We can officially rule Kimi out for a return to Formula 1 in 2011, at least not with Renault F1. He is also quite miffed that the team has been using his name for their own ends.
It was previously reported that Renault team principal Eric Boullier confirmed that Kimi “was on the radar” as he contacted them. He went on to speculate openly about Vitaly Petrov’s future with the team, if replaced with Raikkonen.
“I am very disappointed with the way they (Renault) have used my name for their own marketing purposes. At no point have I even seriously considered driving for Renault and I can assure that it is 100% certain that I will not drive for Renault in 2011. My managers have weeks ago been in contact, once, with Renault’s team leader (Eric Boullier). That is all,” said a very angry Raikkonen.
Kimi is currently racing in the World Rally Championship in a Citroen C4 under the Red Bull Junior Team. He recently finished top of the podium at the French Rallye Vosgien.
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i thk Renault comment too much Kimi about his motivation matter…it make Kimi unhappy how Renault on media hurt his image as World champion…Renault speak too much…now we miss 1 lovely world champion for 2011…
Some interesting quotes from Kimi,
“Speaking to the Red Bulletin magazine, asked what a WRC crown would mean to him, Raikonnen replied: “More than my F1 World Championship title.””
“Rally is a more difficult discipline than F1”
“When asked which is more fun, he did not hesitate: “Rally! Because there are always new challenges.””
Kimi won’t feels lonely racing as he has a navigator companion in a rally car unlike F1.
The Finns are natural rally drivers. They have a lot of iced lakes and trails to practice on. Some start driving cars as young as 10 y.o.
Marcus Gronholm (another Finn) wasn’t even a celebrity in his homeland until he won his 2nd WRC championship. So Kimi has some work to do.
really like his style of driving. really aggresive. can see a lot of incredible overtaking.
he is just like valentino rossi in motogp.
sadly, no F1 cars and engine can withstand his style.
before this, mclaren is the team that seem able to provide him a car that can “understand him”. but when he went to ferrari, his career falling bit by bit…
Even so, Mclaren couldn’t build one reliable enough to withstand it. Ferrari is more reliable but dunno what, Ferrari biased to Massa n somewhat sidelined Kimi after 2007.
r u sure u got ur statement correct? mc laren unable to giv kimi car that finish race! far far away than car that understand him…
McLaren just poor reliability… you either risk nothing and bring back the car safely without any points, or risk everything to go for a podium… see how he outpaced his much more experience partner DC..
There are a lot of good drivers, but not all are good RACERS..
by the way, which series of WRC has overtaking??
I think he meant overtaking during F1 days
Sorry, but who cares ? lolz
kangaroo trying to be smart again….
Come on Kimi, beat Loeb! I’ve had it up to here with that smug Frenchman! 7 on the trot is just too much and too easy!
Considering that Loeb is retiring after 2011 he only has one year to beat him, which is practically impossible given his results this season. Too many crashes, and not particularly fast either.
Just look at how he refused to go for super rally after his retirement in Day 2 of Rallye de France last week, citing “less than ideal road condition” and “lack of motivation due to being so far down the order” as reasons. Does he think that road condition has to be “ideal” to win rallies? Lack of motivation because you are running far down the order? Loeb was 2 minutes behind in Rally New Zealand and came as close as 5 seconds to the rally leader by the end of Day 2! While we know that Kimi couldn’t do that he would still have one day worth of WRC experience to learn from.
Sorry with that kind of attitude I don’t see a Rally Champion in him.
And the “smug Frenchman” thing can never apply to Loeb. I used to not like him a few years back thinking he won too much, but now I am starting to respect him because he never act like a “star” like many F1 drivers do.
Ohh Kimi….F1 got no future for you….keep on with the rally.
drive for lotus team…..go..go kimi go…