Raikkonen/Ferrari - Rubystone 1, McLaren nil

[flemke]

In the current Autosport (an interesting issue, btw), there is some detail about what happened in Raikkonen's move to Ferrari.
As our own Rubystone and a few others have been saying on PH, and Alan Henry and a few other journalists have been writing, it seems that Raikkonen signed a full contract (not just an 'option') with Ferrari a long time ago:

Robertson also revealed that although the Ferrari switch was agreed more than a year ago, it was done on a condition of absolute secrecy between all parties...

Todt added, "We never had any kind of pre-contract, we had a signed sontract, that's all."


What had some credulous people (such as I) persuaded that Raikkonen had not committed to Ferrari long ago is illuminated by what McLaren's Martin Whitmarsh had to say:

(Whitmarsh) claims that moves to keep Raikkonen continued until a few weeks ago. "His management assured us that they hadn't signed anything and there was still a possibility for him to stay. Being trusting individuals, we believe what we're told."


Deals kept secret (but leaked to local media pals), drivers and their managers misleading their employers: if this is the whole story, it is disappointing behaviour from Raikkonen and the Robertsons, but why am I not shocked that the Maranello's Finest are in the middle of it?

[GarrettMacD]

flemke said:

Robertson also revealed that although the Ferrari switch was agreed more than a year ago, it was done on a condition of absolute secrecy between all parties...

Is there information regarding whether Raikkonen signed for Ferrari before Alonso signed to McLaren???

Just wondering whether Kimi thought he'd get a kicking from Alonso, or whether Ferrari were going to 'retire' Schumacher at the end of the 2006 season regardless.


Edited to add: Can't seem to get rid of these bloody italics!

I have

Edited by FourWheelDrift on Thursday 14th September 15:11

[flemke]

GarrettMacD said:

flemke said:

Robertson also revealed that although the Ferrari switch was agreed more than a year ago, it was done on a condition of absolute secrecy between all parties...

Is there information regarding whether Raikkonen signed for Ferrari before Alonso signed to McLaren???

Just wondering whether Kimi thought he'd get a kicking from Alonso, or whether Ferrari were going to 'retire' Schumacher at the end of the 2006 season regardless.

According to the article, manager Robertson "...revealed that...the Ferrari switch was agreed more than a year ago..."

Whitmarsh is reported to have said that McLaren only last October (as in, less than a year ago) started believing that Raikkonen would leave.
I don't recall all the details, but the rough time line of the Alonso signing was that it was announced mid Dec., and Alonso and Dennis both said that Alonso had attempted to inform Briatore face-to-face, but that it took a three-four weeks of failed attempts and conflicting schedules before he ended up informing him over the phone. That implied at the time that the deal had been done in November.
They also said at the time that the conversations between FA and McL. had begun and concluded over a fairly brief period.
The reports at the time also suggested that it was Alonso who approached McL. (This was when Renault was stalling over whether it would commit to F1 for several more years.) Whitmarsh's comment that in Oct. McL. began to worry about whether Raikkonen would stay makes one wonder now who solicited whom first.

To me the telling difference between the two drivers' moves is that Alonso, with Dennis's agreement, went out of his way to put Briatore in the frame asap (as Montoya/Dennis had done with Williams), whereas Raikkonen/Ferrari seem to have done everything that they could to conceal the facts.



(Yes we're being attacked by Italians, er italics!)

Edited by flemke on Thursday 14th September 15:16