Kimi Raikkonen would have been the best option for Ferrari this year, if they hadn't rushed in to cancelling his contract.
The iceman though expensive, compared to new recruit and (unconfirmed) No.1 driver Fernando Alonso, would have fared equally or better than the Spaniard, and Ferrari would have stood to gain much more this season.
Ferrari have now put all their efforts to achieve the world championship for Fernando Alonso this season, as witnessed by Felipe backing out to give the win to Alonso at German GP.
With just 20 points adrift of the leader, Mark Webber of Red Bull, Alonso has a good chance to win the championship if he is consitently on the podium, as there are a whopping 175 points up for grabs, under the new points system, for the remainder of races.
However, chances of Ferrari winning the constructor's championship, which is of more value and status to the sporting team, looks very slim, as Felipe Massa is not performing to his best.
The biggest disadvantage Felipe having this season, is that he isn't able to bring the tyres up to temperatures (heat up the tyres) faster, and hence losing out on initial pace. The second reason, is Felipe has always struggled with cars when fuelled heavy, and this season, with no-refuelling, he has to start with full tank, which is again to his disadvantage.
If you are unable to balance the car, it becomes rather difficult to heat up the tyres too.
These two factors would have, however, helped, his former team-mate, Kimi Raikkonen.
Kimi was always comfortable at handling a heavy fuelled car, whilst struggling when it was lighter, a factor that played in to the hands of Felipe, who outclassed him in 2008, as re-fuelling was still in place, meaning, a much lighter car to handle.
Kimi, hence, used to qualify with heavier-fuelled car than Massa, but always, more or less, made up lost places quickly, during races.
Hence, in the present situation, with all cars fuelled to the brim, Kimi would not only have had a great advantage due to superior balance of car at the start, but would have also able to heat up the tyres faster, giving him an extra pace advantage over the others.
This would have ensured he being atleast on par with Alonso at this point of time, (or we say better, if we count the number of mistakes Alonso did so far), thus propelling Ferrari chances to fight for the Constructor's Championship too.
Alonso-Kimi pair would have been a huge burden, financially, for Ferrari, but it isn't gaining much either too. Also, for fans, an Alonso-Kimi duel would have been a mouth-watering prospects. Sadly, money rules in F1, and Ferrari decided to part with the iceman.
Rumours are rife in the paddock of Kimi joining Renault. It then wouldn't be a surprise if he performs straight out of the box on his return, and also ably helped by the fast improving technical team of Renault.
The iceman has denied it so far, but nothing is permanent or sure in F1. If that happens, Ferrari would regret not utilising the full potential of this super quick finn.
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