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Kimi might not return to F1; and some interesting stuff about Ferrari
Topic Started: Dec 23 2009, 01:19 PM (485 Views)
Alien_SAP_Fiend
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http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/80616

Quote:
 
Raikkonen: WRC may be permanent

By Jonathan Noble and Adam Cooper  Friday, December 18th 2009, 10:14 GMT

Kimi RaikkonenKimi Raikkonen has said that there is no guarantee his switch to the World Rally Championship will be a temporary one, after admitting that it is not certain he will come back to Formula 1.

The Finn has signed to do a near full campaign for the Red Bull-backed Citroen Junior team in 2010 after failing to find a seat suitable for him in F1 next year.

And although many have viewed the 2007 world champion's move across to rallying as an F1 sabbatical, Raikkonen himself says there is a chance his WRC switch could actually be permanent.

In an exclusive interview with this week's AUTOSPORT, where he speaks for the first time about his move to rallying, Raikkonen said his long-term future was totally open.

"I don't have any contract with F1 or anything else, so I have no idea what will happen," he said. "I have both options, to stay in rallying or try to come back to F1. I want to see how it goes, and then decide. I'm not in a hurry to decide.

"If it goes well, then I could keep doing it. There are many different scenarios. Right now it's just for this year, both with Red Bull and with Citroen."

Raikkonen also reveals that he suspects there was more to Ferrari's decision to get him out of his contract than simply his performance with the team.

"You have to ask them, I don't know!" he says. "You need to ask the people who make those decisions. I'm not interested in the end why or when. I'm pretty sure I know the answer, and it's nothing to do with racing or what I've done there.

"I think when there is enough money involved, you can always change anything! I think it's a lot to do with Santander coming in. Probably they made some deal. I don't know..."

Raikkonen admitted that he came close to signing for McLaren, and held talks with Brawn, but in the end could not secure himself the conditions that he wanted.

"I could have signed with them [McLaren] if I'd wanted to do, but in the end it wasn't 100 per cent what I wanted. It was not really so much about money; it was all the other things. It's not that I couldn't have gone there but, like I said, I have no reason to do something with a contract that I'm not happy with."

Raikkonen insisted, however, that money was not the key factor in preventing a deal happening - even though the terms of his release from Ferrari meant he would get less money if he secured another drive in F1.

"Yeah, for sure there is something that if I raced with another team, I get a bit less. And there was no point to get paid less if I race with somebody. It was a complicated situation, but in the end that wasn't the issue, the money side, although everybody thinks so. It wasn't what I wanted."

Speaking about the Brawn situation, Raikkonen said: "Probably I could have gone there. I didn't want to start waiting for a long time. For sure we could have got a contract in the end, but when the McLaren thing didn't happen I already had the talks with Red Bull, so I just wanted to go there and see what happens in rallying. Maybe I'll come back [to F1] next year or the year after. Or maybe not..."


Interesting
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Cannonballer
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Who cares?
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sportsman
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Cannonballer,Dec 23 2009
01:48 PM
Who cares?

Seconded
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Steelstallions
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He never liked being interviewed, well to tell the truth I now really don't care what he has to say.
He wasted his god given talent by IMO being lazier than he should have been. As for the money not being a factor............ Who you kidding!!
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John
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never say never... just look at TGF <think>
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Speedworx
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Mercedes shouda signed this star. Its a shame to lose him from F1.

F1's loss

WRC's gain
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John
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Mercedes probably considered him... but I guess the corporate beast that they are combined with wanting to sign a driver willing to race in every race of the season meant they had little choice but to discount him...
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Brave_Lee_Flea
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I care and I think you're all being a bit harsh.
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John
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Maybe <think> but Kimi gave everyone the ammunition to be so...

blame him <thumbsup>
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Kerri
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sportsman,Dec 23 2009
01:51 PM
Cannonballer,Dec 23 2009
01:48 PM
Who cares?

Seconded

Me! I care. :( :( <grrr> <cry>
I hope he comes back. :(
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Red Andy
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Speedworx,Dec 23 2009
09:08 PM
Mercedes shouda signed this star. Its a shame to lose him from F1.

If he was a star he did a very good job of hiding it for much of the duration of his F1 career. I never thought he was as good as people said he was.
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Rob
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He was quite good, just not 100% motivated all the time. I really think winning in 07 took a lot of fire out of him. He's not the first driver to do that though, and probably not the last.
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P1
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Rob,Dec 24 2009
04:46 PM
He was quite good, just not 100% motivated all the time. I really think winning in 07 took a lot of fire out of him. He's not the first driver to do that though, and probably not the last.

I agree Rob.
To say he was no good is plain silly.

As always, difficult to make exact measure of how good a driver really is/was, but some trivia worth recalling, whereof not all just comes by chance:

In terms of points, podium finishes and fastest laps then he betters both Keke Rosberg and Mika Häkkinen.

His second place in 2003 just 2 points behind M. Schumacher in what was a 2 year old McL Mercedes chassis.

2005+2008: 10 fastest race laps in a season, only equally by M Schumacher.
2005: 7 wins in a single season, unfortunately without winning the WDC.
2008: Scored six consecutive fastest race laps in a season, only equalled by Ascari.

The first driver to win on his Ferrari debut since Nigel Mansell and the first to win, set the fastest lap and pole position on his Ferrari debut since Juan Manuel Fangio.

Räikkönen holds the record for the most wins in a debut year with Ferrari with 6, beating Alain Prost's previous record of 5.

Holds the third highest record for total fastest laps at 35.
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John
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having more fastest laps than wins is a bit like having more poles than wins... nice for the old stats but poles and fastest laps don't win WDC's you need wins <think>
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Brave_Lee_Flea
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John,Dec 31 2009
12:52 AM
having more fastest laps than wins is a bit like having more poles than wins... nice for the old stats but poles and fastest laps don't win WDC's you need wins <think>

No, they don't but they do give an indication of the man's talent although not his application, which is all we ever doubted about Kimi.
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