Raikkonen to return to McLaren?

[rhubarb]

Interesting blog from Andrew Benson about the possibilities for driver movements this year.

Could Ferrari's Finn make a shock return to McLaren

I can see where he's coming from, Raikkonen being relatively low rent and not caring a hoot about team mates, it would certainly be intriguing to see Hamilton and Raikkonen in the same team - possibly the dream team, Raikkonen on his day certainly is quick.

Suppose this all assumes he's not going to ditch it in for a rally drive which seems to be his passion at the moment (and also quite good at by all accounts), or just eating icecreams (his other passion)

[Adamantium]

I was thinking about this over the weekend, although didnt mclaren and kimi really not get on?

edit,

read the article, and i cannot see RD not having some say in how the F1 team is run still, and i cannot see him wanting Kimi. although i think he could be a good move on a short term performance based contract.

Edited by Adamantium on Monday 24th August 09:17

[AlpineWhite]

Benson's done a good job of using that Whitmarsh quote to support his thinking, but he's forgotten a quote from Kimi which was along the lines of "Ferrari is the last team I'll drive for in F1".

Add to that the slim chance of McLaren allowing Kimi to throw a car around the forests between Grands Prix.... I just don't think it's likely myself.

[flemke]

Nobody knows what goes on inside Raikkonen's head (although probably something does). It does not seem crazy to imagine that he would go back, now that Whitmarsh is, supposedly, running the racing team. (With Whitmarsh there, I could even imagine Alonso's going back, if it were not for the irreconcilability of Hamilton's being on the same team, which would be a dealbreaker.)
I'm not sure whether the question is whether KR would want to go back, or whether McLaren would want him back. Re the latter, the Ferrari payoff to KR would only be for next year, so starting in '11 he'd go back to being expensive. He'll be 30 later this year, so he's probably got a few years left in which he could be near the top of F1 if he were to choose to be. He's got zero marketing value so, connecting to something on another thread, from that perspective he's not particuarly appealing to M-B. Another concern, I should think, is that KR's not known for being much of a testing/development driver. Hamilton isn't at that point yet either, although one fully expects that he will get there because he is so motivated to succeed. With the strict testing limits, it's now important for a team to get as high quality as possible feedback from the limited (pre-season and race practice) time available.
If you were McLaren, and going forward had maybe $250M/yr to spend, and you had Hamilton who, including the marketing benefit, was probably the most valuable driver on the grid, would you spend 10% of your budget to have Raikkonen as your second driver rather than Rosberg or Glock?

[stew-S160]

i've been a Kimi fan for years. I always thought he was a 'Mclaren' man. don't ask me to explain that, as i can't. i never liked the idea of him at Ferrari. just didn't suit him i reckon, although the over corporate world of Mclaren wasn't him either.
now Ron is out of the picture as such, i guess it's slightly more relaxed at Mclaren.

i genuinely think Heikki will be out and Kimi returns to Mclaren, but with a clause that allows him to compete in rally races.

[spend]

Seems to me like every Finn that Mclaren have ever had has been a bit of a Jonas... You would think by now that both the team and Finnish drivers would be very wary of each other .

It seemed to take DC's extraordinarily generous 'gesture' allowing Mika H. through in Oz to change his fortunes, Kimis luck only really changed when he left. Heikki does seem a steadier driver than the previous Finns, but even he doesn't seem to get the rub of the green very often.

[dom180]

flemke said:

Nobody knows what goes on inside Raikkonen's head (although probably something does). It does not seem crazy to imagine that he would go back, now that Whitmarsh is, supposedly, running the racing team. (With Whitmarsh there, I could even imagine Alonso's going back, if it were not for the irreconcilability of Hamilton's being on the same team, which would be a dealbreaker.)
I'm not sure whether the question is whether KR would want to go back, or whether McLaren would want him back. Re the latter, the Ferrari payoff to KR would only be for next year, so starting in '11 he'd go back to being expensive. He'll be 30 later this year, so he's probably got a few years left in which he could be near the top of F1 if he were to choose to be. He's got zero marketing value so, connecting to something on another thread, from that perspective he's not particuarly appealing to M-B. Another concern, I should think, is that KR's not known for being much of a testing/development driver. Hamilton isn't at that point yet either, although one fully expects that he will get there because he is so motivated to succeed. With the strict testing limits, it's now important for a team to get as high quality as possible feedback from the limited (pre-season and race practice) time available.
If you were McLaren, and going forward had maybe $250M/yr to spend, and you had Hamilton who, including the marketing benefit, was probably the most valuable driver on the grid, would you spend 10% of your budget to have Raikkonen as your second driver rather than Rosberg or Glock?

I'd pick up Raikkonen on the cheap (certainly for 2010 if possible) - try and average out some of the huge investment that the team already invested in him.

Kimi likes the same pointy car setup as Lewis (as opposed to recent Ferraris) although he doesn't ruin his rears quite as quickly as Hamilton; he's apolitical and and a known quality - all you can say about Rosberg is that he is mostly faster than Nakajima (although he seems seem to struggle sometimes) or Glock, that he's mostly slower than Truili.

Mclaren like to run with two good drivers - if you're going to opt for a slower team-mate for Lewis, I'd avoid change and stick with Heikki.

[rupert the dog]

He's fast - when he wants to be. He's got a definite mind of his own (therefore scratch McLaren). He seems to have have had enough of F1, having won the Championship. He wants to do something else. I like him, I think he'll do what he wants to do, and that's not going to be F1. I'll miss him, another potential racer gone, but good luck to him.

[Lost my mojo]

stew-S160 said:

just didn't suit him i reckon, although the over corporate world of Mclaren wasn't him either.
now Ron is out of the picture as such, i guess it's slightly more relaxed at Mclaren.

i genuinely think Heikki will be out and Kimi returns to Mclaren, but with a clause that allows him to compete in rally races.

Thats true, its so relaxed at Mclaren they dont even worry about bringing tyres to pitstops anymore. Anyway bit off topic but I found it funny :-)

Im hoping Heikki will up his game and get to keep his drive. Although I also think Rosberg deserves a chance in a top car.

[El Guapo]

I´m not even sure that Kimi would be interested. He would have to work very hard all season to match or beat Lewis and I doubt he has the motivation to do so.

[dpbird90]

Hmm I've been thinking about this, if he is given the elbow by Ferrari in favour of Alonso, I did see the PH article that Fiat were thinking of entering WRC, perhaps this has all been orchestrated by Ferrari to oust Kimi. But it would be great to see him back at McLaren now they have a potentially championship winning car (next years MP4/25 is supposedly going to use the short wheelbased MP4/24 as its template) and as McLaren are so relaxed, Kimi's style suits them. Sometimes I think, what if they could show those cartoon style images of what's going on inside his head. I'd imagine two monkeys eating bugs on each other's backs.

[flemke]

dpbird90 said:

But it would be great to see him back at McLaren now they have a potentially championship winning car (next years MP4/25 is supposedly going to use the short wheelbased MP4/24 as its template)

I'm not saying that I have the tiniest understanding of this stuff, because I don't, but with next year's cars having:
- no KERS,
- much bigger fuel loads, and
- AIUI, bigger differential between front and rear tyres,
I'm not sure how much of what works this year would work next year.

[EDLT]

I can't see it happening, if his only choices are second driver at McLaren or retirement I think he'll be gone in a cloud of gravel and Cornettos.

[Jungles]

Kimi hates McLaren, although I think he hated Ron Dennis rather than McLaren itself. Whatever the case, he doesn't like McLaren's corporate anal retentiveness (they even controlled his haircut). He enjoys the fact that Ferrari lets him get on with his own life, and Ferrari seems to be little to complain about Kimi.

I think the chances of Kimi going back to McLaren is similar to Alonso's chances of kissing Ron Dennis in the cheeks.

EDLT said:

I can't see it happening, if his only choices are second driver at McLaren or retirement I think he'll be gone in a cloud of gravel and Cornettos.

Magnums, mate. Magnums. Not Cornettos.

Edited by Jungles on Tuesday 25th August 05:25

[dpbird90]

flemke said:

dpbird90 said:

But it would be great to see him back at McLaren now they have a potentially championship winning car (next years MP4/25 is supposedly going to use the short wheelbased MP4/24 as its template)

I'm not saying that I have the tiniest understanding of this stuff, because I don't, but with next year's cars having:
- no KERS,
- much bigger fuel loads, and
- AIUI, bigger differential between front and rear tyres,
I'm not sure how much of what works this year would work next year.

Hmm good point. I think they've said that a lot of the aero can be carried over, I don't think it'll be too different, except as you mention, no KERS, slightly larger to accommodate the large fuel tank, and I forgot about the front/rear tyres. I heard that they think that the dimensions of the tyres means that the front gives out bucketloads more grip than the rear. Don't quote me on that though, I really have even less understanding!

[flemke]

dpbird90 said:

I heard that they think that the dimensions of the tyres means that the front gives out bucketloads more grip than the rear. Don't quote me on that though, I really have even less understanding!

Yes. This year the tyre degradation problems for everyone have been mostly with the rears.

[Project7]

Jungles said:

Kimi hates McLaren, although I think he hated Ron Dennis rather than McLaren itself.

What specifically happened to make everyone think that?

Edited to fix a 'quote' problem

Edited by Project7 on Tuesday 25th August 11:55

[andyps]

flemke said:

dpbird90 said:

I heard that they think that the dimensions of the tyres means that the front gives out bucketloads more grip than the rear. Don't quote me on that though, I really have even less understanding!

Yes. This year the tyre degradation problems for everyone have been mostly with the rears.

To add further to lack of understanding, I may be misinterpreting this, but wouldn't having more grip at the front further exacerbate a rear tyre degradation problem?

[Wanta996Gotta]

Project7 said:

Jungles said:

Kimi hates McLaren, although I think he hated Ron Dennis rather than McLaren itself.

What specifically happened to make everyone think that?

Edited to fix a 'quote' problem

Edited by Project7 on Tuesday 25th August 11:55

Internet gossip at its best. Everyone knows that Kimi signed a vastly improved contract with Ferrari while Ron had his eye on Alonso.

[dpbird90]

andyps said:

flemke said:

dpbird90 said:

I heard that they think that the dimensions of the tyres means that the front gives out bucketloads more grip than the rear. Don't quote me on that though, I really have even less understanding!

Yes. This year the tyre degradation problems for everyone have been mostly with the rears.

To add further to lack of understanding, I may be misinterpreting this, but wouldn't having more grip at the front further exacerbate a rear tyre degradation problem?

Yep.