Raikkonen possible return for 2011..!

vectra

Hope to hell and back this is true.:D

2007 World Champion Kimi Räikkönen is believed to be in discussions with regards to a Formula 1 return for next year. The Finn, who departed Ferrari for the World Rally Championship (WRC) this season, has been tipped as a possible candidate by Renault Team Principal Eric Boullier.

Story here >> Räikkönen contacts Renault about next season
:cool:

Frank Bullitt

I think he is realizing that he is crap at rallying.

vectra

Gintonious wrote: »

I think he is realizing that he is crap at rallying.

Fair play to him for trying.;)

losthorizon

Its only his first season at Rallying. Hes doing quite well. I reckon he will stay where he is. He seems much more relaxed than when he was in F1 and now seems to be enjoying himself. He has got a fair few points. Who knows what he could do next season?

EvilMonkey

The other side of this rumour is Petrov to Lotus who will be using Renault engines next year.

thegoth

I think Kimi should stay at Rallying and build on what he learned this year, otherwise its been a wasted year for him. I think Reanult would be better off sticking with Petrov as he fits well into their sponsorship and business model plus they have a top rated driver in Kubica.

Personally Id like to see Kimi vs Kubica, but I think its best for Kimi and Reanult to keep things as they are

vectra

thegoth wrote: »

I think Kimi should stay at Rallying and build on what he learned this year, otherwise its been a wasted year for him. I think Reanult would be better off sticking with Petrov as he fits well into their sponsorship and business model plus they have a top rated driver in Kubica.

Personally Id like to see Kimi vs Kubica, but I think its best for Kimi and Reanult to keep things as they are

I dont think so.
Was it not too long ago Renault were looking for some advance payment from Bernie to put things in motion for next season?
Rumour has it that if Kimi joins then a chunky sponsorship deal with Nokia would be in place.
Also rumour mill has it that mastercard would do a handy sponsorship IF kimi were to drive for them.

Rumour 3)

Kimi has already signed with Red Bull Racing to replace Kasey Kahne for 2012 in Nascar

bm365

So if Webber were to win this year's Championship (or even Vettel) and Schumacher is still around we could have 6 World Champions on the grid next season!

losthorizon

bm365 wrote: »

So if Webber were to win this year's Championship (or even Vettel) and Schumacher is still around we could have 6 World Champions on the grid next season!

No wonder team orders are so hard to introduce - which of those drivers are going to listen anyway! Brilliant.

liam7831

losthorizon wrote: »

Its only his first season at Rallying. Hes doing quite well. I reckon he will stay where he is. He seems much more relaxed than when he was in F1 and now seems to be enjoying himself. He has got a fair few points. Who knows what he could do next season?

I hope ur joking, he is totally rubbish at rallying. The poor bast**d cant even keep up with Wlson or Villagra:D

vectra

liam7831 wrote: »

I hope ur joking, he is totally rubbish at rallying. The poor bast**d cant even keep up with Wlson or Villagra:D

Would you like to take his place and prove everyone wrong?
I dont think so.. :pac:

He has got plenty of praise from ex- Rally drivers that would know al lot more than you or I

bm365

losthorizon wrote: »

No wonder team orders are so hard to introduce - which of those drivers are going to listen anyway! Brilliant.

And if Villeneuve succeeds in buying Hispania, 7 World Champions on the grid possibly!! Ok its not very likely but......

SouperComputer

LIGHTNING wrote: »

We could all try rallying and find out we are crap at it, no big deal about that!

Not quite the same. Kimi is an an F1 champion with a reputation to defend. IMO it takes kahunas to move from one diciplne at the top level and move to another in a very public setting. He's got more at stake than you and me (I ?)put together!

liam7831

vectra wrote: »

Would you like to take his place and prove everyone wrong?
I dont think so.. :pac:

He has got plenty of praise from ex- Rally drivers that would know al lot more than you or I

In Finland, Juha kankkunen entered the race and said that if Räikkönen can't beat him then he might as well go back to F1. Kankkunen finished 8th and Räikkönen finished 25th.

I guess you think he dont know wha he is talkin bout either

homer simpson

Another thing to be concidered would be for a certin Mr Leob to head down the F1 route, i don't think its too likley but he did say he was keeping his options open, he has won everything there is to win in WRC the lure of the new cars in WRC next year might tempt him to stay but ya never know!


On kimi heading back to F1 i think he has got on very well this year in the rally scene he just needs to tidy it up a bit, he has a habit of going off in silly places, other than the crashing i believe he has some pace in there, look at ken block also his first year in the big time, hes mile ahead of him and dont forget ken is an acomplished rally driver with a god few titles under his belt before he came to WRC whereas kimi is on his first proper year of any sort of rallying, i believe there is more to come from kimi from a rallying point of view these new cars will be a real leveler for the first half of next year i reckon so ya never know.

losthorizon

Or as they said on RTE Radio 1 today Kiki Rakikkonen might be joining Roberto Kubica at Renault in 2011. Go Michael Lester!

Frank Bullitt

He will also have to take a serious pay cut to his usual demands if he wants to go to Renault.

Kubicia is on about 7-8 million, Raikkonen was on nearly double that at Ferrari and I doubt Renault will fork that out for him.

vectra

Gintonious wrote: »

He will also have to take a serious pay cut to his usual demands if he wants to go to Renault.

Kubicia is on about 7-8 million, Raikkonen was on nearly double that at Ferrari and I doubt Renault will fork that out for him.

Renault wont have to
Mastercard or Nokia will stump up for him.

Frank Bullitt

If he is the one who contact Renault then the ball is in their court so to speak.

That and only a few teams are willing to pay that kind of money as well, regardless of title sponsors.

vectra

Gintonious wrote: »

If he is the one who contact Renault then the ball is in their court so to speak.

That and only a few teams are willing to pay that kind of money as well, regardless of title sponsors.

Not really

Have you thought that Nokia or Mastercard brought him to Renault as did Santander did with Alonso to Ferrari?

Myrddin

Gintonious wrote: »

Kubicia is on about 7-8 million, Raikkonen was on nearly double that at Ferrari

Are you serious? What was he earning at Ferrari?

vectra

EnterNow wrote: »

Are you serious? What was he earning at Ferrari?

I think his contract was 100 million for 4 years or thereabouts

thegoth

vectra wrote: »

I dont think so.
Was it not too long ago Renault were looking for some advance payment from Bernie to put things in motion for next season?
Rumour has it that if Kimi joins then a chunky sponsorship deal with Nokia would be in place.
Also rumour mill has it that mastercard would do a handy sponsorship IF kimi were to drive for them.

Reanult just had a cash flow problem. They were due a sponsorship payment in like 6-8 weeks but decided they would like to start work on the 2011 car earlier than planned so they wanted a cash advancement to cover this. No one ever believed that Reamult were in trouble.

Didnt know that about Nokia and Mastercard. That would help, but I still think it would mean a MASSIVE reengineering of the new Reanult business model where they no longer have sponsors but business partners such as Lada who are big in Russia. Petrov is Russian. See what I mean

Instinct tells me that the new Reanult boss is a pure business man. It makes more business sense to have Kubica as a number 1 and have a strong number 2 like Petrov who also reinforces the Reanult business plan.

Dont get me wrong I would LOVE to see Kubica vs Kimi but I dont think it will happen

Myrddin

vectra wrote: »

I think his contract was 100 million for 4 years or thereabouts

I'd say something, but it could incriminate me under the Blasphemy Act. But Jesus Christ that's some wage packet :pac:

A cool 25 mill per season, incredible.

amacachi

Could've sworn he was on 50 million a season and was out-earned by only Tiger Woods.

Myrddin

amacachi wrote: »

Could've sworn he was on 50 million a season and was out-earned by only Tiger Woods.

That's more along the lines of what I thought, surely it wasn't 100 mill?

Kersh

$51m he was on. IIRC he is the 3rd highest earner in f1 this year!! And he isnt even there. :eek:

For what its worth -

http://www.f1network.net/boards/read/s107.htm?110,11797670

Ghost Train

Kersh wrote: »

$51m he was on. IIRC he is the 3rd highest earner in f1 this year!! And he isnt even there. :eek:

For what its worth -

http://www.f1network.net/boards/read/s107.htm?110,11797670

Poor young Vettels only on 1.6million, thought it might be more but maybe Red Bull have him tied up in a contract

Myrddin

Kersh wrote: »

$51m he was on. IIRC he is the 3rd highest earner in f1 this year!! And he isnt even there. :eek:

For what its worth -

http://www.f1network.net/boards/read/s107.htm?110,11797670

Chandok & Yamamoto are unpaid? I also thought Vettel would be on a higher salary, Button too.

losthorizon

Ghost Train wrote: »

Poor young Vettels only on 1.6million, thought it might be more but maybe Red Bull have him tied up in a contract

Vettel is his own manager

vectra

Kersh wrote: »

$51m he was on. IIRC he is the 3rd highest earner in f1 this year!! And he isnt even there. :eek:

For what its worth -

http://www.f1network.net/boards/read/s107.htm?110,11797670

Looks like Kimi was on more :eek:

DRIVER SALARIES FOR 2007

1: Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, US$51 million
2: Ralf Schumacher, Toyota, US$25 million.
3: Fernando Alonso, McLaren, US$22 million.
4: Jenson Button, Honda, US$18 million.
5: Rubens Barrichello, Honda, US$12 million.
6: Jarno Trulli, Toyota, US$10 million.
7: Felipe Massa, Ferrari, US$8 million.
8: Giancarlo Fisichella, Renault, US$7 million.
9: Mark Webber, Red Bull, US$5 million.
10. Takuma Sato, Super Aguri, US$4.5 million.

DRIVER SALARIES FOR 2009

1. Kimi Raikkonen $45m
2. Lewis Hamilton $18m
3. Fernando Alonso $15m
4. Nico Rosberg $8.5m
5. Jarno Trulli $6.5m
6. Sebastian Vettell $6m
7. Mark Webber $5.5m
8. Jenson Button $5m
9. Robert Kubica $4.5m
10. Heiki Kovaleinen $3.5m
11. Nick Heidfeld $2.8m
12. Timo Glock $2m
13. Giancarlo Fisichella $1.5m
14. Sebastien Buemi $1.5m
15. Rubens Barrichello $1m
16. Jaime Alguersuari $0.5m
17. Vitantonio Liuzzi $NIL
18. Adrian Sutil [Rent a driver]
19. Romain Grossjean $NIL
20. Kazuki Nakajima $NIL