Kimi Raikkonen to leave Ferrari ..is this true

[Tom]

Ross Brawn wears glasses, I've never seen glasses on the front of Massa's helmet.

I would have suggested that its actually Jean Todt and Bernie Ecclestone, one steering the other operating the pedals. I know Jean used to be a rally co-driver so he'd be quite good at shouting instructions to Bernie (an amature motor racer himself i believe) who is naturally on the bottom. Together they'be be just about taller than Fellipe but I think Jean's cheeks would stick out under his helmet (proving the chin theory?) and there would almost certainly be a little arm attached to the sidepod that picked money out from spectators wallets!

[wazojugs]

nope the rumour is thats is schumi as the driver testing the f2007 as the driver never took the helmet off.

[pRo]

nope the rumour is thats is schumi as the driver testing the f2007 as the driver never took the helmet off.

Gotta love the rumours!

Come to think of it, I'm sure you're right! I mean there was a race when Raikkonen DNF'd and walked straight into the pits, WITH HIS HELMET ON! It must've been Schumi!

[DaveKillens]

DENIAL: 1) a river in Africa
2) An unconscious defense mechanism characterized by refusal to acknowledge painful realities, thoughts, or feelings.

Come on guys, get over it, he's really not coming back.

It's a shame Kimi has the charisma of a dead squid, but despite that, he's one heck of a good wheelman. Congratulations on a well deserved win to all the Kimi and Ferrari fans.
I like a tight and tough battle, and as mentioned earlier, it's really cool that each of the top four drivers now enjoy two victories each.

[Tp]

Wazojugs, are you refusing to accept the painful reality that the Great Michael Schumacher is no longer with us?

[wazojugs]

Wazojugs, are you refusing to accept the painful reality that the Great Michael Schumacher is no longer with us?

hell no glad he has gone, plus it was good timing of the retirement as lewis is beating the man who beat the man 2 years!

no i have a contact in modena and this is the rumour going round that schumi is testing the ferrari , apparantly the white power story was invented to cover this breaking out.

could be total cods wallop but hey who know maybe nigel stepney!

[Tom]

So now Stepney's racing a Ferrari (or is that Mclaren?) from the Phillipines!?!

[zoro_f1]

A great article about Kimi's departure from Ferrari. What do you think? Is there some kind of truth?

[THE TRUTH ABOUT KIMI RAIKKONEN, FERRARI AND SANTANDER IN 2008]

[Cylinder]

Kimi got kicked out of Ferrari because he didnt live up to the expections the company had of him. Ferrari need leaders not mere drivers, what Kimi is, is a very talented driver, he is not a leader in the form of a Michael Schumacher, that's what Ferrari looked for and they made a mistake in signing Kimi.

We also had a problem paying a guy 25 million a year to get beat by Felipe Massa who was on a about 5 million a year, the maths made no sense.

As soon as Alonso became available after the McLaren saga, Ferrari decided he was going to drive for them, this was as early as late 2008 apparently, after that it was simply a question of who was going to make way.

Alonso is a leader, you wont catch him having an ice cream and coke in the back during a GP, he's too single minded and too driven for that kind of stuff......Kimi is a free spirit, he will turn up and drive fast, Ferrari needed more than that.

He had to go. 100% the correct decision and nobody at Ferrari would have it any different, thats the truth.

[iamthewalrus]

Kimi got kicked out of Ferrari because he didnt live up to the expections the company had of him. Ferrari need leaders not mere drivers, what Kimi is, is a very talented driver, he is not a leader in the form of a Michael Schumacher, that's what Ferrari looked for and they made a mistake in signing Kimi.

We also had a problem paying a guy 25 million a year to get beat by Felipe Massa who was on a about 5 million a year, the maths made no sense.

As soon as Alonso became available after the McLaren saga, Ferrari decided he was going to drive for them, this was as early as late 2008 apparently, after that it was simply a question of who was going to make way.

Alonso is a leader, you wont catch him having an ice cream and coke in the back during a GP, he's too single minded and too driven for that kind of stuff......Kimi is a free spirit, he will turn up and drive fast, Ferrari needed more than that.

He had to go. 100% the correct decision and nobody at Ferrari would have it any different, thats the truth.

I'm sorry but you clearly didn't read the article......

[Cylinder]

Kimi got kicked out of Ferrari because he didnt live up to the expections the company had of him. Ferrari need leaders not mere drivers, what Kimi is, is a very talented driver, he is not a leader in the form of a Michael Schumacher, that's what Ferrari looked for and they made a mistake in signing Kimi.

We also had a problem paying a guy 25 million a year to get beat by Felipe Massa who was on a about 5 million a year, the maths made no sense.

As soon as Alonso became available after the McLaren saga, Ferrari decided he was going to drive for them, this was as early as late 2008 apparently, after that it was simply a question of who was going to make way.

Alonso is a leader, you wont catch him having an ice cream and coke in the back during a GP, he's too single minded and too driven for that kind of stuff......Kimi is a free spirit, he will turn up and drive fast, Ferrari needed more than that.

He had to go. 100% the correct decision and nobody at Ferrari would have it any different, thats the truth.

I'm sorry but you clearly didn't read the article......

It's old news, it was posted on the Scuderia forums or Autosport Donkeys ago, read it back then. Anyone who thinks Ferrari were forced into getting rid of a driver they wanted to keep is on the pipe. The real reason raikonnen got the chop is very simple. 1) Not a leader. 2) Getting beat by a number 2 driver on a 1/4 of his salary. 3) Ferrari think Alonso is better.

[zoro_f1]

did you read the article or even open the link?

Kimi got kicked out of Ferrari because he didnt live up to the expections the company had of him. Ferrari need leaders not mere drivers, what Kimi is, is a very talented driver, he is not a leader in the form of a Michael Schumacher, that's what Ferrari looked for and they made a mistake in signing Kimi.

We also had a problem paying a guy 25 million a year to get beat by Felipe Massa who was on a about 5 million a year, the maths made no sense.

As soon as Alonso became available after the McLaren saga, Ferrari decided he was going to drive for them, this was as early as late 2008 apparently, after that it was simply a question of who was going to make way.

Alonso is a leader, you wont catch him having an ice cream and coke in the back during a GP, he's too single minded and too driven for that kind of stuff......Kimi is a free spirit, he will turn up and drive fast, Ferrari needed more than that.

He had to go. 100% the correct decision and nobody at Ferrari would have it any different, thats the truth.

[Maxion]

He was just caught up in the politics of the sport. Ferrari saw the $$ with Santander and wanted them. In the long run it doesn't really matter who drives for a team, having the financial backing is way more important.

[zoro_f1]

1) You wanna say that Felipe Massa is bigger team leader than Raikkonen? Do you know what are you saying?

2) Raikkonen have more wins than any other team mate. Please name one which have more wins and titles than Raikkonen:

Grand Prix Wins: 20 2003 Malaysia (McLaren) | 2004 Belgium (McLaren) | 2005 Spain (McLaren) | 2005 Monaco (McLaren) | 2005 Canada (McLaren) | 2005 Hungary (McLaren) | 2005 Turkey (McLaren) | 2005 Belgium (McLaren) | 2005 Japan (McLaren) | 2007 Australia (Ferrari) | 2007 France (Ferrari) | 2007 Britain (Ferrari) | 2007 Belgium (Ferrari) | 2007 China (Ferrari) | 2007 Brazil (Ferrari) | 2008 Malaysia (Ferrari) | 2008 Spain (Ferrari) | 2009 Belgium (Ferrari) | 2012 Abu Dhabi (Lotus) | 2013 Australia (Lotus)

3) If your were able to read the article you will notice that Alonso is a pay driver. Raikkonen brings less money in Lotus than Alonso in Ferrari and that is the reason why they (Ferrari) bring the spaniard instead of the finish driver.

Please read before you post a comment.

It's old news, it was posted on the Scuderia forums or Autosport Donkeys ago, read it back then. Anyone who thinks Ferrari were forced into getting rid of a driver they wanted to keep is on the pipe. The real reason raikonnen got the chop is very simple. 1) Not a leader. 2) Getting beat by a number 2 driver on a 1/4 of his salary. 3) Ferrari think Alonso is better.

[xDama]

This is all very old news and foremost a lot of speculation. I doubt we'll ever know the full story about it all, but you can be absolutely sure that there's something fishy about it all. Maybe in 30 years on some sort of autobiography we'll know more...

Ferrari is just a team that kills careers, and they almost killed Raikkonen' career. I'm happy that he returned with Lotus and is back in top-form. The only thing that bugs me to a level of insanity are the people who claim that Massa was equal or even better then Raikkonen. Massa has never been as good as Raikkonen and never ever will be.