Kimi Raikkonen for 2010 Fiat WRC team?

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An article in the Financial Times claims Fiat could enter the World Rally Championship in 2010:

Two car manufacturers, believed to be Fiat and Volkswagen, are on the verge of joining Citro?â?½n and Ford in the World Rally Championship (WRC), says its chief executive.

Fiat currently races in the rival Intercontinental Rally Challenge. As SJ of Formula 1 blog points out, it doesn’t take a leap of imagination to place Kimi Raikkonen in one of the WRC cars.

The Ferrari driver has dabbled in rallying this year, contesting the Finnish round of the World Rally Championship two weeks ago, where he impressed before crashing out.

He drove an Abarth Grande Punto in the event – a car built by Fiat and tuned by Abarth. Fiat also own Ferrari, which should make it easier to transfer his contract. Recent rumours have suggested the team is trying to buy Raikkonen out of his 2010 race deal for an eight-figure dollar sum.

Raikkonen has said he enjoys rallying and Ferrari have clearly been willing to allow him to indulge in it despite the obvious dangers – the team hardly needs two injured drivers. Putting Raikkonen in a WRC Fiat in 2010 may provide a neat exit strategy allowing Ferrari to bring in Fernando Alonso for 2010 alongside Felipe Massa.

Do you think Raikkonen might leave Ferrari to go rallying? Do you think he should?

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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44 comments on “Kimi Raikkonen for 2010 Fiat WRC team?”

  1. Yes and Yes! You can see his heart isn’t in it anymore.

    1. if you’d watched the last race you would see he was there with heart and mind! No other driver was so pumped up, eager and driving on the limit the whole weekend as he was!He squeezed everything possible from that F60 and you should give him some credit!

      It’s just some blind Kimi bashers that don’t see things like that. you just see what you wan’t to see so you can say his heart isn’t in it…so what if he does rallying in his free time?He blows off some steam and get’s back behind the wheel. I’m sure after the WRC outing, he’ll be even more pumped up for F1 races to come. You just watch and see.

      And obviusly you forgot about last years races like Spain (where he was a class above all whole weekend), Spa, Canada and France. And if his heart isn’t in it, how can you explain he managed to even MS’ fastest laps record and drive better qualifying with more fuel than Massa.

      Stop for a second, disengage your hostilness and enjoy his racing and you’ll see it isnt as bad as you blindly claim.

      1. Kimi, i couldn’t agree more!

        1. Keith is the next FIA president!
          19th August 2009, 17:18

          ME TOO GO KIMI!

          1. I wouldn’t class myself as a kimi basher to be honest. I generally write quite balanced replies, was in a rush with that one. Maybe I didn’t phrase it correctly, but Kimi has been blowing hot and cold for a while, he was good last time out but he also had enough at malaysia and grabbed an ice cream!

      2. dude we need a consistent driver not one who is in his own class one day and the next day hes no where…….every race this season Massa out classed Kimi…..What does that say?

        1. i think kimi gives 100%

          it just looks like he’s only there 50% because of his personality.

        2. you must be blind. Kimi has outqualified Massa this year and has more podiums….Massa’s podium came from strategy only. the fanboyism is rediculous.

    2. yes it is….one of the only ones. Massa doesnt, massa is all about him when he wins and loses its the teams fault. He didnt even thank Kimi for giving him a chance to win drivers championship last year. Massa is overrated due to the fact that he always qualifies low fuel and gets best qualifying strategy going last. He cant pass AT ALL. Kimi has done more this year, but Massa gets a podium do to strategy and all of a sudden hes outpacing Kimi the whole year…not to mention Kimis dnfs. Massa fanboys and Alonso faboys are really like to hit @ kimi on this site.

    3. Noooooo…don’t go fiat wrc team…in 2010.

      Without kimi raikkonen in Ferrari i wouldnt suport them anymore..

      kimi dont u want to win another world champion?????anymore?

      Are u giving up so easily?

      Afraid of losing out?

      But a piece of advice for you…have no regrets…i respect your decision…

  2. Oh no. Losing one of the best drivers on the grid won’t be good. He should race for another 10 years unless he feels he dont love it anymore.

  3. Hero to Zero…get rid of him!

    1. What!
      a zero?

      Hamilton – 19 pts
      Raikkonen – 18 pts
      Alonso – 13 pts

      So I guess all three are zeros and we should get rid of all of them……

      I think it would be a shame to get rid of him.

  4. Yes he should go…

  5. I doub’t he will go rallying, because he’s to young to leave formula 1 and to old to switch to a different category. No formula 1 driver, that won at least one championship didn’t retire at 30, and frankly every driver agrees that rallying is totally diferent and Kimi would need a couple years to get used to the whole different concept of the series (how to rely on the co-driver).
    Even if Fiat comes to WRC and Kimi switches, i’m sure he will blow Fiat off completly and take a far more competitive Ford or even Citroen instead.

    He shouldn’t switch, he’s a top formula 1 racer, and a very welcome sight between all those ironed out, polite for the media drivers. He’s a blast from the past and it’s good to have a driver like him on track. He shows he’s human, and he gives a clear message, to enjoy life and do what makes you happy. ******** stories that he isn’t himself are just a product of yealous people, that wanted Massa to win the title after Schumacher, but then Kimi came and took the glory despite Massa’s upper hand in the team. Not even Alonso drives like he drove in 2004-2005, and the reason for that are the changes of formula 1 cars. he enjoys life and he’s still better than most of the **** heads that push for the top. A lot of drivers ride bikes, or go rallying, so i don’t know what the fuss was all about his rallys? karting is dangerous too. people get killed in karting too, or they get hurt and there is a prejudice to Kimi rallying…People get injured playing tennis and most of the drivers play tennis. Kimi just had some bad luck in 2008. i mean come on…this is his 3rd year at Ferrari and he won a title allready and they would blow him off? I wouldn’t doubt it, if he’d been there for 8-10 years with only 1 title, while the car would be title winning for at least 5. 2007 he won the title, 2008 he had a lot of bad luck and was beaten by Massa because Kimi had more technical problems, and this year…the car just aint it. When the car gets better Kimi will win the title, while Massa at his best obviusly can’t (if he was so much better in 2008). Mark my words, Kimi will win another title in F1, before Massa does! you Kimi haters just face it…you want him out, because he’s too much of a competition.
    Can you imagine how the history would go, if Ferrari lost patience in Schumacher after 2 years?. media report that Alonso signed to switch to Ferrari mid 2008…come one!!use your brain, the car was obiusly bad and even if it was Kimi’s slip up, he won a title. Prepare for a shock…Kimi will stay in F1 and Ferrari, no payoff will occur. Domenicalli said “trust the team and facts, not speculation” i advice you listen to that!His heart is here, it’s just the bad publicity he’s getting. come on…his car fails and he gets bashed for driving into the garage and getting out of the wet clothes. people..he’s a top driver, you’re just expecting him to do miracles, when nobody can’t.

  6. I think it’s time for Kimi to leave F1. He’s been one of the best drivers of the decade, but his legacy is already fading. Maybe a shot in the WRC would see him reclaim his form.

  7. Its tough to tell, you dont know about ICEMAN.
    May be he will race in F1 for 2010 then leave.
    But will Ferrari put two world champion contender on the same team.ALONSO VS MASSA!

    1. yes, and if ferrari got their way with 3cars (i don’t see it happening, but lets indulge in the hypothetical) could you imagine a MS, Alonso, Massa combo. It could be very entertaining indeed.
      As for kimi, he has a wdc, and had a good time in F1, and been very well remunerated. If he cannot follow his heart, who can?

    2. I don’t think Massa will be a consistent WDC contender in the future, not next to Alonso anyway.

  8. If Raikkonen wants to do Rally, and Fiat want to enter the WRC, then it makes perfect sense to have him drive for Fiat.

    I don’t think he should stay in F1 if he isn’t interested in it anymore. After all you have do what makes you happy, and I would guess any proper racer, would want to race what makes them happy, rather than what makes them the most money.

    Having an ex F1 driver in the WRC would be good to raise the profile of rallying, which is good. It’s still motorsport after all.

    1. Speaking as a Raikkonen fan, I think if he has a chance to go to the WRC, by all means he should.

      His form book has been really spotty, even from race to race in years when he was doing rather well… Only in 2005 and 2007 did we actually see his true form.

      For him, the battle seems to be won and lost on Friday, if his engineer and mechanics can’t find a way to give him a well balanced grippy setup, he either fades away on Saturday and Sunday, or bins it during the race.

  9. I hope he stays for one more year; it’s easy to see that he still has his talent, and I think he should make good use of it in Formula 1.

    But he would need to get the passion with which he raced before.

    1. he was doing great in the McLaren, because the car is leaning towards overstear, Ferrari is an understeery car so he isn’t coping with that to weel since his style makes best use of understeering car. In second half of 2007 they made the car more to his liking and it showed, but in 2008 they were affraid that the car would just melt off the rear tyres if it was oversteering since the TC was banned again. So they made the car even more undesteery and it didn’t do him any favours. Maybe next year, when refuelling is banned, the car will be more oversteery in the first stint and i think it should help Kimi. in 2008 Ferrari also had trouble warming up the tyres (the very same problem that troubled Schumachers campaign back in 2005) and Kimi started races at the back of the grid and with overtaking being so hard these last years, he was stuck. It’s the same now, but next year it could be different – he has a good car in the first part, and has a reasonably good car in the other parts, when the fuel gets low (i think there will be a lot of downofrce on the rear when fuel tank is empty, so i imagine they’ll put less rear wing on the back for the first part). We shall see. I hope F1 get’s a grip and Kimi get’s a good car, so he amazes all and leaves F1 with a freshly won title

  10. Why is it so different these days compared to some decades ago when drivers like Sir Stirling Moss and Jackie Stewart raced in f1, f2, Indy 500, Millie Miglia and even saloon cars in the same year?
    I would love to see Kimi in both forms, he brings a ‘quiet giant’ charisma to the sport and I love his driving.

  11. I’d like Raikkonen to stay in F1, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he went rallying fulltime next year. Starting with FIAT could be good for a learning year and then see what his options are for 2011, or would he want to go straight into a top team.

  12. I think he is much more excited about rallying than F1, and he should go for that reason if he gets the chance.

  13. Kimi’s one of the most naturally talented racers out there so whatever he does it’ll be entertaining though he will be missed from f1 if he goes despite this season being very mixed for him.
    I read somewhere he wants to stay in f1 for another year with his manager being spotted coming out of the Brawn motor home… Unlikely that move will happen but it makes me imagine a massive train of drivers by that Nico moves to Mclaren, Rubens takes his seat at Williams, Kimi to Brawn, Alonso in his ferrari which allows Kubica to move to Renault:P

  14. what a cliche…someone comes here to talk down on Kimi’s attitude and he says he’s his fan, to try and gain some credibility. True fans don’t just give up like that.

  15. ?

    what a cliche…someone comes here to talk down on Kimi’s attitude and he says he’s his fan, to try and gain some credibility.

    Well first I’m a ‘she’:P. Apologise for any offense but I like Kimi, not 100per cent his fan but can’t deny his talent, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to blindly say that every race he does is brilliant when it blanantly isn’t the case.

  16. Nonsense. He has a F1 contract for 2010, which he signed last year and has been rallying between F1 races because there’s a testing ban and he’s intersted in Rallying and Fiat get excellent publicity with him behind the wheel. He’s done extremely well, given that he had technical issues with the Fiat and has so little rally experience. If Fiat really do enter a car for net years’ season (getting a bit late now, don’t you think) there are plenty of experienced rally drivers they can employ. It would be madness to send an ex F1 driver out in a rally car when a) he’s capable of racking up points and getting podiums (2 so far) and b) the person who is supposed to replace him has already had a very public spat with Massa (remember 2007?) and has shown himself to be a destabilising influence in a team (2007 again). Ferrari with Massa and Kimi have won two WCC’s, one WDC and missed the other WDC by one point. Kimi has a contract for 2010, as does Massa. Buying Kimi out of his contract will cost Ferrari millions and Alonso will demand a massive salary, too.

    There are glimmers of the ‘old’ Kimi, especially when the car is lighter and less ‘understeery’ as somenone pointed out. Why does Kimi always get fastest lap so late in the race? Why did he ‘come alive’ in the second part of 2007? Because the car is lighter at the back when the fuel is low, which suits him and in 2007 they gave him the car he needed. Q3 will be done on low fuel in 2010, so expect much better grid positions from Kimi in 2010.

    If Ferrari want Kimi to win, then they need to give him the car he needs. Driving is instinctive. You can’t just change your driving style overnight and still be so quick. Kimi will stay for 2010. Hopefully Ferrari will move the COG further forward and risk the rears going off but even if they don’t, low fuel quali 3 will definitely be a happier event for the Ice(Cream)Man.

    FYI the people who mock him for getting out of his car before the race had been declared null – his car was already out of the race. Typical ignorance from the uninformed.

  17. Let Kimi go rallying in 2010. The Fiat/Ferrari money will continue to pay for his driving. It could be a long term thing. When was the last time a champion moved to another racing discipline taking the same constructor with them? He could win another title with parent company Fiat. He and the team would need time to develop. The timing is perfect. Marketing wise, it’s very strong. You have Ferrari’s Finnish F1 Champion driving for Fiat’s rally effort. Finland = Rallying. Priceless.

    lL

    1. Let him go Rallying in 2011, if he wants to. That gives him another year to prepare in between F1 races and we will have a year with four WDC’s racing at the same time! Why does Alonso have to go to Ferrari. There will be a seat vacant at Brawn next year…

  18. Kimi should stay,, Though not with Ferrari.. They have failed miserably in coming up with a winning car for him since 2007. I think RBR or Back to McLaren where that car was part of him.. He should have taken Hakanins advice and stayed with McLaren.

  19. Well Ferrari won the constructors last year. Kovy was no match for Hamilton and could have brought more points for Mclaren and Ferrari had reliability issues (Mclaren only had one engine failure) last year but even still massa won 6 races so the car was a winner but Kimi wasn’t the best last year.
    I agree though that if Kimi stays in f1 (and I think he should I could easily see him get the title again and then go to rallying and win the title there:P) he should go to another team, he can get a good and more reliable car than what he’s been offered by Ferrari.

  20. Martin Whitmarsh was making the assumption that Alonso is at Ferrari next year in the bbc interview today, also Ferrari have made some comments that are more negative about Kimi and his attitude. Anybody with the skill and natural talent of Kimi would be missed, I still think he has a couple of more good seasons to offer. But if he makes the choice to go rallying then I wish him luck! Although people doubt his commitment you cant win a WDC without giving 100%.

  21. I hope Kimi stays in F1, I don’t understand why the guy gets so much stick about his poor attitude and commitment. He is just a racing driver that is only interested in racing a racing car. He donesn’t like all the other things that come with his job but Ferrari knew that when they employed him. Not all drivers should have the same personality, wouldn’t that be boring? I don’t think we will ever know the full story about his time with ferrari but to me it seems that Massa has always had a special relationship with the team and I think that this could have been a reason why we have not seen the best of Kimi that we were used to seeing from 2005/2006. I am interested to see how Kimi does for the rest of the season with massa out, the team could be more focussed around kimi particularly if Schumacher does not come back. I think Kimi will do well for the rest of the season. I hope this will be enough to convince ferrari to put their faith int him for next year. But if the decision has already been made to replace him it will not make any difference. I will make the most of watching Kimi this year as I think he will walk away from F1 if he doesn’t keep his drive with ferrari.

  22. I like Kimi, my husband doesn’t. He says he doesn’t show any sportsmanship yadda yadda yadda. It’s hard to tell if he’s pushing or not just because he is the way he is…but could you tell there was some weird tension or animosity between Raikonnen and Barrichello on the podium yesterday? Must have something to do with Ruby and Massa being such good friends….Yes, Kimi isn’t as popular as people would want him to be, but he is his own.

  23. Excellent mail by Alastair.

    Kimi is in F1 for 2010 for sure. Maybe more.

    What strikes me odd (and I could be imagining it)is MS. I sense a lot of “unsaid” between him and Kimi. ..and it seems he’s rooting for Massa 100%. Just wondering how much that takes away focus from the whole ferrari team.

    ´´

    1. Re: the unsaid between MS and KR. If you have a look at his biography on this blog, you’ll see that Kimi was offered seats by Ferrari and Mclaren at the end of his awesome first season for Sauber. He took the Mclaren seat because he didn’t want to be Schumi’s ‘number two’ (no pun intended, especially given his comment to Brundle before the start of Brazil 2006).

      A lot of people also wonder why MS left F1 so soon. Some say it was to give Massa his seat and others say it was because he knew Kimi wasn’t going to play second fiddle.

  24. there is one thing for sure – I wanna see Kimi 2010 season (he climed the car wasn’t good enough in 2009), well maybe going back to McLaren things will improve for him!? he might seem not to be into it anymore (and I respect his feelings as he proved himself as a brilliant driver and all ppl know his forces), but his funs wanna see him more!

  25. Yeah, well, I don’t ever want to see Kimi in another set of F1 overalls ever again! So bring on Kimi vs Loeb vs Hirvonen!!! :D

  26. and i hope with better drivers then kimi,he was a joke by ferrari

  27. kimmi is more qualified them massa….just tink the rache at spa on 2008..he was the hero..he fought all his best at spa circuit.he was the hero then..Ferrari maild a big mistake by taking out kimmi..if ferrari was more powerfull at 2009 then,he would make ferrari at the top..kimmi wasn’t supposed to be out of ferrari..instead massa was supposed to be out…just think,kimmi was always making new lap record and fastest lap ..more the massa….FOR ME,KIMMI IS THE BEST AND SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO STAY AT FERRARI.

  28. geez…we’re losing the hottest iceman! i think kimi is very fast. too fast. when he’s inda right car, there he zooms!

    can you guys remember how he overtook Fisi in Japan onda last lap? friggin awesome!

    can you guys remember how many times he started from last and somehow manages a podium finish? extremely awesome.

    Kimi has been my fav from the very moment he shone in Sauber!!! and the team i’ve alwz supported was the team he was in.

    Kimi will alwiz be my fav!!! rock on in FIAT WRC and I will still be hoping to see you in F1!!

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