Quote Originally Posted by Nitrodaze View Post
Kimi is a great driver when he is in the zone. I think being out of F1 as long as he did had some inherent effect on his performance. I personally would not read too much into his pairing with Alonso. It would always be difficult to beat Alonso in a car that he [Alonso] spent a few seasons influencing to his driving still. With that said, He [Kimi] has no excuse this season as he has had more input into this year's car. I am not so sure whether that means much because he is suffering more than Vettel who seems better attuned to the ferrari than Kimi. The pattern is not that different to the Vettels pairing with Webber that struggled to get the tyres working in the Red Bull; while Vettel did not and went on to win 4 world championships.
This years Ferrari car was built around Kimi, it was built for him and still can't beat his teammate. They spent months at it changing things around to suit his driving style. He is a good solid driver when in the zone but applying the word "great" to him is something that I could definitely not concur with. Maybe ten years ago before he left McLaren we could apply that to him but I don't think he has been the same driver since he left McLaren (even though he won a WDC since) and I don't think his two years out of the business has affected him at all, given his comeback year was actually quite impressive.