80 replies to this topic

[Vilenova]

Originally posted by BMW_F1
I guess his friend was being honest last week.

German publication Rheinischen Post claims that the 28-year-old told some friends at a party recently that he does not intend to remain in F1 much longer. One friend also told newspaper TZ that whilst Raikkonen enjoys his job behind the wheel, he cares little for all of the ulterior demands placed on his time.

“Kimi loves the driving and hates everything else about Formula 1,” the friend revealed.

“The public appearances, the life under the spotlight – he doesn't have the desire anymore.”

Poor baby. he gets paid MILLION$. "everything else about F1" goes with the territory. He should just shut up and work.

[Josta]

Originally posted by TickTickBooom

Dude, Kimi signed an agreement with Ferrari in August 2005. I didn't just make it up. JFGI.

ETA: When Ferrari announced Kimi as their driver for 2007, the rumour was that Kimi had signed a pre-contract agreement giving them first refusal on his services for 2007. That was when August 2005 was mentioned. And just because *you* don't know about it, doesn't mean that absolutely nobody else in the world does.

Proof???

[DoubleWDC]

Originally posted by se7en_24

Please no, DTM doesn't need another Hakkinen (or Alesi, HHF, Ralf).

Kimi is no Hakkinen, Alesi, HHF or Ralf.

[DoubleWDC]

Originally posted by AndyW35
H
Never a great but someone who could have been.

Regards

Andy

Like the rest of the grid let's afford the guy to finish his career before making a final judgement.

[DoubleWDC]

Originally posted by RSNS

This is a bad condition for a driver: his heart is no longer completely in it, he will get beaten more often will further lower his motivation and out he goes.

Huh?!? After last season KR told he loves F1 again and after the Spanish race which was three races ago it was his best according to him. And now his heart is somewhere else.

[xman]

Indeed, people are jumping too much conclusions after a couple bad/average races. As soon as Kimi gets into winning gear again people are probably forgetting these retirement ideas for a while.

Let's say Ferrari 2009 is very quick and overtaking is possible again - I would see Kimi enjoying that and possibly extending his contract for another two years - and retire after that.

[former champ]

Originally posted by se7en_24

Please no, DTM doesn't need another Hakkinen (or Alesi, HHF, Ralf).

Really who needs DTM?

As for Raikkonen, being the huge talent he is, I would like him at Ferrari for years to come but if he'd rather retire having achieved his ambition and go off and enjoy himself and other activities, then so be it.

[Bernd Rosemeyer]

Originally posted by D.M.N.
http://www.autosport...rt.php/id/67988



Euw. If he did retire, it would be a loss for F1. I do hope however if he does retire, he moves to DTM or something, like what Hakkinen did.

Certainly the Force India team would not think it is a loss.

[jokuvaan]

Remember MS end speculations? This is kinda same, people hoping that Kimi would quit.

For any non-Finnish its almost hopeless to understand what Kimi means and thinks.

[Hacklerf]

Who cares? its miles away and plus, i shouldn't think Kimi even knows what hes going to do in a years time.

[stormshadow]

Curious...... has any driver in the last decade or so retired when he ws 30?

[Nitropower]

I tend not to believe rumours and mumble because it's of no use, especially when there is no basis or evidence. That regarding the Alonso pre-contract.

As for Kimi, well he is so undecided and untempered that it's hard for me to take any conclusion from his words. What is true is that he doesn't look motivated. But he doesn't look happy in the podium and that doesn't mean he's not.

In my opinion his loss wouldn't be special for F1 or Ferrari, some other will arise. Kimi is not being the dominant champion many expected and is being matched by Massa, Hamilton, Alonso and others in recent times, or even improved. Having the best car his only option is to dominate his team mate and become 2xWDC. But he doesn't look very motivated.

[TickTickBooom]

Originally posted by Vilenova


Poor baby. he gets paid MILLION$. "everything else about F1" goes with the territory. He should just shut up and work.

He does 'shut up and work', that's why everyone's always picking on him.

Originally posted by Josta


Proof???

None but the voices in my head, but 30+ years of hanging around at F1 races has taught me whose information to rely on.

[giacomo]

Originally posted by TickTickBooom

None but the voices in my head, but 30+ years of hanging around at F1 races has taught me whose information to rely on.

30+ years of being existent on planet earth has taught me not to give a damn about the voices in the heads of others.

[Spunout]

Originally posted by Josta


For Ferrari you can understand them wanting to know what is happening. After all, Ferrari want one of the top drivers. The top drivers are Kimi and Alonso. Ferrari can't wait for Kimi to decide "hmm shall I drive or not" till the last moment so will obviously say "sign or we sign Fernando". Kimi doesn't like that so is deciding on either retirement or another team. I think the same situation faced Schumacher towards the end. He was undecided on retirement so Ferrari just went ahead and got a driver of similar stature, thus forcing Schumacher to decide.

But was Schumacher forced to retire? AFAIK he was given the choice: you can either retire, or continue with Räikkönen. Of course, the latter meant losing the #1 status hes had since mid-90s. And let me be 100% clear on this: I for one don´t want to go for these "MS ran away" bashfests. Schumi was 37 years old and 7-times WDC. Nobody knows WHY he retired.

KR insisted he´ll make HIS choice this or next year - in other words, whenever he feels like. I know Ferrari people talked about potential issues between two top drivers (or Alonso in particular...KR & FM seem to get along, despite of competitive situation), OTOH Räikkönen and Alonso respect each other. Räikkönen even commented that he´d want to partner Alonso.

Certainly Kimi isn´t the one having problems with WDC teammate. At Sauber it was fast and consistent NH. At McLaren it was on-the-top-of-his-form DC (in 2001 he beat Mika and superior Ferrari of RB...not bad) and "Schumacher Slayer" JPM. Then he moved to Ferrari, without knowing if his teammate was going to be none other than MS, or quickly improving FM.

Sure, we can speculate. But having read Kimi´s comments in Finnish, without lost in translation effect or subtle nuances of English language...I honestly cannot see anything new here.

[giacomo]

Originally posted by Spunout

Certainly Kimi isn´t the one having problems with WDC teammate. At Sauber it was fast and consistent NH. At McLaren it was on-the-top-of-his-form DC (in 2001 he beat Mika and superior Ferrari of RB...not bad) and "Schumacher Slayer" JPM. Then he moved to Ferrari, without knowing if his teammate was going to be none other than MS, or quickly improving FM.

None of the mentioned Raikkonen teammates is a WDC.
And I just love the term "Schumacher Slayer".

Maybe I'll call Massa "Raikkonen Slayer" from now on.

[stormshadow]

Originally posted by giacomo
30+ years of being existent on planet earth has taught me not to give a damn about the voices in the heads of others.

[Spunout]

Originally posted by giacomo
None of the mentioned Raikkonen teammates is a WDC.
And I just love the term "Schumacher Slayer".

Maybe I'll call Massa "Raikkonen Slayer" from now on.

But how many WDCs were out there? One can hardly blame KR for taking the McLaren offer in 2001. From there F1 had two WDCs: Schumacher and Villeneuve. When McLaren contract expired, KR moved to Ferrari.

In short, nothing suggests KR has ran away to avoid strong teammates. Agreed?

In case you missed it, JPM comment was tongue-in-cheek and referring to his reputation. We all know Monty turned out to be less than expected by folks who believed he was the one to dethrone Schumacher.

You can call Massa "Räikkönen slayer" if you want to. Whatever floats your boat

[giacomo]

Originally posted by Spunout

But how many WDCs were out there? One can hardly blame KR for taking the McLaren offer in 2001. From there F1 had two WDCs: Schumacher and Villeneuve. When McLaren contract expired, KR moved to Ferrari.

In short, nothing suggests KR has ran away to avoid strong teammates. Agreed?

Agreed. I just pointed out your excessive formulations. Tongue-in-cheek, of course.

[lukywill]

raikonnen signed ferrari in the summer of 2005. alonso signed mclaren at the end of 2005.

alonso signed ferrari at mid 2008. obviously kimi is relaxed and considering quiting before alonso signed.

[MikeTekRacing]

kimi would be the last person i expect to run away from a teamate
i can criticize his performance when he's been beaten by massa, but hats off to him, he admits his mistakes, he doesn't let the pressure get to him. last year we perfectly saw that didn't give a rats ass about the fact that massa was old in the team, he focused and got the job done in the end. he's had good moments and bad moments but he kept his cool. that's his biggest strength
he is not running away from anybody

[BMW_F1]

I just read the PC, I can sense no love at all from Kimi towards Ferrari...

[Spunout]

Originally posted by BMW_F1
I just read the PC, I can sense no love at all from Kimi towards Ferrari...

Can you tell us where this "lack of love" shows? Quotes...?

[noikeee]

I'd be annoyed if he leaves, it's always bad when F1 loses a good driver, like when Montoya decided to go to stock cars instead of trying to re-invent himself in a midfield team, or when Villeneuve got booted out by BMW even though he was on a good season, proving he was still a very capable former world champion. The grid would be more valuable with these two, same goes for Raikkonen who adds value to the current grid.

But it's his decision, he's the one who knows if he cares enough to want to try to win more championships, or if he's happy with the championship he has won, and the money he has earned.

The good thing is that there's now a big bunch of good new drivers in F1, and that will minimize the "loss" if Raikkonen does leave.

[HSJ]

Originally posted by Spunout


Montoya and Fisichella turning up slower than many expected + Schumacher´s #1 status led us to believe there are no more than 3 really fast guys in F1. By now we should know better...

I think the game has changed in recent years. Especially since 2006 with the introduction of the V8 and less powerful engines, which means a power to grip ratio that puts less emphasis on the driver's ability to sense the limit of grip. Also each year the cars have become more and more stable and driveable; that's probably the biggest effect. Just think back to the nineties. Back then, just 10 years ago, the races were far less predictable and the teams had much more mixed results than nowadays. Teammates were also typically quite far from each other during races, unlike today. It was all down to getting the car right. Nowadays the teams and their computers get the cars so much closer to optimal than they used to, as well as the cars being more driveable right from the start, that the differences between teammates and even teams (with almost standard V8s and control tyres) has become very small. I'm pretty sure that if you put the current drivers in the 90s cars (and teams, with less efficient analytical and setup abilities) we'd again see far more pronounced differences between drivers. I don't think it is right to say suddenly more drivers are truly top notch than before. More likely the game itself has changed so that we don't really see the differences.

[Josta]

Originally posted by TickTickBooom

None but the voices in my head, but 30+ years of hanging around at F1 races has taught me whose information to rely on.

So the proof is the "voices in your head"??

Voices in Mijailo Mijailovic's head told him to kill Anna Lindh. Does that make it right?

Sorry dude, but to have any credibility whatsoever, you need to quote sources, rather than just claim "this is how it is so you are wrong". Without sources, you are exactly in your words, relying on "voices in your head".

Rumours existed of Kimi to Ferrari certainly even before 2005. Rumours also existed of Alonso to Ferrari, Montoya to Ferrari, Ralf to McLaren, Sutil to McLaren, and a whole lot more even more unbelievable. None of these can quote a source, however, unlike the McLaren signing in Brazil 2005 which was confirmed by both Ron and Alonso.

Please quote at least 1 credible source with proof that Kimi had a contract with Ferrari in 2005.

[former champ]

Originally posted by paranoik0
I'd be annoyed if he leaves, it's always bad when F1 loses a good driver, like when Montoya decided to go to stock cars instead of trying to re-invent himself in a midfield team, or when Villeneuve got booted out by BMW even though he was on a good season, proving he was still a very capable former world champion. The grid would be more valuable with these two, same goes for Raikkonen who adds value to the current grid.

But it's his decision, he's the one who knows if he cares enough to want to try to win more championships, or if he's happy with the championship he has won, and the money he has earned.

[Man of the race]

Originally posted by BMW_F1
I just read the PC, I can sense no love at all from Kimi towards Ferrari...

It is like in the 19th century, where hidden meanings of love were between the lines. Kimi is a skillful communicator. He can communicate on a literal level that a modern TV audience do not easily see. I recommend to read some of romantic literature, love letters etc. from those years, and you will understand that they are deeply in love and understand themselves even without words.

[Spunout]

Regarding Alonso to Ferrari theory:

http://www.autosport...rt.php/id/68016

[Panch]

Originally posted by BMW_F1
I just read the PC, I can sense no love at all from Kimi towards Ferrari...

Then why did he said that in Ferrari he fall in love with F1 again?

[TickTickBooom]

Originally posted by Josta


So the proof is the "voices in your head"??

Voices in Mijailo Mijailovic's head told him to kill Anna Lindh. Does that make it right?

Sorry dude, but to have any credibility whatsoever, you need to quote sources, rather than just claim "this is how it is so you are wrong". Without sources, you are exactly in your words, relying on "voices in your head".

Rumours existed of Kimi to Ferrari certainly even before 2005. Rumours also existed of Alonso to Ferrari, Montoya to Ferrari, Ralf to McLaren, Sutil to McLaren, and a whole lot more even more unbelievable. None of these can quote a source, however, unlike the McLaren signing in Brazil 2005 which was confirmed by both Ron and Alonso.

Please quote at least 1 credible source with proof that Kimi had a contract with Ferrari in 2005.

First off, I ain't no dude, so let's get that little disillusion out of the way.

Secondly, not everything has to be "confirmed" to be true. I am married, lots of people who weren't at my wedding know I am married, but do others ask for pictures and copies of the marriage certificate before they believe it? No, they do not. When you know people, you generally know whether or not to rely on what they say. Thus "proof" is not always needed.

As for my sources, well...not something I want to discuss here. Last time I mentioned anything about my lifestyle on this board, half the members jumped down my throat. An experience I do not want to repeat.

However, I am sure that Ted Kravitz mentioned the pre-contract agreement during the ITV coverage of the race after Kimi's contract was announced. If anyone can remember which race that was, I will look at the footage.

I am sure that what I've heard is true. Rumours of a pre-contract were circulating from August 05 onwards, which was where all the 'Kimi to Ferrari' rumours came from.

It strikes me that you just want to think that Kimi heard Fernando was coming to McLaren and scarppered. It doesn't really matter what anyone else says, or what the facts may or may not be.