Kimi WRC move a back door to RB F1?

[Giblet]

"I don't have any contract with F1 or anything else, so I have no idea what will happen," he said. "I have both options, to stay in rallying or try to come back to F1. I want to see how it goes, and then decide. I'm not in a hurry to decide.

"If it goes well, then I could keep doing it. There are many different scenarios. Right now it's just for this year, both with Red Bull and with Citroen."

He pretty much is not bound to anything and can do what he wants. Sounds Kimi-like.

[PlatinumZealot]

"I could have signed with them [McLaren] if I'd wanted to do, but in the end it wasn't 100 per cent what I wanted. It was not really so much about money; it was all the other things. It's not that I couldn't have gone there but, like I said, I have no reason to do something with a contract that I'm not happy with."

Why doesn't he just tell us what these other things are?! Most people suspect it's rallying, but Kimi himself has not confirmed it.

[SoliRossi]

If i had to guess it would be sponsorship commitments. Macca and Williams would have to be the two most anal teams when it comes to what they require their drivers to do for the sponsors. I would not be the least bit surprised if his contract said he had to do 40 (any number) days of sponsorship stuff and he just said, stuff that ill not do it. Hence the inability to find a suitable deal.

[Giblet]

There was a clause when Alonso and Lewis were together that they weren't allowed to drink during the season, except champagne on the podium.

I could see that being a deal breaker for Kimi

[mx_tifoso]

It is in my opinion that if Raikkonen or anyone wanted to race in F1 with a team such as McLaren they wouldn't let marketing duties or drinking clauses stop them from attaining what they want. If you really want something there should be nothing to stop you from achieving it, therefore I don't believe Raikkonen wanted to stay here all that much.

[Pandamasque]

It is in my opinion that if Raikkonen or anyone wanted to race in F1 with a team such as McLaren they wouldn't let marketing duties or drinking clauses stop them from attaining what they want. If you really want something there should be nothing to stop you from achieving it, therefore I don't believe Raikkonen wanted to stay here all that much.

Probably he wanted to do rallying as well as F1, but McLaren were ok with that.

[SoliRossi]

MX I guess it depends on what your definition of want is. He may have wanted to race in F1 under his own terms, but not to be in F1 under McLarens terms.

You could argue that means he does not really 'want' it, any your probably right. But think about it like this, he has won a WDC, he would get paid more to not race than race in 2010 and he dislikes all the sponsorship hoopla that comes with a team like Macca. So he said well stuff it, ill race under these terms, if thats no good then seya later.

Kimi just does not fit the mold of a modern F1 driver. Its a shame coz he is great for the sport. But not great enough to take Webbers seat in 2011!! (slightly bias here)

[mx_tifoso]

I think that both sides should have compromised some of their requests. Neither Raikkonen nor McLaren could get everything they wanted. And that's why he's rallying in a junior team .

Although McLaren are much better off with their two British champions.

[xDama]

I think it's safe to say that we'll never see Raikkonen in F1 again.

autosport.com - WRC News: Raikkonen: WRC title more valuable
http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/formula-1-new ... for-title/
http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak ... 0051_n.jpg

The cap stays btw ^^

http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak ... 9094_n.jpg

[ISLAMATRON]

Kimi effed up what could have been the best F1 season of all time

Kimi vs Lou @ McLaren vs
MS vs JB @ Merc vs
Lonso vs Massa @ SF

5 WDC's an 1 almost WDC all head to head in 3 monster inter and intra team battles.

Thanks alot Kimi... you chump

[Giblet]

Every once in a while, I like saying "I told you so". Speculation does not in fact, equal fact. Can Kimi drive for RB later? Of course. Is he signed to do so? Nope. Driving a Red Bull WRC car does not mean you are "in" the F1 team automatically. Weber has his future in his hands.

"That is pure speculation, nothing more," Mateschitz explained to German publication Salzburger Nachrichten. "We do not know what Kimi wants to do in a year from now. We do have a close relationship with him, though, so of course that generates speculation."

[WhiteBlue]

Unless Kimi's further WRC career takes of like a JATO Red Bull Racing F1 should be the place to go for him. I think that he will fit there. It depends of how desperateRBR is at the end of the year and how the driver market shakes out. But Kimi will probably find much lower salaries. That could be a stumbling block.

[Giblet]

Unless Kimi's further WRC career takes of like a JATO Red Bull Racing F1 should be the place to go for him. I think that he will fit there. It depends of how desperateRBR is at the end of the year and how the driver market shakes out. But Kimi will probably find much lower salaries. That could be a stumbling block.

Not that I don't think he could race there, just that he needs no back door, and no contract was ever signed tor ace in F1, as some speculated as fact. If Weber performs as good or better than last year, there is no reason he will not stay.

[jon-mullen]

Kimi looked like he was having a blast even when he was digging his car off a snow embankment during the Swedish Rally, and when they interviewed him a couple times at the end of stages he spoke more freely than I've seen him do post-GP. I doubt he wants to come back.

[segedunum]

Every once in a while, I like saying "I told you so". Speculation does not in fact, equal fact.

You're getting ahead of yourself there. We'll see whether the reasoned speculation turns into fact next year. I'm also afraid Mateschitz's comments don't rule out the possibility and they don't paint over the already extremely muddied and fudged comments Christian Horner has made on the topic.

They are hardly likely to announce that Raikkonen has signed anything for 2011 (or even has a pre-contract agreement or just an understanding) when they have two other drivers signed for this year, which looks like being an important title winning on, are they?