Kimi won't compromise over 2010 deal

[Anthony_Ferrari]

Kimi Raikkonen is not only holding out for a high salary at McLaren but apparently wants to be allowed to go rallying between races as well!

http://twitter.com/byronf1

[QT3141]

Kimi now has a whole year to "take a sh*t".

[Remy Zero]

Originally Posted by QT3141

Kimi now has a whole year to "take a sh*t".

hahaha!

[Remy Zero]

Originally Posted by Modena360-66

If he was a money whore he would have signed up with toyota, i'm sure they still pay good.

Toyota offered, and his management demanded more money. First off, Toyota themselves are not even confirmed on the grid next year.

[beast]

Even Brawn says that Kimi is smoking something

http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headline...03103442.shtml

[VIZSLA]

Originally Posted by beast

Even Brawn says that Kimi is smoking something

http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headline...03103442.shtml

If Ross is hesitant to pay Button, the reigning champion, the money he asks why expect him to meet Kimi's figure?

[4rePhill]

Originally Posted by VIZSLA

If Ross is hesitant to pay Button, the reigning champion, the money he asks why expect him to meet Kimi's figure?

+1. I think if Brawn hired Kimi then they'd only have enough money left to run one car next year!

[SRT Mike]

Originally Posted by Korr

Nope. Button took a pay cut to stay in F1 with the hopes of landing at a team at some future date that could deliver. Weird voodoo that it happened to be Brawn F1, but that's no matter. For Button, it was either take a paycut or push shopping carts around. It's hard to get back into F1 once you leave it, and a low salary at a dead team is better than no salary at no team with no drive. Button is no noble hero...he stayed at Brawn because he had no other choice.

Beyond that, who really cares who is more champion than the other? Such neural ruminations are best left in the minds of those that occupy the sandboxes of schoolyards during recess.

Kimi thinks he is worth X and no team thinks he is...so he'll sit out and neither him nor his former fans will give a shyt.

Button had multiple occasions where he chose a racing seat based on the car rather than on the $$$, and took lower pay to have a better car.

He is doing the same again for 2010, reportedly. He's put his $$$ where his mouth is more than once.

Kimi on the other hand just wants $$. I'm not talking about more a champion in reference to their respective WDC wins, I'm referring to their actions going forward. Button is in it for a fast car to challenge for wins. Kimi wants a fat paycheck. He's shown that his primary motivator is money - the only problem is that his own opinion of his value is significantly higher than any of the teams.

Why is a guy who got smoked by Massa - TWICE - worth $30 million? He's not the best driver on the grid anymore, but wants to be paid like he is. Which is why I doubt he will be in F1 next year, and probably shouldn't be.

[SRT Mike]

Originally Posted by Scuderia980

with all due respect Mike...me, i do think he is a real champion in every aspect. And it's obvious that he is a very different person than Button, so their outlook on life is bound to be very different as well. I really do not think this is all about the euro's, but rather a set of 'needs' for him. This guy is really hard to 'pin down' (as Max would put it:-) I'm sure he still wants to race and to win, but it's just that he has 'other' things he wants along the way. As a person who has many interests and passions in my life, I can definitely see his side of things..and i would give a kidney to be able to choose like Kimi. My take is that if a team can't live with his 'needs': simply don't hire him...if all the teams can't live with it, I'm sure he'll be just fine doing his 'other' things:-) I ran into a guy the other day-a friend of a friend-- who, in a sense, reminded me of this whole Kimi fiasco. He was offered a job paying what was in my eyes a 'grab your nuts and laugh your @ss off' salary. I said to him, umm, people are losing their jobs, their homes, their sanity, left and right, so what is the problem? Well, he turned it down because he was already on solid footing financially, and he couldn't live with what he'd have to give up..being gone from his family much of the year and missing out on his young(ish) children. All i could muster in response was..man, that's tough. I would've taken that job in a heartbeat, had i been qualified..but my life and my circumstances are completely different. Some people are lucky to have more choices than others...

Kimi is the good looking but aging woman trying to dine out on her looks, but who just doesn't have the face for it anymore - but hasn't yet realized it.

He can go rallying all he likes, if he leaves F1, he won't be back ever again, not at a top team anyway.

He needs to come to grip with the reality of the situation. He was fired for not performing. He got beaten twice by a mid-pack teammate who earns a fraction of his paycheck. He's just not worth the salary he is asking. He's a top driver, and definitely in demand... but someone is worth what someone else will pay them. If nobody will pay him $30mm to drive, he's simply not worth $30mm.

I like Kimi - but his insistence on only driving for a top team and only getting the biggest paycheck in F1 simply does not reflect the reality of the current market or the current pecking order of his talent compared to others. I'd take Vettel, Hamilton or Alonso over Kimi any day.

[Tifoso1]

IMO, Kimi can be blindingly fast only if he is given a competitive car straight out of the box. He is not a technical driver that can help in developing a race car or relationships within a team. Look at how much the team performance had dropped off since Massa was injured. His career path reminds me of Nigel Mansell's career path in so many ways.

I simply do not see any high quality teams meeting his demands at this point of his career.

[DF1]

Originally Posted by SRT Mike

Kimi is the good looking but aging woman trying to dine out on her looks, but who just doesn't have the face for it anymore - but hasn't yet realized it.

He can go rallying all he likes, if he leaves F1, he won't be back ever again, not at a top team anyway.

He needs to come to grip with the reality of the situation. He was fired for not performing. He got beaten twice by a mid-pack teammate who earns a fraction of his paycheck. He's just not worth the salary he is asking. He's a top driver, and definitely in demand... but someone is worth what someone else will pay them. If nobody will pay him $30mm to drive, he's simply not worth $30mm.

I like Kimi - but his insistence on only driving for a top team and only getting the biggest paycheck in F1 simply does not reflect the reality of the current market or the current pecking order of his talent compared to others. I'd take Vettel, Hamilton or Alonso over Kimi any day.

Add Kobyiashi to that list...thats a fun, exciting and hungry driver, happy to be in F1. Kimi is so severely over rated and Massa made that painfully obvious last year and to a certain degree this year. The day of Felipe's accident he was 22 pts vs Kimi's 10. The trend was more for Felipe than Kimi even on that weekend.

[VIZSLA]

Originally Posted by SRT Mike

Kimi is the good looking but aging woman trying to dine out on her looks, but who just doesn't have the face for it anymore - but hasn't yet realized it.

He can go rallying all he likes, if he leaves F1, he won't be back ever again, not at a top team anyway.

He needs to come to grip with the reality of the situation. He was fired for not performing. He got beaten twice by a mid-pack teammate who earns a fraction of his paycheck. He's just not worth the salary he is asking. He's a top driver, and definitely in demand... but someone is worth what someone else will pay them. If nobody will pay him $30mm to drive, he's simply not worth $30mm.

I like Kimi - but his insistence on only driving for a top team and only getting the biggest paycheck in F1 simply does not reflect the reality of the current market or the current pecking order of his talent compared to others. I'd take Vettel, Hamilton or Alonso over Kimi any day.

Mike IMO Kimi is well aware of his situation and has told the teams that he's available only under his terms which they are free to take or leave. What could be fairer?
I do like the image of the Sophie Tucker style farewell tour though

[kraftwerk]

"Kimi with the current market turmoil, what's the easiest way to make a small fortune in F1"?

"Start off with a large one."

"Anymore of that credit crunch icecream left"..?

[Gilles27]

My 2 cents:

Kimi is a top driving talent, but his excessive salary has rendered him obsolete. The current generation of cars have shown that, regardless of who is driving, they are either good or bad and no amount of talent behind the wheel can overcome the car's lack of performance. When Ferrari signed Kimi, they fell victim to their own culture of Michael Schumacher syndrome that had them believing it was necessary to bring in the best driver with cost being no object. Raikkonen was the benefactor of this decision, of course. While there were other drivers out there who I believe equal Kimi's talent, Ferrari also needed someone who could step into Michael's vacant seat with the coolness between the ears to not be affected by the pressure to fill such large shoes. Not sure who else had that quality. Plus, there was no way Ferrari could enter the Post-Michael era by signing questionable or marginal talent.

Overall, I think the best drivers right now are all 9/10. While I like Kimi, I've always viewed him as a bit of an arrive and drive race car driver. I know he's Finnish and cool--I get all that--but Ferrari is a racing religion that thrives on emotion. Even Schumi had his podium leap, fist-pumping, etc. And Kimi also lacks that extra rare ingredient of leadership that Michael has around which the team rallied and improved. It wasn't just him, but he was integral.

And that is what teams see now when Raikkonen asks for $10s of millions to drive--good driver, but we can essentially accomplish the same results for a fraction of that. He's basically telling the teams "I don't need this, so if you want me, it will cost you." In return the teams are saying "There are plenty of you out there for a much better bargain." I know this won't be popular among some, but he's dangerously close to JV territory right now.

[EHKim]

I think that Mclaren will sign Kimi.
Ferrari has Alonso and Massa.
To compete with Ferrari, Mclaren needs a driver pairing that can match the Ferrari duo.
They can't afford not to sign on Kimi, I think.

[VIZSLA]

Originally Posted by Gilles27

My 2 cents:

Kimi is a top driving talent, but his excessive salary has rendered him obsolete. The current generation of cars have shown that, regardless of who is driving, they are either good or bad and no amount of talent behind the wheel can overcome the car's lack of performance. When Ferrari signed Kimi, they fell victim to their own culture of Michael Schumacher syndrome that had them believing it was necessary to bring in the best driver with cost being no object. Raikkonen was the benefactor of this decision, of course. While there were other drivers out there who I believe equal Kimi's talent, Ferrari also needed someone who could step into Michael's vacant seat with the coolness between the ears to not be affected by the pressure to fill such large shoes. Not sure who else had that quality. Plus, there was no way Ferrari could enter the Post-Michael era by signing questionable or marginal talent.

Overall, I think the best drivers right now are all 9/10. While I like Kimi, I've always viewed him as a bit of an arrive and drive race car driver. I know he's Finnish and cool--I get all that--but Ferrari is a racing religion that thrives on emotion. Even Schumi had his podium leap, fist-pumping, etc. And Kimi also lacks that extra rare ingredient of leadership that Michael has around which the team rallied and improved. It wasn't just him, but he was integral.

And that is what teams see now when Raikkonen asks for $10s of millions to drive--good driver, but we can essentially accomplish the same results for a fraction of that. He's basically telling the teams "I don't need this, so if you want me, it will cost you." In return the teams are saying "There are plenty of you out there for a much better bargain." I know this won't be popular among some, but he's dangerously close to JV territory right now.

Petty spot on analysis.

[zaevor2000]

Originally Posted by Gilles27

My 2 cents:

Kimi is a top driving talent, but his excessive salary has rendered him obsolete. The current generation of cars have shown that, regardless of who is driving, they are either good or bad and no amount of talent behind the wheel can overcome the car's lack of performance. When Ferrari signed Kimi, they fell victim to their own culture of Michael Schumacher syndrome that had them believing it was necessary to bring in the best driver with cost being no object. Raikkonen was the benefactor of this decision, of course. While there were other drivers out there who I believe equal Kimi's talent, Ferrari also needed someone who could step into Michael's vacant seat with the coolness between the ears to not be affected by the pressure to fill such large shoes. Not sure who else had that quality. Plus, there was no way Ferrari could enter the Post-Michael era by signing questionable or marginal talent.

Overall, I think the best drivers right now are all 9/10. While I like Kimi, I've always viewed him as a bit of an arrive and drive race car driver. I know he's Finnish and cool--I get all that--but Ferrari is a racing religion that thrives on emotion. Even Schumi had his podium leap, fist-pumping, etc. And Kimi also lacks that extra rare ingredient of leadership that Michael has around which the team rallied and improved. It wasn't just him, but he was integral.

And that is what teams see now when Raikkonen asks for $10s of millions to drive--good driver, but we can essentially accomplish the same results for a fraction of that. He's basically telling the teams "I don't need this, so if you want me, it will cost you." In return the teams are saying "There are plenty of you out there for a much better bargain." I know this won't be popular among some, but he's dangerously close to JV territory right now.

You've pretty much nailed it.

...the perception is that in business jargon "he's not cost-effective" in comparison with his prececessor and the talent pool currently available. With the situations of several teams there is an outstanding "free agent" market of drivers that give most if not all of the performance of Kimi but with a retainer of only a few million as oppossed to tens of millions in Kimi's case.

The most workable solution at this point is to present Kimi with a performance-laden contract that will earn him the salary he is accustomed to provided he attains a certain level of points and performance in comparison to his team mate. It should be a certain percentage of the team's other driver- who should be a proven quantity. It should not be points based since a dog of a car would unfairly penalize the driver. If Kimi could agree to this and perform, I think it would be a win-win situation for all concerned.

This would be the optimal strategy for any team contemplating signing Kimi to a contract IMHO.

[kraftwerk]

All good points Jack n Frank.

It is not popular to knock Kimi and his seemingly care free approach, but it is a different climate in F1 right now like it or not the drivers don't call the shots in the money stakes.

However if he is really not bothered then he is in good place.

[rmani]

Originally Posted by VIZSLA

Kimi's the only one with his feet on the ground.
He's got a WDC and more than enough money. He's decided what its worth to him to return and if he doesn't get it he's willing to walk.
Yes I'd rather have a driver who is so determined to win that he'd work for free but Kimi's doing what he thinks is best for Kimi and I can't fault him for that.

+1

[Remy Zero]

In this kinda situation, thats why i have lots of respect for Rubens. he just wants to drive for passion. Never once i came across any articles of him asking for salary rise, etc. That guy just wanna drive!