Excellent interview

Nice to see him so talkative.
Interesting to read that he's such a fan of Vettel.

English version
http://en.redbulletin.com/articles/magazine_archive/

Definitely his best interview in ten years.

Maybe he´s at home now?

Still my flag at half-mast...but happy for him..!

Wouldn´t say fan. Aren´t they good friends..?

The journalist deserves credit too. If it were Pino Allievi or some other little man with agenda, it would have been confrontational and pure crap.

He said he preferred Vettel as a WDC next year because he's the most sympathetic of all contenders, one might call that a fan's choice.

'Fan' and 'friend' are not mutually exclusive

They live next to each other in Switzerland and spend a lot of time together.

...and they're both Red Bull-backed...

I don't think Kimi would say that just to please Red Bull. He propably shares most with Vettel. Interesting that Kimi wasn't convinced Ferrari be in the front. I have the same feeling.

The feeling is mutual, Vettel thinks highly of Kimi as a person but apparently does a good Kimi impersonation!

BTW - reading what Kimi said, its evident he wont be coming back to F1

How could he be convinced? He´s seen the "development" very close..?

Could also mean in F1 world that he has the paper in his pocket allready.. Could mean anything..!

Reading his comments, it would tend to suggest that he is really happy where he is now and does indeed sound like he became sick to death of the politics in F1.

I would not be at all suprised to see him stay in the WRC...although much depends on the future direction of WRC cars and the future smaller engined cars may make him consider a last hurrar in F1.

Good interview, thanks for the English version link

It definitely looks like he won't be coming back, it seems as though he feels somewhat out of touch with the modern F1, I kind of consider that he'd enjoy being in a previous era of F1.

Also seems really upbeat and excited about WRC, good to hear

he says he doesnt know what Ferrari's plans are ... maybe they didnt show him / he didnt bother

The man's contracted to Red Bull - of course he's going to sound excited about his Red Bull-backed WRC campaign, especially when talking to a Red Bull publication!

There's every chance that he really means everything he says but, cynically, it's also exactly what you'd expect to hear and read.

Propably he didn't visit the design office a lot in the end... but still he knows McLaren, Mercedes and red Bull will be strong?

I am quite sure there is contracts that regulates whet he is allowed to say about Ferrari if he wants to keep the money.

Allowed to say? Yes, when there´s certain technical issues, yes. Something spesific. Something which can be "measured"..?

Otherwise he must be allowed to say anything he wants. And the far we know he´s not interested in joining this bashin´thing in which (for example) LdM is very good at..?

Saying nothing must be the only safe thing. Otherwise one can very quickly end up in grey areas or be trapped by tricky journo questions. If I were Kimi's manager I would advice him to not say anything at all about the current state and possible future of Ferrari.

I just ment it would be VERY difficult to write down to a contract what one is allowed to say and what not. That is why it should be some spesific technical issue or something like that.

One chance is that there isn´t any restrictions.

But there just cant be written that "Mr. Räikkönen is not allowed to say anything negative plaa, plaa, plaa". Because who would decide what is negative what is not.

Propably the contract says only that the amount of money depends on wheter he is driving in F1 or not. And nothing more.

Opinion, not knowledge though..

because they were strong this year ... ? ( mclaren ended the season on a high )

A couple of photos I scanned from today's Red Bulletin.

It seems to come with one of the London newspapers every now and then.

Old Kimi looks pretty sharp in Red Bull gear.





EDIT: I see the piece has now been posted on the Red Bulletin website too.

http://en.redbulletin.com/articles/kimi/

nice interview.. This in interesting..

When you look back on your F1 career, is there a single moment you value above all others?

"In F1, every lap is more or less the same. It’s more difficult if it rains, but otherwise it soon becomes routine"

This is exactly how Montoya described driving an f1 car.

Yep, more or less.

He said once you get used to the speed and performance it becomes quite samey.

Finally! Ken Block has confirmed that he will be contesting in several rounds of this year's WRC. Can't wait to see him in action.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/80754

And Kimi is ready for action..



Dank, aside from his Top Gear antics, will Block do OK?

They need to draft in Travis Pastrana.

http://www.redbullusa.com/cs/Satellite/en_...001242797773354

Presentation of new Citroen car is due between 14-17 January.

Thanks Does Kimi have to attend this presentation? After all he won´t drive the new car, will he?

Nothing to do with Rally so don´t know whether it´s good to post it. Mods please delate it if you want to.
Courtesy of cucoloco from PF1

http://www.teletell.ch/videoplayer.php?id=7311

No information about that. Anyway, a new car won't be much different from the old one since Citroen is mostly concentrated on 2011 season.

Speaking about hockey - I remember an article about Kimi's childhood where his mother told that he did some hockey when he was a kid but he was the smallest in the team and what he did was to suddenly fall on the ice in front of the big guys, trying to stop them. After that the coach told his mother that Kimi is out of the team since this behaviour is too dangerous.

Pot...

If you have not seen it..have a look at Ken's Gymkhana vids, this is his second one...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ7R_buZPSo

There is no doubt Ken has some great car control, but these vids that have become so popular on Youtube with over 10 million hits are also well edited with many practice runs and 'ooopsie' moments..

Travis tried his hand in the PWRC and soon realised the level of competition difference with European rally drivers. That said, Ken will certainly bring some colour and he migh just throw in a surprise or two. I can actually see Ken and Kimi haing a few close battles along with Henning, Atkinson and Matt Wilson..

That's what I'm looking forward to most this year, Block vs. Raikkonen.

Block's arrival is important for the WRC as it gives the series an opportunity to make inroads into the North American market. Whether he'll be competitive? Well you probably know better than I do, but if Chris Atkinson becomes a decent benchmark for Block, I can't see him not become a force to be reckoned with in 2011?

I'm hoping Ken brings even more prescence for WRC in America. In one swoop he could do more for Rally in America than anyone. Now if we could get the WRC on ESPN in the USA it would be better than the limited HD Theatre that it is currently on. No knock on HD Theatre since Rally is the only reason I have HD. Hopefully Jean Todt will get rid of the ridiculous fees they wanted to charge our cable channels in order to get better viewership here in the States (which hopefully will equate to more sponsers).

That's right but reversing the starting order can create sandbagging as well. They did it a couple of years ago and there were lots of complaints from drivers because in certain conditions it is favourable to start first. Maybe they should draw, say, first eight starting positions after every day? Or draw the number of positions to have reversed starting order (BTCC did so)? There will be complaints for sure but at least it makes sandbagging relatively pointless.
Regarding TV broadcasting I think Eurosport did very well with IRC live coverage. It was far from perfect but it WAS there. If they can add more split times it will much better.
There was very minor news at Autosport that WRC dropped Eurosport as their broadcaster in Europe. It was logical move from both sidesa as Eurosport is deeply involved in IRC which grew to a real threat for WRC last year. But who was the winner? I guess Eurosport and IRC. WRC will be broadcasted by Motors TV (and Viasat Motors in Scandinavia). I don't know how big the company is although it's hard to believe they can be even close to Eurosport. Motors TV was quite good a few years ago and used to broadcast some interesting series live but have lost almost all of them. Last year MX1 was if not the only then one of very few major series they showed live. I am almost sure there is something to do with the size of their audience. And don't know anything about Viasat Motors. What I know is that in my country the very same Viasat asks so high charges from cable operators that no-one wants to include their channels in theme packages. I see this as a main difference between WRC an F1. The latter is mainly broadcasted by large general-interest channels while the former was and has become even more niche product showed by specialized channels. Can it help them to make WRC more popular? I rather doubt it.

I would have thought Kimi's hair would be longer. Nice interview none the less. I wonder how he will do if the pressure and routine brought the best out of him unknowingly.

Interesting interview. Kimi to become the first man who won both title, would be great.

He sounded Humble that is another good thing, and excited about what is going on. I felt the same about the match of Kimi and Red Dull, and think that Red Bull is a great company.


So what, do F1 misses Kimi, Yes, Do F1 go bad without Kimi, No, Do WRC get more with Kimi, Yes and I am looking forward to see tha battle Loeb-Hirvonen-Raikkonen.

KIMI's RALLY ADVENTURE STARTS WITH A VISIT TO THE FACTORY

Turun Sanomat 6.1 2010 20:47:44

Kimi Räikkönen's big WRC-adventure starts next week when the 30-year old Finnish driver pays a visit to Citroen's factory in France. Making the seat and the first trial with the Citroen C4 -shuttle built for Räikkönen is in the program.

Räikkönen and Kaj Lindström will drive their first rally with Citroen on January 28-30th in Rovaniemi when the duo participates as outsiders to the Arctic Lapland -rally. WRC-rally starts two weeks later in Sweden.

The motorsport-world has already been wondering over how Räikkönen can go to a completely unfamiliar WRC-serie with so little experience. The truth is that Kimi himself is the least worried about it.

Räikkönen isn't one of those drivers who need to sit for five days in the car just so that they get to know it. As a fullblooded professional he takes the bull by it's horns immediately and goes to check out how far his own pace takes him.

Those who know Räikkönen better praises him telling he is now more relaxed than he has ever been during his whole F1-career. Kimi is practically bursting with enthusiasm now that he gets to go driving again.

Red Bull owns a F1-team but on the rally-side they are just Citroen's close partner. Citroen runs racing teams. Red Bull pays Kimi's salary just like Red Bull pays Sebastian Vettel's and Mark Webber's salaries in F1.

Red Bull's magazine went to see Kimi Räikkönen some time ago at his home in Switzerland. Kimi was as usual very straightforward when talking about his expectations.

Turun Sanomat

HEIKKI KULTA
__________________________

VETTEL WANTS HIS F1-BUDDY BACK

Turun Sanomat 6.1 2010 20:26:43

Kimi Räikkönen says in Red Bulletin -magazine's interview that he hopes Sebastian Vettel wins the WDC in F1. When rallies and GP's are at the same time for 10 weekends, we will probably not see Räikkönen on the F1-paddock except maybe in Monaco since there is no rally at that time.

Vettel said to La Gazzetta dello Sport that he misses Kimi in F1-races.

– I'm sure Kimi had his own reasons for going to rally. I'm sure that he made the best choice when thinking about it from his own point of view. I really like the guy and it's a shame that he isn't in F1 this year. Kimi is still one of the best drivers and it would have been great to race against him.

– On the other hand at the same time every F1-driver's interest towards rally grows more than ever. Now we can see for ourselves if it's possible for a F1-driver to become successful in the top of rally.

– I still hope that this wasn't Kimi's final choice, Vettel sighs.

It still is an option that Vettel and Räikkönen could drive as team mates in Red Bull in 2011.

Turun Sanomat

HEIKKI KULTA

Thats a decent clip, and backs up what Wolfie posted, that Kimi is looking pretty relaxed about things, coupled with what he said in the interview it appears more and more that he really just couldn't be bothered with all of the politics in F1, anyway 3 weeks today to go until we see him at work in the Citroen.

Most Talented Magician: Kimi Raikkonen

While it might be argued that Kimi Raikkonen had one of his worst seasons in Formula One, those inside the Ferrari garage spent most of 2009 secretly wondering exactly how he could make a dog of a car go so fast.

There's no doubt that Raikkonen possesses sublime talent, but his ability to wring every drop of performance out of his car was never more evident. He scored 38 of his 48 points and scored Ferrari's only win of the season in Belgium after the team Ferrari stopped development on the 2009 car in July to concentrate on next year's challenger.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive...article1415643/

I think Block is going to be great this season! He is not going to be challenging for results in his first outing in WRC but he will still be good to watch.

IMHO I think he could be in this for the long haul. He is a smart guy and seems pretty dedicated, for someone who hasn't actually been rallying all that long. He is under no illusions that the WRC is the pinnacle of rallying and a long way away from his Rally America stuff. I think he will be great for the sports profile and I think in a few seasons (if he sticks at it) he could be a real contender.

Here is to an exciting 2010 season with a lot more fans watching!!!

Check out this cool interview where Block talks about Rally America and the WRC:
http://grid1.tv/#browse/media_vault/drivers?id=2_276

Jean Todt thinks that Kimi Räikkönen's move to WRC is this year's most remarkable motorsport-news.

According to Todt even Schumacher's comeback to F1 isn't as big news as Räikkönen going to WRC is.

- To me F1-Champion Kimi Räikkönen going to WRC is even more astonishing than Michael's comeback! It's a really courageous move from him. How competitive will he be compared to experts like Sébastien Loeb, Mikko Hirvonen and Dani Sordo? It is going to be interesting, Todt said in an interview to Le Quotidien -magazine.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A F1-Champion's move to WRC is the best PR-gimmick for the WRC-serie and also for Citroen. Even Citroen's boss Olivier Quesnel admits it.

- Everybody is telling me that I made the deal of a century. I'm really excited over Kimi's arrival but to tell you the truth I have never even met him. I'll meet him next week, Quesnel said in an interview to the French Endurance-Info.com.

Also Quesnel stated once again that he has no plans about putting Räikkönen to drive in Le Mans 24 with Sébastien Loeb.


Courtesy of Nicole

Let's not forget: Felipe was ahead of Kimi in the WDC before his accident. So maybe he would have been able to bring even more out of the car. We don't know that.

Thats true. Except we have never ever heard about engineers scratching their head over Massas speed like they did at times with Kimi at McLaren and Ferrari. And even from his first F1 tests as well. So most likely not. When the car feels right in his hands, Kimi is close to unbeatable in equal equipment.
I personally dont think there was an ounce more to wring out of that car than what he already did once they found the right balance. This judging from the feedback of his engineers and his performance compared to Fisi who is not a bad driver at all.
But I agree that its a shame that Massa wasnt there. I do think he would have had a hard time after the updates stopped. But thats me.

Very unfair and biased is all I can say to that.

Jean Todt has drafted in Finnish former rally driver Juha Kankkunen as the FIA's new rally consultant: http://www.mtv3.fi/urheilu/ralli/uutiset.s...2010/01/1031640

Strange, I always thought he had a better relationship with Vatanen.

Allegiances are easily broken when money is involved?

Just like all of your posts downplaying Kimi's abilities.

Check.

[off topic] I certainly hope that Massa and basically everyone else would've done better than Kimi in that Ferrari. For the simple reason that it would be a bit silly and pointless if he got fired and kicked off the bloody sport for no particular reason. [/off topic]

And a personal status report that I know you have all been anxiously waiting for: I still don't much care for this WRC tomfoolery but I sort of hope he does well there - better than in F1 would be nice. It would be priceless if some random chap just showed up and was (almost) instantly competitive. Would make a bit of a mockery out of WRC but it would be funny. Go Kimi!