Raikkonen retiring?

Ben Gilbert · Post by **Ben Gilbert** » 14 Jul 2009, 14:17

http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/news/2009/07/ ... fter-2009/

This is probably just speculation at the moment (and I'm sorry if it seems like I'm spamming the forums), but is anyone surprised by this, or does Kimi still have unfinished business in F1?

Think about this. Kimi has a title under his belt, he's been in F1 nearly a decade, and has never really slumped like this in terms of results. This season has been a shocker for him, and though part of it is due to the car he has been given, he has been on autopilot for most of this year. Not once has he been a memorable driver in a race, except for in Germany, but we won't go on about that, and apart from a frankly excellent podium in Monaco, his results have been dire. Two races in a row, a Force India was breathing down his neck, without adjusting for pitstops, and he has less than half the number of points team-mate has.

He's been showing interest in a rally career as well, so I wouldn't be surprised if he does retire. What does everyone else think?

Post by **Nuppiz** » 14 Jul 2009, 14:32

"Finnish media" my a**! How nice to generalize one magazine's opinion to the whole media's opinion. I haven't read anything concerning his retirement from other Finnish magazines. Iltalehti did publish an article where they recorded this year's successes and underperformers, and gave Kovalainen three 'sheeps' and Räikkönen two (three sheeps mean "very bad", when the opposite is three lions). But not a word about Räikkönen's retirement.

Captain Hammer · Post by **Captain Hammer** » 15 Jul 2009, 00:36

The Finnish sources are probably the Spanish tabloids. Raikkonen has said he isn't going anywhere. Alonso has said on at least three occasions that he's not in talks with Ferrari. Ferrari have said they're not interested in signing Alonso. So why is everyone wholly convinced that Alonso and Ferrari is a done deal?

Post by **Nuppiz** » 15 Jul 2009, 07:14

We all know that Alonso wants to be the ultimate No1 driver in his team. So even if something weird happens and Alonso replaces Räikkönen at Ferrari, he'd still have to equally compete with Massa. And we all know where that leads (McLaren '07 anyone?)

FW08 · Post by **FW08** » 15 Jul 2009, 12:45

What we have here is "the international press" quoting a Finnish magazine (which is exactly known as the most reliable source of information in the country) which is in turn quoting a single article printed in an Italian magazine a month ago (if I remember correctly).

All of his might might actually have some significance, or we may simply have "a tale told by an idiot -- full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." (Almost any quote can be made to fit almost anywhere by simply omitting a word or two.)

Captain Hammer · Post by **Captain Hammer** » 15 Jul 2009, 12:51

Could be something was lost in the translation from Italian to Finnish. These articles tend to be written in a way that they present the story as fact, not rumour. A Finnish journalist could well have seen the Italian magazine that photoshopped Alonso's head onto Kimi's body so it looked like Alonso was in Ferrari battle fatigues, read it and believed it to be legit despite Raikkonen denying he's leaving, Alonso denying he's going to Ferrari and Ferrari denying they're looking at Alonso (if they're looking at anyone, it's Vettel ... and maybe Button, but I doubt either are going anywhere). The only people who keep persisting and insisting that this is happening are the Spanish tabloids.

FW08 · Post by **FW08** » 15 Jul 2009, 13:00

Captain Hammer wrote:Could be something was lost in the translation from Italian to Finnish.

Could be. But I rather think that if something was lost, it was made to disappear in the hopes of a better scoop.

CarlosFerreira · Post by **CarlosFerreira** » 21 Jul 2009, 16:07

How much longer is Raikkonen's Ferrari contract? Remember, this guy has probably the highest salary in F1 at the moment. Would any of you really trade that for racing FIAT Puntos down gravel roads sidelined by trees, lamp posts and mail boxes? I suppose he'll live it through, motivated or not.

Post by **Nuppiz** » 21 Jul 2009, 16:08

CarlosFerreira wrote:How much longer is Raikkonen's Ferrari contract? Remember, this guy has probably the highest salary in F1 at the moment. Would any of you really trade that for racing FIAT Puntos down gravel roads sidelined by trees, lamp posts and mail boxes? I suppose he'll live it through, motivated or not.

His contract covers the next season, meaning that in 2011 he is "free game".

CarlosFerreira · Post by **CarlosFerreira** » 21 Jul 2009, 16:09

Nuppiz wrote:
CarlosFerreira wrote:How much longer is Raikkonen's Ferrari contract? Remember, this guy has probably the highest salary in F1 at the moment. Would any of you really trade that for racing FIAT Puntos down gravel roads sidelined by trees, lamp posts and mail boxes? I suppose he'll live it through, motivated or not.

His contract covers the next season, meaning that in 2011 he is "free game".

Sounds like a lot of cash to me.

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