joke, something you would consider just banter and people are overreacting to it.

        3. Even if he meant such a statement in the best possible, most humorous way, it’s an idiotic thing to say in front of a microphone. Women aren’t represented at all in F1 really, and having him come out and state that on the weekend Wolff will be taking part is doubly idiotic. I’m no bleeding heart political correctness obsessive, but the undercurrent of casual sexism in his ‘joke’ leaves a bad taste.

        4. Thank you for the translation @fer-no65.

          @xjr15jaaag and @dryyoshi: The implication is that to be beaten by a mere woman is shameful. Then on top of that, a suggestion that the kitchen would be a better place for Susie? If one of my colleagues in the male-dominated white-collar industry I work in said something similar to me, I would consider it disrespectful and sexist. I don’t see why it should be considered “banter” when it’s in front of the world’s media to boot.

      3. No, the headline is false. He said something closer to “it would be better if Susie was in the kitchen”. It’s a different meaning than “Susie would be better in the kitchen”. He doesn’t say she would be better. He says it would be better (for him) if she was in the kitchen.

        No, it’s not a minor difference.

    3. Yes he did it

    4. It should actually be noted that the whole “women – kitchen” thing is a popular joke thats going around at the moment. Its a joke men openly use when speaking with women in a playful and teasing way (often when flirting).

      So I can understand why he said it – he said it thinking people would “get it”.

      1. Is it? Never heard it used that way in any surroundings where I would consider “even” positions for men and women on the job / in private @joshua-mesh.

        I am pretty sure that most women over here would take it as a rude comment. The more quick to react might add a snarky comment about him staying on the farm equipment if he didn’t like being beaten by a women though.

        1. I dont know why that is. I mean the people I have hung with, even the women take part in making the jokes. Like for example at a bar to come and say hi she’d say “Hey, just thought I’d take a break from making sandwiches for a moment to come say hello!”. We’d all laugh and when we’re done chatting and she’s about to bugger off, one person would make a comment such as “Okay enough talking, you better get back into the kitchen before we call social services!”. It all ties back in with her original joke and as everyone knows its a joke, no one is offended.

          1. Hm, I wonder whether the women saying so would really not mind the situation though @joshua-mesh. To me that looks more like a women “surviving” in a world where she knows there will be prejudice against her by confronting it up front.
            The women I know might do that as well in such circumstances. But I would think that if you/your buddies reaction would be something like “Oh, you run a catering service nowadays” you would have a far better chance of the women not feeling you are all j***s.

          2. My statement originates from having myself often found in situations where cultural differences/racial/national prejudice was obviously being expressed and not wanting to offend as a guest

      2. This is the sort of ice-breaker you’d use when flirting, @joshua-mesh? I’d love to see it in action.

        1. Lol no not an ice breaker. A tong in cheek type joke.

        2. I use these all the time.

          I’m so very lonely.

    5. I think the fact that he mentions she should stay in the kitchen at all, no matter what context it is in, is implying something.

      1. Yes, it’s humorously implied that a woman (Susie in particular) can beat a man (Sergio in particular) on Friday. God, this PC crap is just too much.

      2. I think from now on “kitchen” shouldn’t even be used as its too offensive.

        How about “unisex food arrangement” area?

    6. He had a world of words to use but he picked the wrong ones… He can pull the “English is my second language” card and issue a note of apology.

      1. A solid backup plan I agree, however, I didn’t hear a word of English spoken in that interview…

    7. ironcito I think Perez was trying to make a joke at his own expense, but actually it backfired in two ways. First, he implied that it is somehow embarrassing to lose to a woman – i remember from the Suzie Wolff documentary (which i only saw about 5 minutes of), but she out-qualified her teammate and then the team started ribbing him saying things like “Ahh, you lost to a girl!”. Needless to say Suzie was not amused. So that’s the first issue.

      Second he used the dreaded “back in the kitchen” phrase – again i’m sure it was supposed to be a joke at his own expense, but whether it’s a joke or not it’s still a sexist comment implying that’s the ‘standard’ role the women should be fulfilling.

      Still, i hope for his sake these comments aren’t blown out of proportion. He just needs to be a bit more careful with phrasing (much like Sir Stirling Moss!).

  7. Perez’s comment is exactly what we talked about in the round up. He starts by saying it’s a good example, and ends up saying something like that…

    Suzie is setting an example. Nevermind how good she is. We need it. The sport needs it. It’s no good that people like Perez, Stirling Moss or Richard Petty, legends or current drivers, show that kind of disrespect for the other gender, based on nothing…

    What is Michèle Mouton gonna say? she was far more succesful at her sport than Perez could ever be. Driving in the most scary and fast era in rallying, arguably the most difficult motorsport there is, and she almost got the championship.

    She just go there and slap Perez in the face…

    We need more examples…. for girls to get interested, and to kill those stupid “they shoud stay in the kitchen” arguments.

    1. @fer-no65 Spot on. With regards to your last sentence, I think “women” is probably more appropriate than “girls”

      1. No, ‘girls’ is right. You need to get girls interested in F1 as children, because that’s when they’ll start karting.

      2. I mean little girls… so they can catch the bug early enough in their lives…

    2. @fer-no65 Well in all fairness the reporter was the one that started the joke by implying in the second question that women are hard to work with and Perez just kept it going from there.

      But I do sense that he was only half-joking when he said it, it’s almost like he forgot that cameras are always rolling in the paddock.

      1. He was laughing, he intended it as a joke.

      2. @austus @mantresx it’s a sexist joke. He’d not say the same thing with Hulkenberg or another other guy…

        Joke or not, it’s not helpful… and it’s probably what Perez really thinks. Otherwiese, he’d not have said it.

        1. oh c’mon, every man makes the kitchen joke and now everyone is out of guilt? dont be sassy.

          1. hey, speak for yourself!

          2. No, some of us try not to be part of the problem

    3. @fer-no65 I don’t see why F1 “needs” a woman driver. Sure diversity is nice, but when your just trying to check boxes it undermines actual progress. I would like to see the same standards held across the board regardless of gender, nationality, sexuality etc.

      Obviously there are numerous things wrong with F1, but the one thing that remains fairly reasonable is it’s ability to weed out talent. There will be exceptions of course, but for the most part if you aren’t good enough you get found out pretty quickly.

      Wolff’s CV is atrocious, and isn’t representative of the quality of the other drivers. All of the other drivers around her age (31) have either been former F1 champions (Alonso,Button, and Raikkonen) or former champions in a lower category (Massa and Sutil.) for comparisons I just used drivers over 30.

      I for one want a female driver that has put in the results to back her position. Needless to say we should find out in a couple hours of she is capable.

      1. purple urple
        4th July 2014, 6:56

        I would like to see women drivers rise up through the ranks, just like every other driver. You don’t walk into driving F1 cars in your late 20’s and early 30’s and suddenly decide your going to race. That’s not fair on anyone.
        The point for me is that Suzie has got there under monetary means and gives female drivers no credibility. She hasn’t earnt her drive, she’s bought it. She’s mediocre and I would prefer to see a woman be chosen because she can be fantastic, deservedly driving and competing.

      2. @rybo It’s less about women being needed in F1 and more about F1’s image changing from being the boys brigade that it currently is. Society as a whole seems to make it hard for women to enter motorsport, because it’s seen as a masculine sport (big strong man handles lairy dangerous car etc), so if one of the top levels can once again attract competitive members of both sexes, then it just sorta furthers society.

        In a nutshell – F1 doesn’t need a woman, but a woman should be allowed to reach F1 if she is good enough…

        Susie Wolff today gets to demonstrate whether she is good enough and nothing should stop her, whether that’s outdated gender laws or men hoping they won’t get shown up.

        1. @optimaximal Your campaigning for change for the sake of change. She had numerous years to prove she was good enough, but she has yet to win a race let alone a championship.

          Society doesn’t care about gender parity in Motorsport. It’s hopeful, but ultimately it come down to happiness for the individual. Some people just don’t find racing that interesting or entertaining. And who are we to tell them otherwise?

          There were women F1 drivers long before Wolff and there will be long after her as well. Wolff isn’t some “savior” who is suddenly going to bring girls into their local kart track.

          If her name was Scott Wolff everyone would be beside themselves with anger. I’m all for bringing women into F1 not just as drivers, but engineers and support staff as well. However the moment you treat them differently you become the problem your trying to solve.

          1. I agree totally. A man age 31 getting to drive their first formal one car would be laughable.
            Suzi Wolf is no one special. If she was a champion in karting, or rally, or GT then I’d be interested. If Seb Loeb wanted to have a quick go, I’d like to see that. He’s a record breaking racing driver, not the wife of a rich man. I’ve got 50p to spare and a cycling proficiency certificate, can I get to have a go?

        2. Society as a whole seems to make it hard for women to enter motorsport, because it’s seen as a masculine sport (big strong man handles lairy dangerous car etc), so if one of the top levels can once again attract competitive members of both sexes, then it just sorta furthers society

          Have you seen Massa, Rosberg? They’re certainly not testosterone-filled agression machines like, say, a rugby player.

          Differently from a contact sport, motorsports include the intellectual capacities of the participants in direct way, we’ve heard the expression or its variants, “it’s like playing chess while knitting and running a marathon at the same time”, I think that’s why I take such offense in how Pérez delivered his message.

          I’m in complete agreement with your final sentence.

  8. I dont think it’s fair to take Sergio’s quote out of context. if you know spanish you can clearly see that he is joking. It might be a bad joke to say out loud in an interview which thousands of people are going to hear but he isn’t serious about it. In Mexico this kind of acid humour isn’t frowned upon and it is always taken for what it is; just a joke. But Sergio should definitely learn that in other countries this is clearly not the case.

    1. Here in Mexico, this comment is going to be taken seriously…

    2. You just don’t joke about that stuff anymore, not where I live anyway. How is inferring a woman should know her place in the kitchen is anything other than sexist?

      Society has moved on thankfully.

  9. On YouTube the translation is given as ‘… imagine if a woman beats you that would be bad, would be better to have her in the kitchen’. Not a great choice of words but the headline is somewhat misleading…

    1. Well the headline is barely misleading him

  10. Interesting to see F1 journos complaining about the interviews schedule when, in fact, they always ask the same questions to the drivers.

    Some weeks ago I was watching that friday press conference and it was one of the most boring events I witnessed in F1 recently – and it was mainly because of those same journalits…

    1. I agree. The most interesting part of each press conference is probably if some local journo decides to ask a weird question with broken English, instead of the regular questions.

      1. I pretty much always skip the FIA conference and go straight to questions from the floor.

    2. “So, Hamilton, how is your friendship with Rosberg?”
      “Rosberg, can you maintain the lead?”
      “Vettel, what do you think of Ricciardo?”
      “Alonso, how much % are you gonna push this weekend?”
      “Kimi, can I ask you a question? No, oh, ok.”

  11. Perez is going to get backlash for that joke.

    1. Yeah but that’s what I don’t like nowadays, everyone is too sensitive, and there’s always someone that is offended.

      We want drivers with more personality not PR robots well guess what, that’s Sergio’s personality right there, you may not like it but that’s how it is, I prefer to hear bad taste jokes from him rather than the usual PR nonsense to be honest.

      1. Correct @mantresx, taking an ironic or sarcastic comment (as Sergios was) and then reporting it as a stand-alone quote without the context is the stock-in-trade of the ” holier than thou” PR police.

      2. @mantresx The point isn’t just that he said something sexist – it’s the wider-reaching connotations, given that Wolff is trying something that hasn’t been attempted for 20 years…

        Yes, he was self-deprecating in the delivery, but he also needs to remember that if Susie *is* faster than him, then he should get better, not consign her to the kitchen (i.e. make it so she can’t race against me and humiliate me again).

      3. There’s a difference between “bad taste jokes” and comments which perpetuate discriminatory attitudes. If for example Perez had said, “I would hate to be beaten by a black man – I’d prefer it if he went back to working on the plantation”, would that be considered just a “bad taste joke”? No, it would rightly be seen as outdated and extremely offensive racism. But it’s OK because it’s about a woman instead.

        I can sort of understand the antique Bernie Ecclestone making jokes like this – he is after all from the Land that Time Forgot – but it’s a shame to hear it from a young man. It probably says more about Mexico’s cultural attitudes towards women than about Perez’s in particular, however.

        1. I think he’s got used to being beaten by a black man by now.

          The difference between the two would be that there’s a stereotype that still exists where women aren’t interested in/experienced enough to race cars at the higher levels. They are still a novelty, or perceived to be.

          If there ever was such an analogue with black men and racing its long since disappeared.

          Also, preferring thay a person would go back to being a piece of property with no human rights is slightly different to preferring someone would go into a room in a house.

          1. preferring thay a person would go back to being a piece of property with no human rights is slightly different to preferring someone would go into a room in a house

            Pretty disingenuous!

          2. Perhaps i was being a tad obtuse, but i’d argue the differences in the severity and timescale of your comparison was also misleading.

            I read your comments as coming from a stereotyping standpoint, and wrote a response for such, but during that i realised you’re coming from a “historical roles” train of thought, which kind of changes the argument.

            If it was concerning stereotypes then i’ll defend my points, as the stereotype of “black man” is not slavery.

            Buuuuuut anyway, i don’t personally see Perez’s comments as offensive, just a bit clumsy considering he was talking to press spin-masters and knowing that with such a big audience reach, the likelihood of it being picked up by a lot of highly-strung people was…high.

            Even if it offends some people, so what? What an awful place the world would have to be if no-one would get offended.

          3. It wasn’t unwise because of its face-value; but it was unwise considering his words could spur on others who don’t stop at the playful Boys vs Girls dynamic (which is fine), but think that its funny & cool to carry these attitudes into serious everyday life situations where it could stop people getting jobs, etc.

  12. Whether some of the humour is lost in translation or not, Perez’ comments are very poorly chosen, and will be rightly condemned. However, he clearly does not say “Susie would be better in the kitchen” so that headline is quite misleading.

  13. If I was a track owner I would be asking Bernie serious questions?
    1. This track is worth xxmillion dollars and cost xmillion per year to maintain and you want to use it and keep all the revenue from the TV coverage, you want me to remove all my sponsors signs and trackside advertising and replace with your own, you also want exclusive catering rights.
    2. So tell me Bernie, how much are you going to pay me to rent this facility for 5 days ?
    3. You want me to pay you what?
    4. Have you done the math, do you realise how much I would have to charge spectators just to break even ?
    5. Where are you going to run your circus when the track owners insist on being able to make a profit ?

    1. 1 yep
      2 i didnt get to be a billionaire by writing alot of cheques…
      3 the market value of my product
      4 i dont care about yor finances, do i look like a charity worker?
      5 Azerbijan or whatever place will pay the most.

    2. Because Bernie is greedy and controls a brand with high market value, it’s like “FIFA World Cup”, countries spend billions to host a World Cup and FIFA takes the money. It’s like F1, the host spends the money and FOM takes the profit.

      “the perfect business is the one with negligible investment and huge profits”

  14. Does seem like the reporter was almost baiting him to make a controversial comment by saying ‘us women can be difficult to work with’ and he just went along with the joke albeit with a poor choice of words. Perhaps it was a little stupid for him to say it infront of all the cameras, praise in public, criticize in private and all that.

    1. It’s only a poor choice when taken out of context, sarcasm is a great linguistic tool to expose poor, outdated attitudes.

    2. To me his saving grace is that he mentions it is because he would not want to be beaten by a women. Still not the best way of getting out of the question for perez

      1. Actually @bascb the fact that he doesn’t want to be beaten by a woman is a bit hard to take for me, as it’s tantamount to saying that women are simply less able to drive cars than men.

        1. Its nicer saying that he would rather have her in the kitchen than be beaten by her (as it implies she would/could beat him) at least than saying it for other reasons. It only makes it a tad less bad a reaction to the que offered by the woman doing the interview (angling for a response like this one probably)

          Maybe it can be taken partly as a joke that might be fine in Mexico (which would mean confirming prejudices to be largely present), but I know I would quickly end up in the kitchen by myself if I expressed any such tought at home!

          1. Its strange @bascb , if I’d make that kind of comment at home in either an overtly or dry humour way, me and my girlfriend would find it hilarious and she’d come back with some “blokey bloke” stereotype and we’d still be getting on royally as per. – although we both enjoy our share of in-jokes and non-pc humour.

            Although I too would eventually end up I’m the kitchen on my own, as she never cooks when I’m about.

            I think I’m being repressed.

  15. “Standing starts are the most exciting part of the race” so we should just have 4 x 15 lap races or 6 x 10 laps, wheeeeeee.

    “The idea came from 1 team” adds weight to my Ferrari conspiracy suggestion, Fernando always makes up a couple of places at the start but can’t qualify better than row 3.

    1. More likely Williams, seeing before Austria their drivers were gaining most places on average.

    2. yeah, pretty sure it didn’t come from Red Bull!

  16. Any phrase about women belonging in the kitchen is triggering. The appropriate response from Wolff would be to beat Perez and then bake and present him with a plate of biscuits afterwards.

    1. Jimi (@hendrix666)
      4th July 2014, 2:14

      @moblet I would so love to see that happen. Then they hug and it’s done. I am hoping this does not get crazy. I think its clear he meant nothing bad. KitchenWoman is the connotation that is the prob.

      But most intelligent people in 2014 understand that the concept is no longer relevant. It ain’t Leave it to Beaver days any more.

      Out of the billions alive on earth right now, she will be 1 of 22 human beings driving in F1 tomorrow. I think that fact shows Perez wasn’t serious. But even if he was, the mere stat I just mentioned would make him a total idiot. Which I don’t believe he is.

    2. Not only would that be a childish response… she probably cant pull it off.

    3. I find Perez’s comments thoughtlessly sexist and stupid – but “triggering”, really???

  17. It’s just a clumsy attempt at a self deprecating joke. He’s no comedian so cut the guy a break.

  18. Lewis might well be waiting on the ropes, letting Nico have his run… but like Muhammad, he’ll have to dodge a few punches along the way!

    Let’s see if he’s fast enough!

    1. I think its fun to see how Hamilton is pulling every thing he can to keep on top of feeling down from losing out to Rosberg for a couple of races now. Shows how much effort goes into it for him (and most likely much the same for Rosberg before Monaco), makes it interesting to follow

      1. Rosberg was sorta doing the same during Hamilton’s 4-in-a-row…

        He was a little bit more level headed about it, but pre-Monaco you could see he was a little edgy when asked the question for the 42nd time.

        1. exactly, that was why

          (and most likely much the same for Rosberg before Monaco)

          @optimaximal.

          Its a bit of these things that at least make it interesting to see how a driver reacts to the inevitable questions, instead of hearing “we will improve”, “we have to be carefull of the competition” and standard answers like that

          1. @bascb Yeah, sorta missed that line in your reply.

  19. Gideon Hadi (@)
    4th July 2014, 2:55

    If Kimi does not improve this year, I think 2015 will be a right time for him to retire in F1

    1. Gideon Hadi (@)
      4th July 2014, 3:00

      Correction : I mean at the end 2015 (2015 probably his last season if in 2014 he does not improve)

  20. If you read the full translation it is clear that Perez makes a joke at his own expense, not Susies. But having seen Susie race it would not surprise me if she really was better in the kitchen.

  21. yup…. I knew everybody would overeact with Perez´ comment… That is one reason why I hate this hypocritical-politically correct-fake society we live in. It´s a JOKE!! And even if it´s a “sexist” joke, if you can´t listen to it and just giggle then you´re better off wearing a skirt!
    Jesus, bring back the old days when it was ok to act the way James Hunt did and just speak your mind regardless what ANYBODY thinks… ugh… and then we get to read comments about how drivers today are PR robots and such and people longing for days gone past…

    1. @karter22 I’m female and i’m with you.

      1. @slava and @ sonia54, if you guys had actually read what I said, you’d know I was actually defending Checo. But then again some people only see what they want to see.

        Did you guys read my earlier comment?:
        “It’s just a clumsy attempt at a self deprecating joke. He’s no comedian so cut the guy a break.”

        @Karter22, is acting like there is some big outrage because of what Checo said when there is not. It was a honest mistake by Checo and that is why most people let it go. Society has moved on. So when people make genuine sexist, racist comments they cannot hide behind “political correctness” or call society weak for not letting them say offensive comments. That is the world we live in today and I think that is a good thing. No one is saying you can’t joke around but understand somethings are off limits or people you offend will retaliate. It wasn’t always like that. Go watch the TV show Mad Men and see how things have changed for the better. I know its Television but its not that far from how things really were back in the day. Blaming it on political correctness or calling society weak is a lame excuse to say offensive things. Again, I don’t think Checo was being offensive to Wolfe or women in general.

        1. It was a honest mistake by Checo

          @sudd
          Since when voicing your opinion or making a joke about yourself a mistake???? Nobody should get offended because they are just words! A simple joke… I´m latin american so I get the joke because spanish is my first language and our way of thinking is different!! And I sincerely don´t see anything wrong with what he said. Sure call us macho and what not but I sincerely didn´t think anything bad about what he said but I knew there would be some people which are mentally weak and easily offended that would pull out the sexist card! That to me is lame and that is why most of the time, depending on the time or place, I usually tend to tell people off when they try to act righteous and stuff because it´s hypocritical! Anyways…. enough about that, at least there are people like @sonia54 and @slava that can take a joke and don´t get offended!

          1. @karter22, when you’re a public figure its probably a mistake to imply women belong in the kitchen. Even if its a harmless self deprecating joke…you just don’t want to go there. Public figures including F1 drivers have PR coaches and I’m willing to bet they are told to stray from making comments like that. Again, even if its a harmless joke. No good could come from it.

  22. no no no hands off monza lad, jujst try to bargin a comfy cell and dont drop that soap

  23. “Nira Juanco ‏@njuancof1
    Las declaraciones sacadas de contexto son peligrosas. @SChecoPerez hoy ha hablado muy bien de Susie diciendo que es una gran piloto…”

    In english says: the statements out of context are dangerous. @SChecoPerez today talks very well about Susie and he states that she is a great pilot

    This is from the Nira Juanco twitter account, she is a friend of Checo, and the comment in the interview was a joke to her not to Susie

  24. LotsOfControl (@for-unlawful-carnal-knowledge)
    4th July 2014, 6:14

    If find it very interesting, that out of 60+ comments until this moment, only two are about Kimi’s retirement and 50 are about kitchen and dishes!
    ?????

    1. Ya …. really sorry about Kimi ….. But this Checko-Susie-Kitchen-Biscuit business is much more fun ….

  25. Get ready for a Force India 1-2 in the practice session …. :D

  26. @keithcollantine I was expecting a small note on Antonio Felix da Costa joining a Formula E team for the opening season…

    Formula E really is emerging a the “second tier” of single-seaters.

    1. Or the bargain bin of pre- and post-F1 pilots.

  27. coefficient
    4th July 2014, 8:27

    Wow! Don’t current f1 cars seem awkward and slow compared to that ferrari of rubens. It dances from apex to apex with ease and he can break so late and still get into the corner. Wonderful.

  28. On the one hand, we ask for more personality from drivers, then on the other when they show it, their words get over analysed and misinterpreted. I think it’s brilliant that Susie is driving this practice session, I bet she posts mid table times. If James Hunt had said something like Sergio, he’d be loved for it.

    1. If James Hunt had said something like Sergio, he’d be loved for it.

      In the 70’s, yes. Today, not so much…

      Society changes – the best can still have their say, jokes & all, without getting themselves into hot water.

  29. From the sky article on standing starts, Charlie Whiting – “Fairness being a leader is more likely to lose his lead from a standing start than he is from a rolling start. Whether that’s true or not, I’m not quite sure. Equally, if you’re in second place you might actually like the idea if you are able to take the lead, which you probably wouldn’t do in a rolling start.”

    First of all, it is much more likely for the leader to lose the lead from a standing start than a rolling start. I don’t have the stats to hand but that is something that would be easy to prove statistically. And the final sentence completely contradicts his statement – he says the driver in second might like the idea because he has a chance to take the lead “which you probably wouldn’t do in a rolling start.”

    If you’re going to try to justify a huge rule change at least get your arguments straight before talking to the press.

  30. That Barrichello video shows him exulting in a particular way, fist closed and thumb and little finger out, just like Massa has started doing. Is he his inspiration?

  31. “Three persons of non-desript ethnicity or gender walk into a bar.

    The bar-person says to one (in no order of preference): what would you like to drink?

    They reply: we don’t mind, everything is as good as everything else, we’re just here for some inoffensive, tolerant fun.”

    If only he’d have done that joke instead.

    1. Hahaha, that was the best! :)

  32. I guess Kimi will continue to race, but in a series where he has more fun, or maybe the possibility to do different things at once. Whatever he´ll do, be it Rallyecross, Le Mans, or whatever, I´ll be watching.

  33. Thank the racing gods for that. The exit of Räikkönen is at least 7 years overdue. Most overrated driver I think in the history of the sport. Dull as tap water to listen to, about anything. Has no time for anyone but himself. Horrible character and the grid will be a better place without him.

  34. Any male driver, who is frightened that a female driver might beat him, should really stay in the kitchen.

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