Kimi Räikkönen to take sabbatical year from Formula One

Heikki Kovalainen's chances of an F1 drive in 2010 looking bleak

Kimi Räikkönen

Heikki Kovalainen

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Finland’s Kimi Räikkönen, who was crowned as the Formula One World Champion in 2007, will take a sabbatical year from the sport. Räikkönen’s decision to take a year off from the F1 circuit was confirmed to the Turun Sanomat daily by his manager Steve Robertson.
      In the same instance Robertson announced that the negotiations over Räikkönen’s move to the McLaren team had ended unsuccessfully.
      “On the F1 level the alternatives were to drive with McLaren or not to drive at all. Kimi and McLaren could not reach an agreement, and therefore he will not be seen behind the wheel of an F1 car next year”, Robertson explained.
      Räikkönen, who during his F1 career has driven for Sauber, McLaren, and Ferrari, plans to drive a few rallies next year and possibly take part in the Le Mans 24-Hour race.
     
From the Finnish Formula One drivers' perspective, Tuesday was something of a bleak day.
      The biggest blow was the British media’s announcement, according to which this year’s World Champion Jenson Button of Britain would have signed a three-year contract with McLaren.
      The news came as a surprise in the context that McLaren continued negotiating with Räikkönen until the very last, and the rumours of Button’s interest in the team were merely considered as a way of lowering the Finn’s salary requirements.
     
What makes Button’s decision even more surprising is the fact that many former F1 World Champions, such as Sir Jackie Stewart and Niki Lauda, had warned Button from straying into the McLaren territory dominated by Lewis Hamilton .
     
For the Brawn GP team, which will be known as Mercedes Grand Prix next season, losing Button is a severe blow. And in the driver market there is no-one as good as Button left that the team could afford.
      This season Brawn paid Button 3 million pounds. For next year the team was prepared to increase his salary to £4.5 million, but McLaren promised the World Champion a paycheck of six million pounds.
     
Of the remaining F1 drivers without a ride, Räikkönen would be the only candidate that would fit the champion team image, but his salary demands are a good deal higher than Button’s.
      According to the German magazine Auto, Motor und Sport, Ferrari will pay Räikkönen 17 million dollars if he takes a sabbatical year in 2010 or if he retires from the sport, and ten million dollars if he moves on to another team.
      It is widely believed that initially Räikkönen would have liked to show Ferrari how wrong they were to part with his services in favour of Spaniard Fernando Alonso, but he may have misjudged the new leaner times abroad in the sport. The fact that he chooses to gain more financially by hanging up his driving gloves - rather than driving for the love of it - also speaks something of his current motivation for the F1 circus.
     
For another Finnish driver Heikki Kovalainen Tuesday's news delivered a double blow, for the announcement sealed the end of his career with McLaren.
      What adds insult to injury is that the coming season’s F1 newcomer team Manor GP announced that it had signed a contract with the German F1 pilot Timo Glock.
      Manor GP held the number one position on Kovalainen’s list of possible employers if his McLaren contract was not renewed.
      Kovalainen’s best chances to drive an F1 car next season would now appear to be with Renault - that is, if the team decides to continue in the sport.
      Renault will decide on the matter in the coming week.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Räikkönen to get record-high sweetener to make way for Alonso at Ferrari (1.10.2009)
  Kimi Räikkönen ends 25-race drought with victory at Spa (31.8.2009)
  Kimi Räikkönen shows up for Rally of Finland; Mikko Hirvonen leads after Friday´s morning stages (31.7.2009)

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