Sauber offer Räikkönen long contract, but F1 licence still to be secured

Finland's latest motor racing hope Kimi Räikkönen is in a strange situation. He has a long-term contract in his pocket to become a team driver for the Formula One Sauber stable, he is even able to talk to the press about it, but he will have to wait at least a month to learn when he is to be allowed to drive in F1 racing. Only in December will the sport's official body the FIA rule on whether the 21-year-old Räikkönen can get the required superlicence to drive next season.

Whatever happens, Räikkönen's liaison with the Swiss racing team will begin officially from the beginning of next month with tests in Jerez, and will continue for several years. Räikkönen's manager Steve Robertson expressed his enthusiasm at the deal, and said that now everyone was crossing their fingers for a positive decision from the FIA.

The contract, believed to be for five years, does not stand or fall on whether Räikkönen gets a superlicence. If the FIA give the thumbs-down, then Räikkönen will be a test driver for Sauber next year and will try again for Formula One qualifications for the 2002 season. This would probably also involve Räikkönen keeping his hand in driving in lower echelons of motor racing.

At present opinions are divided on how likely the granting of a superlicence is, but the early December tests will be important to convince the FIA of Räikkönen's ability to drive at least 300 kilometres at high speeds, and to overcome the rather obvious lack of experience on his scoresheet so far.

The former Formula One World Champion Keke Rosberg, who is these days heavily involved in managing other drivers, has commented that the Räikkönen deal could revolutionise the world of F1 racing. Speaking to Autosport, Rosberg said that things will change radically if the youngster gets a superlicence, and the drivers' market would be turned on its end. He argued that this sort of thing would not have happened in his driving days (Rosberg was World Champion in 1982), since the cars were so powerful and so much harder to keep on the track.

Rosberg believes that racing teams would now have an incentive to hire younger and younger drivers. This would reduce their payroll costs appreciably, since the young and up-and-coming drivers would come a great deal less expensively than established stars such as Mika Häkkinen or Michael Schumacher.

In the case of Räikkönen, he would be making a giant leap from the modest surroundings of Formula Renault racing straight to the big time, without passing through the usual "holding zone" of Formula 3 and Formula 3000. These categories would in turn tend to lose their significance if other drivers were to follow Räikkönen's path.

Kimi Räikkönen's earlier stint testing for Sauber was reported in our weekly section some time back. The article gives some details of a driver whom sports fans may be reading about in the years ahead.

[via HS]