Kimi Räikkönen making Nationwide debut but uncertain about NASCAR future

Kimi Räikkönen does not know when or if he will return to NASCAR following Saturday's Nationwide Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway

Kimi Räikkönen will make his Nationwide Series debut at Charlotte Motor Speedway this weekend, but as far as his future plans, the former Formula One champion said he was unsure whether he will return to NASCAR and when that return might come.

Räikkönen, who drove a truck for Kyle Busch Motorsports last week at Charlotte and then tested a Sprint Cup car for Robby Gordon Motorsports on Tuesday, will drive for Nemco Motorsports in a KBM-prepared Nationwide car this weekend in the Top Gear 300.

Whether the 31-year-old Finnish driver goes Cup racing remains to be seen.

“You always have in mind to try to do [Cup],” Räikkönen said Thursday prior to Nationwide practice. “Another thing is it going to happen or not. I don’t know.

“Of course I am probably more keen to the road courses than anything else. I leave Saturday as soon as the race is over back to Europe. I have other things to do. After that, I don’t know when I will be back.”

Räikkönen, whose primary racing job is competing for his own team in the World Rally Championship in Europe, crashed during his Cup test Tuesday at Virginia International Raceway. It didn’t give him much of a feel for whether to return to NASCAR to compete in the Cup event at Infineon Raceway next month.

“I just ran a bit wide and decided to go with the grass, but unfortunately there was a big hole or something in the grass so it destroyed the front end a bit,” Räikkönen said. “It was fun to drive it. … I probably ended up doing only 20 laps.

“We just put tires on the car. We didn’t do any changes. We didn’t have time. Like I said, it would be nice to go and do [that Cup race at Sonoma] but I don’t know if it is going to happen or not. I do this week and then I have to go back to do my Rally stuff and we’ll see if I come back.”

The original plan for Räikkönen, who has sponsorship from Perky Jerky and is being represented by the HMS Worldwide sports agency in his NASCAR effort, was to do three to five races for KBM in a truck. But team owner Kyle Busch said Friday that Raikkonen and his sponsors have only paid for the truck race last week and the Nationwide race.

“It's either up to Kimi or up to the financial people that run Kimi's business side of things and decide that they need to find the sponsorship funds in order to carry the experience for him further [with us],” Busch said.

Busch said he was pleased with Räikkönen’s debut last week – a 15th-place finish in the truck race.

“Certainly, he gave the truck a good ride,” Busch said. “It was really loose and he did a nice job with car control and everything else.”

Räikkönen said racing in traffic last week was fun and he enjoyed the NASCAR-style racing. He hopes that this weekend is a little easier for him.

“Once you do it once, you know much more how things go,” Räikkönen said. “I had no idea what we should do during [the race]. I know how to do restarts, but I didn’t know exactly how it goes because I haven’t really seen it or done it before.

“All those things I know now. It’s much easier to go for the second time.”

Source: SceneDaily.com

Alonso: I’d like Flavio to return we miss him

Fernando Alonso would like to see Flavio Briatore back in Formula 1 which has further fueled speculation that the controversial Italian millionaire, who led Alonso to two F1 world titles, is on course for a role in the Ferrari team in the near future.

The ‘Mou’ reference is to Jose Mourinho, the highly respected Portuguese football coach who arrived at Real Madrid last year and is regarded as one of the best managers in history.

In Turkey last weekend, rumours that Briatore – currently banned from Formula 1 for the his role in the 2008 Singapore GP race fixing ‘crashgate’ scandal – could be heading to Ferrari were mentioned by Sky Italia.

“I would like Flavio to return, we miss him,” Alonso told Spanish broadcaster TV3. “He is an unique character but it wouldn’t be like Mou in Madrid”, he added, possibly referring to Mourinho’s latest controversies.

Instead, Alonso said Ferrari has important questions to ask itself regarding its overall approach to designing its single seaters.

“I think Ferrari has to try to change a little bit the way we work, risking more and being more innovative,” said the Spaniard. “From now on we have to start inventing.”

The two times F1 world champion insists the 2011 season is still long but acknowledged the challenge of chasing down Red Bull Racing’s runaway Sebastian Vettel.

“We will not give up so soon but we are aware of the difficulty of having this championship,” said the 29-year-old.

Ferrari technical director Aldo Costa also said it will take some more time before the 150 Italia car is a winner.

“Probably in Barcelona we will take another step forward,” he told Diario Sport, “but we will have to wait for some more races to fight for victory.”

Source: YallaF1

Leading teams to meet for talks on potential takeover and Formula One's future

Four of Formula One’s biggest teams will meet in Germany this month for summit talks regarding the future of the sport

Representatives from Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull are scheduled to meet in Stuttgart a week on Saturday to discuss a range of issues including negotiations over the new Concorde Agreement, various technical regulations including the planned switch to a new 1.6-litre turbo engine from 2013 and, of course, the potential takeover of the sport by a consortium including Rupert Murdoch’s News International and Exor, an investment firm with links to Ferrari.

On Tuesday night, News Corp and Exor released a joint statement confirming their intention to approach the sport’s stakeholders regarding a takeover.

CVC, Formula One’s owners, responded by claiming that the sport was currently not for sale but leaving the door open for a bid.

McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull are likely to grill Ferrari on their intentions with regard to the News Corp-Exor partnership. They may even investigate the possibility of joining the consortium themselves and trying to become joint owners in Formula One.

Former team boss Eddie Jordan said on Wednesday that the News Corp-Exor takeover was “just posturing” and there are many who believe that the teams led as usual by Ferrari are trying to use the threat of a takeover, or a breakaway series, to extract a better deal from F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone.

Source: The Telegraph

Kimi could have drove the whole Nascar-season

Kimi Räikkönen told that he could have drove the whole Nascar-serie already this season.

He starts from the Truck-serie and will see after a couple of races if he will go to Nationwide- or Sprint Cup -series in the future. Räikkönen has agreed upon driving 3-5 races with the team owned by Kyle Busch.

- I could have raced the whole serie this year also if I would have wanted but there are unnecessarily many races for that. Let's just drive what we have agreed upon and see what happens next year, Räikkönen tells MTV3.

- It will become interesting when you start racing with others. I guess it will take it's own time before getting used to not really seeing anything at all to the sides, Kimi says.

- America is quite different. The going is at times quite funny too because they have a completely different approach to the whole motorsport. It's quite laidback in the final games although I've just seen it. It was a funny experience already in the beginning, Kimi smiles.

MTV3 - Antti Rämänen, Anette Latva-Piikkilä
Courtesy: Nicole

Vettel answer excites Italian reporter

Whether a genuine hint about his future or a mischievous reference to recent speculation, Sebastian Vettel caught the attention of Italian reporters with a single comment on Wednesday.

After the reigning world champion answered a question asked by Italian television RAI at the Valencia test, the reporter urged the 23-year-old to repeat his answer in Italy’s native tongue.

"I’ll speak Italian when I go to Ferrari," the Red Bull driver quipped.

Vettel had earlier met at the Spanish circuit with the energy drink Red Bull’s boss and owner Dietrich Mateschitz.

Source: Motorsport.com

Kimi Räikkönen Interview MTV3 at Rallye de France 2010

Kimi: " There are different people speaking different things. I only had one year contract with them. Those people there (RB) I personally have been speakin with knew it´s going to be tough and difficult and crashes were expected. It´s not surprising, there´s always lots of commentating, I´m not worried about it."

Source: MTV3
Courtesy: Moominpappa

Kubica undecided about future amid Mercedes rumours

Robert Kubica on Friday said he is no closer to making a decision about his future.

In the wake of Felipe Massa's re-signing by Ferrari, it had been expected the Pole would stay with Renault in 2011.

But a specialist Italian website claims that, amid criticisms of Michael Schumacher's recent performances, Mercedes has made an offer to accommodate the impressive 25-year-old next year.

Asked about his situation in Valencia, Kubica told the Guardian: "I don't know. I haven't made my decision yet. It's not keeping flexible.

"I don't think what I will be doing in three years' time -- I don't think what I will be doing in three weeks' time," he said.

Renault team boss Eric Boullier said recently he would soon sit down with Kubica and discuss the future.

Boullier said on Friday: "We are optimistic. It's nearly done -- there is a contract in my suitcase."

Source: Motorsport.com

Vettel eyes Ferrari seat 'in a few years'

Sebastian Vettel has repeated his desire to one day race a Ferrari in Formula One.

With Vettel under a longer contract to Red Bull, his teammate, Mark Webber, is being linked with a move for 2011 to the famous Italian team.

"I am very happy with Red Bull," the 22-year-old German told Spain's El Pais newspaper.

"I am not going anywhere else, but in the future, I don't know.

"I want to fight for the world championship, and if you look at the past, Ferrari has always designed very competitive cars.

"Why not go there in a few years?" Vettel admitted.

He added: "Ferrari is unlike any other team, it's a legend. There are other brands that achieve great success, but Ferrari is special."

Bernie Ecclestone is said to be pushing very hard for Vettel, the F1 chief executive's unabashed favourite, to end up in red overalls.

"I don't think that's true," Vettel insisted. "I have a good relationship with Bernie, but fortunately I will decide my future."

Source: Motorsport

The future of Kimi Räikkönen and Red Bull

Source: YouTube @Anelise30
Courtesy: _TaniaS_