Kimi Raikkonen crashes on Artic Rally

[icegirljenni]

Raikkonen joins WRC with Citroen

Quote:"I always wanted to compete in rally, especially in the World Rally Championship at some point in my career," said Raikkonen.

"Thanks to Red Bull, I have the opportunity to drive the best car of the series with the Citroen C4. This is a new but very exciting challenge."

Speculation has suggested that Raikkonen could return to F1 with Red Bull after his first WRC season. He confirmed that his Citroen deal only covered 2010 at present.

"For the moment we have a one-year contract and we will see how it goes for the future," Raikkonen said. "I am really looking forward to testing the car and taking the start of the first rally."

[Tension_36th]

A foolish decision, no team will be bothered to sign anyone be it who ever he is once they leave F1, the technology and the fitness required to be in touch is very crucial. This isn't the pre 90s for that to happen so easily.

He will be spending time and effort to do well in Rally its just a claim to say h will see how it goes in 2010 and the see if he can return to F1. The thing is if am the team boss I wont sign Alonso if he was out for 1 year in another series. You wont hire star drivers on high salaries only to give them time to re-adapt.

Kimi better hope he can make it big at rally, if not he will end up the looser. If he really has any intentions of coming back to F1, he can forget about it. Ferrari, Mclaren, Mercedes will close their doors and focus on younger faster drivers who are cheaper. Kimi wont be interested in racing for midfield teams.

All talk of him coming to replace Mark is bullshit, Mark is doing fantastically well and giving Vettel a hard time.

The possibility is Vettel leaving for Mercedes, but thats the german media making that part of the story because of Haug's great fanship for Vettel. Vettel is already targeted by Ferrari. Its very hard to see how Ferrari will let someone like Vettel slip that easily.

[Chrissie]

Bye Kimi

[stoktos]

shooot, it's so sad :( I really like him and now i'll never again see him in F1 :(

[Spyro]

WHy oh why Kimi please dont leave F1

[alonso 4ever]

what a saaad baaaad news...

it's his decision.. what shall we do?!

we'll just wish him best of luck and say BYE BYE kimi :(

[icegirljenni]

Raikkonen: WRC may be permanent

Quote:"I don't have any contract with F1 or anything else, so I have no idea what will happen," he said. "I have both options, to stay in rallying or try to come back to F1. I want to see how it goes, and then decide. I'm not in a hurry to decide.

"If it goes well, then I could keep doing it. There are many different scenarios. Right now it's just for this year, both with Red Bull and with Citroen."

Raikkonen also reveals that he suspects there was more to Ferrari's decision to get him out of his contract than simply his performance with the team.

"You have to ask them, I don't know!" he says. "You need to ask the people who make those decisions. I'm not interested in the end why or when. I'm pretty sure I know the answer, and it's nothing to do with racing or what I've done there.

"I think when there is enough money involved, you can always change anything! I think it's a lot to do with Santander coming in. Probably they made some deal. I don't know..."

"I could have signed with them [McLaren] if I'd wanted to do, but in the end it wasn't 100 per cent what I wanted. It was not really so much about money; it was all the other things. It's not that I couldn't have gone there but, like I said, I have no reason to do something with a contract that I'm not happy with."

"Yeah, for sure there is something that if I raced with another team, I get a bit less. And there was no point to get paid less if I race with somebody. It was a complicated situation, but in the end that wasn't the issue, the money side, although everybody thinks so. It wasn't what I wanted."

Speaking about the Brawn situation, Raikkonen said: "Probably I could have gone there. I didn't want to start waiting for a long time. For sure we could have got a contract in the end, but when the McLaren thing didn't happen I already had the talks with Red Bull, so I just wanted to go there and see what happens in rallying. Maybe I'll come back [to F1] next year or the year after. Or maybe not..."

[Tension_36th]

Links are not working stoktosa.

[stoktos]

Maybe now:
Long curly hair:


no hair xD

[Tension_36th]

He hid them under the snow cap, thats why its pointing up

[icegirljenni]

He said in redbulletin that he will crop few inches before start rallying, few inches means nothing

[stoktos]

shit. what a pity :(

[icegirljenni]

Kimi New Look Revealed :



Kimi New look revealed

Quote:Raikkonen's new look revealed

Pictures showing the 2010 livery of Kimi Raikkonen's Citroen C4 WRC, and the Finn's WRC race-suit, have been released by Red Bull.

In stark contrast to his Ferrari red ensemble of 2009, Raikkonen's new colour scheme is predominantly blue.

His car features an all-blue bonnet, and blue pained panels on each side which extend to the middle of the rear-wheel arches. The car also sports a silver/grey roof and rear end - setting it apart from the white panels of the factory team cars.

With Red Bull a major backer of Raikkonen's rally programme, it's no surprise that the drinks firm's branding features prominently. In addition to the charging bulls on the front doors and bonnet, the Red Bull name is spelt out across the leading edge of the bonnet, while two other Red Bull logos appear on the rear flanks.

Raikkonen and his co-driver Kaj Lindstrom will drive their C4 competitively for the first time on the Arctic Lapland Rally, which starts on 28 January.

[alonso 4ever]

wow, he looks nice and the car is very nice too but an F1 car looks much much better!!

still, i wish him best of luck and hope he will do something special there and come back to f1 soooooooon

[icegirljenni]

(01-26-2010 02:09 PM)alonso 4ever Wrote:  but an F1 car looks much much better!

WRC is not an easy sport, Rally Champ is a real champ. If you look at his speed on recent testing, you will know he will not be back to F1 anymore.

[alonso 4ever]

i know nothing about rallying but from what i saw on tv it looks very difficult..

what i meant was i wanted him to race in F1..

and yes, i guess he won't be back to f1 again :(

[icegirljenni]

Interview with Kimi Raikkonen - WRC ( get to grip with Artic snow )



[More videos from icegirljenni]

[InvincibleGT]

On the one hand, it's sad to see him leaving, but on the other he gets a chance to enjoy another great form of motorsport. Additionally, I have to say that he looks pretty happy on those pictures and in my opinion, there should be no reason for him not to be: He found a place where to go on with racing and that's the main fact. He can go on with this racing career.

InvincibleGT

[icegirljenni]

Raikkonen crashes on Arctic Rally

Rally 2010 started yesterday on 28th Jan

Quote:Finland's 2007 Formula One champion Kimi Raikkonen has crashed on his first competitive event driving for the Citroen Junior World Rally Team.

Raikkonen was placed second overall in the Arctic Lapland Rally when his car left the road and crashed into a tree on the event's second stage, the 23km Aittajärvi.

Kimi and co-driver Kaj Lindstrom were unhurt in the incident, but their C4 World Rally Car sustained damage to its right-hand front corner. With help from spectators the pair eventually got the car back on the road and underway again, but the episode cost them more than 15 minutes on the stage, and more than 20 minutes of penalty time.

The team is hopeful that once the car is repaired in service, Raikkonen will be able to continue in today's competition.

Raikkonen and Lindstrom are tackling the winter event, the opening round of the Finnish championship, as a warm-up before their WRC campaign kicks off in Sweden on 11 February.

It is the first competitive outing for the duo in the Citroen C4 World Rally Car they will campaign this season. However it's not a new event for the pair, who made their rally debut together there in 2009, finishing 13th in a Fiat Abarth Grande Punto S2000.

Before the crash, Raikkonen had got off to a good start. In perfect snowy conditions, and in a temperature of minus 20 degrees Celsius, he recorded the second fastest time though Friday's opening stage, the 11.27km Rantasipi Pohjanhovi / Mäntyvaara. The only man to beat him - by a margin of 5.5sec - was his fellow Citroen C4 driver, Dani Sordo, who is also using the event as a pre-season test.

After two stages, Sordo, now the sole World Rally Car driver in the predominantly Group N field, leads the rally by 26.1sec from the Estonian, Ott Tanak.

If you see the video, it was a nasty accident and am glad both Kimi and Kaj are unhurt. thanks god

[InvincibleGT]

Oh my... Glad to see they're both okay.


InvincibleGT