The Return Of Kimi Räikkönen...

[JeremySmith]

He does not need the money does he, plus he has been gone for two years.

[Mr V]

Originally Posted by JeremySmith

He does not need the money does he, plus he has been gone for two years.

Bet Michael isn't racing for free since coming back

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by JeremySmith

He does not need the money does he, plus he has been gone for two years.

I believe that Ferrari paid him not to be in F1 for a length of time. Maybe that time is up?

[Mr Pink]

I admire the top-tier drivers who swallows their pride and drives for teams of lesser standard. I hope the fact that he even considers driving in a midfield team means that he has gotten his hunger back, the hunger he lacked in his last years of F1.

[Marbot]

Williams have some good people working for them now. Not least, Mike Coughlan. Who may have done wrong in the past, but that doesn't make him a bad car designer.

[JeremySmith]

Originally Posted by Marbot

I believe that Ferrari paid him not to be in F1 for a length of time. Maybe that time is up?

I did not know about that one...

[Moneyseeker]

This will (if it happens) have one of two outcomes IMO.

1. Williams grasp at Kimi to gain some impetus and the kudos of running an ex WDC in their car, without the commesurate car and motivation skills - the result is another mediocre season

2. Williams manage to gel their new tech team with an fantastic natural talent and somehow they rekindle each other and produce a decent car at the same time - the result some surprisingly good results.

To be honest Williams need to tear up their F1 strategy and go with something else and I can't see how having Kimi would be a bad thing for them.

[Mr V]

Originally Posted by Moneyseeker

2. Williams manage to gel their new tech team with an fantastic natural talent and somehow they rekindle each other and produce a decent car at the same time - the result some surprisingly good results.

Kimi becomes "hot property" again, leaves after 1 season and Williams go backwards?

[JeremySmith]

Originally Posted by Mr V

Kimi becomes "hot property" again, leaves after 1 season and Williams go backwards?

And this is why I think Kimi will go there, as Joe Saward has said he has nothing to loose..

Now if William's can come up with the goods which is possible, then who knows what might happen?

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by JeremySmith

I did not know about that one...

IIRC it was more likely he wasn't be allowed to drive for a significant rival for a period of time, not any F1 team....

[JeremySmith]

Originally Posted by chunterer

IIRC it was more likely he wasn't be allowed to drive for a significant rival for a period of time, not any F1 team....

I see, that sounds more like it...

[Teretonga]

Williams do have some good people and have a great history and good facilities. Thats why the last few years have been vastly underachieving ones.
Frank's philosophy seemed to be the team could produce great cars that any good drivers could use effectively.

If he is now going for a driver with a great reputation in the hope he can pull a good car up the grid he may be picking the wrong person.
If the car is great Kimi will drive the wheels off it if theres a sniff of a win.
If not he will quickly lose motivation and the season will be a huge disappointment.

I could be happily wrong but I doubt it...

[wnut]

Originally Posted by Teretonga

Williams do have some good people and have a great history and good facilities. Thats why the last few years have been vastly underachieving ones.
Frank's philosophy seemed to be the team could produce great cars that any good drivers could use effectively.

If he is now going for a driver with a great reputation in the hope he can pull a good car up the grid he may be picking the wrong person.
If the car is great Kimi will drive the wheels off it if theres a sniff of a win.
If not he will quickly lose motivation and the season will be a huge disappointment.

I could be happily wrong but I doubt it...

I share your concerns exactly Teretonga, hope we are wrong!
BUT, I doubt it!

[OZ_HCR32]

The more I think about it the more I think Williams will be a good spot for Kimi. He wont be mega busy with appearances and the sort. He will be able to turn up and race, something he has proven is that he is quick over a race distance.

My 2c has always been just because he doesnt have hissy fits about the car not being quite right, the team need to improve, somebody held him up doesnt mean he doesnt want to win.

When Massa was injured and Fisi jumped in...the fact he was so far back shows that the car was a dog and you never heard Kimi pay the car out. He just drive the wheels off the thing.

Williams need somebody like that...rather then Rubens who talks to the press about as mush as Webber about what the team are doing, what they need to be doing...how he is driving the best he ever has etc

[strider]

Originally Posted by Marbot

I believe that Ferrari paid him not to be in F1 for a length of time. Maybe that time is up?

I believe it was fairly simple. He was not allowed to drive for another F1 team whilst Ferrari were continuing to pay him, which is logical enough.

[wnut]

Originally Posted by strider

I believe it was fairly simple. He was not allowed to drive for another F1 team whilst Ferrari were continuing to pay him, which is logical enough.

As I recall Raikkonnen signed an agreement with McLaren that Ferrari were happy with and McLaren then failed to take up the option when Button became available.

http://www.crash.net/f1/news/152465/...h_mclaren.html


Raikkonnen was not prevented from driving anywhere, but insisted he would only continue his F1 career if a top drive was available.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by wnut

Raikkonnen was not prevented from driving anywhere, but insisted he would only continue his F1 career if a top drive was available.

Which it hasn't.....

Funny old world isn't it.

Seems the Robertsons are playing down all this hype now in any case?

[bella]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Seems the Robertsons are playing down all this hype now in any case?

to me it all seemed like a lovely way of raising his profile again when he's perhaps got bored of the wrc thing and see what comes up in terms of potential projects and rumours

[fourWheelDrift]

Originally Posted by bella

to me it all seemed like a lovely way of raising his profile again when he's perhaps got bored of the wrc thing and see what comes up in terms of potential projects and rumours

I tend to believe this is half of the story, the other half being that Williams were quite happy to spend a little time talking to Kimi in order to have there current drivers a little more compliant when it comes to negotiating their future with the team.

[herowassenna]

Originally Posted by wnut

As I recall Raikkonnen signed an agreement with McLaren that Ferrari were happy with and McLaren then failed to take up the option when Button became available.

http://www.crash.net/f1/news/152465/...h_mclaren.html


Raikkonnen was not prevented from driving anywhere, but insisted he would only continue his F1 career if a top drive was available.

I remember Mclaren balking at the fact Raikkonen wanted top dollar to race for them, despite having a full years wages from Ferrari.
It does throw into question certain drivers attitudes when their focus is money.
Should come as no surprise with my name, but I remember Senna's motivation for 1993 was to have a winning car again, hence why he offered his services for free.
I understand the retainers reflect their value in the market, but if Kimi had really been that driven, he would have driven for Mclaren for nothing.

It's incredible when you think of all professional sports people. Not one footballer, baseball player, karter or athlete etc ever start because they think of the money they will earn. They all pursue sports for the love of it. I have raced karts and Formula Ford and got the biggest buzz out of it. It was pure pleasure. Friends of mine still play Sunday Football because of their love of it.
If Schumachers life had panned out differently, he'd be a mechanic, but probably still having fun with go-karts. Rooney would still be playing Sunday Football because they love it.
It seems money colours everything...

[OZ_HCR32]

wnut...I think you will find if you do another search that Kimi got a larger sum of his retainer if he didn't race in 2010. If he walked from F1 he god a big wack of cash for doing nothing in 2010. If he signed for another team then the payment by Ferrari for 2010 was going to be greatly reduced.

[chillibowl]

Originally Posted by herowassenna

...but I remember Senna's motivation for 1993 was to have a winning car again, hence why he offered his services for free.

no disrespect to Senna or his memory but that was close to 20 years ago and in in that time retainers increased for top drivers into the 30mill a year range. i dont think Senna would have turned that kind of money down even for a competitive ride.

incidentally Williams will never offer Kimi that kind of tosh but what they do offer him from Kimi's point of view almost will be exactly like racing for free!

not sure why he is considered lazy though. he could have given more effort of course but its not like he was turning up out of shape and unwilling to put in laps. 'being lazy' is a very relative term when it comes to F1 drivers.

[SennaTheGreat]

So if Kimi joins Williams Renault (as it will be known in 2012!!), when does Jacques re-sign with Williams Renault?

Ok, on a more serious note, i will beleive this when I see it. The only way I can see this ending is badly for Williams. I dont know who said this quote but this sums it up for me. (Days of when McLaren were struggling with the Peugeot lumps, and Merc's 1st couple of seasons with McLaren) If McLaren are the new Tyrell, Williams are the new McLaren

[strider]

Originally Posted by OZ_HCR32

wnut...I think you will find if you do another search that Kimi got a larger sum of his retainer if he didn't race in 2010. If he walked from F1 he got a big wack of cash for doing nothing in 2010. If he signed for another team then the payment by Ferrari for 2010 was going to be greatly reduced.

Yes, now you mention it, that's roughly how it was. Say Ferrari were paying him $15M. If he got a drive elsewhere for $5M he didn't get get $20M in total. Ferrari's payment would have been reduced pro rata.

Originally Posted by chillibowl

not sure why he is considered lazy though. he could have given more effort of course but its not like he was turning up out of shape and unwilling to put in laps. 'being lazy' is a very relative term when it comes to F1 drivers.

You're absolutely right, but there are some people on here whose misconceptions and/or prejudices are so deeply embedded that there is no point is stating the truth.

[strider]

Despite the comment above, here's what I would describe as a fair and objective assessment:

Talking to a Ferrari man in Singapore, there is no doubting the 2007 world champion's speed or talent. It's just that Raikkonen didn't pick up and lead a team, galvanise it, in the way that Alonso does.

A Ferrari team used to dealing with Michael Schumacher for so long was amazed by both Raikkonen's pace and his immediate grasp of Ferrari technical systems in 2007. It seemed there was spare mental capacity by the bucket load.

But, they say, the real Kimi is not the Kimi of popular perception. The so-called Ice Man, unfazed by anything, impervious to outside influences and very much his own man, is an illusion.

Thinking back, they say, Raikkonen did not feel comfortable when he thought Felipe Massa was becoming Ferrari's favoured son in 2008. While he doesn't need mollycoddling, he does need to feel that a team is behind him.

By way of example they say, Kimi, disappointing early in '09, was a different driver after Massa's unfortunate accident in Hungary involving the rogue spring.

The focus of the team again, Raikkonen was awesome in the second half of the year with a car that was not one of Maranello's best, taking podiums while Luca Badoer and then Giancarlo Fisichella were struggling to get the other car out of Q1.