Kimi Raikkonen’s managers have revealed they only now take a back seat in the career of the 2007 world champion.
Britons David and Steve Robertson have guided the famous Finn throughout his motor racing career.

But Steve told Finland’s Turun Sanomat that they only intervene now when the 32-year-old driver requests it — such as when he needed to negotiate last winter with Williams and his ultimate 2012 employer, Lotus.

“We came to the end of the road really in late 2009,” he said.

That is when Ferrari bought out the rest of Raikkonen’s contract, and he headed to world rally.

“We can’t honestly say that we are real rally fans — it’s alien to us, while we know F1 through and through.

“When Kimi wanted to go back to F1, he turned to us for help with the agreement. After a few months Kimi got what he wanted.”

Robertson, however, explained that the father-son duo are no longer involved in the “day to day” running of Raikkonen’s career.

“I have known Kimi for 11, 12 years, and he has become really close to us. When he asks for help, he knows that we are always ready to give it,” he continued.

“I was delighted when he wanted to come back where he really belongs (in F1),” said Robertson. “There is so much nonsense about Kimi’s problems with motivation.

“The truth is that he wanted to come back for one reason only — because he is super-motivated to race in F1 again.

“By taking Kimi, it shows the (Lotus) team’s desire to succeed. I think Kimi and Romain Grosjean are a good combination.

“By changing the drivers the team has showed that it was not satisfied with the level of last year and that they want to come back to being among the big teams,” he concluded.

 A general consensus has emerged about the likely pecking-order this weekend in Australia.
Based on winter testing, this year’s longest-ever F1 season looks set to be very closely contested, but experts, pundits and insiders fairly agree about the rough shape of Saturday’s Melbourne grid.

“From what I saw in the tests, Red Bull and McLaren seem to be at a similar pace,” Francesco Nenci, Kamui Kobayashi’s race engineer at Sauber, told O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper.

“Then comes Mercedes and then our team along with Lotus and Ferrari. But we’ll only really find out here,” he told Brazilian correspondent Livio Oricchio in Melbourne.

Steve Nielsen, Caterham’s sporting director, roughly agrees.

“Red Bull and McLaren are the best, Mercedes is a little bit behind and then it’s Lotus, Ferrari, Sauber and Force India,” he said.

And given that the top three teams will presumably dominate the first six positions in Q3, the last part of qualifying “should be exciting”, Nielsen smiled.

But so will the fight at the front, with McLaren’s Jenson Button desperate to end Red Bull’s two-year run of dominance.

“With quite a big change in the regulations in terms of the blown diffuser, now is the interesting time to see whether Red Bull can hang onto the advantage they have had,” said the Briton.

“If they can, it is going to be very difficult to beat them over the next few years.”

 Two formula one journalists are on the board of the Caterham Group, the parent company of the Tony Fernandes-led team.
Team boss Fernandes announced the formation of the Group at the Brazilian grand prix on 27 November last year.

UK Companies House records show that Joe Saward and David Tremayne were appointed as directors just nine days later.

In the company filing, Briton Saward’s occupation is listed as “journalist/consultant”.

“The nature of Saward and Tremayne’s roles in Caterham are as yet unknown, but one would assume Joe will announce something on his popular F1 blog during the next few days,” Steve Davies, of the skiddmark.com website, said.

Kimi Raikkonen’s manager has admitted the Finn is no longer interested in returning to formula one in 2011.

The 2007 world champion had been linked with a comeback next year with the Renault team, but reports this week revealed that talks about extending his deal with the world rally team Citroen are well advanced.

“We are no longer looking out for opportunities for formula one,” manager Steve Robertson told Finnish television MTV3.

“Kimi seems to be focused on rallying at the moment,” he added.

It has been rumoured that an alternative rally team in 2011 for Raikkonen, who currently drives for Citroen with Red Bull sponsorship, is the Monster energy drink-backed Ford team.

“We are having discussions with several different teams and I cannot say more,” said Robertson.

Returning to Renault in 2008 was a mistake for Fernando Alonso, according to the team’s sporting director Steve Nielsen.

At the end of his tumultuous single season with McLaren in 2007, the Spaniard broke his contract to return to the scene of his championship wins.

But while Alonso battled for the 2007 title, the same season was a difficult one for the French team, and the next two years were similarly barren for Renault until he switched again to Ferrari.

“We know what happened (at McLaren), and he came back,” Nielsen is quoted by eurosport.fr.

“I actually think it was probably a mistake — I don’t know if he agrees with me but he knows I love him,” said the Briton.

“If I had been his manager at the time, I would have told him ‘Listen, you have to stay and beat this guy (Lewis Hamilton)’.

“‘Firstly because you have the best car now, secondly because your best chance to be champion next year is to stay at McLaren’,” Nielsen added.

(GMM)

Kimi Raikkonen could be asked to test formula one tyres for the sport’s new exclusive supplier Pirelli.

It has emerged that the Italian company will supply two sets of tyres to each team at a special Abu Dhabi test immediately after November’s season finale.

But Pirelli is also keen to do some testing before then, and – after initially running with a GP2 car – is considering using either an old BMW or Toyota car.

As for the driver, Nick Heidfeld had been touted, but this might have handed an unfair advantage to Mercedes.

According to Finland’s Turun Sanomat, Pirelli’s racing boss Paul Hembery proposed in Valencia that Finn Raikkonen could be an option.

The 2007 world champion left Ferrari at the end of last year and currently drives full-time in the Pirelli-shod world rally championship.

“I don’t know whether Kimi Raikkonen would be interested,” Hembery is quoted as saying.

The 18 grand prix winner’s manager Steve Robertson said: “Currently, Kimi is totally focused on what he is doing.

“But if Pirelli approaches us, of course we will discuss it.  Then, it would depend on whether Kimi is interested in this sort of challenge, and how it would fit into his schedule,” he added.

(GMM)

Renault could be set to push for Kimi Raikkonen to become Robert Kubica’s future teammate.

It is now widely expected that the Finn, who left his Ferrari contract one year early to race in the world rally championship this year, is not keen to return to formula one as early as 2011.

But according to Finland’s Turun Sanomat, Renault might be courting as a possible sponsor the American credit card multinational MasterCard.

Citing paddock rumours, the report said MasterCard would be interested in the deal “if Raikkonen would drive as Robert Kubica’s teammate”.

But 30-year-old Raikkonen’s manager Steve Robertson reportedly denied that even exploratory talks with Renault have been held.

MasterCard sponsored Lotus’ stillborn F1 effort in 1997, and the Jordan team in 1998-2001.

(GMM)

Kimi Raikkonen’s manager has refused to rule out the prospect of the 2007 world champion returning to formula one.

When Ferrari ended its contract with the 30-year-old Finn one year early, Raikkonen signed up with Red Bull sponsorship to race a Citroen full-time in the 2010 world rally championship.

It had been rumoured that a return to F1 with Red Bull Racing in 2011 was a possibility, but the energy drinks-owned team is now expected to renew on-form Mark Webber’s contract for another season.

“Kimi has committed himself to rallying and he seems to be enjoying that environment,” team boss Christian Horner said in Turkey last weekend.

However, Finland’s Turun Sanomat reports that it was Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko most interested in replacing Australian Webber with Raikkonen.

Manager Steve Robertson said he is not sure what Raikkonen is going to do in 2011.

“We have not had any discussions in any direction for next season,” he said.

“There will be a time when Kimi will think about what he wants to do.”

When asked if Raikkonen’s F1 career is over, Robertson answered: “Never say never.”

(GMM)

Paul di Resta will sit out a third successive Friday morning practice on the sidelines of Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve next week.

Force India’s rookie reserve driver took over the 2010 car for initial practice in Australia, Malaysia, China and Spain.

But in the interests of maximising the regular race drivers’ practice time, the Scot did not drive in Bahrain because of the altered track configuration, or in Monaco “due to the challenging layout of the circuit”.

And Adrian Sutil or Vitantonio Liuzzi also did not have to give up their cockpit at Istanbul Park last Friday, because the VJM03 was fitted with “some new development items”, including the F-duct.

It has now emerged that di Resta, 24, will also not be in action on Friday ahead of the Canadian grand prix late next week.

“Paul will be back in the car in Valencia and will also drive at Silverstone,” team manager Andy Stevenson said.

“In Canada, we want to give our two regular drivers as much track time as possible.  The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is a very unique track,” he added.

(GMM)

Monte Carlo’s famous glamour was yet to arrive in the formula one paddock on Wednesday.

It is just two days since the chequered flag waved at the Circuit de Catalunya, meaning that it has been the shortest turnaround between back-to-back races in the sport’s history.

Mercedes and Red Bull sent old motor homes to Spain so that their real facilities were ready for Wednesday, the unofficial first day of the Monaco event given that Thursday will see the initial 180 hours of practice.

It was a different story elsewhere in pitlane.

Renault is this year operating the departed Toyota’s 2009 motor home, and construction was not complete early on Wednesday due to the team still learning the ropes about how to dismantle and erect it.

“It was a bit of a breakneck 24 hours to get the team and equipment to Monaco, but everybody is now working hard to make sure we’re ready to go in first practice on Thursday morning,” said team manager Steve Nielsen.

Ferrari and Williams were also working on their paddock facilities on Wednesday, amid the insalubrious backdrop of cranes, ladders, hammers and drills.

McLaren’s impressive roundhouse motor home was ‘naked’ because the glass panels were not yet all in place, and Virgin was a long way from having its new facility ready to accommodate walls, let alone any guests or team members.

Meanwhile, it is reported that the chance of rain for Saturday and Sunday’s crucial running at Monaco has now subsided to just 30 per cent on both days.

(GMM)

May 6 (GMM)  The impressive motor homes of the Red Bull, Mercedes and Force India teams are absent in the paddock of the first European grand prix of 2010.

After the initial run of overseas or ‘flyaway’ races, the Barcelona event is usually the F1 world’s first annual glimpse of the teams’ imposing temporary paddock buildings.

But in 2010, the Circuit de Catalunya event is followed just one week later by the prestigious Monaco grand prix.

Because there is not enough time to dismantle the huge structures and transport them several hundred kilometres across Europe, Red Bull and Mercedes have taken alternate hospitality units to Spain.

Red Bull’s Barcelona solution is to use its test motor home, while Mercedes will be housed this weekend in one of its DTM buildings.

Switzerland’s Blick newspaper reports that Red Bull’s huge Energy Station is already being erected in the Monaco harbour.

McLaren’s ‘Brand Centre’ is however standing in the Barcelona paddock, but Force India’s refurbished three-storey structure will not be seen in Europe until the Turkish grand prix at the end of the month.

“In the meantime we will use a temporary motor home in Spain and Monaco while the new improved motor home is driven direct to Turkey,” said team manager Andy Stevenson.

Steve McCormick, in About.com Guide commented regarding Greg Biffle, “Even the fastest car can’t drive itself.  Greg Biffle brings an impressive resume to Daytona: 1998 Truck Series Rookie of the Year, 2000 Truck Series Champion, 2001 BGN Rookie of the Year, 2002 Busch Series Champion and the winner of last July’s Daytona race.”

“Take a guy who is a proven restrictor plate winner and put him behind arguably the best engine in the sport and you’ve got a potential pole sitter. Can anyone tell me why sports writers are calling his pole winning run “shocking” and “surprising?”

“His name may not be on the tip of your tongue when you think of NASCAR NEXTEL Cup stars but this pole run shouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone.”

Greg Biffle who was born in December 23rd, 1969, started 7 races in 2002.  His official rookie season was 2003 and he featured a win at the Pepsi 400 in Daytona.  Jamie McMurray beat him for Rookie of the Year honors.

His more outstanding performances have been:

2000 – Craftsman Truck Series Champion.

2002 – Busch Grand National Series Champion.

2003 – Won first NEXTEL Cup Race (July Daytona)

2005 – Finished second in NEXTEL Cup points

Jack Roush picked up Greg Biffle back in the mid 90′s with the idea that with some seasoning he could be great.

Just a few years later Greg rewarded Roush Racing with it’s first NASCAR championship as Greg pushed and shoved his way to the Craftsman Truck Series title. A couple of years after that Greg again came through, this time delivering a Busch Grand National series championship.

Early in his NEXTEL Cup career Greg has proven that he can get the job done. His first victory in NASCAR’s premier division came under the lights in Daytona as Greg won the Pepsi 400 during his 2003 rookie campaign.

There are surely more championships in Greg’s future.  Those stories are still to be written but clearly he knows what it takes to win titles and he is with a top-notch team in the form of Jack Roush.

Jeff Gordon is a famous American race car driver who was born in 1971 in Vallejo, California. He has won the Nascar Winston Cup four times, and he drives car #24 for Hendrick Motorsports. As of this writing, one of his most prominent sponsors is DuPont. Jeff Gordon began racing when he was only five years of age. He loved to race cars, and his family was supportive of him. His family actually relocated primarily because they wanted Jeff to be in a location where he could better harness his racing skills. While he was still a minor, Jeff had already won a number of races and was given the USAC Midget Car Racing Rookie of the Year award.

After this, Gordon went on to win the USAC Midget title, and by 1991, he had gained the USAC Silver Crown. He broke a record by being the youngest person to ever capture the title. He went to the Busch Series after this, and had a large number of victories. Gordon crashed his car during the the Hooters 500 race in Atlanta in 1992, and this caused him to be placed in the 31st position. Jeff Gordon was one of many young racers who would be placed on high quality teams early in their careers. The success of Jeff Gordon allowed a younger generation of racers to begin competing in Nascar.

Many critics felt that Gordon was not ready to compete at the professional level because of his habit of racing cars so hard that he crashed them. However, Gordon proved them all wrong during the 1994 season, were he emerged victorious in the Lowe’s Motor Speedway, which was a long and difficult race. Gordon would also go on to win at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard 400. In 1995 he won what would become the first of four Winston Cup Championships. Jeff Gordon is also famous for rising up against the legendary Dale Earnhardt, and he has become a fan favorite.

Many people consider Jeff Gordon to be one of the greatest drivers in Nascar because he achieved so much at a very young age. Even at 35 years of age, Jeff Gordon has successfully won 75 races, which is just one victory behind Dale Earnhardt. Jeff Gordon is also notable for making Nascar a popular sport with mainstream audiences. For a long time, the sport was only regulated to the south, but Jeff Gordon has allowed it to reach a high level of popularity due to advertising and his skills with the media.

Author is a contributer for an auto racing blog at AutoRacingReporter.com. Find more auto racing websites at SportsWebsiteDirectory.com. Purchase sports website marketing at SportsWebsiteMarketing.com.

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