Red Bull is closing the door for Kimi's F1-comeback

Turun Sanomat 1.6 2010


Kimi Räikkönen hasn't even thought about what he wants to do next year but he won't come back to F1 as Red Bull's driver in 2011.

Helmut Marko announced yesterday in an interview that he expects Mark Webber's contract to be confirmed during the next few days.

Marko did emphasise Webber's age - and let understand that it would only be a one-year contract.

After Ferrari confirmed that they have bought out Kimi's contract, Helmut Marko immediately contacted Räikkönen and Steve Robertson. In the meeting Red Bull management were prepared to change Webber into Räikkönen in 2011 but the Australian's brilliant beginning has changed the settings.

– We haven't discussed one way or another about next season. The time comes when Kimi has figured out what he wants to do, Robertson confirmed to Turun Sanomat.

Is F1 over for Kimi?

- Never say never, Robertson replied.

HEIKKI KULTA

Source: Turun Sanomat
Courtesy: Nicole

KIMI'S CURRENT PACE IS ONE SECOND BEHIND THE LEAD

HEIKKI KULTA - Turun Sanomat 13.4 2010

Kimi Räikkönen fought his first WC-points in Jordan. In the demanding race the Finnish driver lost only two seconds per kilometer to the lead on those stages he made without mistakes.

Are those 2 seconds then the difference that Räikkönen should catch if he is going to drive for podiums at some stage?

– Jordan's rally was Kimi's most difficult rally. His absolute goal was to finish the rally and under those conditions he had to set his pace accordingly. During previous rallies the difference on the best stages have been 0,8-1 seconds to the lead. That is the real situation at this point, Steve Robertson told Turun Sanomat.

To whom will Räikkönen compare his pace then - Sebastien Loeb or Sebastien Ogier?

– Loeb. Kimi always compares himself to the fastest driver, Robertson emphasises.

Learning period in the spotlight

How has the ex-F1 driver's season taken off according to his manager?

– What is on top of my mind is that rallying is so different from F1. Kimi has had to learn extremely much in an extremely short period of time.

– Rallying on top level requires a completely different driving style than track-driving which Kimi has in his backbone. It takes time to understand everything that is required on the top of rally and unfortunately Kimi can't do it in all peace, as a F1-Champion he has to do it while being in the center of all attention.

Robertson believes that with Räikkönen's persistance and determination he will go far in rally too.

– It's absolutely sure that Kimi will become a really fast driver in rally too, Robertson assures.

Räikkönen hasn't thought about next year yet.

– It's time for it only after a few months, Robertson hints.

Source: Turun Sanomat
Courtesy: Nicole

Kimi's manager: very, very different

- I must say that for me this is very, very different. F1 pit stop is completely different than here. This is of course not WRC-rally. I'm waiting to get to those races, Robertson said to MTV3.

Robertson highlight that Räikkönen could have continued in F1 if had wanted.

- Transferring to rally was Kimi's decision. We had opportunities to make a deal with a couple F1-teams after he quit at Ferrari but that didn't happen. Kimi made it very clear that if he doesn't get into particular F1-teams he wants to investigate other options. We got a good chance from Red Bull and Citroen in rally and Kimi announced that he wants to do it.

Räikkönen's next years series-decision is going to be affected by the experiences in rally in the beginning of the year and the the situation on free driver-places in F1.

- Kimi looks how things progress in WRC-rally until the middle of the season. Then we look what options there are open in F1. If he likes WRC-rally, then he will continue there. If he continues in WRC-rally series, is championship a long-term goal, Robertson says.

Source: MTV3
Courtesy: Leijona Planet-F1