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?

 

[The Pits]

You make some good points Ras, and you may well be right, and to be honest, I do not disagree mostly, I am just trying to offset the general opinion that is drawn from examples such as Malaysia 09.

Politics exist everywhere, to varying degrees and varying ends, and some people are naturally better at playing the game than others.

You quote the examples of Alonso and Schumacher, and I absolutely agree, they were great at both aspects of the sport and the backroom stuff. But lets not forget, Kimi was fairly successful at McLaren, and is still highly regarded by many.

If anything, I believe Kimi was a victim of his own arrogance, rather that a lack of motivation, and he exited formula one as he was not getting the offers he felt he was worth.

I think that his issue at Ferrari, as opposed to McLaren is the nature of the Tifosi, and the fact that he did not capture the imagination of the followers of the team, being almost invisible outside the car, a little aloof and dispassionate, in contrast to Felipe, who always wore his heart on his sleeve. Replacement by Alonso was something that met with Ferraris objectives, and the supporters were right behind it.

So, I agree that his unwillingness or inability to play the politics could have cost him further WDC's, however, I believe that this was only the case while he was at Ferrari. In my opinion, he left F1 not because he was unmotivated, but because he could get paid what he was worth elsewhere.

If this is the case, it could be said that seeing what life is like outside F1, he may have adjusted his objectives and expectations, and as such, be a better proposition now that he was when he left. I am sure he could do better in the williams car than the current encumbents, but that all depends on whether he wants to get back. I am sure that Frank and Kimi would make a good match in terms of driver/team boss.

 

[RasputinLives]

I wouldn't disagree with any of that Pits.

If he did leave F1 though because he couldn't find anyone to pay him what he was worth I have to laugh at the fact that he's supposedly returning to F1 to drive for Williams and Frank Williams who are notouris for paying drivers as little as they can get away with! Even to the point of chucking world champions on the fire!

I do like Williams so I'd love it to all work out and bring them back to the top but I just can't see it.

Then again I couldn't see Jenson having a chance against Hamilton at Mclaren either so what do I know?

 

[The Pits]

Personally I can't see it either, but I think it would be good to see.

Who knows, maybe two years out has changed kimi, and something needs to happen at Williams to stop the rot, and frank has always admired drivers like kimi. As I said a while back, I am fairly sure that the commercials could be made to stack up.

I suppose it adds some intrigue to the season, now there isn't much left to play for!!!

 

[Bill Boddy]

I can't help wondering if there is anyone at Williams bigging things up so that they can sell their shares at a higher price.

No, no, that would never happen, Kimi at Williams next season despite what his management team say.

 

[The Pits]

Management teams are also known for their honesty and openness!

 

[Jos the Boss]

KIMI RAIKKONEN will return to Williams F1

Fake Mark Webber on twitter I'll search for a link

 

[Jos the Boss]

Speculation says that Kimi Raikkonen has now signed for Williams, and that the team are negotiating with potential sponsors in Qatar.

http://www.notizulia.net/deportes/3...kkonen-podria-se-companero-de-pastor-en-la-f1

 

[Slyboogy]

An un-motivated driver wouldn't win in a car that wasn't developed from Hungary onwards and score a string of 5 podiums, then go on to score the second most points in the second half of the season, 1 point behind Hamilton who let's face it had a better car than the Ferrari in the second half of the season.

As for 2008, he was leading the championship up until round 5, there on in from Monaco to Spa he had poor luck and a 2-3 bad races, which driver doesn't have that a few bad races of their own? All of the championship contenders that year had a few bad races, but not at all one time, unfortunately for Kimi the poor luck and bad races all came at one time.

Don't see anyone claiming Hamilton is un-motivated since he's had a string of poor luck and bad races at one time this season, but then I guess maybe he should get out of his car which has an electrical problem, grab an ice cream and can of coke to get called "un-motivated".

 

[RasputinLives]

The article states

"The possible running mate Maldonado, was seen while visiting the factory in the Williams before the GP in Italy, which has led to greater rumours in this regard. In addition, the interest of the mark by the signing of Kimi could bring a new economic agreement with the Qatar National Bank (QNB), who assured you are interested in entering the computer only if a pilot cartel."

Which I think means he met with Maldonado and if he signs Qatar National Bank will invest in Williams.

Bit concerned about Qatar getting involved in F1 - can see Bernie taking their money for a GP and we'll all have to go and smile and completely ignore the human rights records......once again!

 

[RasputinLives]

Don't see anyone claiming Hamilton is un-motivated since he's had a string of poor luck and bad races at one time this season

Are you kidding? Lewis has been accused of exactly that as well as every thing else you can possible think of! lol

As for Kimi - I think the point I was trying to make was that for me his de-motivation was more off the track than on it. You can't just turn up on the day get in the car and expect it all to work in F1.

 

[Slyboogy]

Are you kidding? Lewis has been accused of exactly that as well as every thing else you can possible think of! lol

I haven't heard of un-motivated, heard that his heads not in the right place, he's crashing too much etc. etc. but not "un-motivated.

As for Kimi - I think the point I was trying to make was that for me his de-motivation was more off the track than on it. You can't just turn up on the day get in the car and expect it all to work in F1.

Why not? You are a driver, what else are you expected to do? Every other driver does the same the exceptions being Alonso and Schumacher and probably one or two others, Kubica has the exact same attitude as Raikkonen, yet he doesn't get criticism for this at all.

 

[RasputinLives]

So you don't think an F1 drivers job is to work with his team to push the car forward? To develop the car? To act as a team leader and to motivate the team around him to perform to maximum? To get a team onside that wants to work for them?

Vettel's done it with Red Bull. Button's got Mclaren onside. I think you're wrong about Kubica as well - when BMW were slacking off he was the first to speak out about it and I certainly think he galvanised the Renault team around him.

 

[Slyboogy]

Not all top drivers do that, it only seems to be the norm for a few drivers these days, of course your first factor is important, but as the rest I am unsure, not seen a driver "develop the car", you can prod around the test track and give feedback all you want, he certainly did that in his time. The team got a new suspension upgrade in '08 which was suited Massa, he pushed to get it back from Monaco onwards and got it back too late at Monza. The team wasn't with him in 2008, that's my opinion, ever since Todt left, the management etc. just seemed shoddy. The talks for Alonso started as early as 2008, it was announced behind the scenes that Alonso was coming in early 2009. The team doesn't want you what are you meant to do?

After Massa's accident, the team had to support Raikkonen, and he out-performed the car.

As for Kubica, nope both are pretty much in the same mould in my opinion, both don't do much sponsorship, both aren't press friendly, both give good technical feedback in minimum amount of words and don't need to stay with the team longer. Of course a driver that's in championship is going to slack the team if his team stops developing, you would think that's a negative won't you? Slacking your team, instead you could say he should motivate them for next year, which it clearly looked like he didn't as he was out of sorts.

 

[RasputinLives]

I think you're confusing doing media work with working with the team.

I think the days of turn up and drive ended in the late 80's - If you want to win you spend most of you time in the factory and in the garage working at pushing further. As said before Ferrari staff were very quick to report Kimi was one of the last to arrive and one of the first to leave. F1 just doesn't work like that anymore and I doubt he got away with it at Mclaren

 

[ExtremeNinja]

...and conversely Kubica was reported to often be the last person to leave the garage at the end of the day on a race weekend. It was this that spurred the team to build themselves around him. They could see Kubica's dedication in all areas of the components of creating a winning machine.

 

[Road of Bones]

I've just re-read the F1 Racing interview with him this month ("The Iceman Cometh Back"), and to be honest, there was less meat in there than in a Spicy Beanburger (older patrons may remember this Wimpy favourite!).

About all that can be gleaned is that Kimi is "keeping himself fit in case something crops up for 2012" - there is no real indication of where he might end up, beside a frankly rather speculative sidebar hinting at Renault or Williams (with a tiny punt on Force India). The only thing I could see regarding a return further down the grid is an admission from the Iceman that you can't always have the best car.

We're just going to have to wait and see if all this frantic rumour-mongering has any basis in fact. Kimi's certainly playing his cards customarily close to his chest...

 

[Galahad]

"When he thought he was in with a chance, like in the second half of '07, he was fantastic. But if the car was less competitive, he delivered less"

"I don’t think Kimi’s focus is the same any more. This commitment pops up from time to time, but the fire is not burning constantly as it was before."

 

[laFrau]

I've just re-read the F1 Racing interview with him this month ("The Iceman Cometh Back"), and to be honest, there was less meat in there than in a Spicy Beanburger (older patrons may remember this Wimpy favourite!).

About all that can be gleaned is that Kimi is "keeping himself fit in case something crops up for 2012" - there is no real indication of where he might end up, beside a frankly rather speculative sidebar hinting at Renault or Williams (with a tiny punt on Force India). The only thing I could see regarding a return further down the grid is an admission from the Iceman that you can't always have the best car.

We're just going to have to wait and see if all this frantic rumour-mongering has any basis in fact. Kimi's certainly playing his cards customarily close to his chest...

It is true, Kimi doesn't really say anything about next season. It is written in such a way that it's clear Kimi doesn't talk about it and it is the journalist the one that "speculates". There's a little detail to consider, though. The writer is Anthony Peacock; this guy writes in rallying media (MaxRally, for example) and has also been working in Kimi's press releases in WRC; the guy knows Kimi very, very, very well.

I must admit, I enjoyed reading the interview But maybe it is because I was already convinced that Räikkönen was not going to talk about next season. I suppose, I never thought a F1-magazine was going to really get information if Colin Clark (the guy of the WRC radio) and Julian Porter (the guy of the WRC TV) have not managed to get a word about it out of him yet, even if Kimi voluntarily talks with them at the end of each stage and even shares his lunch sandwich with them during service (no joke).

I ended up chuckling when I read his description of a Le Mans car

 

[Viscount]

Apparently the rumour around the Indian GP paddock is that Kimi has already signed a contract with Williams for next year.

 

[Jos the Boss]

http://www.formula1onlive.com/2011/10/kimi-raikkonen-signed-williams-f1.html