Kimi Raikkonen voted top driver of 2009

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Kimi Raikkonen got the most votes in our 2009 F1 driver of the year poll.

But as sumedh pointed out in the forum, it seems we have had a large number of visitors from a Kimi Raikkonen community after the poll was put live. It’s clear from traffic patterns to the site this has had a deciding effect on the results.

I respect the right of people to choose who they wish to vote for. Raikkonen was among the most voted-for drivers before the influx of new visitors. I’m sure the regular F1 Fanatic visitors who picked him had sound reasons for doing so – many of which were persuasively argued here.

But it’s clear the poll has been unduly influenced by a group of people only interested in support for a particular driver who do not ordinarily contribute to the site. We may have to make changes in future to make sure future polls are a fair reflection of what regular F1 Fanatic readers think.

Here are the final results:

2009 F1 Fanatic driver of the year voting

RankDriverVotes
1Kimi Raikkonen1,414
2Lewis Hamilton540
3Jenson Button534
4Sebastian Vettel501
5Robert Kubica204
6Fernando Alonso98
7Kamui Kobayashi76
8Rubens Barrichello64
9Mark Webber60
10Felipe Massa41
11Luca Badoer37
11Jarno Trulli37
13Nico Rosberg33
14Nick Heidfeld17
15Nelson Piquet Jnr13
16Adrian Sutil12
17Heikki Kovalainen9
18Sebastien Bourdais8
19Giancarlo Fisichella6
20Timo Glock5
20Kazuki Nakajima5
22Romain Grosjean3
23Jaime Alguersuari2
24Sebastien Buemi1
24Vitantonio Liuzzi1

Author information

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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180 comments on “Kimi Raikkonen voted top driver of 2009”

  1. Prisoner Monkeys
    1st December 2009, 1:06

    It’s my epxeirnece that Raikkonen fanboys are desperate to see their over-paid, under-achieving hero stay in the sport and seem to think that if they skew the results of a poll, then a) Raikkonen will stay in the sport and b) no-one will pick up on what they’ve done.

    1. well Massa(Schumacher),Hamilton,Button,Alonso fanboys had all the chance to come ond vote for their overpaid and underachieving heroes…link to the poll was published on man Hamilton,Alonso and Button sites to, not to mention forums where people discuss whole formula 1 batch of drivers, so every driver got their part of his fanboy votes. It’s not Raikkonens fault if Massa,Hamilton and Alonso stinkers don’t have as much fans as Kimi does. Well, Kimi would have won the poll because he won in Spa with a car that didn’t get any new parts for weeks, against drivers in cars with new parts. so I think Kimi is TOP DRIVER of 2009

      1. Prisoner Monkeys
        1st December 2009, 8:48

        It’s not that Raikkonen has more fans, it’s that he has more OBSESSIVE fans. The ones who seem to think they can get him a 2010 drive by stacking a poll.

        1. Agree with both your posts, PM. It’s only a poll, yet somehow “it matters” in their eyes.

          1. @ Itcheyes

            “It’s only a poll, yet somehow “it matters” in their eyes.”

            Then why r u cribbing about it?

      2. Soumya Banerjee
        17th May 2010, 15:38

        Once again Keith’s intro to this article shows why he is so biased against raikkonen.
        Im no Kimi fan but Keith’s argument for putting him at 9th was terribly biased. There’s not even one good point about him in that article .

    2. Precisely what did you pick up on honestly …

      That Kimi is loved more than your liar pseudo champ … Hamilton!

    3. Why don’t you just accept Kimi has a great number of fans because he really is good.

    4. It is true that Kimi is the only reason for someo people to keep watching the race. But please agree that, on other hand, Kimi attracts audience. This is exactly what the organizers want to see. So they can make money. Kimi does have a lot of fans and they voted. However, does Hamilton or Button have no fan at all? Their fans must have voted too. Can that be called “skew the results of the pool” too?

  2. Yeah Keith something stinks big time here, when I voted it was no way that lopsided. As I recall Button and Hamilton were on top about even with Kimi quite a way back in third or fourth?

    1. What do you expect? this is a brit site?

  3. I agree with Bud it was head to head with Button & Hamilton,I am not disappointed that Kimi won it but he got 3 times more vote than Hamilton!!!.Hope next time we can have a better way of choosing the drivers.I think one of the best way would have been if you only allowed the member of the Fanatic to vote only.

    Hope Kimi gets a race seat if not in 2010 but surely in 2011.

    1. This was the same case when KR stole the title from Alonzo and Hamilton in 2007.

  4. I dont think “something stinks here”. People came here and voted for KR, that is it. It was very similiar to last year whith Kubica and his Polish fans :}
    but Kubica deserved the title last year, so does Raikkonen this year. Since Hungary he was fantastic, and not bad in first half of the season.

    1. Prisoner Monkeys
      1st December 2009, 2:18

      How exactly is he “fantastic”. This is the man who won a race in Belgium, and then two races later was struggling to hold onto tenth place. That’s certainly less than “fantastic” in my book. A fantastic driver for 2009 was someone like Jenson Button, who took seven wins, three podiums and scored points in every race he finished.

      1. It is completely subjective opinion.
        To me KR was “fantastic” in 2009 even though he was not in a fight for a championship.
        Just watching him driving that F60 was a pleasure, I couldnt feel that when I was seeing Button.
        And I am not a member of some Raikkonen community. Never was.

      2. The same “fantastic” Button who struggled to outscore Raikkonen in the second half of the season in a vastly superior car? (and don’t say the car wasn’t great, Barrichello got 2 wins and a pole with it.)

      3. Also what about the ‘fantasic’ lewis hamilton, who struggled to finished 15th(?) at Silverstone?

      4. i’m sure that f60 was the top car all year round,right? Watch F1 sometimes, don’t justlook for posts on the web where you can bash the driver you don’t like because your favourite had a hard time with him

      5. Dude !! Have you heard of something called double diffuser ??

        Button was not fantastic His car was ! If KR or Vettel or even Hamilton had Buttons car they wud have won 10+ races ,,,

        Do watever .. just dont compare Kimi with Button ,, They are too far apart mate!

      6. @Prisoner Monkeys

        I guess you are new to F1, but you really need to learn to differentiate between car performance and driver performance.

        You can’t make claims about how good a driver is looking simply at his position in a race.

      7. And if Button had been in a Ferrari? Look where Fisichella ended up, and he creamed Button in 2001 when they were teammates..

      8. With a great car that is! try giving him a dog car…

    2. No No No

      F1 isn’t politics and the results are not decided by public opinion, they are decided by race results. The Kimi/Ferrari results just weren’t good enough and they were beaten by 5 other drivers. Therefore there is no way kimi deserved the title.

  5. You’ve got to be kidding me.

    It’s the same people were routing for John and Edwards, I suppose.

    Don’t worry and don’t bother, F1fanatic. **** happens. I just put my little blog back on line after a too long downtime. I understand your frustration.

    I look forward to your next poll. Thx

    1. It’s the same people were routing for John and Edwards, I suppose.

      I specifically use this site to escape that horrible show and now the names have invaded my joy of F1. How could you jm! :D

  6. You might just want to change the title of the article to something like: F1 Poll hacked by Finn fans, or something like that, tho.

    :P

  7. James Williams
    1st December 2009, 2:07

    Complete rubbish. Raikkonen fanboys voting for their driver, knowing fair well he was not the best. Cheat! Cheat!

    1. Soumya Banerjee
      17th May 2010, 15:42

      What about Hammy’s fanboys? What were they doing when this poll was published? Well frankly given Keith’s horribly biased opinion about Raikkonen im glad enough that he won this poll. And i never supported Kimi. Always was Fernando’s man.

  8. Rankarashiganja
    1st December 2009, 2:12

    Prisoner Monkeys, you mean Raikkonen FanGIRLS!

    I’m glad all this Kimi fangirl-ism soon going to be OVER! Good riddance!

  9. Please add one more vote for Kimi.

    I am a Kimi fan, and didn’t see this poll. :p

  10. If this poll has been manipulated two years in a row, why wasn’t anything done to prevent it?

    1. how can it be manipulated? one IP-one vote. maybe it’s just that more Kimi fans come to this site than fans of other drivers ;) well,Keith wasn’t glad about the result, so he had to say Kimi fans came and trashed the poll. but still,why didn’t massa boys come in flocks and vote for him? :D

      1. Because it isn’t about who has the most fans lol

      2. So how are we going to prevent Kimi fans from voting next time?

    2. That was a different subject – the question that time was “Who’s your favourite driver”:

      https://www.racefans.net/2008/07/14/which-f1-drivers-do-you-like-poll/

      Perhaps we should do a new poll asking that question again and see if all the fan clubs want to chip in?

  11. very funny with Badoer in the top 11 :)

    1. Terry Fabulous
      1st December 2009, 2:53

      Clearly the F1Rejects fans have been hijacking the website as well!

  12. I don’t what kinda grudge people have for kimi over here
    Why do u keep polls if u don’t want to accept people’s choice or opinion….Poll is a Poll…it doesn’t matter if the voter is from a Kimi community or whatever….there are many other comminities of other driver…..even they could have come to vote but they didnt.

    Why do these things come into ur minds when its all about kimi…

  13. Rahim, I think the point is that it’s not a wholly fair representation of a cross-section of viewpoints. It’s been skewed by a huge invasion of fans of one driver and therefore is pretty pointless. It’s not a vendetta against Kimi – that’s just paranoid.

  14. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the poll. It was fun. But a waste of time.

  15. I completely disagree with the result too, and couldn’t believe it when I saw it.

    Yet I am a Raikkonen (and Webber) fan myself.

    I voted for Button, but it was a close call between him and a few others for me.

    Just remember that not all Raikkonen fans are the same, and it annoys the hell out of me that a massive group of fans did this to sway the vote.

    1. What did they do precisely? Vote ,, well thats the point ,, no

      Dude – I m a KR fan myself and never voted on this poll …

  16. These people who flood polls are stupid.

    1. I think everything is very different if Hamilton or Button got the most number of votes. nuff said!

  17. I’m a huge Kimi fan but certainly don’t think he was the best driver this year. (I voted for Vettel, actually.)

    But this is all subjective. Everyone has an opinion that is coloured by their personal feelings, no matter how objective they try (or pretend) to be. I thought number 9 on Keith’s list was way too low for Kimi, but I think number 1 on the poll was too high!

    And for those people complaining about an influx of Kimi fans, some of us longtimers here have peaceably coexisted with all the Hamboys for several years now! ;)

    1. Vettel wasn’t the best driver either.

  18. It’s not like Keith is going to give him a trophy for winning.

    I know who I voted for and that’s my opinion and seeing Kimi at the top does not change my opinion. It doesn’t matter who else voted.

    The only way to prevent this in future is to allow only those who regularly visit the site to vote by having login \ password style of replies.

  19. o my word…..1414 for Kimi vs 540 for Hamilton!!! Brilliant….no wonder the Hamilton fans in here are not happy….and is trying to blame their hero’s unpopularity on fanatic Kimi fans…….GO KIMI

    1. Sure as hell …

      Nice to know that people recognise that Kimi is by far rthe bset on the grid…

      And i dont see any reason why people wud be crazy for Kimi if not for his driving skills because thats the only thing he has ,,

      Kimi dosent have the smooth PR skills of a Schumi nor can play to the gallery like a movie star aka Hamilton…

      He is loved because he is just so damn good IN THE CAR and not outside it like so many lesser mortals lining the grid !!

  20. While peoples opinions of who was the best driver in a season are always subjective, I think most would agree the results of this poll has been influenced by fanboys and people making jokey entries.

    The fanboy vote obviously affected the result, Raikkonen got almost three times the number of votes as Hamilton, Button and Vettel, while Kubica managed to get 204 votes, more than double that of Alonso, Barrichello and Webber and more than 10 times the votes of his teammate Heidfeld who outscored him in 2009.

    Then there were those who chose their votes on the basis of having a laugh, which meant Badoer managed to get in the top half of the rankings.

  21. Good to see the dedication of Kimi fans. I love the talk in their forum to make their hero wins the poll:

    Time to act

    https://www.racefans.net/2009/11/27/who-was-the-best-driver-of-2009-poll/

    guys here is the site where u can vote for the best driver of 2009 which is currently being led by Jenson followed

    by Lewis narrowly the results will be announced after 1000 votes i’ve voted and wanted to vote more but
    unfortunately only 1 vote is allowed for every IP. so i suggest u guys to vote here we r 30k+ members here only a tenth of this will get Iceman leading the list so i suggest whoever reads this thread votes too………

    27 nov (4 dias atrás)
    Shahzad
    if the above link is dead vote here http://bit.ly/78yqEn plz ensure this thread is in the top 4 at least till the results r out……….so whenever this thread is down just give it a little nudge………..

    27 nov (4 dias atrás)
    Aghilesh .
    Done

    27 nov (4 dias atrás) Kimish ~

    This is not gonna help.

    27 nov (4 dias atrás) Harvy

    done . hey we can change ip and vote . just disconnect the net and reconnect ip will change . you cancheck by going to any site which shows your current ip example isc.

  22. This isn’t an anti-Kimi anti-Kimi fan discussion. It’s just to me it seems that a few hard-core fans have basically fixed this poll. It is pointless. If people have a favourite and want to vote for them then fine but don’t do it to fix it a vote do it because they believe they are the best.
    This isn’t representitive if just a load of fans from one specific site flood a poll.
    Any fan group could have done this the issue isn’t about Kimi. I believe it is just about a poll which is now been influenced to such an extent that it doesn;t reveal much about the 09 season. If there are genuinely that many votes for Kimi for the right reasons then good for him but anything else doesn’t do this site or even Kimi any favours.
    There does seem to be a few drivers who have a mass of fans. Alonso’s seem to be quiet at the minute (maybe not in Spain I’m not sure) is it because of Singapore? Or am I just noticing the others more?

    1. That’s the thing – judging by some of the comments posted already on here (many by names unfamiliar to me, and I’ve been around for a few months), many seem to think this blatantly skewed poll actually vindicates their opinion and somehow makes it fact and gives them a whole new excuse to spam with “KIMI IS THE BEST” messages and slate fans of/other drivers.

      Had Hamilton come out on top like this, I would have been disgusted with my fellow fans. Thankfully a few sane Kimi fans have repudiated the “legitimacy” (it’s only a poll after all) of the result.

  23. Thanks Becken….some good info there!!! Did you ever think that Kimi fans voted for him because he WAS the best driver in 2009….doing what he did in a crappy car, while other driver’s cars got developed throughout the season and yet Kimi still managed to get some of the most points in the second part of the season…..I am not trying to convince anybody of my opion because I believe everybody has a right to his/her own opinion….but facts are facts!!!

    1. Exactly it is opinion but say we got a load of Massa fans or Alonso there would still be an outcry as it may not be as representitive. You don’t just go to a load of fans and say ‘was your driver the best out of this lot?’ because the answer is pretty predicitible. Kimi may have been the best and great if people think so but now it doesn;t show that. We aren’t discussing whether he was the best just whether the poll was fixed which ruins the entire point.

  24. WTH!!! Just coz KR won the poll such a huge outcry!! Keith is giving out trophies or sumthin??People voted- thats what you do in a poll I believe.

  25. Keith, that is complete bull**** – what you have wrote at the top of the page.

    I’m sorry, but even without the forum’s impact, Kimi would’ve won. And he deserves it. Yes, Button and Hamilton drove absoloutly superbly this year, but Kimi made the most of a completely crap car and that is why he deserves it.

  26. Well, isn’t this a very good lesson on the reliability of poll results…

    … Kimi fans: yelling louder than people who disagree with you won’t make you more right.

  27. you brits are weird just because things didn’t go your way.i actually voted for button even though i’am a kimi fan.most kimi fans do know who was the best driver in 2009.if your going to coomplain about it shut the website down,acting like sad little kids

    1. This has nothing to do with ‘things going our way’, it’s more about wanting to see the real reaction of a full cross-section on fans, not a vast majority of fans of one driver.

      I didn’t vote in the poll but I was interested in the result and genuinely surprised when the headline above popped into my Reader. The fact that a thousand ‘outsiders’ were encouraged to come and vote for their guy renders what could have been an interesting and provocative poll completely pointless, and I think that’s why some people – not just the Brits thankyou very much – are getting irate. As irate, I might add, as some Kimi fans are getting in their defence of their hero.

  28. If 1500 people really think Kimi was the best driver in 2009 then I’ve lost faith in humanity.

    1. I m so sorry to hear that!

  29. To misquote Alain Prost (on Ayrton Senna): “If they want (to win the poll) that badly, they can have it.”

  30. I am a Kimi fan and I did not vote as I thought all of them were pretty average this year.No major standouts performance wise.Would have voted Lewis though if he had not been involved in the Liegate saga.If it freaks you guys out this much just discard the Kimi results and compare the standings of the runner-ups.

  31. Polls like this and threads on F1 forums across the internet are being spoiled by desperate Raikkonen fans at the moment to the point where it’s hardly worth participating in them. Hopefully the WRC sites can ‘enjoy’ their input from next year onwards.

    I’m in thee minds on which way to vote : Hamilton, Vettel, or Button. All have their strengths and weaknesses, but i’ll probably end up voting for Hamilton purely for his performances from Germany onwards.

  32. Raikkonen???? I needed a laugh….

    1. Now we know how many family members Luca Badoer has got……

  33. Are you sure the Nakajima fan club (all five of them) hasn’t done the same thing.

  34. So Lewis won then? Good on him, he did well. I believe he did far more with his bad McLaren than Kimi did with his bad Ferrari.

    Divide Kimi’s score by 3, and that places him 4th in this list, which seems about right to me.

    1. Totally agree with your logic. It would be wrong to disregard all of Kimi’s votes, but by dividing it by 3 (as about two thirds were probably fanboy/girl votes) makes sense.

  35. GO KIMI!!!!! even after you left F1, you still winning the pols!!!!!!

  36. @ajokay…divide it by 2 (take half of his votes away)….and he still wins…what a silly argument…we can play with numbers all day and get all sorts of different outcomes (and I am an accountant, so we can go ALL DAY)….

    1. Cheers for clarifying what dividing by 2 means…

      Lets divide you by 0, then you might go away.

      1. pleasure mate…let me know if I can clarify anything else for you!

  37. kimi is number 1 ! even if tat prob didnt occur im sure he would be top! lik me and my friends are from Britain and we r all kimi supporters! people need 2 get over themselves and face up to the fact tat kimis fan base world wide is in a different league to every other driver!

  38. It is quite funny that some people seem so bitter about an internet poll.

    The fact of matter is most of the championship contenders were quite average during the year with their superior cars. The only drivers who really stood out were Hamilton and Raikkonen.

    Raikkonen made much less mistakes then Hamilton, Button, Vettel, and Barrichello. He outscored Button, Vettel, Barrichello and Webber in the second half of the season, all of them had way superior cars then the underdeveloped F60. Hamilton also did well during that time and he scored only two points more then Raikkonen also with a superior car, and many people don’t have any problem to name him as the top driver of the year.

    Raikkonen deserves to be the top driver of the year just as much as any of the other ‘top’ drivers mentioned above and in fact more then others in many of the cases.

  39. I’m an Alonso fan, but that doesn’t mean I thought he was the best this year. For me it was between Hamilton and Button, and I voted Button on the basis of Hamilton telling porkies at Melbourne and his somewhat patchy form at the start of the year.

    I’m still an Alonso fan and always will be, voting for another driver doesn’t change that at all. I also like Rosberg, Heidfeld, Massa, Trulli and Webber, and I actually dislike Hamilton some what. Does that mean any of the drivers I just mentioned were better this year? No, because Hamilton was mostly brilliant this season. If the Kimi fans think that the massive skew in voting means he is the best driver of the year so be it, but this poll also shows that Luca Badoer drove better this year than Rosberg and Heidfeld…

  40. Keith you might want to look at this. Could be talkng about this site and issue :P
    http://runoffarea.co.uk/2009/12/01/fia-acknowledge-poll-crown-raikkonen/

    1. hahahahahaha, brilliant.

    2. That is brilliant. Very funny indeed.

      I really do think it’s a shame that the rest of this thread could not take the same light-hearted approach to the poll.

      All of you, whether you be Kimi fans or otherwise, chillax. Really.

      Disclosure : I am a rabid Kimi fan, have been motor racing since I was a kid and watching F1 just as long. I still think Kimi was definitely in the top three drivers this year regardless of the result of the Championship, or this poll, but certainly don’t see why so many people are getting so hot under the collar here.

    3. Thanks Steph!

      Indeed, I did not have to look too far for inspiration….

      1. It was brilliant Andy. Really made me laugh so thanks!

  41. We may have to make changes in future to make sure future polls are a fair reflection of what regular F1 Fanatic readers think

    I am against that idea, its a xenophobic attitude and only creates an “US” and “THEM” attitude within the regulars and outsiders, hostilities ensue. Possible new readers then don’t bother coming back.

  42. Is there anyone else thinking this has gone a bit mad? I don’t know whether I am amused or not. It isn;t about fanbases. Like in 07 I loved Massa but at times he was clueless against Kimi and not on form we see now. Can admit that as it is about who drives the best not who is the coolest

  43. this poll has nothing to do with Kimi himself, it’s just all his fans… Im a fan of him, but don’t blame Kimi…

  44. Imagine we “disqualified” Kimi – the places would be:

    1 Lewis Hamilton 540
    2 Jenson Button 534
    3 Sebastian Vettel 501
    4 Robert Kubica 204
    5 Fernando Alonso 98

    Which, apart from Kubica, seems very reasonable to me, even though it wouldn’t be my choice.

    I don’t know what’s funnier – the madness of the poll or the Kimi fans who have come on here actually believing he was the best. I mean, respect opinions and everything, but it’s kinda funny how conveniently selective their reasoning has been. Kudos to Kimi fans who voted for someone else; had Lewis had the season Kimi did, I wouldn’t have voted for him.

    1. But Hamilton only scored 2 points more than Kimi in the last part of the season with a better car….so if you look at it from that angle he had a worse season than Kimi….so sad that you have just proven your own comments wrong….

      1. And in the first half of the season Kimi scored the same as Lewis in a better car while Massa had 22…read what you will.

  45. Ladies and Gentlemen, I’ve got an idea!

    Lets register to all these forums dedicated to one driver each, and when next year comes around create threads on them linking to this site.

    Keith gets more traffic that way, and its even because not a single driver has more support that way.

  46. It was a fix-up gov…

    1. Let’s have a poll for the most rigged poll on here lol…

  47. It’s only legitimate if Hamilton or Button wins……..right.

  48. why cause they r british? im british and think the right man won!

  49. Pedel to the Vettel
    1st December 2009, 16:39

    What you need is a addon that you ask who is their favorite driver and stop them being able to vote for that driver in polls. Also stop having the voting allowed for non members to stop fanboys voting.

    Or you find 100 people on your site that you believe wont be biased and just let them vote. I’m not biased, i might be a vettel fan but i voted for Button in that poll got actual reasons.

    1. Dude, you are SO biased, you just like to talk about those other people, you know THE biased ones. Going by your posts, you think that if someone likes a driver that you don’t (e.g. Hamilton) they must be a fanboy.

      1. Pedel to the Vettel
        1st December 2009, 23:16

        No you just don’t like being called a fanboy, if you want to call me a fanboy thats fine by me because im not, it looks to me you have a bigger issue with this then i do since what your typing is if your anybody who doesn’t like Hamilton your biased without a question? I might not like Hamilton compared to other drivers it doesn’t mean 100% i will ignore what he has done over this year, so plz keep your half baked insults to yourself.

        So who did you vote for then “Dude”? since your not biased at all………….

        You and me wouldn’t be having this conversation if i didnt have a picture of vettel or have this name there are such things as people who like a certain driver but still give a good opinion to these forums and don’t have a ton of arrogance chucking insults at people making judgements.

        You have no idea who i am or what i think but your just a person who jumps to judge a person wayyyyyy to early kid.

        1. Well, seems to me that the person who brands a whole swath of people as biased if they hold a certain opinion before even hearing that opinion is rather the one who jumps to judgments…

        2. Last one I swear! For your info: it’s got nothing to do with your nick or picture. And I voted for Button, just so you know.

        3. Jraybay-Lewismclarenfan
          2nd December 2009, 17:39

          We’re all a little biased. It is just blown out of proportion when you like the frontrunners. If I voted for Buemi and went on about how he did an excellent job. I’m sure some would find a way to agree. I had a tough time choosing between Hamilton, Vettel, Or barrichello.

  50. Now i see what Prost meant when he said that F1 will miss Kimi coz he has so huge fanbase all over the world.

  51. …. heh i dont mean the poll results, but comments you all have made here.

    I think that Kimi is pure racer and that makes him interesting, and the thing that he comes from small country and has given hard time to guys like DC and Massa… also makes him easy to hate. (and Hammi by point, and Alonso by point)

    Love him or hate him but he should have a seat at F1.

  52. Why do you even bother organizing these polls if you don’t like the results?

    1. Jraybay-Lewismclarenfan
      1st December 2009, 18:41

      This poll was organized for one vote of your choice pilot. But some guys make many votes for Kimi based on popularity. The results are kind of inaccurate. Keith wants to prevent this kind of thing for the future polls.

  53. Jraybay-Lewismclarenfan
    1st December 2009, 18:37

    It’s not a real representation of Kimi’s 2009 season. This poll ended up being about the ridiculous Raikkonen fans. But the same can be said for everyone who thinks Robert kubica is “the best” and vote for him. Sometimes it seems like the most popular driver wins….even though maybe they shouldn’t :\ . Fan clubs support who they support. It seems like many people here like to see a fair poll though, that’s good : D

  54. Wow! Talk about bringing out the fanboys…

    I think Kimi was great fun to watch this year, but I dont think he deserves the top spot. I think Hamilton was the most exciting to watch, but Button was clearly the best all-around performer. Just my opinions.

  55. I just noticed that Robert Kubica got 5th! How is that even possible?! This is definitely a popularity contest…

  56. Didn’t Keith put Alonso way up his “driver rankings” in 08′, for making a good show of a lousy car? Why Kimi shouldn’t be rated as high, I don’t know. Bias?

      1. Soumya Banerjee
        17th May 2010, 15:55

        Which is bull**** biased for your kind opinion. You have so kindly noticed that Kubica suffered a crash in Australia(which was his fault anyway) but when Kimi’s KERS short circuited in Sepang it probably got moody bcoz of Kimi’s lack of motivation. Im sure thats what you mean. Why havent you put in even one good word for Kimi in that stupidly biased article? Why do non-brits even follow this goddamn site?

  57. Yes and Button third! I mean for gods sake he’s worse than Fisi.

  58. This is exactly why I find little interest in these articles. Keith, I would prefer to sticking with real news and gossip, rather than easily manipulated polls.

    But I may be in the minority.

    1. In my experience, polls tend not to get manipulated in this way. The exception until now had been the “Who’s your favourite driver” poll, which on reflection left itself open to this kind of abuse.

      Whether this sort of thing is going to be more of a problem in the future I’m not sure. Aside from this one and the “favourite” poll I think the other polls we’ve had have reflected very well how most F1 fans feel about particular topics: whether its the best circuits, races or whatever (see the archive for more: https://www.racefans.net/credits-and-contacts/pollsarchive/). Drivers and teams will probably always be trickier to poll on, and I think we may need a more sophisticated solution for that. Suggestions welcome…

      1. suggestions?

        hey! u don’t have to worry about it for next year..considering the number of people having something against Kimi, m jus glad he s outta F1!!

  59. I think you’ll find the majority of site-users will automatically vote for their ‘favourite’ driver in a poll like this.

    End of. There’s no way this can be restricted.

  60. Why can’t people just accept that someone else thought Raikkonen was driver of the year? Okay i’m sure the majority of those votes were just from fanboys, but people here and on other sites are finding it ridiculous that he is the driver of the year and I don’t understand why… If he had a year like 2008 again I’d be the first one to admit he was one of the worst drivers this year, but he didn’t.

    In fact he did a great job, like I have said before on this site, he was equal on points to Hamilton in the first half of the season with a superior car, but he was only one point shy of Hamilton in the second half in a car which had no right to win races, when McLaren had a car which could have won 5 races this year if they had better luck or if Lewis/McLaren didn’t mess up (Monaco/Germany/Valencia/Hungary and Singapore..)

    So what does that say about Hamiltons efforts then? They were both great, better than the title contenders in my opinion, but it is just that, my opinion and I respect other peoples opinions unless it is just silly like saying Raikkonen was crap this year.

  61. You ask for the best driver of the season and get sad when Kimi wins?

    What was the question supposed to be?
    1. Who was the best? (Ranking wise? we don’t need a poll for that)
    2. …..the best? (Podiums, Pole positions etc.. again, no poll required)
    3. …..the best (Driving wise, Handling the car(considering how good/bad the car was, Kimi wins, hands down)

    What is itching you lot? Taking out your frustrations at Kimi’s fanbase? I say, its coz of the third reason above that they voted for him and that’s perfectly legitimate. Thank you and Good Night Pansy!

  62. Kimi did a very good job in a bad car, so there is no reason why people shouldn’t be allowed to vote for him.
    From James Allen: “Even the Ferrari engineers don’t fully understand how he managed to get some of the podiums he did based on the performance of his car, compared to the opposition.”
    Even Martin Whitmarsh praised some of Kimi’s performances.

    Last year I voted for Kubica for much the same reason, why I voted for Kimi this year. This year for me could have gone to either Kimi or Lewis, but Kimi made much less mistakes. It is always difficult to determine who did the best with the cars they had, and people will never really agree. But personally I believe Kimi really got the most out of the car he had, compared to the others and the machinery at everyone’s disposal. Most often the car wasn’t really fast enough by right for podium places, and the development also stopped quite early, but somehow Kimi managed it.

  63. This isn’t a question of people having something against Kimi or not liking the result of a poll! Enough already!</strong

    What reasonable people who would like to come here and discuss F1 in an enjoyable way have a problem with are mobs of fans of one driver who flood a poll to prove that their guy is somehow better, when all the poll is meant to do is reflect how people ON AVERAGE think drivers did during the year. Sheesh!

    1. Pedel to the Vettel
      1st December 2009, 23:33

      Your sounding like a big baby now with the bold letters trying to proove a point.

      Anybody who likes a driver in your eyes cant have a valid opinion like me for instance.

      I’m not biased, just because of my name and picture, because:

      1: I voted for Button in this pole.

      2: I didn’t vote Vettel i would of placed him 4th at best.

      3:I have watched Formula 1 wayyyyyy before Vettel came around.

      5:So what if i said Hamilton doesn’t deserve to be in the top 10, he bloody cheated……so that instantly makes me biased?

      Do yourself a favour and take a chill pill since all your doing is being condescending and causing more problems let the fanboys have their pointless poll.

      I want to talk with actual F1 fans on these forums but i cant because im being told im biased and cant say my opinion and all i have to talk with is Fanboy haters, Ferrari haters, Mclaren haters, Hamilton haters, Schumacher haters, Murray Walker haters etc….its fking boring and your not helping the matter.

      1. umm, dude, I said that you were biased because you basically said that anyone who thought that Hamilton did well this year was a biased fanboy… which kind cuts any sort of open discussion before it even starts. no?

        But as for not helping matters, well I agree; see my own response to myself below.

        1. Pedel to the Vettel
          2nd December 2009, 0:07

          Look i dont care about people voting for Hamilton aslong it’s an actual reason and not just being a fanboy. Maybe i didn’t type clear enough what i was on about with Hamilton that time, but all i was trying to say was linked to a situation like which has happened here now with the whole influx of Kimi votes.

          I dont know how many UK people including myself go on this fourm and how many of them are Hamilton fans im not sure.

          Hamilton does have one of the biggest if not the biggest fanbase in Formula 1. All i was trying to say was in better detail sorry if i sounded a jerk last time, was maybe “if” Hamilton got so far infront on votes, that it should be cut to a certain point to make a realistic number to be a fair vote.

          I really meant to say something like this for a example: 10 Hamilton fans from the UK 3/10 votes for another driver being the best but the other 7/10 just vote for Hamilton regardless. Im not trying to say thats what it is and im completly right. I just think the more popular drivers should have certain restrictions on polls.

          AKA having members have to put down their favorite drivers to be allowed to cast votes. So me for instance eventhough in my eyes im not biased, I should not be allowed to vote for Vettel in any poll and blocked from doing so to select it, and then evening out the poll alot more.

          Also members should only be able to vote in these polls, its not that hard to become a member here since Keith likes the attention.

          But you must admit the most people non-members who go on this site are from the UK and are Hamilton fans since this is in English. I could be wrong no big deal if i am.

          1. No hard feelings, man. I’ve been overly present in these poll discussions anyways.

            It’s just that I have a low tolerance for people who can’t just share and discuss without doing dumb things like skewing a poll.

            It’s not about the poll as such anyways. I don’t care who wins, that’s what I tried to get across in my rant, that flooding the poll is just a pointless way to ruin an enjoyable discussion-starter.

            There’s no way to know, for me anyways, where “casual voters” come from, or who’s their favourite, etc.

            Since these Kimi discussions started there’s been a whole bunch of new names popping up here, which is a good thing in itself, it’s just that far too many of these posts have this in-your-face tone about them, which just really tends to get under my skin and I end up writing rants.

            Anyhoo, no insults meant to you, Pedel, I just don’t like pointless aggressivity. But I don’t think I’ve been helping the discussion, indeed. In fact, I’ve commented much more on the state of the discussion than the sport. Alright, that’s enough from me then.

        2. Jraybay-Lewismclarenfan
          2nd December 2009, 17:43

          But Hamilton did alright. It is overshadowed by monza and australia of course ;)

      2. Murray Walker haters? There’s no such thing, surely!? :)

    2. Gah, I did it again. Trying to talk sense to people who can’t string a proper sentence together. I really gotta stop doing that.

      Perhaps if you ignore them they go away…

  64. Lol. Boo-hoo-hoo. Your little poll may have gotten some extra votes from Kimi fans. Big deal.
    Im sure most people generally voted for the driver they liked best anyway.

  65. In that entire article there was not one mention of KR’s performance over the year. The whole thing was just an explanation of how he managed to win the poll unfairly!

    1. well, since he beat both Britain’s heroes, what did you expect ?:)

  66. Tell you guys what, let us see how he does next… oh silly me, we can’t because he is too greedy. Too bad.

    1. Let’s just clear this one up because it keeps raising it’s ugly head:

      Kimi’s job is to race. It’s how he earns his living, and he gets paid well to do it. This year he had two options. Take a pay cut and keep racing in F1, or keep his higher pay and go race in a rally car. Both sports he loves, and both sports will have him, gladly.

      In the second option, not only does he still get paid because of his existing F1 contracts, he also has the opportunity to get paid via rallying, and develop his career further doing something he has already shown an interest in, and may well be something he does long after he leaves F1.

      If he had taken the Mclaren deal not only would he not have been able to do extra-curricular rallying, he would have been paid less money. So overall his 2010 season would be restrictive to him both professionally and personally, and he would have been earning less money. With any other team who was able to offer him a seat he would immediately relegate himself to B team status, and be earning even less money. When you remember that this is his profession, and his business, and he has quite a lot of business ventures / investors / sponsors to keep happy, he made what can only be considered to be the correct professional decision.

      In 2011 there will be a plethora of teams which would be happy to take him back in F1, just as there were for next year. Heck, F1 has considered rally and motor bike racers this year who’ve never even touched an F1 car before.. What does that say to you?

      In the same situation I or anyone else would most likely go with the higher paying option (if this was our job).

      Finally let’s remember Kimi does this because he loves it, and because he gets paid, not to keep spectators or journalists happy, and not to spend his time going backwards in terms of his own personal development.

      1. If he loved F1 as much as you say, he would have taken the pay cut.

        If he does go back in 2011, it will be with a “B team” and for less money. And that is not what he wants. So he won’t be back.

        Kimi wants double the salary, for just racing the car. You can’t have that, you have to keep the sponsors happy. You know, the sponsors who pay his salary…

        If it was me, I would gladly take the pay cut for the chance to win another championship and I would still be earning at least 10mil.

        1. The thing is you’re an F1 fan, not someone who’s office is an F1 car.

          Based on your logic you’d happily do whatever job you do now for half the pay you’re getting today for the next 12 months in an environment that is less supportive and with tools that are not as good as you currently have, right?

          No, I didn’t think so.

          1. Oh, and I forgot to mention you’d give up your hobbies and do twice the admin you currently have to do as well on top of all that?

          2. Being a Formula 1 driver is not a normal office job. You need motivation, will and drive to stay competitive in F1. Something that Kimi seemed to have lost in 2008.

            Based on my logic, you would still be doing what you love, challenging for wins, and still earning a lot of money.

            Oh, and funny that he only considered McLaren then, for the less support and crap tools.

            Kimi through his chance away, and won’t get another one.

          3. McPhil, you are still seeing it from the perspective of a fan, and unfortunately that means that your arguments are based in emotion rather than logic. So it’s pointless trying to debate you.

  67. Raikkonen has the biggest fan club..so such pole would surely put him on the top…i think rather than criticizing the people who voted,one should find another way of making the poll results better which reflect the true picture.i follow this orkut community of Kimi Raikkonen and yes there are 30k members there.but everyone has the right to vote.i think only the f1fanatic registered forum members should be allowed to vote..other than that i have to say putting Raikkonen on 9th in the drivers standing wasnt fair either.Massa,rosberg,rubens,alonso all are behind Raikkonen in terms of performance this year..and there are some people who dont respect that and look at the other aspects of kimi raikkonen.i think they should not bring those aspects in kimi’s driving.thats all i have to say.

  68. Okay guys – You win. Button is better than Kimi. It took him 113 races to win because all the crazy Raikkonen fans sabotaged him! Pgghhh!

    It does seem like some of the folks commenting are pretty new to F1. Anyone with some sense could see the F60 was a monster to drive. Not to mention the fact that development was halted halfway into the season. Okay, we don’t have to agree that Kimi was the best driver of 2009,but he did pretty damn well! At least have the balls to admit that.

    Button was not the best driver this year. He is good, but Ross Brawn is the one that made this possible. I can think of quite a few drivers who would have done as well, probably better, given the package Jenson Button had to work with.

    For just the 2nd half of the season – I would definitely go with Kimi. Overall – Vettel. Had the Red Bull reliability been just slightly better, we’d of had a German champ this year. Period.

  69. Ps. I don’t see anyone getting stuck into the 3 guys that voted for Romain Grosjean?!!! He most certainly was not the best driver of 2009!

  70. i agree with our post up there! if button drove the f60 he wouldnt of got 1 point! ross brawn give him the ultimate car and jensen button needs a perfect car to race! tats y he wil be a flop at mclaren! hamilton not even have 2 try against him! button tinks hes something hes not im afraid! he may have the title but hes way down my list of talented drivers! ross brawn should have got most of the credit hes a genius! ross brawn should won the pole but if i was 2 pick i would pick kimi!

  71. It’s the internet people what do you expect!

    Users are free to express their own feelings, if more Kimi fans register their vote then that’s the result.

    I’m a Kimi fan but I know that he doesn’t deserve this title, he did well with a car that was very difficult to drive but he and his car wasn’t that good.

  72. Pedel to the Vettel
    2nd December 2009, 13:38

    Well atleast we know how many to cut down next time if this is going to be a public vote, since i dont remember Kimi being anyware nere the top 3 until this got linked. I say open the poll back up again and link it to other fanboy sites to make it fairer.

    1. Jraybay-Lewismclarenfan
      2nd December 2009, 17:48

      Are you saying put a cap on the votes? You might be replying to someone else and I could be wrong. Apologies. And fanboys outside of this website shouldn’t be allowed to come in here and flood the polls. But you can’t stop them from doing so. Only the raik fans would do something like this anyway ;P . This is an excellent community here :^D .

  73. Why don’t you just put the 2009 drivers points table instead of that poll to stop the irritating issues on this poll?

  74. WRC must be well pleased that Kimi will be bringing so many fans along with him. Get those thermos flasks out!

  75. Can’t you people just accept that many people thought that he was the best driver of the year. For goodness sakes, give it a rest. Even though one of the Kimi communities voted for him, it is still a fair vote. They obviously thought that he was the best driver of the year, and I would say if he wasn’t at the top he should have been very near.
    Ferrari provided him with an awful car this year, and he did an excellent job, scoring many podiums and endless points. So from my point of view he deserves to be near the top. And if you are going to say he didn’t start the season well, you could easily say the same about Button when he had a lacklustre middle of the season – I didn’t see the media bullying Button saying he had lost motivation. Everyone has always bullied Raikkonen, and I think it is an absolute disgrace.
    For the record, the top three should be Button, Raikkonen, Hamilton.

    Im sorry, but this site is also obviously very biased and opinionated. You can’t place Kimi 9th, Keith, just because he didn’t start performing great until Massa had gone.

    1. But that’s the thing: Massa clearly had the best of Kimi for a year and a half. So Kimi’s results after Massa was injured are in themselves difficult to evaluate. The trend suggests, to me anyways, that Massa would have kept scoring better – therefore, perhaps, and I do say perhaps, Kimi’s second half was not as good as Massa’s absence made it look?

      1. Or perhaps the team finally got behind Kimi once Massa was out of the picture.

        I am not arguing with your viewpoint Maciek, because the observations you make do speak for themselves, and this is coming from me as a Kimi fan.

        However, as someone who has been watching Kimi’s career for a long time, and have followed the problems he has had at Ferrari, it was very clear (particularly in early 2009) that Ferrari made some schoolboy errors with strategy on Kimi’s side of the garage, as well as produced a car two years running that was not suited to Kimi’s style of driving. Sure, for the latter part he should have worked harder to adapt, but overall what team work there was at Ferrari in 2008 / 2009 was focussed very heavilly on their wonder-child and not Kimi – and a lot of that had to do with Schumacher.

        Watch next year and see Ferrari implode once Alonso is there and I think to some extent my comments will make more sense. Alonso won’t tolerate being second best in any team, and unlike Kimi he won’t simply “get on with it”, he’ll fight, and he’ll question decisions, and in the end Ferrari will either fall into line behind him, or implode. THe one intelligent thing Ferrari have done for next year is get a driver who is a leader. Kimi never went there to be a leader, he went there to drive fast, that’s all he has ever wanted to do.

        1. Watch next year and see Ferrari implode once Alonso is there and I think to some extent my comments will make more sense. Alonso won’t tolerate being second best in any team

          My view exactly.

        2. I have a slightly hard time, though, with arguments that Ferrari favoured Massa. For one thing, why would they not favour their World Champ? We’re not talking about Massa having a “natural” advantage over KImi within the team, as with less balanced driver pairings. Second, as for car development, well that’s a two-way street. You can’t just wait for the team to design the car around you if you don’t contribute to that development. I don’t know what the situation really was like with Kimi at Ferrari, but he’s had a reputation of not contributing much info to his engineers for quite some time.

          I like to think that I have the luxury of not being a fan of any particular team or driver (with a slight weak spot for Kubica, what with being Polish and all) – I try to look at things with open eyes, digest what I see and then draw some conclusions. Which doesn’t make my views any less subjective, mind you. But what I’ve seen from Raikkonen is a driver who was very exciting to watch in a car that gave out far too often, then got a solid car in which he eeked out a WDC, then lost his motivation to perform and gained it back only when he realised he had to secure a new contract for next year.

          Finally, before this brouhaha over the poll started the discussion over Kimi here was divided, but it was a discussion. Thing is, no one here, from memory, has ever questioned Kimi’s natural talent – rather the contrary – but, as in any and all sports, and all walks of life, it takes more than natural talent to win.

          1. Well for the Ferrari thing you’d have to delve into a lot of the politics at the team. I think Kimi did fall down on two things. He expected Ferrari to build him a better car, and he expected to be the number one driver, no questions. Neither of those things happened.

            I am not a big Massa fan, nor particularly of Shumi (although I respect his talent – less so the cheating), and I actually loathe Ferrari as a team.

            I’d say your observations of Kimi’s career are pretty close to the mark, *except* that Ferrari did not give him a solid car as such, and the team was a shambles ( in terms of strategy and pit lane cock ups) for most of the time he was there. Those two things contributed to ruin both Massa and Kimi’s point scoring at crucial points in all the seasons they have been teammates.

            I think things would have been a lot different if Kimi had stayed at Mclaren. But hindsight is 20-20, as they say, and at the time they didn’t seem to be able to build a car which could go the distance.

            On a side note I think that anyone who doubts Kimi’s talent is simply not very familiar with F1. His talent is not really up for debate.

      2. Well it’s not that “clearly”.

        Raikkonen was doing a lot better than Massa at the start of 2008. I think before he got rammed by Hamilton in Canada, Raikkonen was even leading the WDC. He would have won that race too and would even been further ahead of Massa.

        Then Raikkonen struggled a while with the car in qualifying. After that (starting at Spa) he was faster than Massa again by miles. He had to make up for lost time and took too much risks (crashing out a lot)

        So at best you could say Massa was “clearly” better than Raikkonen in 5 or 6 races in 2008.

        The first half of this season, Massa wasn’t better than Raikkonen at all. It’s simply impossible to make a comparison. Raikkonen’s car broke down more often than not. The strategies failed. Both drivers had qualifying problems.

        There is just no way you can call it either way.

        Kimi has been doing a reasonable job at Ferrari. Just not good enough to grant his bizarre paycheck. So he had to go. They went to look for a new “hero”.

        I’m a big fan of Kimi. He might not be the best driveroverall, but he’s one of the few who actually provides entertaintment ON TRACK. He overtakes a lot and he is always pushing (indeed sometimes too much for his own good).

        I do think it’s incredibly lame for the fanboys to flood the local vote we were having here.

        No one care who wins, but we are a group of people wo chat together and we like to know who “we as a group” think is best. Not some bunch of lameass finns coming in to skew the vote in a last minute event. Kimi got something like 1200 votes in the last few days and only 200 before.

        It’s like debating with your family which color would look good in the livingroom and in come 1200 people who all love blue and they start screaming blue is the best color. It’s annoying behavior.

        1. It’s like debating with your family which color would look good in the livingroom and in come 1200 people who all love blue and they start screaming blue is the best color

          Gotta say, that’s probably the best take yet on this whole thing.

          1. Pedel to the Vettel
            5th December 2009, 22:03

            i second that opinion

  76. Stephen Northcott, perhaps that is the perspective you should be looking at it from. Because he is letting you down by what he did.

    Sorry if my views are from a fan’s perspective, but that is what I am, a fan. And so are you.

    1. I am a fan. I am also a racing driver.
      I’ve been both for as long as I can remember.

      Kimi has given a lot of people a lot of excitement (and frustration) during his F1 career. But at the end of the day it’s his career and his life, and I respect that. I don’t subscribe to any view that we the fans have or should have any sway over people’s lives, their choices, or whatever…

      Would I rather he was in F1 next year. Sure.
      Am I going to stop watching F1 because he has left. No.

      I wish Kimi well in whatever his future holds, and whatever decisions he makes. If I had wanted a pet I would have got a dog. :)

  77. KIMI IS THE BEST WHENEVER HE STAY OR LEAVE F1

    1. ^ It must be true because it’s in caps. Case closed it would seem…

  78. Autosport are reporting that Kimi’s WRC deal is to be announced shortly.

  79. Maybe the next poll should be: “Best Ice Cream Eating F1 Driver of 2009” ?

    1. maybe it should, that’d be so much fun…atleast he’s not a driver with a stick up his behind eh…

  80. I do think it’s incredibly lame for the fanboys to flood the local vote we were having here.

    No one care who wins, but we are a group of people wo chat together and we like to know who “we as a group” think is best. Not some bunch of lameass finns coming in to skew the vote in a last minute event. Kimi got something like 1200 votes in the last few days and only 200 before.

    It’s like debating with your family which color would look good in the livingroom and in come 1200 people who all love blue and they start screaming blue is the best color. It’s annoying behavior.

    So if someone voted for Kimi they are lame? I think I have given a very good reason or account of myself in fine detail for why I have voted for Kimi. And that is properly more important, as long as someone can give a good account of themselves for voting the way they did.
    The fact of the matter is that no one this year really had a full perfect season, all the drivers were only really good in one half of the season, some in the second half and some in the beginning of the year. Kimi made much less mistakes then many of the others and he also had his fair share of bad luck. Kimi really got the most out of the car he was driving. Ferrari stopped development very early on but Kimi kept up the performances, if it wasn’t for Kimi’s performances, Ferrari wouldn’t even have had a chance at 3rd in the championship until the end. I cant see why some people think it is so very unreasonable to vote for Kimi. On the Autosport forum for example Kimi was voted the second best driver of the year. (So no change of people from other places voting).

    It is also not difficult to see why Kimi is so interested in rallying, he has properly grown-up with rallying. Rallying has always been huge in Finland, in fact it is properly more popular then F1. So from Kimi’s frame of reference he properly sees F1 and WRC as the same only a different discipline of racing. It will be quite difficult for Kimi in WRC with almost no experine, but he entered F1 in much the same way. Everyone in WRC is also really excited about having Kimi, and there is less media focus will suit him just fine. I wouldn’t be surprised if he enjoy rallying so much that he never wants to return to F1.

  81. Bullocks! As it seems there are some fan boys and fan girls among us.

    1. Who seem to have very good communication with one another. :)

      Or maybe there’s another way to vote so many times by not so many people? hmmm, I wonder..

      1. Let’s just get this clear: Not everyone who has written posts on here supporting Kimi are fanboys. And haven’t you realised that not everybody has the same opinion as you. So just get over it.

  82. Well here’s some interesting tidbits about the impression Kimi left at Ferrari, though I’m sure I’ll lots about how none of that is his fault…
    http://www.autoevolution.com/news/alonso-already-more-popular-at-ferrari-than-raikkonen-14030.html

  83. This has to be a joke or a farwell gift, right ?!…. lol

  84. http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_news_item.php?fes_art_id=39644

    Well, it seems like Kimi was driving a lot better then many people thought. ;)

    1. Absolutely. The car was an absolute Dog from race one in 2009.
      It was very clear to see. Something I was saying throughout the season, and emphasized to people as soon as I saw Fisi having the same problems as Luca.

      Credit to both Massa and Kimi for their ability to drive it competitively at all. It’s very very revealing to read that article. Thanks for the link.

      I honestly think the only other driver in F1 who could have got as much out of the Ferrari as Kimi and Massa is probably Alonso, which will make next year all the more interesting when Ferrari produce their third dud F1 car in a row…

  85. Kimi is a Champ in my books, look for the ice mans comeback to F1 in 2011 with his currant employer. i missed the poll but i would have voted for Mr. Kimi any way.

  86. Whats the betting that BUTTON will win the BBC sports personality of the year this december 2009.
    The person i feel sorry for is the superior driver Lewis hamilton, who has twice finished runner up in the BBC sports perosnality of the year, despite being the youngest ever formula1 champion.If Button wins the BBC award no one can ever tell me that the public are not a bit racist, because there is no real difference between Button’s championship win and Hamilton’s winning his.Indeed i think its far more difficult to be regarded as the youngest ever winning.
    By the way last year Lewis lost out to a cyclist.Be honest , when have the British public really given a toss about cycling.If you stopped the average person in the street they could not tell you who the current female world cycling champion is over 1000 metres.

    If Button wins its 100% true he deserves it, but no more than Hamilton does because he has twice not won it.Things must be called what they are -racism on the part of the general public because im sure if HAMILTON was white he would have easily won the award last year
    .Remember Nigel Mansell won the BBC sports personality of the year despite finishing only second in that championship year.
    I know many would disagree about what i say, but you must always deal with the facts in your life, no matter how hard they are to except.If my best friend is a racist, i will not defend him and say he is not a racist just because he happens to be my best friend.
    TRUTH IS TRUTH

    1. I don’t live in the UK, so I don’t know about latent racism there, but it might be more of a case of race drivers not being regarded by quite a few people as practising a sport, as such. When Jacques Villeneuve was awarded the same kind of Canadian distinction after his championship year, there was A LOT of criticism about honouring a driver, rather than an athlete, as many perceived it.

    2. Pedel to the Vettel
      5th December 2009, 22:15

      Well Lewis lost twice to get that, it was probably because 2007 Calzaghe was Undefeted still, 2008 Chris Hoy the first British man to claim 3 gold medals in 100 years in 1 sport. How can Lewis match that while having the best car 2 years running and winning 1 world title. Yer Jenson will win this year not because of his skin colour but it will be because jenson won it at the right time.

      1:No major sporting event.
      2:And Brawn GP being a phoenix from the ashes.

      The public love that and BBC did a better job then ITV this year.

  87. Kimi brings nothing but those who are actually missing from an asylum, trust them to ruin online enjoyment of every other motor sport fan.

  88. Could you please add Kimi Räikkönen to 2010 poll also? :) If Kimi wins also in 2010, then the poll might be a bit skewed ;)

  89. Your blog is quite interesting . I`m having great resources on this topic too. Tell me if there is anything i can help you with. You have my email.Thanks for your time.

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