Rumormill: Raikkonen could be back at McLaren in 2010
According to British newspaper the Mirror, Kimi Raikkonen could be driving for McLaren next year. The Iceman drove for Ron Dennis' outfit from 2002 to 2006 and scored plenty of victories but couldn't get the World Championship. Then he left for Ferrari in 2007 where he promptly won the World Championship the first year.
This season rumors have persisted that Fernando Alonso is moving to Ferrari next year. Seemingly in support of that, the only thing Kimi Raikkonen and Ferrari team head Stefano Domenicali would say about next year is that Raikkonen has contracted for next year -- neither would say that the driver would actually be there.
The hitch in this latest story is that Kimi will only vacate the seat if he is paid his full salary, something like $49 million. If one adds Massa's salary and the salary one could expect to Alonso to make to that, 2010 would make for a stupendously expensive driver's budget. With Alonso cleared of any sanctions in Renault's crash-gate, it looks like Ferrari has some decisions to make -- forty-nine million of them...
[Source: F1 Live | Image Source: Paul Gilham/Getty]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Santosh Tiwari 6:34PM (9/21/2009)
Why can't Ferrari continue with Raikonen? He is a great performer.
Ferrari might end up paying a lot of money to different drivers.
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Dr. Greenthumb 9:25AM (9/22/2009)
You must have missed the last two seasons. Kimi has lost the fire. Going head to head with Hamilton is not going make things any better for him.
hyundaifans.com 9:37AM (9/22/2009)
He still has the fire in him but talk about bad luck. Something always seems to go wrong when he is in a strong position.
naturalyshocked 6:35PM (9/21/2009)
hmmm, i would feel guilty, if i needed to return to my old employer
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or atleast i wouldn' feel well about it.
he is a good driver, no doubt, to bad he didn't score to much this year.
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perry 6:45PM (9/21/2009)
I really like AutoBlog. I really don't like AutoBlog covering F1 news. F1 is really big worldwide. but, AutoBlog time consistency is not there. Sometimes an interesting news, it shows up on AutoBlog within 1 hour. While other news that I think it is pretty important, it shows up in a few days. Sorry, I don't have any example. Trust me, it has happens a few time within this year.
Please, either don't cover any more F1 news, or cover them with the correct delay. Not at your convenience.
I read this "Speculation" for many months now. This is nothing new. "IF" Alonso goes to Ferrari, somebody "HAS" to go. It is not surprise to me that Kimi gets the nod to leave Ferrari squad, and perhaps either go to Fiat Rally Team or McLaren. My personal believe is rally. Those Fin really like rally racing....
Perry
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Corey 6:59PM (9/21/2009)
This blog post was written citing a story that appeared yesterday. Yes, speculation around what will go on with Ferrari / Kimi / Alonso / McLaren has been going on for months, and there is bound to be some news rehash when talking about new developments.
This post was informative. It wasn't earth-shattering, but these types of sagas rarely play out that way. Little bits of information are be leaked out well in advance of any major move any F1 team makes.
Vtecgreen 9:24PM (9/21/2009)
If you're so concerned with it, just keep going past it. I applaud AB for putting this stuff on there. I'm a huge F1 fan, so like yourself, I have heard this speculation, and got this news yesterday on other sites. I'm not going to complain - the 3 seconds it takes to read the headline and keep going is not going to materially impact my life.
And I also applaud AB for posting F1 items because while it is crazy popular worldwide, much like soccer, it is not in America. These posts might get the otherwise causal fan to pay more attention. The more fans we have in America, the better chance we might actually get a race here again.
Not to mention how many current technologies in cars were tested/developed as part of these manufacturer's racing programs, including F1. That is very AUTO relevant...
Franz 9:30PM (9/21/2009)
As a McLaren fan & longtime Kimi Räikkönen supporter, I know I speak for a lot of us when I say we'd be quite happy to have him back. McLaren's reliability issues at the time were the only reason he didn't win a championship with them.
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hoyaCS08 10:31PM (9/21/2009)
Didn't McLaren learn their lesson with Hamilton and Alonso on the same team? I doubt Raikkonen would be happy as a #2 driver at McLaren. Even if they are very close in driving ability (as I imagine they are, though Raikkonen had kind of an "off" year in 2008), McLaren as a team seems totally lined up behind Hamilton as their #1 contender.
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ifokust 3:49AM (9/22/2009)
After Michael left Kimi became
my favourite driver buy seeing him in the Ferrari red never
looked right. I'm glad he did win a championship but he's always had success with mclaren. I wouldn't mind if he went out.
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Fernando 8:14AM (9/22/2009)
He's going to WRC and Loeb is coming to F1, I'm sticking to that rumor.
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