Kimi to take sabbatical in 2010

Per Autosport: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/80187

This pretty much confirms that Jenson is at McLaren next season

 

This blows! I doubt Kimi will ever come back to F1 especially if he joins the WRC next year...What a waste...

 

+1

And the winner is: Heidfeld, who has now a very good chance to get Jenson's spot at Merc.

 

He valued himself far too high for the current state of the economy and Formula 1 in general. When you price yourself out of reach of every team, what do you expect to happen?

 

Guess he wasn't a fan of Norbert after all. Nice paid leave...
CH

 

I think the flexibility was also the reason. He wanted to do rallies and less sponsor commitments...

Oh well... it's a loss to F1 I think...

 

Any F1 champ who retires is a huge loss to F1.

But I respect the man and his decision: He is at a point in his life where he no longer needs to play the clown for anybody and can pick what suits his style and interest.

My feeling is, that he'll fail at rallying (kinda like Mika did) and then quietly retires.

 

I for one will not miss him. I think he has always been highly over rated, yes he won the WDC, but it was more that McLaren and Hamiton lost it than Riakkonnen won it!

However from his lifestyle, Rally would be more his speed. I wish him well.

 

I like Kimi a lot, and I hate to say this, but... good riddance.

I am very dejected with Kimi as of late. He sucked at Ferrari a large % of the time, and he simply is out of touch with his current market value.

If he really did have the fire still, he would have taken one of the teams up on their offer. But he wants to get paid a lot of money to show up and drive the car, do little or no R&D work, and little or no sponsor days.

What message does that give to the team - that he doesn't want to put the time in to win? What message does it give to sponsors that he doesn't want to give them any time, after they are dropping millions into the team?

He is done in F1. There are too many guys who are good - and lots of young up-and-comers. Honestly, he should never have left McLaren.

 

+1 , sad to see someone in any field, who has an exceptional
talent, just pack up and quit like that. We were all spoiled
with Schumachers drive,determination and joy for the sport.

 

Agree, ultimately, there'll be a buzz about some drivers next year, maybe Vettel, maybe Kubica, maybe Hulk but there will be no buzz about Kimi. He will be even less desirable to teams than he is now.

 

A year in a Red Bull sponsored Citroen and then back in a Red Bull F1?

 

What? Raikkonen in the Citroen WRC team already?

I can't see that. He is unknown quantity on stages.

In a private team maybe, but not in the 'works' team.

F1 and rallies are completely different ball games.

 

He has proven to be fast and brings huge publicity and can secure sponsorship.

 

Today's reports are that they offered him twice what they pay Loeb.

 

But a works WRC team like Citroen already has sponsorship and is looking for results more than publicity!!

That team is so successful right now, that sponsors are queuing up!!

Loeb has just won their 6th WRC title!!

 

such a shame. still the best driver IMO he shall be missed. I hope ferrari fall flat on their face next year

 

Button at McLaren? I do not think so. Too slow.

Taz
Terry Phillips

 

Sad to see Kimi out of F1. He seemed to be the only driver from the current line-up that wasn't cookie-cutter, corporate crap. I know this works against a driver but when he was on his game, he showed his finely-tuned driving skills and this was where he earned his keep. Too bad Ferrari had Clydesdales this year

Can't put my finger on the exact reason but Kimi's driving style reminded me of Gilles Villeneuve. Hope he gets another seat in F1 in the future because with all of the turmoil in F1 the sports more than ever needs racers like KR to draw in the fans.

Cheers-Colin Firth -Ontario Canada

 

I disagree but we are all aloud our opinions.

I think Kimi pushed and pushed and pushed, he deserved that title.

 

+1 he should never have left McLaren.

 

Kimi was certainly capable of being the fastest driver in a single race lap, but couldn't be bothered to give his everything all season. Michael always gave all, even when he was a lap down. Very disappointed that Kimi doesn't seem to care at all about the sport and absolutely not about Ferrari. He's still going to receive his Ferrari payout, so why be bothered with competing? He can just goof off, maybe do some rallying here and there. He had potential to place himself very high in the history of F1 champions, but I think he's looked quite bad in what is almost certainly his last year in F1.

Oh and I hope Ferrari is reawakened and blows McLaren into the weeds in 2010. If they can do that, they can probably beat everyone else also. Massa will do his best to make sure Alonso doesn't have all the glory. Should be interesting!

 

Given how they turned things around with the MP4 22 & 23, he left at just the wrong time.

 

Bring on the Gorrila suit and Booze.

 

Ultimately, it was his own decision and contract demands. A shame for the sport, really. It would have been great to have 4 WDCs in contention in 2010. I still think he would have given Hamilton a good run for his money (no pun intended) at McLaren.