Kimi Räikkönen will try his hand at a different sport when he competes in the Arctic Lapland Rally.

This year’s Arctic Lapland Rally will see F1 champion Kimi Räikkönen make his debut in rally racing. Räikkönen will swap his sleek F1 Ferrari for a Fiat Abarth Grande Punto S2000. His wingman in the arctic race will be Kaj Lindström. Lindström has been a co-driver for four-time rally world champion Tommi Mäkinen.

The 44th Arctic Lapland Rally will also see the return of former F1 driver, 1998 and 1999 champion, Mika Häkki-
nen. He has raced in the Arctic Lapland Rally three times before, in 2003, 2004 and 2006. This year he will be driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 9 with Ilkka Kivimäki as co-driver.

Finnish F1 drivers seem to really enjoy racing rally cars in ice and snow, since this year’s entrants also include Mika Salo and JJ Lehto. All Finnish former F1 drivers taking part in the Arctic Lapland Rally will be driving with the same car, a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 9. Salo’s co-driver is Mika Ovaskainen, while JJ Lehto will have Jari Jyrkiäinen as his.

With this year’s F1 season starting at the end of March, many teams wouldn’t allow their drivers to take part in dangerous activities such as rallying in freezing weather conditions, but Ferrari's team boss Stefano Domenicali thinks differently. He sees the arctic rally as two extra days of testing for Räikkönen.

The race takes place on 22-24 January in the terrain near Rovaniemi.

[via helsinki times]

Kimi Raikkonen has no complaints with Ferrari's KERS despite the Italian outfit stating they are behind schedule with the device.

This year's championship sees the introduction of the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) into Formula One. However, some teams are not too happy with the idea.

While Ferrari and Williams have both already revealed they may not use it at the start of the season, Renault have slammed the use of the device as a 'terrible mistake.'

Raikkonen, though, says he no complaints with KERS after testing it for the first time at Mugello earlier this week.

"Both days the use of KERS had positive results," the Finn told the Gazzetta dello Sport. "The system works well like every other new component."

But despite being satisfied with Ferrari's progress, Raikkonen does not believe KERS will have as big an impact as the powers-that-be had hoped.

"You have more power but for such a short time that I think it won't change things much," he added. "Maybe it's an interesting invention, but I don't think it's decisive."

[via sky-sports]

ROME - FORMER world champion Kimi Raikkonen complained that rain had hampered his testing of the new F60 Ferrari on Tuesday but said he was still satisfied with his run out.

It was the second day running at the famous Mugello track just outside Florence that Raikkonen had to battle the elements as well as all the new changes to the car implemented at the behest of the International Automobile Federation (FIA).

He did at least manage to improve on the previous day though, setting a best time of 1min 33.92sec over his 42 laps compared with 1:34.43 the previous day when he completed 54 circuits.

'It's always nice to drive a new car for the first time,' said the 2007 world champion.

'Unfortunately because of the weather we were not able to push to the limit, but these things happen'.

'All the same, first impressions are positive and, above all, it's important that we didn't have any particular technical problems.'

One of the main uncertainties ahead of the new season is the new Kers system, designed to recuperate kinetic energy.

'Already on the first day the Kers gave positive outcomes,' added the Finn.

Raikkonen's Brazilian team-mate Felipe Massa will take over the testing reins on Wednesday and Thursday hoping for better weather.

[via AFP]

Remember and laugh:

There are rumours kicking around at the moment that Kimi Raikkonen is close to agreeing a deal to race for Renault in 2007 and 2008. The team has already signed up Giancarlo Fisichella and with strong rumours from Italy that Michael Schumacher has agreed to a new two-year deal with Ferrari, it is likely that Raikkonen will now either stay where he is at McLaren, alongside Fernando Alonso, or move across to take Alonso's drive at Renault. Running a Raikkonen-Alonso duo would be expensive for McLaren with a total driver budget (including testers) of around $45m, an increase of around $10m on this year's costs.

However, the stories of a Raikkonen offer from Renault suggest a three-year deal worth only $63m. This does not sound like a very attractive deal, given that Raikkonen is currently earning that sort of money at McLaren and was looking for a serious hike in salary in 2007 and that Michael Schumacher will probably be leaving Ferrari at the end of 2008, and raikkonen wants to be available when that happens. It may also not be possible to do such a deal as Ferrari may have first option on Raikkonen's services for the year's ahead. A two-year deal thus makes more sense for Raikkonen.


All of this is not very cheery news for Heikki Kovalainen who was hoping to step up to become a Renault F1 racer in 2007 after a year testing for the team. If Fisichella and Raikkonen are signed there will be no room for him. He might land a drive elsewhere but moving straight into the Renault team, as Fernando Alonso did, would be a much better option for the young Finn.

[source]

Madonna di Campiglio (Italy): After disappointingly missing out on the drivers' title in 2008, Ferrari are now looking forward to the new season.


Ferrari drivers Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen are enjoying the constructor's annual winter retreat in the Italian Alps, ahead of the season these days.


With new technical specifications in 2009 designed to make the sport more competitive, the two drivers know the importance of a good start.
"I was actually quite nicely surprised. It didn't look similar to some other cars that I saw last year. It didn't look too much different apart from the rear wing and the front wing. Otherwise it's a nice looking car and hopefully we'll get good results with it," said Raikkonen.


Ferrari launched their new car new car F60 for the 2009 season a few days ago.

[via ibnlive]

Kimi Räikkönen wishes to drive for Ferrari for the remainder of his Formula One career.

“This will probably be the last team I race for”, Räikkönen revealed at Ferrari's annual winter retreat in Italy's Madonna di Campiglio.
"I don't want to go elsewhere. I'm happy where I am and I have another two years on my contract", Räikkönen said.

Räikkönen also said that the persistent rumours that Fernando Alonso might switch from Renault to Ferrari do not bother him.
Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali has said that Räikkönen often seems as if he is “on his own planet”. But even Domenicali’s comments do not stir the Finn.

”It does not bother me. The important thing is that I’m here”, Räikkönen said in affirming his current location.

[via Helsingin Sanomat]