F1 Fanatic

Pro: I think his waning performances were exaggerated by bad luck and a team that he wasn’t entirely comfortable in being behind Massa after 07. So I don’t think any argument that his ability was already on the way out is very valid, meaning that after only a 2 year gap he should find his speed fairly quickly- at least faster and more completely than Schumacher, also thanks to being younger.

Con: new tyres, new rules and regs, perhaps the 2 years out will have been worse than I imagine.

@george1066 – I’m sorry, what?

Renault ended the 2011 season as the sixth-best team – behind Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes and Force India. Therefore, in order for Raikkonen to be in the top six, he’s going to have to (at the very least) leapfrog Rosberg, Schumacher, di Resta, Hulkenberg and probably Massa to fulfil your prediction, and that’s assuming that Renault are capable of being sixth on the road.

I also disagree that being away from Formula 1 would have been good for Raikkonen – for one, he was rallying, which is about as far away as you can get from Formula 1 whilst still racing on four wheels. And secondly, he might have the experience of KERS, but he knows nothing of DRS, fuel-heavy cars or (most importantly) the Pirelli tyres. We saw Michael Schumacher take two years off, which he spent on the Ferrari pit wall, and he is still struggling to understand the tyres. I highly doubt that Raikkonen can simply have two years off, come back and put his car further up the order than it otherwise could, should or would be.

with Kimi around you never know

Raikkonen himself has said he needs time, and that he is not expecting instant results.

With the new rules in place a few upsets are bound to happen

Maybe, but Renault did not have an exhaust-blown diffuser this year, so they were perhaps the closest to the 2012 technical regulations, and they struggled. They’ve already promised a conservative approach – no more experimenting with radical exhaust layouts – so I can’t see an upset that would allow Raikkonen to place sixth. In fact, I expect his focus in the first few races will be on beating Grosjean, since Grosjean has experience on the Pirelli tyres (GP2 use them) when Raikkonen does not.

Good news to see him being first in Jerez (then the times went faster) anyway you can see he still has what it takes to be a good F1 driver, let’s see if the car can match his talent

I can’t believe it. 7 podiums, 1 win, 206 points and 3rd in the championship at the end of the season! It went much better than most people predicted.