One of the joys of getting on a plane for 12 hours and then not bothering to look at the news because it is the first day of the holidays, albeit only for a couple of hours, means that I have been gazumped on the Kimi Raikkonen to Renault story. I have to say that I was a little surprised as the team needed a driver to inspire and there is a question mark about Kimi because of the way he left F1. But what the hell! It is good news for F1. The Iceman may not be a media dream but he does know how to drive fast, if he has not lost the edge, a la Michael in recent years. F1 fitness – mental and physical – is a world apart from other championships. This throws the driver market sideways a little as there is now little chance for Bruno Senna and Romain Grosjean at Lotus Renault GP. I am also hearing that Bottas is not going to jump straight into F1 immediately so one must guess that Williams will be going down the Adrian Sutil route. Daniel Ricciardo looks like being at Team Caterham, which means that Jarno Trulli is going to get parked, unless Heikki Kovalainen is one the move and there is no real logic in that as the available offers and all teams within reach of Caterham next year and which mat still be going backwards. With a driver line-up of Adrian Sutil and Pastor Maldonado Williams is going to need great engineering.
Renault too need a better car because otherwise Kininwill quickly get bored. He has won 18 Grands Prix and the World Championship so messing about in 15th place is not going to be appealing.
“I’m delighted to be coming back to Formula 1 after a two-year break, and I’m grateful to Lotus Renault GP for offering me this opportunity,” he said. “My time in the World Rally Championship has been a useful stage in my career as a driver, but I can’t deny the fact that my hunger for F1 has recently become overwhelming. I’m looking forward to playing an important role in pushing the team to the very front of the grid.”
It is interesting to note that team did not quote Eric Boullier, but rather Gerard Lopez. I guess that when it comes announcements the owners like to get the glory.
joeblogsf1 
One of the big sticking points with Williams was that Kimi wanted shares in the team. Do you know if Kimi managed to take a small stake in the team? Or did he give up on that aspiration?
Personally, Senna didn’t do any better than Petrov… so why replace a pay driver with a paid driver when there’s no difference in performance? Kimi’s salary has to come from somewhere!
malcolm.strachan,
Only if they are stupid.
Lopez and his ego are big fans of Kimi (Lux will be on new ground, telling a former WDC how to drive the car). I would expect Raikkonen and his entire MO flies in the face of how Eric B likes to work. Someone’s clock may be ticking
Either the owners like the glory or Eric Boullier is on his way out?
Would Bruno Senna gotten this far if his last name was “Smith”?
bloomsm,
No
A couple of typos in your article – Enjoying the christmas spirits already?
“Heikki Kovalainen is one the move”and “the available offers and all teams within reach of Caterham next year and which mat still be going backwards.”
Danjit,
I walked in the door after travelling for the best part of 18 hours and the first thing I did was to write an article for you people out there. If there is a typo, just swallow it and think: “What a guy! To have cared that much to write for us”.
If you cannot handle the odd typo, I really don’t care.
I had no idea that Kimi could issue such a coherent statement. Maybe he’s ready to come back as that’s more words strung together than he said in his last 5 years in F1 interviews.
Kartmn,
Drivers rarely say what they are quoted saying. Kimi is much smarter than you think. In fact he is so smart that he understands that not helping the journalists means that he gets more time to himself. If he can deliver the goods with the car, he will always get the airtime. The only problem he has is if he does not deliver on speed and no-one knows him enough to like him, then he’s one his own…
I will watch with some interest, this off season has gotten off to an interesting start.
My first thought when I noticed Boullier was not quoted was that his time as team principal must be nearing an end.
Not that Renault need more options but will Rubens be sniffing round there soon?
bassanoclapper,
He has been. They are not interested.
i really hope rubens gets a drive,
ste,
Williams might still take him, but my feeling is that with Maldonado using up one of the seats, they need someone inspirational in the other. The only thing Inspirational about Maldonado is his money… and financial motivation is always the first to go…
Maybe we’ll be more surprised by Renault… Bouiilier? Petrov?
Let’s see…
I was wondering if you’d already blacked yourself out on a remote holiday destination away from all the chit chatter..Excited to have Kimi back racing next year. This should put pressure on Lotus engineering to deliver a good car. Perhaps Kubica may just be tempted to sign a 2 year deal with Lotus knowing he would partner the iceman.
Shinii
I wish. No, I am now back in France. In front of a fire with a Whisky Mac in one one. Tomorrow I am cooking… (literally)
Joe
Do You know if Lotus F1 / Genii / Lotus Cars have the necessary funding to pull this off? There have been rumors of late payments to Renault regarding the money Genii borrowed from Renault to buy their F1 team, and for the engines. And what about their organisation, they’ve lost a lot of key personell over the last year?
Does this mean that Kimi has an equity stake in the team?
Peter,
Only if they are stupid
“With a driver line-up of Adrian Sutil and Pastor Maldonado Williams is going to need great engineering.” harsh but fair
What will happen with Petrov? He is a great driver and a nice guy as well.
When the car was not bad he was really competitive.
fromrussia,
Hm… But is he really a top level F1 driver, capable of winning races?
I’m glad to see Kimi back, but I can’t help feeling that he’ll make it to Monaco and then bail; at which point Grosjean will take the seat.
Glad to have you down again, Joe.
Petrov have been issued with an ultimatum. Decide your future in the next ten days, and you have a seat for next year. What do you think, is Petrov still the right choice?
Jakob,
I very much doubt the story. He is not the one to decide his future, unless it comes down to money. But where else is he going to take his money?
Joe, it is pretty rare I disagree with you and this is one time…
or maybe were just talking different things.
…”[…]driver to inspire…question mark …”
man, that sounds like that old stereotype – kimi doesnt talk much with media therefore he must be not talking at all thus no valuable feedback is provided to technical people etc etc.
technically speaking that is five’o’clock tabloid reports. none inspiring feedback at all :). maybe I cannot read between lines and do not get your other idea. what is it then?
seriously now I must admit I am over the moon on the news he’s getting back, I waited longtime for this. so we’ll see.
and one “deep” question – you don’t actually like to say “I told you so”, eh?
🙂 cheers Sir and happy holidays.
Well maybe Eric is not the flavour of the month with the money men…
But who cares if we have Kimi back to entertain us… I’ll be heading to a lot more GPs now and watching the races with substantially more interest…
Pity my other half though… he says he can’t bear the stress….
Fantastic news, the cool media non-friendly exterior is needed in F1. The perfect opposite of the media friendly “after you” types. Its s shame I’ll be missing all the Martin Brundle Grid walk opportunities next season. I cannot and will not fall for the Sky F1 £££ package 😦
I wish him nothing but the best and hope he receives a car that can unleash his prodigious talents as opposed to simulating a mobile boat anchor.
Still not sure if he has the attitude to “build” a team as opposed to moving to a fast car and championship winning team as at Ferrari.
Either way it’ll be a more interesting 2012 with him on track.
“With a driver line-up of Adrian Sutil and Pastor Maldonado Williams is going to need great engineering.”
Fantastic Joe! 🙂
Sutil seemed to be on a charge in Brasil, in a desperate effort to prove his worth to anyone watching. We all know by now how bad Pastor is. He would have been put out to pastor (sic) mid-season, if it wasn’t for Hugo’s personal stash of greenbacks. Not too surprised about Kimi. Williams always used to be great engineering, but they could never be bothered to pay for a decent driver, even in the glory years.
oh please can we have Sutil and Rubens at Wilhems!
I would hardly say that announcing ‘Kimi to Renault’ is ‘getting the glory’. They will have paid through the nose for him, and while I just love watching him when he’s really ‘on it’ in a car that’s working and chasing down the leaders, your comments re what happens if the car doesn’t come up to scratch are particularly prescient.
I think this is one of the biggest gambles (er….daft decisions) Renault have ever taken. By mid season if he’s not qualifying 3rd to 7th at every race there’s going to be problems. Let’s face it, he doesn’t need the money does he. He’s after results and if they don’t come Kimi’s not the sort of guy to knuckle down stoicly and hammer round in 12th place waiting for the next development part – or next season!
The car better be good too. Brilliant as he is, I don’t believe that he’s a particularly gifted development driver.
Strangely I think Williams would have been a better fit – but I don’t know why !
At Williams I think we’ve just had the latest in a long line of decisions that will see the team slowly fade away in race terms.
Just can’t see that combination working
Interested,
I agree. It is a huge gamble.
‘folkdisco’
yes I suppose Mansell. Prost and Senna came cheap.
ian,
Actually, Senna did. His 1994 Williams contract was VERY cheap, but it was back-loaded and so he would have been paid a much higher retainer in the years that followed. The insurers probably paid out on the whole contract…
Yes Joe, i think so. He showed everybody what he can do when his car did have a pretty good performance in the first part of the season.
He had completely destroyed quick Nick, Bruno was slower and less stable than him.
Nobody believed that Button could win the title.But he did.
if you have any information about his contract, just write in your blog )
fromrussia,
I think Petrov is safe. I wish he was consistently quicker than he is, but he is good enough to be there…
Joe,
You are the guy! Love reading your blog. Agree that Kimi may be smart and his poor speech is a result of a wise attitude. I don’t think (from faw away Brazil) that Robert Kubica will ever return to Formula 1. The good thing is to be able to watch 6 world champions in action at once.
Regards
Message to sanjit, its a blog mate, it doesnt have to be subbed!
Maybe Im just way off here, but it seemed to me that if any of the “midfield” teams could give Kimi a kick up the (yeah, you know what Im thinking) it’d be Williams.
Renault or as theyll be next year Lotus? I just cant see it working out. It could make for some great comedy moments though, I can just imagine Kimis reaction to some of the more ‘risky’ strategy decisions theyve inflicted on Senna this season.
Joe, who do you imagine will partner Kimi then? There has been so much hype around Grosjean recently, surely he will not be left out in the cold? Or does that depend on whether Boullier remains in the team?
James,
Sadly, I think it could mean that.
Eric Boullier did give a statement.
I hope Kimi will be hungry enough to give it his best, when he is on, he’s a very exciting driver to watch… Renault need to give him the kit to do the job though.
have good rest Joe, the beginning of next season will be here in a couple of seconds.
The Iceman is back! I think of all the names floated about as a potential team mate for Kimi, he is fundamentally quicker than them. It seems like sometimes Joe, people on the comments seem to try and ask you what the meaing of life is. Just one from me and this is strictly hypothetical. If you were Horner who would you rather have in your team? Kimi or Webber?
I will be interested to see if the WRC experience (plus a little more age and general experience) has mellowed Kimi’s approach to the press pack…
He seems to have been more approachable as his rallying adventure has progressed and he’s also seen how the very, very talented guys in rallying do not have half of the advantages of the F1 drivers…
He may now feel that it’s not a high price to pay for the joy of driving an F1 car….
Whilst I can’t see him being like the very media friendly Button or Senna (Bruno that is) I will be interested if he’s a little more relaxed and protective of his personal space….
I well recall him coming across a car park towards a group of WRC fans clamouring at a barrier he had to pass through, he looked back for Kai who was with the car, mentally seemed to gather himself and head towards the crowd. Despite being rather uncomfortable in the melee he then signed quite a few autographs as he fought to his waiting car…. incidentally the media friendly Mr Block signed none….
We all mellow a little as we get older…. without completely changing our spots of course….
I didn’t know that about Senna, so maybe i should have added Piquet instead?
@Ian
I think Williams attitude to drivers was always “if they got the machinery right, the drivers would come, even if you paid less”. When their drivers won the WC, and their potential worth to other teams increased, Frank & Patrick often dropped them for someone cheaper. I’m not knocking it, cause you can’t knock their spirit, or their record from the 90s. I don’t know the figures, but I think the only way a driver got a big wage from Williams was by having big win bonuses, even the big names we remember as stars now. I always loved Williams, so it’s come to a sad state of affairs when they’ve got *The Worst Driver In F1* (IMHO) driving for them, for a small suitcase of bolivars with a slight wiff of brent crude. 😦
I note that petrov’s manager inferred that it is NOT his decision , that it will be decided between the team owners and the team management , which sounded correct to me ; I presume you have met her joe , I must say I found her very sharp when I met her briefly
frankly , I don’t see that anyone on offer is better than petrov , so why not take the money ? of course boullier may well have a vested interest , frankly I am always baffled by team principals being agents at the same time
JOE
I would not cut Barrichello of Williams´ board yet…
He may surprise some of you being there next year.
I belive he will stay.
Great articles Joe. I wonder if a certain Mr Berger could be being lined up for Boullier’s job, if it is indeed at risk? I’ve got a feeling he could be back soon in F1 in some capacity….
Any idea of how this works out for Kimi financially?
IIRC, the rumors said he took around 20 mil to walk away from Ferrari, and was offered ≈ 6 mil to drive for McLaren, but that would have also reduce his Ferrari payout.
Even after financing his WRC run this year, I wonder if with this contract, he’s still ahead financially when compared to what he would have pulled had he taken less money to stay in F1 with McLaren?
Joe I love your blogs, and i check them 5/6 times a day. They are awesome.
But some of your responses are getting pretty cutting and grumpy (par example, to “Danjit” above). I am extremely grateful that the first thing you did was log on and upload some epic F1 insight, but he was clearly just joking and trying to help(if also unnecessarily pedantic!). Trust me nobody who writes on here will have anything against you, it a discussion.
Tom
Now do you think they’ll let him Rally in the off season so he can sharpen his skills?
Also will you do an Xmas GrandPrix+ subscription post. Some of us sending our family to the site will be assisted if they can find it easily, they may not look to the side banners etc. Enjoy the rest, if you ever get any!
One of the most confusing moves of recent times! It looked like the Renault team was imploding with top people leaving left, right and centre. However, I doubt Kimi would have signed unless they had been able to show him something that gave him confidence they had a good car in development. He can’t need the money that much I wouldn’t have thought and from the outside it seemed that Williams had as much chance as Renault next season as they are rebuilding their team.
I bet this really confuses the rest of the driver market though – as others have commented Petrov seems a shoe-in as they need his money. Senna seemed to do well enough this season. Whether any other team would give Grosjean a chance after his poor last effort despite winning GP2 this year I’m not sure. Chandok seemed a good bet but he seems to be struggling to get anywhere as well and it is looking even more likely that Rubens just has nowhere to go unless HRT find money from somewhere to put two experienced drivers in the car…
I wonder if Renault are trying to find an open seat somewhere else for Kubica or if they have just given up on him and are leaving him to his own devices… As I posted a while back I can’t see a big team picking him up without at least a few races and probably a season to prove he has recovered.
Who knows, maybe HRT are kicking themselves now having signed De La Rosa now there are suddenly more drivers on the market…
Thanks for the article Joe, What do you think, as a rough guide, Kimi is on in terms of salary. And is equity involved in this deal?
Of course you´re right, Joe, I just wondered about the whole story to begin with. It seemed strange to me that he has been told by Boullier to decide. What is there to decide? Of course he wants to stay, but rather him then Senna, right?
No offense to Senna, He can become a good driver, but he would probably be ok with being a test driver for a year, in order for the team to score some much needed points.
What amazes me the most is that there wasn’t the slightest sniff of a rumour in the public domain about this happening. not even from you Joe: if you don’t mind me saying (not meant sarcastically) what you don’t report isn’t usually worth knowing.
For the record I don’t think this will be as good as everyone hopes. I agree with the commentators who’ve opined that Williams would have been somehow better for him.
Do you ever get the feeling that an ex McLaren guy could have been in Brazil ahead of the Kimi deal?
Nah, too obvious!
Joe I give this new partnership 6 races. I don’t think this will last the season. Regarding the insurance payout on Senna, I understand that the total market payout exceeded what would have been paid out for a full 747 plane load of passengers. It remains one of the market’s biggest payouts on an individual.
What a guy! To have cared that much to write for us
…actually, to have traveled as far as you have and then have something to write this quickly – THANK YOU!
Right driver – wrong team… Think mercGP shoul have acted on this and offered schu a second “early” retirement.. Maybe i dont understand things, but Kimi would be a better benchmark for Rosberg and has thrived in teams that emphasize data as opposed to driver feedback. Also, why 2 years?? There will be significant movement in the driver market post 12 and Renault will have insured themselves from Kimi’s premature exit. Lrgp has lost key tech staff and the case for a good car can almost exclusively come down to this years car being dumped early in favor of next years – but that doesnt sound too compelling to me… Well.. I love the fact that hes back, its a key ingredient in my relationship with f1 and i cant wait to see him drive again
Bruno Senna consistently beat Petrov, Buemi and Kobayashi in GP2. His dominant wet weather GP2 win at Silverstone proved to me he had some real skill. After he lost the Honda/Brawn drive his career decisions have been questionable at best. After that disappointment, he should have been right back in GP2, gaining experience, waiting for an opportunity with an established mid-field team such as Sauber. Instead his management takes him to Sportscars and then to an F1 start up team. As a third driver for Renault, he sits on the sidelines, doesn’t race in another series, while Grosjean and others sharpen their skills. My best guess is we will see Bruno at Andretti Autosport or the Nascar Truck/ARCA series next year. The Senna name and colours need to be remembered by all for the GREAT MAN in Morumbi.
Thank you Joe. I really appreciate all of your hard work!
only1halen
GP2 is GP2. It is not a good measure for F1. This is why Red Bull puts its people through the Renault World Series
Would Boullier replace Petrov or Grosjean mid-season with Kubica (considering we have no idea if Robert will ever be the same driver he was pre-injury)? Seems too high a risk to me? And, please enjoy the whiskey, the fire and a well deserved vacation.
Just tidying up a lose end here Joe,
Do you think it would have been worth Williams keeping B’chello for his development/organisational/experience and to some extent pace.
For some reason, and tell me if I’m wrong, he still seems reasonably consistent, quite quick and a good ‘close-in’ racer. So for a team that – lets face it – are going to be rebuilding next year wouldn’t it be quite useful to have somebody who is still motivated, experienced across a range of top teams and, apparently, a good car developer.
OK – its a ltd company and cash flow counts – so pay drivers are good. They also have a few other non team related revenue streams.
But surely a 3 year plan to get the team back performing would pay off big time in the long term, and I’m guessing a guy with B’chello’s experience would be useful.
Or am I missing something
Interested,
Maybe Barrichello is an option but what is needed is inspiration and motivation for the troops
Joe – any insight as to why the Renault performance dropped off during the season. In a season with so few podium warmers, it is noticeable that both Petrov and Heidfeld were on the list. A steady stream of engineers heading for the exit and lack of funding?
No doubt Kimi will have two-way performance clauses in his contract. I wonder if he just sees this as a chance to prove to the doubters that he can still drive and position himself for next years RBR lottery.
So thay take Kimi as a Kubica substitute.
Is pre inury Kubica better than Kimi of 2007?
simon134,
What does it matter whether Kimi pre 2007 was better than Kubica. In F1 you are what you are NOW.
Joe,
Whatever you say about Kimi’s motivation, it was pretty much evident that he was forced out by Ferrari to give way for Fernando who wouldn’t like a team mate of Kimi’s calibre. And more so, he took that dog of a car, which apparently was undriveable for a certain Fisichella, to victories and podiums despite knowing the fact that he wouldn’t be driving for Ferrari in 2010. Now that’s character and motivation for you.
McLaren was interested to the core but then, Kimi wanted to go out rallying and McLaren wouldn’t allow him to do so in the midst of a season. Renault used his name to create a buzz and finally, Williams wanted inspiration from him. Frank doesn’t learn to be frank. The whole world wants Kimi to return. Did you see the twitter traffic yesterday? Ferrari and Mclaren engineers still believe Kimi did more than what the car was capable of. Yes, 2008 was a blip but so what, Lewis has had far worse seasons already and so were Fernando’s 2004 and 2007 campaigns.
He doesn’t entertain media mucking but so what, he’s quite a character and is very special in a cockpit. As far as I can see, he’s gonna use his 2012 season to project his resume to Milton Keynes by the end of the year to take the place left by a certain Aussie. Else, there’s a seat coming vacant in Mercedes as well.
Welcome back Kim
Krishna,
Why did Ferrari do that? And how can you argue that was it wrong for Ferrari to do that when Kimi was overshadowed in 2008 and 2009 by Felipe Massa? Kimi had the same chance as all the top F1 guys. He won the World Championship, aided by the fact that McLaren was busy imploding with internal conflict and external attacks. And then what? If Ferrari had been inspired by him, it would not have gone after Alonso.
Joe, Is there any realistic chance of Kubica coming back to Lotus Renault for even 2013? A Kimi & Kubica line-up would be as good as any other in the grid. But also there is talk that Kubica has signed for Ferrari for 2013 and hence Massa got a lifeline. Are these true?
I feel bad for Williams but then they are going the same way as the Original Team Lotus went. Frank Williams need to realize that he made a huge blunder in not signing Kimi. Signing Kimi would have shown some intent but Sutil and Pastor will be a disaster. They won’t do worse than what they are doing but there is a real possibility of Caterham overtaking them.
What is the news of Toro Rosso line-up? Guess there was some talk that Red Bull wants to give all the 4 guys a chance for next year. So will 2 of them go to Caterham & HRT ?
Ravi,
Kubica’s future depends of nerve-endings and sinews and such things, so we cannot really say anything.
I think that I made it clear about Red Bull: Vettel, Webber and Vergne will be at RBR (Vergne will race in the Renault World Series). Ricciardo will race for Caterham and Buemi and Alguersuari will race for Toro Rosso. This is the strategy that Dr Helmut Marko has come up with. He seems to be the guy who calls the shots.
The season has ended and still we get tasty tidbits from the F1 world. Might I also say that this is a site that I visit on an almost daily basis and it has always great to read your insightful posts..
On a side note though, you just cant resist taking a dig at dear old Schumi whenever you get the chance, do you? 😉
Aneesh,
I believe that role models should live up to their images.
Be interesting to see how Kimi fits with (Group) Lotus’ demands. They seem to want driver figureheads, and have dug deep into their past for the likes of Mansell, or just randomly grabbed the likes of Alesi. This sort of activity does not seem to be Kimi’s gig (or Petrovs for that matter).
Are Lotus taking more of a back seat?
Kimi is a red blooded racer – he qualifies well, wins the race with some dramatic passes, always ‘looks fast’ and is care-free. He then gets drunk after the race. People like him for this ‘care-free’, ‘James Hunt’ style and his attitude towards the media is great. He just wants to win, doesn’t care what people think and is very talented. F1 Racing had a good interview with him a few weeks ago.
Personally, I can’t think of a more appropriate person to see driving Lotus’ in TV/press ads…which is something nobody really seems to be mentioning. He’s got awesome brand appeal.
Williams will be stuffed with Maldonado and Sutil, surely? I know I go on about it, but Rubens has to be their best option – so long as he’s not asking for millions.
According toGerman media, Petrov’s manager has stated in a Russian newspaper that it’s not sure that her driver will continue to race with Lotus Renault, and that there will be negotiations over the next 10 days.
This suggests Petrovs has an alternative. Could he be a candidate for Williams?
Conway,
I do not believe that Petrov has an alternative. Williams may have forgotten how to do this F1 thing, but I do not believe (or at least I hope) that they would not sink to a Petrov/Maldonado pairing.
Joe,
Okay, so are are you completely disregarding the Santander influence or haven’t you noticed anything special which happened in the Hockenheim test in 2008 when Ferrari introduced the shark fins much against the smooth style of Raikkonen? All of a sudden, Kimi failed to heat up his tyres and all of a sudden, Massa was faster. And another thing, all these car developments skills are highly over rated. As a driver, you need to drive on the edge each lap during test sessions and provide a baseline for the engineers to work on which Kimi used to do very well in McLaren. Some say he’s not good at talking to his engineers, well ask Chris Dyer who’s all praises simply because Kimi would never rely on simulator work and always want to try out all the new things on the track and give his simple yet straight forward opinion. That’s why he was so good in 2005 when McLaren finally made a good car. Drivers can do only so much. Alonso can’t win in an HRT. And comeon Joe, Kimi won 2 races more than anyone else in 2007 and deserved to win that championship.
Anyways, a demotivated driver can’t win and secure podiums with that trolley called F60.
Krishna,
You can believe whatever you like. I am not forcing you. I am simply trying to help.
Boullier wants Grosjean in the second car. Fact. Renault will be mid-field again next year – all the good people have left / are leaving. It is a very unhappy ship.
P.S. thanks for all the great stories again this past year. See you in the paddock next year.
Joe
Thanks for the Blogg. I didn’t want to belive the story initially until I head it from you, it came so much out of the blue.
Maybe to cut the 12 hr flight Airbus/Boeing need to contact Adrian Newey to shave a few tenths off their times!
Well Uncle Frank its Rubens or Adrian, tough choice.
Vitaly or Romain is a much easier one for the mish mash of LRGP.
As for Kimi, sounds to me like he’s dipping his toe in the water and then playing the field to see what happens. Go Kimi, ruffle some feathers and have some fun.
It may be my memory, which holds as much water as a spaghetti spoon and is a fleeting thing at the best of times, but I see to recall that Renault in the shape of Genii were in financial trouble not too long back, so how can they afford Kimi, when they were really needing pay drivers?
It seems obvious to me that unless the next LRGP or “Lotus” as it will be, is a stunningly quick race winner then Kimi will loose interest again. New Lotus will probably be 9th and 10th on the grid (after the top four teams) and in the race results next year, it will probably end in tears as Kimi takes up base jumping as a hobby looking for the adrenaline fix he misses.
Re Williams
It’s that bad eh ?
I’ve seen some real dog teams who’ve never been anywhere near successful but are still ‘racers’ with enthusiasm that you could power a small town by.
Notwithstanding the tired old deadwood that regularly has to be cut-out, even during the bad times the company culture – which includes knowing you have a direction and sticking power in adversity – usually comes from the top down.
Do you see a strong recovery for Williams in the medium term ?
(That’s not meant to be a coded double-handed question by the way).
“I think that I made it clear about Red Bull: Vettel, Webber and Vergne will be at RBR (Vergne will race in the Renault World Series). Ricciardo will race for Caterham and Buemi and Alguersuari will race for Toro Rosso. This is the strategy that Dr Helmut Marko has come up with. He seems to be the guy who calls the shots.”
He calls the shots not only for RB but for Caterham and HRT as well. Has anyone else ever had such influence ? Presumably RB pays for it ?
Anyway, I’m glad to Riccy still on the grid. But Joe don’t you think it is a strange choice ? At the end of the year we still won’t know if Alguesuari and Buemi are both fast or both slow or both middling. If Daniel had come in and one of them gone to Caterham, we would have a better idea.
Oh, and Joe – I love it when you reply to our comments, but it would be so much easier if you had a Reply facility like JA has. Sometimes you say “Yes”, or “No” and I have to scroll back up for miles to find the question. Can we have one next year please ? It really is my only complaint about your great blog.
Grabyrdy,
Yes, Francois Guiter of Elf had that kind of power. So too did John Hogan of Marlboro at a time.
Grabyrdy,
I have no idea how to organise that. If there is someone out there who knows how to do it, I am happy to learn.
It’s good news to have Kimi back, I just wonder why he’s bothering?
I would have thought that the reason for a driver to be in F1 is to win the championship, maybe there is some contentment for the Rubens type drivers in just being still involved, but for the real top line guys, surely it’s the championship or nothing. The top teams at the moment are Ferrari McLaren and Red Bull, Kimi of course has burned bridges at two of those, and been rebuffed by the third. The only team with a shot at joining the group is Mercedes. Renault, despite making all the right noises, are still without the required funding, and seem to be losing a lot of technical staff.
It strikes me that for a former champion just being involved can’t be enough, I wonder if the 2 years at Renault might be to get his eye back in before a move upwards. If this isn’t his plan then what is?
@joe – could your man over at Sidepodcast help you with the replies thing Grabyrdy mentions? He’s techy.
Hi Joe,
I didn’t mean to imply that Kimi was stupid. Far from it, as he is smarter than every person I know. He got paid millions to stay home and enjoy his life while so young.
As far as motivation goes, he didn’t show up to all the rallies he comitted to. I am sure there is more to it. I hope he brings a good show with him and we will see how he gets to grips with the new tires compared to how Michael has.
Thank you for a great blog. I usually check it a couple of times a day and always enjoy it!
The comments of some here are incredible.
“Kimi is not good at informing his engineers” anyone have an actual quote from an ex team engineer who said this? Haug, Denis all speak very well of Kimi and perhaps they should know?
“Kimi has no motivation especially in 2009” anyone looked to see who the top points scorers were in the second half of 2009? Was his rive at Spa an illusion?
“Rubens is a great development driver” is everyone at Williams deaf?
I think the results speak for themselves.
I am glad Kimi is back as I imagine most fans are, and he will now prove himself or fail. Its far too early to say. I do agree with the poster that he will have a performance get out clause. I personally wish that he does well in his Lotus, and that the car and team improve. I also hope that provied Kimi does extract the max, if the car does not perform the top teams will find him a seat for 2013.
GO KIMI!
JEZ,
You need to understand in F1 that public statements are always favourable. So people don’t say things about a driver like “He’s a brainless twerp”. If we relied on quotes we would have a very dull story to tell. This is why there is a value in having people on the spot who get the background info.
“With a driver line-up of Adrian Sutil and Pastor Maldonado Williams is going to need great engineering.” a bit harsh, Sutil is very quick (but maybe slightly inconsistent) and I don’t think Maldonado is as bad as people seem to make out he is on here, in his rookie years he has out qualified Ribens quite a few times in a difficult car. still I think Sutil and Rubens would be Williams best bet
Graybyrdy
Mr Marko is bust in his laboratory cloning Seb Vettle so that he will need no other drivers at all. 😉
Joe,
This post from WordPress should help: http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2009/02/19/comment-threading-is-here-plus-other-cool-comment-settings/
And this has to be the most interesting driver market in years……
I wonder if the 2012 Lotus chassis ends up being disastrously slow, do Kimi has any contractual clauses that would allow him to jump ship to another team. I think he needs the money too much to simply quit F1 wholesale, but I can see him making life very difficult at Lotus if that happened and they tried to prevent him from getting another ride (provided one came available).
This is wild conjecture, but I wonder if Kimi even bothered to do his homework on the nitty gritty between Williams and Lotus (I’m sure his management did, but how much might they have filled him in on) and factored in Williams’ personnel upgrades, some of the readily fixable problems that contributed to their anemic performance this year, the instant performance and reliability impact the Renault engines will bring after the terrible Cosworth lumps, the potential impact on chassis development a big new sponsor could potentially bring (a big if I know), etc. etc. vs the fresh departure at Lotus of factory supported chassis development, Renault’s deep pockets, a series of valuable personnel departing and team whose management and top brass are filled with folks of questionable characters and skill (from Boullier to Behar to Lux)…not to mention owner Genii Capital’s source of financing (Antonov) was recently being hunted by interpol before surrendering to Lithuanian police. A pretty long laundry list of red marks against Lotus IMO. I know he has a management team, but it wouldn’t be outside the realm of possibility for them to have been more interested in dollar signs than the gears and levers contributing to chassis potential.
Why do people keep asking if Kubica is coming back to Lotus? It is really annoying and repetitive. There are only two scenarios here:
1: If Kubica recovers well (that means physically and his speed) he will NOT want to sign with Renault. He will sign for Ferrari, RBR or whatever is the fastest seat available and you can be sure there will be faster seats than Lotus with a vacancy.
2:If he isn’t recovered well enough by late 2012 season at latest to be available for some testing and/or races replacing a struggling driver sometime next year he will very likely never be back in an F1 car.
It is not rocket science to see that Kubica and his management’s coolness toward and lack of communication with Renault is either an intentional deprivation of information and collegiality to break his ties with them OR he is in a lot worse condition than they are letting on (in which case it will be a long shot for him to return at all).
Hey Joe,
Unreal blog. I have this moment of disappointment when I click on and there is no new post.
You are awesome, love the replies.
Hope Austin happens next year and you have a meet and greet, I’ll be in.
As a Williams fan forever I was so disheartened to see Kimi go elsewhere.
Now I feel like I’ll be happy if Williams get back to 6th. That sucks!
Joe have merry Christmas and don’t drink and blog. (unless it would make you tell us the top 10 F1 secrets you know and can’t tell us)
‘With a driver line-up of Adrian Sutil and Pastor Maldonado Williams is going to need great engineering’
Love it .. it’s the way you tell em Joe
Finally managed to get access to blog comments again after failing for the last couple of weeks – anyone else had any trouble? Now if only I can work out how to stop it showing my twitter username and that stupid “@” thing, we’ll be sorted!
Right, back to Kimi. Interesting that he has (apparently) signed for two years, given that there are some tasty seats available (Massa, Webber, Schumacher, Hamilton) at the end of 2012. I would expect Kimi to have his eye on these after spending a year getting his feet back under the F1 table. But I guess he’s probably got enough of the big wedge from Ferrari left to buy himself out of the second year if need be. Or maybe it’s a one year contract with a one year option (this would also make sense from Lotus’s point of view if they still have any hope of Kubica coming back for 2013).
The other thing is this: why does there seem to be a popular consensus that Kimi’s time at Ferrari was not a success, whilst Alonso is hailed as some sort of saviour? Surely at the end of the day what matters is winning championships and races? So look at the stats:
Kimi’s first two years at Ferrari: 1 WDC, 2 constructors champs, 8 wins
Alonso’s first two years at Ferrari: 0 WDC, 0 constructors, 6 wins
’nuff said!
Jerry, when you put it like that…
I guess people are comparing both of their performances against Massa who is clearly not the same driver as he once was.
General point on Kimi :
Given “New Lotus” and their sketchy financial situation, can they really afford to have a number 1 driver who has so little interest in press and publicity stuff?
Don’t think that I see Kimi’s attitude as a negative, I think he’s hilarious, it’s quite nice to see a driver who doesn’t whiten their teeth and suck up to every interviewer.
But could the financial/commercial arm be fretting a bit about not having a big, beaming smile they can put on photos?
People can cast aspersions on Senna’s talent all they like, but the guy is photogenic, has a name which attracts attention and looks odds on to be one of just two Brazilians on the grid in 2012.
Jerry
Some interesting points there, as I said in my previous post the only available drive is to replace Schumacher at Mercedes. McLaren wouldn’t want him back, and would be mad to break up the best driver pairing in F1, Ferrari are highly unlikely to have him back, Red Bull are a slim possibility but they have turned him down once and would be likely to look to their own drivers to replace Webber. The problem with getting into any of these teams is they all have drivers that will win the championship if the car is good enough, (McLaren have two) this means they don’t have to risk upsetting the apple cart by re appointing previously sacked drivers, or pay mega bucks for someone who may or may not deliver. This reduces Kimi’s options to either, hoping Renault re capture thir previous form (unlikely) or trying to get into a Mercedes in the hope that they start delivering.
P.S I think the reason that most people think that Kimi’s time at Ferrari was a disaster,is because they sacked him with a year left to run on his contract and would rather pay him millions to sit at home than ever sit in one of their cars again. hardly a ringing endorsement!
I agree with your entire first paragraph… very well put.
While you are correct that a lot of people think it’s a disaster that Ferrari let him go, there’s the whole Santander sponsorship deal that is rarely considered.
Pay Kimi lots of money, or pay Alonso lots of money but then get it all back from Santander’s sponsorship? The latter seems like a great plan… Unfortunately it just looks bad on the surface for Kimi.
I doubt Petrov would have any where to go unless there was the potential to go to Marrusia, and the only way I can see that happening is if Glock moves to Lotus F1.
Clearly extra money is required to keep Petrov there so I wonder if Sutil is a possibility if a deal can’t be reached. A better driver who has financial backing, or do Grosjean and Senna potentially have a lot of backers too?