Kimi and Lotus - Issues and drama

Kimi's probably no angel in this, but the first line above is where I stopped reading. If Lotus could "pay him off", then they could probably pay his salary. if they could do that, then we probably wouldn't be hearing about any of this & Kimi probably be staying put. Lotus needs to get their **** together or maybe they won't be around next year.

 

Which is one of the reasons Kimi's contract negotiations took quite long with Ferrari. Both parties very quickly agreed on the salary, the rest was negotiating how much PR Kimi would do. Answer? Substantially less than Alonso.

Lotus also allowed him the freedom to do as little press as possible.

+1

Kimi has never publicly bad mouthed a team before, and even now he's not. Lotus are doing the complete opposite and are being childish. It sucks because I really liked Lotus even before Kimi came there.

Some people are throwing a hissy fit that Kimi has said publicly that he hasn't been paid yet. When he was asked if that was why he left he simply replied ''that is part of the reason, yes''. It was already public knowledge well before Kimi said so.

 

Good stuff from Lopez.

Gerard Lopez on Raikkonen: ?Kimi is often misunderstood?? | Adam Cooper's F1 Blog

Also admits the only reason they're in the fight is because the amount of points Raikkonen had scored for them.

 

"ICEMAN"

 

Drivers are employees and employees sometimes have to do things they don't like doing. It's just part of the job.

But man, when you don't get paid that's pretty messed up. If my company was late on paying me I would start to show up late as well.

-F

 

You get what you pay for......

 

A lot more to it than that...... I *believe* (can't find it now) that his contract specifies a pretty small retainer and significant money for points. IIRC, someone here speculated a while back that he was getting his retainer but not his "bonuses".

OK, they too are a "contractual commitment", but it's easy to see we're into a very grey area. I believe they keep saying he will get paid - Man that's gonna hurt - Hand him a big ol' cheque on his way out the door!

Cheers,
Ian

 

5mio basic and 50 or 75k per point

 

My understanding too.

So, somewhere around 9-13MM in bonuses alone.

Can't help thinking they weren't expecting him to do quite as well.....

 

Exactly my thinking

Last year he almost killed the team with the amount of money they had to pay him lol...

 

I would support that move. Put Bianchi in the car.

That said, IMO, this is the F1 media being the drama queens that they are. This is a non-story, Kimi doesn't give a damn, and I can't say I would be real thrilled about doing any team events if I knew I was leaving and had to wait forever to get my salary. It should be noted that Kimi often acts like he is above PR events. Every driver has to do them, it's part of the game. If he hates it THAT much, stop driving. I doubt Kimi does any fewer events next year than Alonso, why should he get that privilege? Alonso is better anyway.

I think this whole thing was blown out of proportion. Like someone else said, he was never scheduled to be at this thing to begin with.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>An explosive Kimi Raikkonen interview coming up in The F1 Show. Had to b persuaded to race this w/e, hasn&#39;t been paid all season 5pm <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23skyf1&amp;src=hash">#skyf1</a></p>&mdash; Ted Kravitz (@tedkravitz) <a href="https://twitter.com/tedkravitz/statuses/396304839162216448">November 1, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Kimi hasn't been paid all season apparently. I assume that means base too..!

 

Lol, wow. I wouldn't even bother showing up to race.

 

Will Buxton's take. I actually think he's spot on.

Elementary? | The Buxton Blog

"There’s a lot more to this Kimi Vs Lotus debacle than meets the eye. Actually, let me rephrase that. There’s a lot less to this Kimi Vs Lotus debacle than meets the eye.

OK, so here are the facts.

Kimi hasn’t been paid. Kimi is off to Ferrari. Kimi’s patience was tested by a frantic radio message from the team in India, made out of exasperation at him not heeding team orders to let his team-mate through, who was faster at that point in the race but critical on engine. Kimi had serious words with the team after the race. Kimi failed to turn up in the Abu Dhabi paddock today.

All would seem to be deeply unwell with the relationship, and there is no doubt that there are serious strains between the Finn and the team which brought him back to F1 just under two years ago. The relationship may be at breaking point. Kimi may have been on the verge of deciding not to race in Abu Dhabi this weekend. Kimi may yet fail to see out the season with Lotus.

But Kimi was not in the paddock today because he had never had any intention of being. And this decision was taken long before he was told to get out of the effing way.

On Sunday morning in India a few colleagues and I had a coffee and a croissant at Lotus hospitality and were chewing the fat with someone at the team whose job it is to know where the drivers are and what they are doing. We were talking about travel plans to the next race and when we would all be getting to the UAE. Romain was getting there early and would be doing a bit of PR work in the week. And Kimi? Kimi was going back home to Switzerland. He would be flying to Abu Dhabi on Thursday.

“On Thursday?” we asked, “Isn’t that a bit late… for media and stuff?”

“Well yes, but it wouldn’t be the first time he’d missed it, would it?”

This was Sunday morning. In India.

So why was Lotus making media notifications that included interview slots for the Finn when he would either be at the airport or in the sky? Why was no notification given to the media that these interviews were not going to take place?

Perhaps this team member had got things wrong. But I doubt that as he had no reason to tell us false travel plans, and would have been well within the loop of who was going to be where and when.

Perhaps Kimi changed his travel plans late in the day to arrive in time for media sessions but then thought better of it and switched them back again. But that seems like an awful lot of hassle for a man famous for not being a massive fan of hassle.

Davide Valsecchi, the man Lotus would rely upon to stand in for Raikkonen if he fails to race this weekend, entered the paddock precisely at 15:00 today. That is precisely the time when Raikkonen was due to be in media interviews. Every other driver, be they reserve pilot or world champion, had long since been in the paddock. So why the precise timing of 15:00?

To me this entire thing smacks of the creative PR for which Lotus has marked itself out. It smells like a team trying to keep a headline going, trying to keep the wheels on a story that keeps them top of the twitter trending tree.

Social media is a critical tool for Lotus. Some are fans of the way they go about it. Others not. Sources tell me that after the Indian Grand Prix and the manner in which the team spoke to Raikkonen, the team’s social media pages took a hammering both from comments and depleting numbers of followers or fans. The team’s hasty apology to Raikkonen midweek seemed to have been an attempt not to curry favour with their driver, but simply to stem the flow of social media fans away from their pages.

Pages which, if we are honest, will heamorrhage fans when Kimi moves to Ferrari anyway, and the Finn’s ardent supporters go with him.

What was it Arthur Conan Doyle wrote to come from the mouth of Sherlock Holmes? “When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” Something like that, I seem to recall.

While there is no impossibility in the factors around Kimi’s travel plans having changed since Sunday, I for one do not buy the explanation. Because as I understand it this is the way it was always supposed to be.

As such, the only truth I can garner from anything today is that while Kimi and Lotus’ relationship is strained, and while there is a chance he won’t see out the season, today has got absolutely nothing to do with it.

He was never supposed to be here. The fact that he isn’t, simply isn’t a story."

 

Kimi has just said if pay dispute doesn't get solved Lotus can stick it and find someone else. That'll cost them a very easy 10mm, Ferrari is easily within reach. Kimi has shown great short run and long run pace today in the SWB car so he's got them by the balls.

Valsecchi and D'ambrosio or not on pace right now. And we've seen in 2009 even placing a current driver in a completely different car will not guarantee points (even if this car is capable of wins/podiums).

 

Adding on to that; Lotus pretty much has to pay him ASAP now or reach an agreement with him guaranteeing payment as soon as the contructors dolla is paid in their accounts (+ a % I assume).

If not, Kimi can sue them left right and center and even lay claim on their properties (which will be the cars then), which will mean they can't even attend races until he's paid.

''Kimi has not been paid a single Euro'' is what's going round now.

Don't bet high on Lotus next season lol

 

TBH I'd also not take kindly to being shouted at when for the whole season I've been doing them a favour...

 

I assume Lotus is without the funds to pay him at this moment and are awaiting the Constructors bonus at years end to make amends. I am sure this was NOT in the contract but hard to squeeze water from a dry old rock. He has every right to be angered at the team for their handling of the situation

 

This.

Boullier said a couple of weekends ago that everyone has been paid in full. I suspect he might've forgotten Kimi, lol.

More:

Kimi has been going to all races on his own dime.

 

Raikkonen says he may miss last two races in pay dispute - F1 Fanastic

Permane shouting match didn't contribute.

 

+1

 

Did Renault get paid for the engines?