The standings:
Hamilton 70pts, Massa 64pts, Raikkonen 57pts, Kubica 55pts
12 races down, 6 to go
2007 World champion Kimi Raikkonen has been struggling in the last few races scoring only 14 points in four races (Massa only scored 16 points but it could have been different had his engine survived the last 3 laps of Hungary). His last win came in Barcelona back in April. He's had some bad luck including the exhaust problem in Magny-Cours which cost him victory, the pit lane shunt in Montreal and just recently the engine failure in Valencia. Yes, there's only a 7-point gap between the two Ferrari drivers but Massa has outqualified Raikkonen in the last four races. The Finn admits that qualifying has indeed been a problem. Some people are also speculating that Raikkonen no longer has the drive to compete as he has already achieved his goal of becoming world champion.
During the first half of the season, it seemed that Ferrari was certain to take home the championship. But now, the team is just 8 points ahead of McLaren. Lewis Hamilton meanwhile remains on top of the drivers standings and clearly, McLaren are fully backing him for the title. With Raikkonen's unsolved problems, relatively poor results and questioned drive, should Ferrari solely back Massa for the championship title? Massa has been more consistent and faster in qualifying and able to deliver results (except in the wet of course).
They will not admit it, but I think that the team are starting to reconsider who's #1. The next race is at Spa, where Raikkonen has won three consecutive races (2004, 2005 and 2007). If he can win this race, perhaps the balance of power in Ferrari may restore.
