Kimi Raikkonen in focus - the future explored

by - 6/14/2008 02:50:00 p.m.


Kimi Raikkonen in focus - the future explored.
Sat 14 Jun, 09:42 PM


Ferrari F1 star Kimi Raikkonen analysed, and the key question posed - just how much longer does he intend to continue racing in the top flight..?

Will he stay or will he go? That is the key question swirling around defending Formula One world champion Kimi Raikkonen at the moment, with paddock whispers continuing to suggest that the Finn may no longer be a member of the grand prix fraternity come 2010.

Raikkonen has long been a difficult one to fathom - nicknamed the 'Ice Man' for his nerves of steel inside the cockpit, and widely lauded for his on-track commitment and verve, yet remaining strangely monosyllabic outside of the car and developing an equally glacial tone should he begin to lose interest in an interviewer's questions.

Indeed, the 28-year old is famously averse to anything PR-related, shunning sponsor appearances wherever possible. He has been labelled something of a free spirit in this increasingly politically-correct age - a man out of his era, perhaps, in the mould of a James Hunt, Eddie Irvine or Jacques Villeneuve - who devotes as much time and effort to his extra-curricular activities as he does to his racing, joking after his victory in Malaysia that: "We should put it [the podium champagne] in the mouth, not in the eye…"

Equally, however, it has been argued that, as long as he does the job on the day - which, with 17 grand prix victories, 15 pole positions and 52 rostrum finishes from 127 starts at the time of writing, he quite clearly does - then what he does privately is his own business.

F1 ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone famously commented in a pre-season interview with British newspaper the Daily Mirror that: "Every time I've been out to dinner with him, he has been as good as gold - and he's even better when he's pissed!

"There's nothing wrong with that. He doesn't embarrass people to the extent they say: 'my God, he shouldn't be doing that'."

Interestingly, Raikkonen was the only leading driver to give his support to Max Mosley following the News of the World's allegations about the FIA president's private life back in March, insisting in an interview with ABC News that 'it's his personal life'.

"For me, he can do whatever he wants and it's not really my business or anybody else's to put their nose in it," he added.

Raikkonen made his Formula One debut for Sauber-Petronas back in 2001, as a bright-eyed 21-year old plucked straight out of Formula Renault UK by Peter Sauber, who has also put his talent-spotting abilities to good use over the years in discovering such stars as Michael Schumacher and Heinz-Harald Frentzen - both during their pre-F1 World Sportscar Championship days - as well as Raikkonen's current Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa.

There may have been concern in some circles that the youngster from Espoo in the far south of Finland was not ready to be granted an F1 Superlicence - being only just over a year out of karting and with a mere 23 car races to his name when he made his grand prix debut in Melbourne - but his potential spoke for itself, having triumphed in an astonishing 56 per cent of his Formula Renault starts in 2000.

He would go on to join an exclusive club of drivers to have made the points on their maiden appearance in the uppermost echelon by taking the chequered flag sixth 'down under' and, over the course of the remainder of the season, he would notch up eight further points en route to tenth position in the final standings - with highlights of fourth-place finishes in both Austria and Canada - and out-qualify infinitely more experienced team-mate Nick Heidfeld on seven occasions along the way.

Indeed, such an impression did he make that, by the start of the 2002 season, Raikkonen was already a member of F1's elite teams, having been signed up by McLaren-Mercedes. Whilst that year was a frustrating one - with no fewer than ten failures to finish from 17 races, depressingly eight of them mechanically-induced - the fact that he finished six of the remaining seven outings inside the top four, and four of them up on the podium, hinted at great things to come. And so it was to be.

Victory in Malaysia and nine further rostrums would bring Raikkonen agonisingly within just two points of the 2003 world championship laurels, and no-one would have believed that it would take him a further four years to finish the job off. Though there would be eight more wins over the course of his three subsequent seasons spent at Woking, both the 2004 and 2006 campaigns were desperately disappointing in terms of car performance and reliability and, whilst he again finished overall runner-up in 2005, that year Fernando Alonso and Renault were not to be denied.

With both sides suffering from a loss of motivation and clearly becoming disenchanted with each other, it was time for a clean break, and thus - in the immediate aftermath of the post-Schumacher era - beckoned a move to Ferrari. There followed a fraught three-way tussle with Alonso and star rookie Lewis Hamilton over the course of the 2007 season - McLaren having somewhat ironically regained its form in the wake of the Finn's departure - and, though he may have entered the final two meetings on the calendar 17 points in arrears of the latter and a rank outsider in terms of the championship, it was indeed the man from Maranello who would walk away with the crown.

Which brings us back to our current dilemma once more. Raikkonen's agreement with the Scuderia runs until the end of next year, but he has repeatedly refused to confirm whether he intends to carry on or not. Whilst he has produced his usual sublime performances on the majority of occasions so far in 2008, there have also been times - Melbourne and Monaco most prominently spring to mind - when he has barely seemed to be there, raising question marks about his long-term desire.

Those close to him have intimated that they would not be at all surprised to see him walk away from the sport at barely 30 years of age, regardless of whether he succeeds in defending his laurels this year or not - and regardless too, it would seem, of the rumoured US$40 million per year deal being tabled by his employers in order to retain his services beyond 2009.

So what does the man himself have to say on the matter?

"There have been rumours like that for many years," he stressed. "I always say that I still have a contract until the end of next year. I haven't made any decision as to whether I will keep going or not. So far, that's the last contract that I have and we will see during this year and next year what happens.

"I wouldn't stop if I thought I would miss it. I think I'm going to race as long as I enjoy it - as long as I think it's the right thing for me - and, when the day comes when it's no longer fun, then for sure I will stop. It's purely about if I like it or not

"I would find something else to do, something maybe at that time I'd enjoy even more. Maybe we will make the decision this year or maybe not, and then we will look next year. It's too early to say - it can be the end of next year, it can be in four years' time. I don't know what's going to happen after next year."

As to those aspects of F1 for which Raikkonen cares little - and, presumably, those that will ultimately prove the catalyst for his decision to walk away - he was typically forthright.

"Everybody probably knows," he stated. "I like the racing, and all the other stuff is not always the best thing. There are many reasons why you like Formula One or not. For sure, many people only like the driving and the rest can be something that you don't enjoy.

"I think everybody in Formula One is here because of their love of racing. When you've found something which is not good for you or that you don't want to do, when there are too many things that you don't enjoy or things that don't work out anymore for some reason and you think that the whole thing is not what you want anymore, then it's time to stop."

One thing that Raikkonen has conceded is that he has 'kind of' opened talks about renewing his contract with Maranello and, though he does not rule out the possibility of switching to another team, he admits that should he carry on, it will 'probably' be with the scarlet concern.

In the meantime, he acknowledges, he has the more pressing task of a world championship to fight for and, having surrendered his advantage in the title standings following his Monaco and Montreal débâcles, Ferrari are all of a sudden on the back foot.

"People make mistakes," he underlined. "That is normal in F1 or any part of life. I think we lose together and we win together and we learn from the mistakes. Of course, we always try to improve, but sometimes things don't go as planned and then you usually give up points or have bad results, but it doesn't really worry me.

"I don't feel any pressure. If you look at Australia, we had a really difficult first race and the team was completely different in the second race, so for sure we can improve and learn from things and I don't see that we should have similar problems again. We were in a much worse position a year ago and we still won the championship - one bad race doesn't really make any difference.

"It's close now, and most often it ends up very close between the top drivers and top teams. Hopefully, we can come back and be in front when it counts. We are still there, very close to the championship lead. If I don't win, then I have still won once and it is not the end of my life, but for sure I am here only to win."

by Russell Atkins

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