This is my first post. I have been reading this forum for the last 3 years without posting, and been following F1 on and off since the 80's.

First of all I want to say thanks to all Kimi fans for the support of one of the most spectacular drivers of all time, even though I respect that everyone can not see his greatness. What made me post for the first time is that even though I love F1, I will boycott watching F1 for 2010 in respect/tribute of the driver who should have a place on the grid, no matter what the reasons are. I am sure that even the ones who are anti-kimi will feel the loss of a great racer.

I will read the papers to see who did what during the race weekend but I will not wake up in the middle of the night to watch live timing nor see the races, as I have been doing every race for the last 3 years until now.

This is my way of showing how much I will miss Kimi. How will you show it?

Was going to say is it confirmed yet, but WOW its on Autosport now.

There is more to F1 than one driver.

I know it's hard, but, maybe support someone else?

To paraphrase the man hisself, I am too busy taking a sh*t........

True.

It just shows the original poster is not an F1 fan, but only a Kimi fan.

I am a huge Kimi Raikkonen fan but he is not bigger than the sport, MS left and people carried on watching.

I'll still watch to see Lewis Vs Alonso and Massa. (Don't really care about Button, never sparks any emotion from me)

Support Ferrari not drivers.

This has been a Royal command lol

By breathing a sign of relief, as this forum will lose a lot of rabid fanbois.

Mayhe he should have been less greedy? Pisses me off that he won't be there but he could have been if he wanted to

Just got off the phone with Kimi, he's not taking it well, he's hittin the magnums.

Seriously though, I'd like to get 16 mil just to loaf around, I don't feel too bad for the guy, though his F1 career is certainly up in the air a bit.

Sad to see him go, but it was looking like it for a while. Hope he comes back. Don't do a Mika please Kimi.

Have mucho respect for Kimi but this time I sense he'd rather have an icecream and drive a rally car.

He has been at the top of F1, I can understand him not wanting to trundle around in a shit car for the next 5 years but it's not as if he wasn't offered a top seat at McLaren. That he turned it down due to money and sponsorship requirements shows a certain lack of passion for F1 itself, that he let those get in the way of a McLaren drive. Would he had done so first time around?

I still think Kimi with Ross Brawn at Mercedes would be a great combination, Brawn always spoke highly of Kimi, Kimi at times and on some tracks is as close as you'll get to a Schumacher type drive, and with Brawn's tactical thinking, it would be a great team.

Lets wait and see the mercedes drivers until we say bye to Kimi. It's still 2 early, a long winter, things change.

Seriously, what would you nutjobs do if Kimi just decided to retire on his own? I guess you'd think about a bunch of conspiracy theories and find someone to blame. Maybe your heads would explode.

I am not anti-Kimi in the slightest but the amount of... I don't even want to call it support. Fanboys? Sure, fanboys for one guy and their obsessiveness with a person is just downright creepy and bizarre. There's even a "Let's pray for Kimi" thread. What?!

The dude is probably going to end up in the WRC sooner or later... you'd think he died tragically or something. Even if his F1 career is over it doesn't mean he's going to stop driving.

Please, by all means, boycott F1 and go back to smearing ram's blood on your chests and chanting Kimi's name a hundred times over.

Post of the day

Sad to see him go, but life goes on. If this sabbatical becomes permentant it will always feel like he left F1 with some unfinished busness to attend to.

No, he would be back. He is not Mika who only had eyes for McLaren and did not come back after his sabatical. Kimi would do some rally or racing for Red bull in his off season. He would be freash and ready to rock with RBR. Watch out for the Newey-Kimi

"[Raikkonen] would earn more money sitting on his sofa in Switzerland than he would racing for McLaren [in 2010]"

As James Allen stated in his article http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2009/11/the-...kimi-raikkonen/ before this announcement, would any sane man choose to drive in 2010 and lose $6 million euros?

I'm sure a lot of guys with a real passion for the sport would..... in fact many have had to pay to race haven;'t they....

I'm disappointed in KR actually...

Sponsorship at Red Bull will be more to his liking (aside of the issue that at least 3 of their contracted extreme sports men suffered fatal injuries over the last year)

Link in German
http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/panorama/vermi.../story/24723612

Kimi have money, I don't think this 6 mi will make a lot of difference to him... still, is a lot of money... but there is more than just money to some.... Kimi is the one to blame for not being in F1 next year, not Ferrari or whatever...

and stop watching something because of this, just shows that you don't care about F1, you care about Kimi Raikkonen... wich in reality seems to be what most fanboys do...

This is very trouching. Really.I used up all my hankies I could lay my hands on at home weeping. It is not the end of the world, so don't harm yourself yet, Kimi will be back, he belongs here. He will be living a full life doing whatever he wants, relaxing, and will come back fully replenished to show his speed, I am sure. You can post now on your original nick.

If by any chance your story is true, no offence meant.

6 million loss?

Kimi's gain in Macca: 16kk.

Kimi's gain in extended vacation: 17kk.


1 million is the difference

Quite. It's not the money. I thought that was obvious from the original press releases from his management.

No man is bigger than the sport, and if McLaren produce a belter of a car next year, Kimi and many others (including myself to an extent) will be kicking themselves.

...depends if he's in F1 for the racing..or the money. Apparently negotiations fell down on issues to do with appearances at promo events. He, and his management clearly have no idea how it is that his stipend is actually raised to support his ridiculous wage demands. A pity he'll be out this year, but no great loss to the sport - he'll either be back, or there'll be someone else along shortly....there always is.

eh, It's always sad when someone talented leaves the sport but if you only watch the sport because of him then buh-bye

I said the same thing when Schumacher retired.

I'm still hanging around, isn't it?

Next year's Massa Vs Alonso Vs Hamilton fight will definitely bring you back. Mark my words.

I don't think you can count out button/vettel/webber with the possibility of force india robbing a few races. Not to mention the huge grid how that will effect the qualifying times or traffic and thus the outcome of the race.

Glad you said it and so true!

ive really enjoyed seeing kimi in the paddock and grid over the years but quite frankly i think hes being very greedy here.

he gets a payout from ferrari for this year no matter what... isn't it 12mil?

so he gets 12mil for racing in F1, then his actual salary from a team...

but instead he decides to sit it out for a pay than whats greater than an F1 Drive.

that pure greed.

my respect for kimi has gone. all he cares about is money and this has shown it. im sorry but i think the guy is an absolute greedy *insert nasty word*

the vast majority of us work on usual salarys and he has the nerve to do that. sorry but that is disgusting.

you may well compare him to other drivers pay check on the grid but ive never thought hamilton/alonso/anybody is worth thier pay check of millions. but i understand that companys increase value to keep them or increase thier pay to pull them away from a team. what i dont understand is kimi being greedy like this. it makes no sense. hes never in all his life going to be without money because of his previous contracts. why on earth does he need to have a huge payment now? when hes getting a years payment out of santander anyway... sorry but pure greed is the only reason...

im sad to see this happen, he was my favourite character on the grid but this is disgusting

Either that, or he just wasn't interested in racing anymore. Which one is worse? Greed or lack of motivation?

I simply can't understand how someone can follow an individual and not care at all for the sport.

Adieu !

The post-race interviews will be dullsville without Mr. Excitement to spice them up.

Kimi just isn't work the money he is asking. That's the reason why Ferrari sacked him and that's the reason Mclaren don't want to hire him. He priced himself out of the market instead of lowering his price. What did he gain from asking so much, it's better to take a pay cut or be out of the job and have no income.

His F1 career is over now. He didn't want to adjust to the market and that cost him his F1 drive in the end of the day.

Fisi retires another driver?

Later

ATM...
While I am a bit Hamcentric, I will sure miss the drunkard...big time.
His fans?..not so much...take a year off too.
Maybe NASCAR?...
He could make the Shrub look like seedling.
Jp

Dont let the door hit you on the way out

I'll strip down my Kimi poster, tear it up and wee on it - later this evening i'll hold an all-night vigil by candlelight followed by Milk, stories, then retire to bed sometime tomorrow morning with swollen eyes and a heavy heart.

Thank's for the empathy man

Without the individuals the 'sport' is nothing. For some people Kimi was THE individual in the pit, is that so hard to understand. I don't care if you call me a fanboi, or use some other infantile expression, Kimi was the only driver I wanted to cheer for. Before him it was Mika Häkkinen. So sue me.

So people claim they follow the sport and be analytical and whatnot, and not the drivers. Sounds ok to me, is there really only one way of watching the sport? Sounds a bit elitist, if you ask me. Like all things in life, some people react with emotions, some with reason. Is one way really superior over the other?

Besides, in case you haven't followed F1 in recent years, there is very little to cheer for in the sport itself, it's one scandal after another, really.

Well, I don't think there's any need for that. The man clearly chose money over 1 or 2 top seats.
In times like these it clearly sends out the wrong message to all other teams for a possible comeback in 2011 which I don't think will happen except if Didi takes him.

As Haug said, no fire no seat. It's a shame but it's his life.

As for WDC, anybody thinking he will get a topWRC car and battle it out with Loeb next year should go to a doctor.

I sincerely hope that Kimi-fanboys would leave this place. There is no room for Kimi in Fernando vs Lewis bulletin board

Good riddance and never come back to F1 Kimi, if your attitude is you are too good to drive a car that cannot win then you are no loss.
I don't get his greed either, he wants too much and not give in return.

Noi shit, sorry my bad, Alonso, Hamilton and Massa for starters are not retiring with Räikkönen out of sympathy.....

Exactly how I feel. Oh, and add Vettel to the list, he is IMO also a spectacular driver. If you want to see what I mean, look at the onboard race 2009 Bahrain.

I'm sad that Kimi is leaving, and I have the suspicion he will leave F1 permanently. He will just go rallying or whatever he wants to do. He has enough money from Ferrari so it's not neccesary to come back. I'm not going to follow him when he goes to rally, I liked him most in F1 but I don't like rally as much. I mean, it's cool to see it, but no more than that to me. Also, the coverage of Rally leaves a lot to be desired, it's very bad.