This year has been a listless one for Kimi Raikkonen's championship challenge.
In previous years, it was always a case of the car not being good enough. Last year, he was in a Ferrari and managed to win the championship by a whisker -- and by a stroke of luck as well because Hamilton didn't get close enough at the end to get enough points.
This year, Lewis Hamilton has remained strong -- Felipe Massa has gotten stronger -- and the BMWs have managed to get into the top spots occasionally. All of which have conspired to make my favorite Finn's chances slimmer by the week. It doesn't help that he occasionally makes mistakes -- more than in previous years.
Is he losing the drive to win? The nerve? I don't know.
All I know is that when Mika Hakkinen retired, he told McLaren boss Ron Dennis that "If you want to win, get the Finn." Maybe Mika meant some other Finn. Kovalainen, perhaps?
Rumors abound -- and circulated as early as last December -- that Kimi is actually thinking of retiring.
Five races left in the 2008 season and it looks like our ride to the championship has ended.
Here are some videos of the last race at Spa -- they may be the last vids you'll ever see of Kimi going head-to-head with the emerging new F1 hero (and I mean it), Lewis Hamilton. (I'm putting in several just in case some get taken down, as inevitably they will be. You know how the FIA is...)
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