SAKHIR, Bahrain — Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen has bristled at reported criticism from his ex-teammate David Coulthard, describing the Scot as a non-achiever.
Coulthard, who was Raikkonen’s teammate at McLaren from 2002 through 2004 and is now working as an F1 pundit, said the Finn did not know how to work with a team’s technical staff to improve a car.
“I don’t know any driver who designs the cars,” Raikkonen shot back in an interview with Finnish television Friday.
“It’s pretty funny to hear comments like those from people who never really achieved anything.
“It’s none of my business, what a guy.”
Coulthard was runner-up in the 2001 drivers’ championship and won 13 races. Raikkonen won the world title in 2007 and has won 17 races.
FERRARI’S BIG BOSS IN TOWN: With Ferrari staring down the barrel of its worst ever start to a F1 season, company president Luca di Montezemolo has decided to make a personal visit to the Bahrain GP on Sunday — his first race of 2009.
Ferrari has never gone through the opening four races of a season without winning a single point, but will suffer that fate unless it can get a car into the top eight on Sunday.
Di Montezemolo’s visit could be viewed as moral support for the team, but with team manager Luca Baldisseri already having been removed from the race team this season and talk of more changes to come, some could be forgiven for viewing the president’s arrival with more trepidation.
Asked what he thought of the boss’ visit, driver Felipe Massa said Saturday: “I hope the president can bring a little bit more luck”.
WEBBER VS. SUTIL: There’s no driver you’d be more fearful of disrupting than Red Bull’s plain-speaking Aussie Mark Webber.
However, Webber gave Adrian Sutil a pass for a block during qualifying that relegated Webber to 18th on the grid. Instead, the Red Bull man laid the blame on Sutil’s Force India team.
“The team did a poor job for him because I’d been coming for 40 seconds,” Webber said. “He was snookered by his team.”
Sutil was handed a three grid-place penalty for blocking Webber, giving the Australian some satisfaction as he will now start ahead of the German.
“We can bounce back from this,” Webber said. “This is a blip over the course of a long season. We’ll try to do our best tomorrow, and these things can happen.”
PIQUET FACES KO: No driver in F1 is under more pressure for his place early in the season than Renault’s Nelson Piquet Jr., and he faces his moment of truth in Sunday’s race.
While it’s never easy to compare well with a teammate as accomplished as Fernando Alonso, Piquet has been undeniably disappointing in 2009, making a number of errors.
Renault team principal Flavio Briatore offered only conditional support when asked about Piquet’s position in the team, saying he wanted to assess how the Brazilian performs in dry conditions in Bahrain after the wet races of Malaysia and China.
“It is a difficult moment for him and we need to support him,” Briatore said. “In a moment like this you don’t kill anybody.”
“This is the first race with the normal situation and let’s see. Sunday or Monday maybe we have a different idea, I hope a better of idea, of what’s going on.”
WILLIAMS OK WITH BUDGET CAP: Williams has urged rival Formula One teams to adopt a budget cap as soon as next season, saying that putting it off will only make it harder to accommodate.
The FIA, motor sport’s governing body, has asked teams for feedback on a proposed budget cap of $44.1 million for next season. The issue will be put before the World Motor Sports Council on April 29.
Williams chief executive Adam Parr said the cap is too low, but was eager for it to be implemented.
“I know a number of teams would like to do that (put off a cap until 2011) because it gives time to adapt,” Parr said Saturday ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix. “There is a counter argument that in business, generally, if you’ve got to do something you just get on and do it.”
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