After departing from Formula 1 at the conclusion of the 2009 season and coming back two years later, Kimi Raikkonen has quit the sport once more. The Finn feels that this time is considerably different from the last.
Kimi Raikkonen has described why this time around, as he is leaving Formula 1, it seems so different from prior times.
Raikkonen, who had a contract with Ferrari to compete in 2010, elected to leave Formula One at the end of the 2009 season in order to explore rallying and other motorsport disciplines despite having a contract to compete in 2010.
Raikkonen returns to the grid with Lotus after a two-year absence. He competed for Ferrari again between 2014 and 2018, and then he spent the final three years of his Formula One career with Alfa Romeo.
At the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, where he took part in his final race, Raikkonen acknowledged that his decision to leave Formula One this year is very different from his previous exit.
According to Raikkonen, “I think [there are] an] limitless amount of [differences].”
“I have a family, so I have good cause to be at home. This is really different in a lot of ways. Of course, the situation is different. I’m in a different stage of my life right now.”
In This Article...
In Formula One, Kimi Raikkonen took a vacation on this day.
News On this day in 2009, Kimi Raikkonen declared that he was taking a brief hiatus from Formula One to take a sabbatical following a challenging season. The team basically bought off Kimi’s contract in order to create place for Fernando Alonso, who would be joining Ferrari for the 2010 season. He had attempted to arrange a drive with McLaren, but negotiations broke down.
Why then did Kimi leave Ferrari while Felipe Massa stayed? Massa had, in fact, been the faster driver for the past few seasons. Additionally, he had missed the first half of 2009 due to an injury; Ferrari could hardly have dropped him off the back of that without coming out as absolutely callous.
Kimi competed in the WRC while on leave, and his best result came at the 2010 Rally Turkey. Even tried his hand at Nascar. After two years, he decided that he’d had enough of not being an F1 driver and joined Lotus.
Birthdays Philippe Adams (born 1969) was able to raise enough money to compete in two races for the ailing Lotus team in 1994. Although he lagged behind colleague Johnny Herbert in terms of speed, some of that was due to the fact that he didn’t fit well in the car. In Spa, he lost four laps after spinning out of the first race, and in Portugal, he came in 16th.
Andre Lotterer, a legend of sports cars and endurance racing, was born in 1981. He has won the WEC, two Super GT championships, three Le Mans victories, and one Formula Nippon championship (among other things). In 2002, he also served as a Jaguar test driver, but it wasn’t until 2014 that he made his Formula One debut at Spa, taking Kamui Kobayashi’s place for Caterham.
Lotterer made an immediate impression since he beat colleague Marcus Ericsson by a split second. His race, however, was cut short before he completed a lap due to an electrical issue.
The team wanted him to compete in the upcoming race in Monza because of his outstanding performance. But because Caterham too required funding, Roberto Mehri was forced to participate in FP1 with his vehicle. Lotterer declined the offer and returned to the WEC because he didn’t like the notion and wanted as much seat time in F1 as possible as a rookie.
Kimi Raikkonen Won’t Participate in the 2010 Formula One Season
Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 Formula One World Champion, won’t compete in the 2010 season. The Finn has made the decision to sit out the entire season because he preferred to drive for the McLaren team or not at all.
His manager, Steve Robertson, has claimed they were not actively talking with any other teams in F1 and that they were beginning to look at other teams in other forms of motorsport, including rallying.
“For the upcoming Formula One season, it was either McLaren or nothing. Kimi won’t be driving in Formula One for at least the upcoming season as he and McLaren were unable to come to an agreement “In an interview with the daily Turun Sanomat, Robertson said.
At the conclusion of 2006, Raikkonen quit McLaren to join Ferrari as Michael Schumacher’s replacement. At McLaren, Fernando Alonso was granted his seat. Alonso departed Renault at the conclusion of the 2007 season after a turbulent campaign and later joined them again.
Then, towards the end of September, Alonso was officially announced as Kimi Raikkonen’s replacement at Ferrari for 2010, even though the Finn had one more year left on his deal.
Raikkonen was then released from his contract by Ferrari, leaving the Finn to find another driving for 2010 or to sit out the entire season. Raikkonen was given the option of receiving $10 million or $17 million depending on if he accepted a position with another club for the 2010 season.
His former team McLaren was Raikkonen’s top pick, despite the fact that they were quite upset about paying him too much.
Raikkonen requested a $5 million payment from McLaren, bringing his total compensation from Ferrari and McLaren to $10 million, or $15 million. The Ferrari money was extra money, according to Raikkonen’s management, and it shouldn’t be included in his yearly salary. This made them very upset.
Since then, Jensen Button and McLaren have reached an agreement on a deal that is rumored to be worth roughly $6 million, albeit they have not officially signed him as a driver.
Other teams, including former F1 team Toyota, were interested in signing Raikkonen, but he was holding out because of money until he knew what was happening with the McLaren deal.
The revelation that Mercedes is purchasing Brawn GP and pressuring Button toward McLaren has compelled Raikkonen to finally share his plans for 2010.
Many believe that without the Iceman, who was considered as the fastest driver on the grid when he was in top condition, F1 will be less of a spectacle.
Kimi Raikkonen might leave Formula One after his contract with Ferrari expires.
2010 Raikkonen says, “Maybe I’ll race, maybe not.” Offer from McLaren might persuade the driver to stay
After being fired as a Ferrari driver, Kimi Raikkonen is unsure if he would stay in Formula One. He claims it would require an offer from a top team for him to stay in the sport. After agreeing to have the final year of his contract paid off, Raikkonen will depart Ferrari at the conclusion of the current season, paving room for Fernando Alonso’s arrival in 2010.
Regarding his plans for 2010, Raikkonen said, “Maybe I’ll race, maybe I won’t.” “If I race next year, having a car that can win the championship is my main goal. Then there would be no point.”
The 2007 world champion declared that if a McLaren offer came through, he would consider it. At the end of the current season, Heikki Kovalainen’s contract with McLaren will expire.
“I can’t say anything unfavorable about them. We’ve always gotten along well, “added Raikkonen. It’s a possibility, but I haven’t given these topics any attention up until this point.
The Finn had also considered switching to rally racing as a backup plan in the event that a solid Formula One offer did not materialize. “But there is a potential to participate in Formula One. I have no idea what will occur. I’ll make a decision at some point, perhaps before the new year.”
After the F1 club failed to match his $45 million pay, Kimi Raikkonen rejected a move to Toyota in 2009.
Because he wanted to drive a race-winning car and the Toyota F1 team couldn’t match his wage expectations, Kimi Raikkonen declined the team’s offer.
Kimi Raikkonen signed a three-year contract to join Scuderia Ferrari in 2007. The seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher was replaced by the Finn, who left McLaren.
Kimi was quick and had demonstrated incredible speed while competing for McLaren. And Ferrari was interested in hiring their services since they were willing to pay him $45 million a year. He was thereafter the second-highest paid athlete in the entire globe as a result.
Kimi won the 2007 Australian GP after starting from pole position, setting the fastest lap. It was his first race with Ferrari. He would defeat Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso of McLaren by one point to claim the championship.
However, he did not have a good season in 2008 or 2009. He placed third and sixth in the standings, respectively, and lost the Italian team’s favor.
Ferrari stated that the Finn would be departing the squad prior to the 2009 season. Till 2010, Kimi was required to compete for the team. In his place, Fernando Alonso would take over.
Kimi was given the opportunity to work with Lewis Hamilton by McLaren. However, the agreement was canceled, and the team instead chose to work with fellow Briton and 2009 World Champion Jenson Button.
Mercedes also expressed interest, despite the competition. However, Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg were eventually signed. The Finn has no other choice but to race for Toyota going forward in Formula One.
What caused Kimi to quit Ferrari?
At the end of the season, KIMI Raikkonen admitted he made the decision to leave Lotus for Ferrari because “I haven’t collected my salary.”
The in-demand Raikkonen’s plans for 2014 were eventually confirmed last week when Ferrari revealed the Finn would return to Maranello to drive alongside Fernando Alonso. This follows months of frantic speculation.
The possibility of Raikkonen leaving Lotus for a rival team had seemed to increase after reports first surfaced several months ago that the team had fallen behind in their payments to him. Although Raikkonen has made no secret of the fact that he has enjoyed his time at Lotus since returning to F1 with them in 2012, the possibility of him leaving for a rival had appeared to increase.
Lotus was adamant that they could persuade Raikkonen to sign an extension if they could guarantee that they would be able to compete at the top of the field into the next season.
The revelation that the 2007 world champion had consented to rejoin Ferrari last week, however, seemed to imply that those assurances had not been offered in a timely manner.
Raikkonen explained his choice in public for the first time, directly attributing his planned departure to financial considerations.
“But the only factor in my leaving the team was financial. I am not receiving my pay.”
Raikkonen also made it apparent that the management of the team had been aware of what they needed to do to appease him. He was thought to be looking for both financial and technical assurances from Lotus.
It’s difficult to predict how things would have turned out in that scenario, but the transaction with Ferrari is now finalized, and I’m glad we were able to reach an agreement.
Kimi left Ferrari when?
After driving in Formula One for nine seasons, he took a break from the sport to compete in the World Rally Championship in 2010 and 2011. He then came back to drive in Formula One for another ten seasons from 2012 until 2021. He is well recognized for having a reclusive demeanor and being reluctant to engage in public relations activities.