Kimi and Lotus - Issues and drama

Lotus has secured cash from a new owner. The team apologized to Kimi and said they would pay him.

So if Lotus hadn't secured new funding they would have just quietly not paid him what they owed?

Pretty sketchy.

 

Lets just wait and see if the upcoming check appears/clears....After having been a fan and involved in motorsports for over 30 years I can say that there is always funny money/shadow deals around the sport.....The allure of screaming engines or something

 

It's the fumes. They make you crazy.

 

Makes one wonder about the incident in the 3rd corner of the first lap.

 

^ kimi's playing hardball. he fulfilled his contract by showing up to race. then leaving early, his way of saying, show me the money

 

I don't think he's playing hard ball.

Lotus owes him around 20M dollars. Lotus is the deadbeat here. They should feel awful but they don't. They even said that since KIMI is already rich, he doesnt need to be paid. But then they want him to race and win too.

LOTUS are highly unprofessional and unsporting. I will be rooting against them.

KIMI has raced well for LOTUS. His steering box got broken. No need to stand around with a bunch of liars and cheats.

 

Looks to me like Kimi is doing his job. Look at the points he has won for Lotus. So Lotus is playing hard ball by not paying him. I do not blame Kimi. Nobody has worked for me without getting paid.

Stewart says 3 teams are not paying their drivers. Disgraceful. A black mark on the sport for sure.

There is no way this is good for F1. Bush League.

 

I Agree.

Please note that Kimi's so-called "richness" was paid for by Lotus' competitors... not Lotus. why should Lotus be advantaged at Kimi's expense?

 

^ agree with all the above. by playing hardball, i meant, he is saying dont f with me.
he has fulfilled his agreements and deserves to get paid!

 

Having Vettel and Red Bull win the last 7 straight races is bad enough for the sport. Yawn.

but having 3 teams not paying their drivers in the sea of lavishness and material endulgence that is F1 is just disgraceful.

 

Curious; Were you yawning when Michael set that record?

Drivers I don't really feel so bad about - Not defending the team(s) in any way, but the implication here I do find worrying;

Some (?) Fauxtus "employees & mgmt" haven't been paid either? Now that does suck - Most of these guys are young with young families etc - I'm sure the Boulliers of the world are OK, but Joe the junior spanner man, or the machinist back at the factory - *That's* the disgrace IMO.

Cheers,
Ian

 

First, Lotus is apparently $15 million behind. If you are supposed to be paid and the payor is $15 million behind, are you going to trust them to pay you at the end of the season? If I were owed $15 million, I'd be upset too. Kimi is right on this one.

I am familiar with some F-1 contracts, and I have never seen a contract which causes the driver to wait until the end of the season to be paid. Every contract I have seen requires the team to make payments to the drivers--usually once or twice a month. It would be silly to think that Kimi's contract allows Lotus to pay him at the end. And if that were the case, we wouldn't be having this discussion, would we?

My post was in response to a couple of posts which suggested that Kimi not show up until he is paid. My response is that if Kimi decides not to show up, then he will likely be in breach of his contract. I then tried to show how that breach and the fallout might work.

For example, let's say that Kimi decides not to show . . . Lotus could fire him and would not owe him for any subsequent salary (and possibly bonus). It would have to pay him for services rendered prior to his failure to show up.

However, if Kimi shows up, and Lotus decides not to put him in the car, he is nevertheless entitled to be paid. If Lotus decides not to let him drive, it does not change his contract to be paid.

I am not familiar with the actual contract that Kimi has with Lotus. But one does not have to be familiar with that contract to know there is a problem.

Have you seen a single Lotus executive come out and state publicly that Kimi has been paid every cent due him? No? Do you know why? Because they own him a pot-load of money. If Lotus were paid and up to date, don't you think they would have put this in the public doman? Of course they would.

 

I agree - if the deal had genuinely closed shouldn't Genii or the team announce it not someone who has implicitly been saying the check's in the post for six months - maybe it still is....

 

Apparently Ecclestone is willing to direct Raikkonen's share of Lotus' winnings at the end of the season directly to Kimi.

Says it all...

 

Shock new F1 poverty study « Sniff Petrol


Sniffs take

LOVED the ''Max'' reference!

 

According to Spiegel Lotus owes Kimi 16mio Euro (or 21.5m USD).

They cite their source as Steve Robertson.

 

Wow! That would be a little embarrassing for 'em!

Particularly if he also covers the others that haven't (rumoured) been paid - Given they're paid more or less a year in arrears the team would hardly get anything!.....

Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch.

Who says Bernie has no soul!

Cheers,
Ian

 

Some more recent sources state Lotus pays Kimi 17M Pounds per season which calculates to approx 27.4M USD. Kimi was highest paid driver when he was with Ferrari at US$51M per season. His estimated net worth is US$130M

 

F1 has been bush league for years. Other than Bernie no one had a head for profit. F1 consisted of dedicated exgaragistes with little business sense who equated success with solvency and guys with big egos who didn't care how much money they burned.
Only thing that's changed is that the money flow stopped and everyone is looking like the Emperor in his new suit.

 

Better late than never but it's still an issue. And just because Kimi is wealthy doesn't mean it's OK to withhold a paycheck. This is very lame and makes Lotus look like a joke.

I think this could be said about any form of auto racing. They all seem to be on the edge when it comes to the money. You know the old saying about how to make a million dollars in racing.

-F

 

It is but as with everything else it's more extreme in F1

 

I was thinking that maybe if they change ownership at years end with a new Corporate, PLC or LLC parent then they could declare the old company insolvent and renege on their debts?
Would this be a strategy they are contemplating hence the desire to postpone payments?

 

Perhaps, but that's not the way to build a viable reputation in any business. Who'd sell them anything on credit after a stunt like that?