audifan wrote:audifan wrote:DukeOfUndersteer wrote:hmmm... an ex-F1 World Champion vs. a shoe salesman...
yeah my money is on the shoe salesman
If for nothing else when he speaks he does not sound like "Beaker" from the muppets. I mean Kimi is talented and a good driver but he has the presence of a wet mop, Ken is no Schumacher either but at least he has a pulse and a heartbeat. Kimi's "iceman" nickname has not really done him any good so far in WRC events he has driven he is used to traction, fat rubber on asphalt not skinny to medium rubber or dirt strewn questionable terrain.
I believe he has crashed twice maybe three times in as many events. He is almost as good at crashing as that young russian kid. He is by no means doing his country justice in the WRC
Kimi has a lot of presence and a lot of fans, red bull have obviously felt that his presence is enough to make a huge investment into his rally outing. It is rumoured that he will be earning more then Loeb next year. Kimi is quite obviously not the world's most eloquent speaker, but he does have a honest and daring approach that many people find intriguing, he is also quite good looking which helps in the marketing department and of course he is also a very good driver. He is one of the drivers with the largest fan bases in F1. He did crash twice (and continued after one of those crashes), but it should also be remembered that those events are his only experience at rallying. With little, too absolutely no experience, he was already matching and beating some of the established rally drivers who have driven in rally cars for most of their lives and he was on for a class podium in rally Finland. That in itself are pretty amazing. He will properly crash a lot, but he will properly also be fast. Kimi is already a F1 champion, so anything he achieves in WRC is merely a bonus, he can always just go back to F1 if he really struggles in WRC. As for his country; Finland already have lots of fantastic WRC drivers. Most people properly dont expect too much from him. The most people can properly expect, is lots of crashes, and some of Kimi's trademark speed and car control. But I wouldn't be surprised if Kimi is indeed faster then Block. http://en.redbulletin.com/articles/kimi/
As for Block I wish him good luck. He will properly need a bit of time to adapt to WRC (just like Kimi).
It is fantastic to see two new superstars in WRC. They are very different and properly complete opposites in many ways, but they are both stars in their own right. It should make for an interesting competition. 
His debut is in Mexico, mang. 
It sounds like he went off, but reports are iffy on why it broke. I'm sure everyone at Ford is like "FML" right now (where is the head hitting wall smilie when you need it)?!
