Kimi Räikkönen

Probably one of the coolest drivers ever to grace F1 alongside James Hunt.

His part life-style may not have been to some teams liking in F1 but you can't deny that Kimi was probably one of the best drivers on the grid from 2003-09. He should have won more championships than he did!

Kimi won his one and only F1 Championship in 2007. Kimi won 18 races, 16 pole positions, scored 62 podiums and claimed 35 fastest laps in his time in F1.

Kimi is probably the must unluckiest driver to ever grace F1 and the amount of retirements he had no fault of his own were lots.

Kimi won his first GP in 2003 winning the Malaysian GP and he claimed his last victory in F1 at the 2009 Belguim GP.

Kimi started his F1 career in 2001 driving for Sauber, he then went on to drive for Mclaren and Ferrari before quitting the sport in 2009.

Kimi produced probably the 2 most funniest moments to happen in F1 over the last 10 years, when he said at the Brazilian GP in 2006 when Schumi first retired from F1 and the other one at the Malaysian GP where the race was red flagged and he went to the garage and got into shorts, t-shirt and flip-flops and started eating ice-cream.

Whether you liked him or not you can't deny his talent, he produced one of the comebacks of the past 10 season by starting near the back of the Japan GP in 2005 and went on to win it! Probably one of his best race wins in F1.

Did you like Kimi or Not?

 

[teabagyokel]

His Head and Shoulders advert was a nightmare...

Whats on your mind Kimi?

Keeping fit.
Drinking a bit.
Having a-

Cut.

 

[RasputinLives]

Am I the only one who is groaning at the idea of another former world champion jumping back in an F1 car and circulating in midfield? Because lets face it if Kimi goes tio Williams thats what we'll get. Then we'll have the whole "he's only not at the front because of the car"/"this proves he was never as good as the current front runners" debate which frankly is boring me to tears just thinking about it.

Kimi you were great and had some great races, thanks for the memories, We don't need to see you at best scraping into Q3 with the Williams team for a few years. Please say "Thanks but no thanks" and stand aside and let one fo the young guys chomping at the bit to get into F1 have a bash.

 

[Brogan]

Räikkönen's manager dismisses rumours of him moving back to F1.

http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/268801/no-current-f1-negotiations-for-raikkonen/

 

[soccerman17]

love raikkonen. no clue why i just always have but his relaxed personality was great. change of pace for the sport. anyways what about indycar? i know hes in the us doing some nascar stuff possibly but thats not his thing.

 

[The Pits]

The word on the street is that kimi has been to grove for a seat fitting!

Not sure on the reliability of the source, but if it is true.....

 

[GermanF1]

love raikkonen. no clue why i just always have but his relaxed personality was great. change of pace for the sport. anyways what about indycar? i know hes in the us doing some nascar stuff possibly but thats not his thing.

But why would he want to kill himself? There's too much vodka still there to be drunk and too many toilets to be used

 

[Viscount]

With Williams' financial problems I'm suprised they can afford Räikkönen. If he does return I wonder if he'd be a potential candidate to replace Webber at Red Bull in 2013.

 

[Brogan]

http://translate.google.co.uk/trans...le-vahvistus-monacosta/art-1288422652394.html

 

[FB]

With Toro Rosso being sold might Kimi bring some Red Bull sponsorship to Williams?

 

[Bill Boddy]

With Toro Rosso being sold might Kimi bring some Red Bull sponsorship to Williams?

Smirnoff more likely?

 

[Brogan]

So is he paying for his seat?

I can't see Williams paying him based on their current financial difficulties.

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Perhaps he's investing in the team? Way out on the marbles but he's got a few bob.

 

[The Pits]

I am sure that there are ways for both parties to make the commercials stack up. Kimi is a big name, with a proven track record, who may add shareholder value to the team.

That have also made a number of other changes, some quite costly, so a big name driver may not be as mad as it sounds.

Kimi has a lot of personal sponsorship, and a fair amount of potential, and he would probably have to acknowledge a dip in value.

That said, personally i think it is a little bit out there, but as Murray says, anything can happen in f1!!

 

[RasputinLives]

I really hope this doesn't happen.

Kimi couldn't find the motivation to drive a slightly off the pace Ferrari in 2008 - 2009 so where he'll find the motivation to drive a Williams battling it out for 14th-15th place I have no idea.

It stinks a bit of Mansell at Mclaren or Piquet at Lotus. Bring in a big name and it might hide the fact the team is on the decline.

I could very well be wrong and I'd be the first to say so but I'd rather Williams take its chances on some young buck from GP2 than bring back an ex-great. Who's going to be his team-mate Jacques Villeneurve?

 

[The Pits]

Can I just ask, I hear quite a lot about Kimi being unmotivated in 08 and 09, and the only evidence I can think of is the ice cream incident in Malaysia.

He seems very aloof at times, and is a man of few words, however, that does not mean de-motivated. As for the reasons for Ferrari to dispatch him, I am sure they had their reasons, but I am not sure those reasons have been released to the public domain. If they were so sure about his lack of motivation, would they have needed to pay him a significant amount of money NOT to race against them?

He helped Massa in 08, and in 09 gave Ferrari their only win, following the car being developed to his liking.

I am not sure that his approach and attitude towards his sport can or should be taken as un-motivated.

 

[RasputinLives]

Well I guess you need to take your choice. Either Kimi was demotivated after his world championship win or Massa, who had the best of him in 08 and 09(and wasn't to far behind him in 07), is a better driver than he is.

Looking at how Massa is being battered by Vettel, Alonso, Button and Hamilton either way doesn't say much for Kimi does it?

 

[The Pits]

Well I guess you need to take your choice. Either Kimi was demotivated after his world championship win or Massa, who had the best of him in 08 and 09(and wasn't to far behind him in 07), is a better driver than he is.

Why? As anyone will tell you, there is always more to things than the points indicate.

Massa is not a patch on the driver he was in 08 and 09, whether that is accident related or Maranello politics related I do not know. But to put all of this into the category of being demotivated seems a little superficial to me.

The fact that Kimi did not seem to interested in the political games would not have served to ingratiate him to the Ferrari team, and maybe as a result of that, and a poor start to 08 led to him supporting Felipe.

Suffice it to say, I believe that Kimi was a better driver than Felipe, regardless of where the points put them. Felipe would not have won Spa in 09, and had he still been present, I do not believe that Kimi would have either. I personally think that Kimi was scuppered his unwillingness to play the political game, not a lack of motivation.

I think that he and Frank Williams would have made a good team a few years back, although I am not so sure now. Kimi has been away for a couple of years, and although he has been competing, he will be a little rusty.

I do agree however that it would not be such a great idea, for similar reasons to Ras, although I do not think that motivation would be an issue. I am simply not sure of how it would all work out, and whether the move would really help Williams get back to the big time. I am not sure that Williams will ever be able to get back there, maybe they should have offered Kimi a drive a few years ago!!!

 

[RasputinLives]

Why? As anyone will tell you, there is always more to things than the points indicate

I hear that from a lot of people but at the end of the day isn't points are what its all about? I mean you can't win anything without points can you? I mean Kimi could have been completeing laps in world record times and being the most skilful driver on the entire planet but if Massa scores more points than him whats the use?

At the end of the day Formula One is a team sport and a driver can be the quickest in the world but if he doesn't motivate and get his team behind him then he's never going to get results. You say Kimi 'refused to play the game' at Ferrari in actual fact he refused to get involved with the Ferrari team and if he didn't put the work in with them why on earth would they put the work back in for him? But Kimi must have known this before he went to Ferrari - he must have done something similar at Mclaren so why move to Ferrari if he wasn't prepared to work on it? We heard from the Ferrari insiders often he was last to show up and first to go home and as much as the Kimites would like us to believe this was because Schumacher was around it stinks of 'I can't be bothered' to me. Would have been interesting to see if he'd have been different if he hadn't sneaked his title in 07.

Alonso went to Ferrari when they were clearly Massa's team. They loved him and he was just back from injury but through a combination of working hard with his team and campaigning with the management who's team is it now? Massa certainly plays second fiddle. So if Fernando can do why couldn't Kimi? You can say the same thing about Jenson Button - he went to Mclaren when it was clearly Lewis's team but after 2 years who do you think is Mclaren's favourite son?

Senna made it his team over Prost, Mansell made it his team over Piquet etc etc the list goes on - and whilst Kimi certainly made DC take a backseat at Mclaren I think the evidence of his demotivation can be seen by the fact he couldn't be bother to do so at Ferrari.

Michael Schumacher has 7 world titles and broke every F1 record going and he didn't just do this because he was a great driver he did this because he had the ability to get the best people around him and to motivate them to work there asses off to make sure he had the best to do his job with. Seemed to me Kimi couldn't be bothered to do the same.

 

[The Pits]

Ras

Firstly, I am not privvie to the inside information at Ferrari, so I was only able to say what I thought, not what actually happened, so I would appreciate you not putting words into my mouth.

Your point about points is well made, and accepted, however, the cause and effect of the situations over the 3 years Kimi was at Ferrari are unknown, yet a key driver for the results.

You have stated that he refused to get involved with the team, which is a bold assertion. This may be the case, but from the snippets that I have heard, he simply applied the necessary input when required, and was a man of few words. OK, there are the comments that he was rarely at the factory, and did not learn italian, which may be a factor, although I have only heard this from sources which I would see as less than reputable.

At the end of the day, not being motivated to do well, and not being willing to play the game are different things. I have seen little evidence of his approach changing over the years that he was in Formula 1.

Despite the goings on in 08 and early 09 (and I emphasise that I do not know what happened) Massa has only really been a number 2, and I do not believe that Ferrari was ever his team, I do not believe that it was ever Kimi's either, although he did provide them with a wdc, which neither Felipe nor Alonso have managed to do.

Maybe it is simply that the way Kimi works did not gel with Ferrari? a lack of results does not necessarily mean a lack of motivation. I am not closed to the idea that he was demotivated, but I am more open to the supposition that he was not willing to play the games that he would have needed to play to make things work at Ferrari, after all, he was a proven race winner when he joined them. I am sure that we have all been fed up with politics in the workplace at some point, and been frustrated with the outcome of certain things.

 

[RasputinLives]

Maybe they didn't gel but you make it sound like Ferrari are the only team that have internal politics. He played the Ron Dennis political game for years so why refuse to play the one at Ferrari? Yes I know the situation of being tired of work politics but at the end of the day they exist everywhere and if you want to be a success you have to play them. Surely being tired of them and refusing to play them is the sign that Kimi was demotivated?

I'm sure Fernando doesn't enjoy the political games at Ferrari anymore than Kimi did but he plays them because he wants to be World Champion.

I think its all to easy to say Kimi didn't like the politics at Ferrari and it was Schumachers team and Kimi didn't get a chance etc etc as we hear a lot but Kimi knew what the situation was when he signed for them and should have been well prepared. Being one of the best race drivers in the world and being paid what he was paid he should have dealt with it a lot better. Its all too easy to say he was his own man and a man of few words but if you want to be at the top of the sport you move heaven and earth to make things work not just sit stubbornly and say this is how I do things take it or leave it.

I know we don't know the full story but the more I hear about it the more I get the feeling Kimi went in there with a closed mind and couldn't be bothered to work with them.