You keep harping on Kimi in F1, Kimi the WDC. My issue has nothing to do with your opinion of Kimi in F1. My issue is you are discounting his performance in WRC. The WRC is not F1 and you're trying to make one matter to the other. You aren't the only one doing it. IMO, If Kimi wasn't "Former Ferrari F1 WDC Kimi Raikonnen" and was just "Kimi, Citroen's latest new rally driver find" nobody would be saying he was "sucking". His performance, as a rookie rally driver, is solid, decent and improving. His incidents are par for the course for rookie and veteran rally drivers alike. His pace is excellent. He needs to work on finding his various levels of pushing and then build some consistency into his drive, but that is also perfectly normal for a rookie rally driver. You are wrong. .
If Kimi want to return to F1, there will multiple opportunities. A team like Force India or Williams would love to have a driver of his talents, and given the right conditions he could produce good points-paying finishes for them. Having a former WDC on the team isn't bad for attracting sponsors either. He has a unique aura about his, his "persona" could be marketable.
The last thing I think of when I think about Kimi is "marketable!" I agree with the rest, though. If he wanted to next year he could easily lock down a spot at Renault.
Heck ya! Catchin rays, drinkin vodka, stress free, laughing his butt off at the F1 circus and Ferrari.......................all while still getting paid more than Massa! Kimi knew exactly what he was doing in F1. He got exactly what he wanted and is having the time of his life now still doing exactly what he wants. If he wants back in F1 he'll come back. Good on ya Kimi!
True, but I don't think we can expect any commercials from Kimi advertising your favorite product anytime soon. The guy is no Billy Mays haha
I don't know, I think he'd be great as a spokesperson for Finlandia Vodka, Ed Hardy clothing or Puma flip-flops... and those have to be someone's favorite products!
Kimi is the Herschel Walker of Formula 1. Lots of promise, lots of talent, but an over exaggerated sense of self importance. "Show me the money" Too bad. He was my favorite driver that year when he was going all out at Mclaren. And his battle vs Lewis at Spa was epic. G. Villeneuve vs Arnoux epic.
To be honest I think Kimi's need to win in F1 and his interested in F1 went after he won the championship, he said before he 'officially' joined Ferrari and when he left that he only had two aims which were to driver for Ferrari and to win the WDC, he did that so maybe he thought what else do I have to achieve. I don't think he's necessarily a Mark Webber type driver, remember he could have been WDC at least once already with Mclaren and to be honest if Webber gets one he should be VERY happy. Not that Webber isn't a good driver but I think there are individual leagues among the drivers of the super talents which are like you've mentioned, Hamilton, Alonso, Vettel, Kubica. I also think if Kimi was the same Kimi in Ferrari as he was in say 2005 I would put him in there also. I think it's wrong to assume that he didn't move to Mclaren because of money, I mean I know what was in the media but how often do they ever get it right? One website said he'd signed for Mercedes for god sake. We will never know what was said between Kimi, his manager and Whitmarsh. And also I think on the topic of Kimi leaving Ferrari and not going to Mclaren to so that he only had two off seasons and thats it, no offence but he's never been the type of guy who really cares what others think. He always does his thing and a big FU to everyone else. And maybe with what happened today with the RB cars maybe that place has just re-opened again.
You sound like you're talking about Bruno Senna. "solid performance", "improving", "par for a rookie", "needs to work on...", "build some consistency". That's great if he is some young newcomer to racing and has a promising career ahead of him as he learns the ropes. Except he is at the end of his career. As I said, Rossi may be a first rate MotoGP driver, but if he came into F1 and was mid pack, there would be little chance of him turning into a WDC. Same with Kimi in WRC. Based on your own reviews of where Kimi needs to improve - which is almost everywhere - apparently I'm not.
I agree - HOWEVER - Kimi himself has said he has no desire to return to F1 in anything less than a WDC capable car. I doubt the Force India or Williams will ever be running with McLaren/Ferrari/RBR. But he was offered a drive in a WDC-capable car... the McLaren. He turned it down, because he wanted to get paid on par with what he was getting at Ferrari. Since these are his stated requirements, then one of two things will happen -He won't be seen in F1 again -He will accept that he's not an Alonso or Hamilton and will agree to drive for less $$, IF a top team will take him -He will agree to drive for a lesser team Any one of those three would be sub-optimal compared to his offer from McLaren to drive for them in 2010 at a reduced (compared to what he got at Ferrari) salary. Therefore, I believe it's safe to say that going to WRC was a big career mistake. Maybe I will be proven wrong. Time will tell.
I am pretty sure I remember Kimi coming out and saying it was an insult for McLaren to offer to pay him what they did, but that he would be happy to drive for them for more $$$. Maybe his manager put that out there and it's not true, but he didn't deny it.
That's quite funny considering the results of the Rally Portugal. The junior team car is the same as the main team one.
